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Covering anti-transgender legislation in ways that accurately reflect effects on the LGBT community isn’t just good journalism; it also gives voice to a population that has been traditionally disempowered in the media. With four states -- Illinois, Kansas, South Carolina and Tennessee -- pushing for anti-transgender bills, media outlets have the opportunity to follow the examples set by The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and The Charlotte Observer to shift coverage away from debunked myths and focus on the consequences of anti-LGBT legislation.
September 14, 2016 crime, resisting arrest, Theft, Uncategorized.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Eric Ware, 45, went to a Chevron gas station located on Forest Hill Boulevard and stole an employee’s phone. Before leaving, Ware demanded that the employee or store clerk give him $1.75 before he returned the phone.
Both refused his offer, and Ware gave back the phone. He then started to harass the employee and store clerk, acting “belligerent” in the store, the police report states.
Deputies arrived escorted Ware out of the store, who struggled to get away by grabbing a deputy’s arm.
Ware was arrested on charges of trespassing and resisting an officer with violence. He is being held on a $3,000 bond.
Writing a biography of Vilayat Khan (1928-2004) was “a bit like chasing a hologram", says journalist and writer Namita Devidayal on the phone, “because every story (about him) had several versions". Yet, instead of becoming an impediment, this chameleonic personality of one of India’s greatest musicians provides enchantment to her beautiful new book. This protean quality also helped decide the tone, texture and format: “I was going to create a fluid portrait anchored in fact and narrated with poetic license," Devidayal explains, “like improvising on a jazz standard."
The Sixth String Of Vilayat Khan is Devidayal’s second non-fiction book since The Music Room (2007). Delightfully, it also pertains to Hindustani classical music, a genre about which Devidayal writes with palpable love, focusing closely on characters and feelings instead of being weighed down by the burden of scholarship and musicology. On 28 November, as the print edition of Devidayal’s book hits the stores, it will appear simultaneously as an audiobook, read by Namita Devidayal, on Audible India. Embedded in the text will be music by the maestro, such as the legendary performance of Raga Chandni Kedar he played at the Taj Mahal with his brother Imrat Khan on the surbahar in the 1960s.
In her first book, Devidayal told the story of her association with her guru Dhondutai Kulkarni in a style that was amorphous. Blending the history of Hindustani classical vocal music with memoir, gender politics with guru-shishya parampara, it created a pastiche of emotions, harking back to such masters of the genre as the late Kumar Prasad Mukherji and Sheila Dhar.
The Music Room forded a gulf between the compulsions of daily life (the imperative to earn a livelihood, get married and raise a family) and the rarefied ambitions of the musician (the struggle to find a room of their own to pursue their art, the desire for the approbation of peers and connoisseurs and the quest for spiritual elevation through music). Some of these themes run through Khan’s biography as well, though the canvas on which they play out are more flamboyant than what Kulkarni’s austere, self-effacing career would allow.
Vilayat Khan, as those who follow Hindustani classical music may know, was the Great Gatsby of the sitar. Born into a family of illustrious musicians, his grandfather was the legendary Imdad Khan. After the untimely demise of his father Enayat Khan, young Vilayat was left in the lurch. With no steady income or guidance from the family, not even from his father’s students (uniquely for a gharanedar musician, Inayat Khan broke ranks and “taught numerous non-hereditary musicians"), Vilayat was left under the tutelage and eagle eye of his stentorian mother, Basheeran Begum.
In spite of his fondness for the good life, especially wine, women and, later, fancy cars (he threw a lavish party once for his adored Mercedes “Gazzala", which he drove down from Kabul to Mumbai), Vilayat Khan was devoted to his beloved sitar. He strummed it for most of the day, slept with it beside him, and his busy fingers traced taans and sargams in his dreams. He inherited this obsession from his grandfather, known as the “four-candle man". In the days before clocks, Devidayal writes, “He would light four candles one after another and practise for as long as they burned." Apparently, during one such session, his ailing daughter’s health took a turn for the worse, but Imdad Khan didn’t abandon his post. Midway into the third candle, the girl died, without a last glimpse of her father.
While the younger Vilayat Khan (above) focused on technical virtuosity, he became more absorbed in melody as he matured.
Vilayat Khan inherited not only this genetic disposition to deplete himself on his music, but also to go any length to achieve his goals. As Devidayal recounts, he once went to Indore in hot pursuit of a “learned musician… to memorise a composition that only that man knew." It’s never easy to persuade musicians to part with their precious cargo. Vilayat Khan tried coaxing, flattery, pressing his feet, even an offer of cash. When all failed, he finally pulled out a pistol. “Will you teach me, or do you wish to die?" he demanded. Suffice it to say, no party was harmed in the end. At the peak of his career, his music wooing millions across India on radio and public performances, Vilayat Khan would be invited to play every night to a very ill Jawaharlal Nehru, to help him gently fall asleep.
In her pursuit of this immensely charismatic musician, Devidayal hasn’t papered over his frailties, the fits of jealousy against his brother Imrat and son Shujaat Hussain Khan for instance, or his unfaithfulness to his first wife, Monisha Hazra. Where possible, she has also travelled to the different places, including the US, where Vilayat Khan lived, met with his family, friends, lovers, students and associates. Yet, the key that unlocks the deepest truths about Vilayat Khan’s life lies in his music, about which Devidayal writes evocatively and with fine insight, giving us a more intimate portrait of the artist than anecdotes can.
Although she met Vilayat Khan in person only once in Mumbai many years ago, Devidayal’s admiration of his music had a long incubation: from attending live performances to listening to his recordings to even a spell of learning the sitar to better understand the sublime, magical intricacies of his style. Vilayat Khan made several modifications to the traditional form of the sitar, doing away with one string and the gourd on top, to create a pitch and timbre that was at once dulcet and as pliable as the human voice. His style was widely adored because he masterfully incorporated “the emotional elements of vocal music into an instrument," says Devidayal.
Consequently, Vilayat Khan elicited from his sitar sounds that people hadn’t heard before: melody that could simulate tragedy (refer to the background score of Satyajit Ray’s movie Jalsaghar, where Vilayat Khan was the music director), the shringar rasa (sample his short drut gat in Raga Gara, with Zakir Hussain on the tabla), pain and longing (he played thumris, kirtans and other folk or light classical compositions, cajoling his sitar to sing, and often sang along during live performances, as though to encourage his sitar to follow suit). Always dressed elegantly, with a stage presence befitting a rock star, Vilayat Khan remained irresistibly attractive till the very end. If his cultivation of a mercurial persona and unique style shook the musical orthodoxy, he never violated the spirit of a raga. In spite of his name and fortune, both in India and beyond, Vilayat Khan remained an iconoclast, a solitary figure, who never was as revered in the West as his arch-rival Pandit Ravi Shankar.
To understand Vilayat Khan’ music, one must take a detour into Ravi Shankar’s phenomenal career. “In one of his interviews, Ravi Shankar says he never changed his music, only shortened it and explained it better for newer audiences," says Devidayal. His collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison opened doors to fame and glory, turning him into a stalwart of the newly emerging field of “world music". Vilayat Khan, by contrast, remained suspicious of collaborations and, after an initial hankering for recognition, became disenchanted with the trappings of public acclaim, scorning the honours bestowed on him by the Indian state. Yet, he was never conservative in his musical tastes, having composed for popular cinema, and often played the blues, especially the records of Ella Fitzgerald, with great relish.
“He made a very deliberate choice to go deep rather than beyond, to stay solitary and serve as a reminder that there are spaces more intoxicating than fame," says Devidayal. His art, as she says, was rightly described “as a narrative of resistance".
Michael Finner (left) has been replaced by Paul Newman (right) on the Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board.
FLINT, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder has filled two positions on the Flint Receivership Transition Advisory Board, picking Paul Newman of Flint and William Tarver of Birmingham to the jobs.
The RTAB was formed in April 2015 when Snyder recalled the last of four emergency managers sent to Flint to run the city's affairs after declaring a financial emergency here in 2011.
Newman, a member of the Genesee Intermediate School District and former president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Flint, replaces Michael Finney, a Flint native who resigned from the RTAB, according to a news release issued Friday, May 26, by the Governor's Office.
Tarver, the founder and president of Red Bank Education and Development Initiative and an instructor at the University of Michigan, replaces Michael Townsend, a former Flint finance director who once sued the city and received a large cash settlement.
The reasons for the resignations were not immediately announced by the state.
Other members of the Flint RTAB are Frederick Headen, legal advisor to state Treasurer Nick Khouri, and Joel Ferguson, president of Ferguson Development and F&S Development.
A sales letter should start by attracting the reader's attention.
Small businesses and independent contractors use sale proposals to land a new contract or client. The best sales proposals highlight what makes your business the most qualified for the contract or task. A successful proposal needs to focus on the customer and what he is asking for, rather than focusing on your business alone.
One way to structure a sales proposal is in the form of a letter. Arrange the letter as you would a business letter, with your address or letterhead on the top, followed by the name and address of the company and person you are writing to. A sales proposal letter should always be addressed to a specific person, as you are trying to sell something and need to demonstrate that you are familiar with the company. The letter should use clear, concise language and explain how your product or services will directly help the company. For example, a cleaning services company can approach a potential client by asking the client if a messy office has impacted their productivity. The letter should then detail how your cleaning service will solve the company's specific problems. Send the letter as a cover letter with a larger proposal or as an initial inquiry.
Your company can respond to a Request for Proposals with a comprehensive sales proposal document. A successful document usually includes an introduction or executive summary, a thorough description of your company, a detailed explanation of what the client needs, a section on how your company will fulfill the needs of the client, and a section on why the client should choose you. The document also has a section that lays out the plan's budget and payment terms.
Include a response table as part of a larger sales proposal. The table allows the customer to clearly see the problems his company experiences and how your product or service will answer the problems. Create a table with at least three columns, one for the problem, one for your response, and a third column for where the client can find more detailed information in the larger proposal.
The format of a sales proposal depends on its method of delivery. For example, you may email the proposal to a company, or the company may prefer a hard copy. A letter should be printed on nice paper and mailed. If you email a larger proposal, export it as a PDF. Check to make sure the company can open PDF before sending, though. When you mail a hard copy of a proposal, make sure it is neat and well-protected. If you decide to mail a three-ring binder, use a sturdy box.
Weller, Emily. "Examples of Sales Proposals." Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-sales-proposals-35618.html. Accessed 23 April 2019.
BRYAN EATON/Staff photo. About a third of the building is down in this photo by early Monday afternoon. The building had been the Port Theater which closed around 1974 and was Gabriel's store many years, selling clothing and other items.
Vintage Norwich best dressed competition with Cinema City. (From left to right) Vintage Norwich and Retro Chick Gemma Seager, winner Hannah Johnson, and Lucy Santos and Kerry Clark from Vintage Norwich.
At the special screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s at Cinema City, Norwich Fashion Week goers put on their best frocks and suits all hoping to win the best dressed award from Vintage Norwich - but there could only be one winner. With photo gallery of some of the best dressed guests.
Vintage Norwich best dressed competition with Cinema City. Winner Hannah Johnson.
Vintage frocks and little black dresses and pearls were out in force last night as Cinema City put on a special screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s as part of Norwich Fashion Week.
Vintage Norwich took over the busy bar serving delicious peach bellinis, DJs G&G were playing vintage vinyl and a vintage dressing up box made everyone get into a fashion frenzy.
Norwich designer Jane Kenning exhibited her stylish take on Audrey Hepburns iconic dress from the film.
Yet the highlight of the night was seeing who would win the prize of the best dressed person or couple, and competition was fierce.
Vintage Norwich awarded the prize to Hannah Johnson who was wearing a pink polka dot vintage dress, a faux fur stole and a white floral fascinator.
Hannah wins a year’s membership to Cinema City and a Vintage Norwich goody bag.
The Monroe County District Attorney’s office is on the lookout for the owner of defunct Kresgeville business Crown Food Carts, who failed to appear for a trial where he faced charges for scamming 19 people across nine states.
A release from the District Attorney’s office reported that Robert S. Scifo had not appeared for his Tuesday trial. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest that day.
Scifo is described as a 35 year old white male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. His last known addresses were in Pottsville and Keansburg, New Jersey.
Anyone with knowledge of Scifo's whereabouts is encouraged to contact Chief County Detective Eric Kerchner at 570-517-3109.
Between November 2016 and October 2017, Scifo allegedly scammed customers of his business, Crown Food Carts, an internet based operation that manufactured food carts and accessories. During that time, Scifo collected $51,227.83 from customers in Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, New York and Iowa, and then either delivered inferior products or nothing at all.
Kerchner opened an investigation into Scifo’s business practices in June 2017 after receiving customer complaints.
On Nov. 1, 2017, charges were filed on behalf of six consumers or businesses against Scifo. Scifo was arrested on Nov. 14, 2017 and charged with four felony counts of theft by deception and four felony counts of theft by unlawful taking.
When information regarding those charges went public, 13 additional victims filed similar complaints against Scifo. He was arrested for the new charges at a February preliminary hearing.
In August 2017, the Better Business Bureau sent a notification to Crown Food Carts regarding the number of answered complaints the organization had received. Crown Food Carts’s BBB page shows that the business currently has an ‘F’ rating, is not BBB Accredited, and has logged 42 complaints over the course of three years.
Each of the four customer reviews on the Crown Food Carts BBB page feature rankings of one out of a possible five stars. One customer noted that when they ordered a food truck window kit, the product they received did not seem to match the $800 price tag.
"The window itself was of the worst quality I've ever seen in my life," the review reads. "The welds on the aluminum are not only incomplete but they were barely ground down with a metal grinder. The result is a "window" that I can not install because it is a safety hazard."
Another customer stated that they never received their $1,500 order, which they had used their tax return to pay for in order to start their own business. Repeated attempts to contact the company yielded only automated emails and answering machine messages.
The complaint section of the site features similar stories, with customers shelling out thousands of dollars and receiving either low-quality products or nothing at all.
Several complaints note that when they were able to speak to someone at the company, it was an employee who identified himself as Sean Plete. Customers speculated that Plete was in fact Scifo, pretending to be another employee in order to make the business appear legitimate. A police criminal complaint stated that "nearly every victim" of Crown Food Carts "learned that Sean was actually Robert Scifo."
Those who attempted to go to the business’s listed locations in Kresgeville and Allentown found the former space had been vacated, and the latter had never been occupied by Crown Food Carts.
"The complaints demonstrated a pattern of allegations in which consumers state the company failed to deliver items ordered online," a statement on the BBB’s website read. "The company has not responded to the BBB request."
Kerchner’s investigation also uncovered that Scifo previously ran a company called Pushcart USA Corporation. The BBB page for this company featured similar complaints to the Crown Food Carts page.
Just a matter of 24 hours after pulling off a conference road win, the McDowell Titans returned to Titan Field and had a much easier time of it.
McDowell, with the help of three strong performances on the mound, shut out the Mitchell Mountaineers 10-0 in five innings Wednesday evening in non-conference play.
Sophomores Chapel Matson and Ethan Davis along with junior lefty Billy Cessna combined for the two-hit shutout, striking out five and walking one. Matson, who threw 31 of his 45 pitches for strikes, tossed 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball and got the win before Cessna finished out the fourth getting the final two outs.
Meanwhile the Titans (5-4 overall, 1-4 Northwestern 3A/4A Conference) offensively jumped on Mitchell starter Cole Gillespie (1 2/3 IP, 7R, 6H, K, BB) for seven runs in the first two innings of play.
After not scoring in the third, McDowell pushed across three in the bottom of the fourth.
Davis then retired the Mountaineers in order in the fifth, striking out a batter and kicking in the 10-run mercy rule.
With the efficiency of all three pitchers on Wednesday, the Titans will have nearly all pitching options on-deck for Friday’s Northwestern 3A/ 4A Conference game at Hickory.
At the plate McDowell started early as the team collected eight hits on the night.
Ethan Hamm singled with one out in the first and advanced to second on a pickoff attempt from Gillespie. Then, after a walk to Brycen Seymore, and a hit-by-pitch to Davis, right fielder Gage Gentry put the Titans ahead 2-0 on a first-pitch basehit to right. The third run of the inning occurred on a fielder’s choice by Cyrus Black (RBI), scoring Davis from third.
Justin Dula produced in his second at bat of the game in the next inning with a hard-hit double to left, driving in two more runs. And then, in the fourth, Gentry got back in the action with a two-run single to center.
Gentry went 3-for-3 and drove in four runs for the Titans, raising his season batting average to .320. He also scored twice.
Josh Maddux (1-4, SB), Hamm (1-3, 2SB, 2R, RBI), Ethan Davis (1-2, double, RBI, 2R), Dula (1-1, double, RBI, BB, SB) and Matson (1-3, SB) also hit safely. Seymore (.417 BA) had no hits but walked twice and scored both times.
McDowell 18, Mitchell 5 (jayvees) – The Titans (1-3-1, 4-4-2) parlayed six hits, four errors and nine walks into a whopping 18 runs, ending the game after three innings via the mercy rule.
Six McDowell players had one hit apiece, including Ethan Hensley (double, 2RBIs, 2BB, 3SB, 3R), Dusty Revis (RBI, SB, 2BB, 2R), Michael Lewis (3RBIs, 3R, BB), Ben Barnes (triple, 4RBIs), Ty Smith (double, 2RBIs, 2BB) and Luke Roberts (RBI).
Cole Weaver had two RBIs and Peyton Rose one.
Caleb Jimison got the win on the mound, allowing five runs, four of them earned, on five hits in two innings. He struck out three, walked one and hit one. Barnes threw one hitless inning, striking out two.
Like few other industries, real-estate developers are showered with special tax treatment.
Trump is right on both counts: There’s no evidence he broke the law, and the tax code does indeed have a fantastic number of special industry carve-outs. Few industries have received more exemptions and treats from the tax system than the real-estate industry, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars aggressively lobbying Congress for special treatment.
Trump claimed Monday that “fixing the tax code is one of the main reasons I’m running for president,” but his actual tax plans say nothing about real-estate exemptions, and is heavily focused on providing even more advantages to wealthy individuals and corporations.
If Trump is looking for ideas, Senator Bernie Sanders helpfully announced this week he will provide some. Sanders plans to introduce a bill in the new Congress next year that will address some of the very loopholes that allow people in the real-estate industry to take such great advantage of the tax code.
Sanders’s bill will directly address “passive loss” tax laws that exempt the real-estate industry. When Ronald Reagan signed a tax-code overhaul in 1986, taxpayers were barred from using losses from businesses they were not directly involved with to offset actively earned income—but there are huge carve-outs for real-estate losses. Sanders would eliminate those carve-outs.
The bill would also end special exemptions that allow people in the real-estate industry to claim losses beyond what they are actually liable for—these laws would allow Trump to write off losses on a project beyond what he really invested. The bill would also change how capital-gains taxes are calculated on real-estate sales, as well as change industry-friendly debt and depreciation rules.
Both President Obama and House Republicans have introduced tax plans that would, in different ways, end some special tax treatment of the real-estate industry. Each time, the bills are met with ferocious lobbying campaigns. The real-estate industry spent $95 million on federal lobbying in 2014 alone, which is triple what it spent in 1998. So Sanders’s bill will no doubt face stiff resistance.
But there is a more immediate political utility—Sanders is trying to puncture Trump’s populist credentials by calling attention to these tax breaks and Trump’s failure, so far, to outline any proposed changes. Sanders is also using this political moment to underscore the long-held progressive desire to change the priorities of the US tax code.
The Costa Mesa Charter Committee voted Wednesday evening to support an initiative that would allow the city to outsource most services.
Eleven members voted in favor of including outsourcing in the proposed charter, which would require voter approval. The document is expected to go before the City Council for consideration sometime this year and then to voters in November.
Committee member Harold Weitzberg dissented; Mary Ann O'Connell was absent.
Most of the document's wording was crafted by the group's legal counsel, Yolanda Summerhill, who wrote that any city service can be outsourced unless disallowed by the state Constitution.
The proposed language states that when the council considers an outsourcing proposal, the outside party should provide the service "as or more efficiently and effectively" than if it had remained under the city .
Committee member Hank Panian said outsourcing worked well at the Mesa Water District, where he served as an elected board member.
Weitzberg said he wanted language ensuring that those chosen for outsourcing had not donated to a council member's campaign.
Such a limitation would help "make the playing field level," he said, and avoid cronyism and "pay-to-play" scenarios.
Committee member Tom Pollitt said he agreed with the principle but wanted similar language to apply to unions.
"If we're going to penalize contractors … we should also say the unions shouldn't be able to contribute," he said.
Some of his colleagues said it was a false comparison because unions don't directly seek or bid on contract work as businesses do.
Committee member Kerry McCarthy added that the city's competitive bidding process, in and of itself, should be a sufficient tool to weed out cronyism to council-favored business interests.
Summerhill said irrespective of Costa Mesa's charter, the state's laws on conflicts of interest for politicians would apply.
Outsourcing has been a hotly contested topic at Costa Mesa City Hall over the past few years. In March 2011, the council majority failed in an effort to outsource as many 18 city services. The move led to pink slips for more than 200 employees — nearly half the city's workforce — and the filing of a lawsuit by the employees union.
A preliminary injunction later prevented city officials from outsourcing. By January 2013, a judge lifted the 18-month injunction. The month before, the council had rescinded the remaining 70 pink slips.
Last June, the council voted to outsource the city's jail, a move that didn't create any layoffs and was expected to save more than $3 million over five years. The council had attempted to do so a year before, but it ultimately failed because of the preliminary injunction.

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