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Some years ago, after the earthquake in Haiti, Israel was the first country that started relief efforts there by setting up state-of-the-art field hospitals. But a British journalist claimed that Israel was probably in Haiti only to harvest organs from victims and to provide cover for its oppression of the Palestinians... |
During his keynote address at the Nation of Islam’s 2011 Saviours’ Day convention in Rosemont, Illinois, Louis Farrakhan blamed Jews for killing Jesus and accused Jews of controlling the U.S. government and banking industries. Farrakhan’s address is the latest in a wide-ranging campaign to demonize Jews, which has feat... |
And of course, when the United Nations condemns Israel more than all of the other countries of the world combined, one has to wonder whether they are being critical of a country, or is Israel simply the Jew among nations? |
I often ask myself what is it about Jews and Judaism that is so despised by millions of people around the world. What is it about my faith and my people that would create such hate and vilification by those of another faith? What have Jews done over the centuries that have led to their victimization starting in biblica... |
I don’t have an answer but surely this hate is the root of why the current conflict in the Middle East has been intractable for so many years, and why other atrocities have occurred over the centuries – it’s hard for people to admit but anti-Semitism is the reason. |
And, for the few years that I have been blogging in the Chronicle’s section Houston Belief, I have experienced plenty of people that have raged on about Jews doing this, that or another – some based on anti-Israel sentiment, some based on classic anti-Semitic tirades – whatever the reason, most comments are grounded in... |
My hope, as a Jew, on the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar is that we – and people of all faiths – recognize the impact of our words. According to the Torah (the Five Books of Moses), G-d created the world from words that He spoke. We, in turn, should use words to heal not to harm, to create a better world and to... |
Alex Rose is a multimedia journalist who joined the FOX31 and Channel 2 team in June 2018. |
Alex is a New Englander, growing up in Acton, Massachusetts and landing his first job as a TV reporter in Burlington, Vermont for WFFF/WVNY. There he covered major stories from the New York prison break, where two convicted killers broke out of the Empire State’s largest maximum security prison, to Senator Bernie Sande... |
The land of the pine called Alex to move back down south for his second job at WGHP FOX8 in High Point, North Carolina. It’s the same area where he fell in love with television journalism while attending Elon University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in television studies in 2014. At FOX8, Alex covered big storie... |
Alex and his wife Stephanie moved to Colorado with their rescue puppy Layla, and have loved every moment of adventure from the Mile High City to the mountains. If Alex isn’t working, you’ll find him hiking, biking, exploring new restaurants, dog parks and tasting different craft beers. |
Telling people’s stories is Alex’s passion. Journalism is the work of the people, for the people and by the people. Alex is proud to be part of the most vibrant community in the country, and can’t wait to tell Colorado’s stories one day at a time. If you have an idea, Alex would LOVE to hear from you (or just pick your... |
Jeff Bezos announced a new $2 billion fund for philanthropic efforts called The Day One Fund. |
Bezos is the wealthiest man in modern history. Critics have called for Bezos to put his billions toward philanthropic efforts. |
The Day One Fund will launch with a $2 billion commitment, split between the Day 1 Families Fund and the Day 1 Academies Fund, Bezos said. |
Jeff Bezos has launched a $2 billion "Day One Fund" to help homeless families and create preschools, the Amazon CEO announced Thursday. |
"MacKenzie and I share a belief in the potential for hard work from anyone to serve others," Bezos said in a tweet, referring to his wife MacKenzie Bezos. |
The fund will launch with a $2 billion commitment, split between the Day 1 Families Fund — helping homeless families — and the Day 1 Academies Fund — creating a "network of new, non-profit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities," Bezos said. |
As CEO of Amazon, founder of rocket company Blue Origin and owner of The Washington Post, Bezos is the wealthiest man in modern history, with a net worth of at least $150 billion. |
Critics have long called for him to put his billions toward philanthropic efforts. |
In June, Bezos teased that he had identified two areas of focus for future charitable endeavors. |
I talk often about the importance of maintaining a Day 1 mentality. It's always Day 1, and I work hard to apply that mindset to everything I do. It was a Day 1 outlook that made me reach out to ask for suggestions on approaches to philanthropy last year. By so many important measures the world keeps getting better, and... |
MacKenzie and I share a belief in the potential for hard work from anyone to serve others. We all have that capacity. Business innovators who invent products that empower, authors who write books that inspire, government officials who serve their communities, teachers, doctors, carpenters, entertainers who make us laug... |
We're excited today to announce the Bezos Day One Fund. It will begin with a commitment of $2 billion and focus on two areas: funding existing non-profits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, non-profit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities. |
The Day 1 Families Fund will issue annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families. The vision statement comes from the inspiring Mary's Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside. |
The Day 1 Academies Fund will launch and operate a network of high-quality, full-scholarship, Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities. We will build an organization to directly operate these preschools. I'm excited about that because it will give us the opportunity to learn, invent, and improve. We'll... |
I want to close by thanking everyone who sent me suggestions, and for the inspiring examples of innovation I see every day, large and small. It fills me with gratitude and optimism to be part of a species so bent on self-improvement. |
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. |
Fruit flies can damage four-hundred kinds of crops. These insects lay eggs not just in fruit but also vegetables and nuts. The young eat the produce, making it unusable. A female can lay a thousand eggs in her short lifetime. |
One of the most destructive kinds of fruit flies is the Mediterranean fruit fly. California, for example, has spent almost thirty years fighting to keep the medfly out of the state. |
Even islands far out at sea are not protected. The state of Hawaii has a history of problems with imported pests. The medfly came to Hawaii in the early nineteen-hundreds. Since then, three more kinds of fruit fly pests have arrived. |
The Agricultural Research Service of the Department of Agriculture has a team to deal with the problem. The United States Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center is located in Hilo, Hawaii. |
The center has designed a program that aims to keep damage below an economically important level. Lost markets now cost Hawaiian growers an estimated three-hundred-million dollars a year. Roger Vargas is an expert on insects. He started what is called the Hawaii Area-Wide Fruit Fly Integrated Pest Management program. T... |
Past campaigns tried to kill all the fruit flies. The new program attacks the problem through a series of steps. One is to stop fruit fly reproduction. Infertile male flies are released to mate with the wild population. Also, growers are told to bury all unharvested fruit or vegetables. Or they can place them under a s... |
The program in Hawaii also uses a biological pesticide to kill fruit flies. It is called spinosad. It is produced by a microscopic organism. Spinosad is put into a substance that the fruit flies like to eat. The researchers say this is better for the environment than the common pesticide malathion. Malathion is a chemi... |
The program also uses a natural enemy of fruit flies. A kind of wasp called Biosteres arisanus feeds on medflies and oriental fruit flies. |
As Kim Kaplan of the Agricultural Research Service reported last month, growers in the program like the results so far. They say they are using less pesticide. And they say they are finding less damaged fruit. Officials have extended the program for two more years. |
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember. |
1. How many kinds of crops can fruit flies damage? |
2. What organization tries to solve the insect problem in Hawaii? |
3. How does the new program differ from the old one? |
5. Name one natural enemy of the fruit fly. |
The DDA will pay $468,000 for the combination stone and wrought iron entryway and pavilion. |
"They supported everything the DDA recommended and did so without question," said DDA Executive Director Sherrie Schuster. "I think we've discussed it twice with the council. What they wanted was to see the product and that's what they saw." |
The pavilion, done in an Alpine motif and equipped with a sound system, will reach from the south end of the Phoenix Building to First Street and stretch over the sidewalks on each side. The street and sidewalk will be redone in brick pavers similar to other areas improved by the DDA. |
"This will be a benchmark in northern Michigan. It really will," said council member Todd Sharrard. "This brings back the old nostalgia of how roads used to be." |
DDA board members came up with the idea over a year ago as an answer to Bagley Township's planned mall development. Ideas have included its use as a staging area for Alpenfest and Gus Macker as well as smaller concerts, arts shows, or flea market-style sales. |
The city's financial advisor Bob Bendzinski indicated the bonds would be sold to be paid back over the original life of the DDA ending in 2010. |
"We did our cost estimates. That's one thing I was concerned with, that that wouldn't be the last project we did," said Schuster who assured it would not be. The city also has the option of extending the DDA's life. |
Bids are expected in by June 21. Construction would start at the end of July and be completed in November. |
The city also expects bids back next month on the 2001 Street Project. Construction on Fourth and Fifth streets should begin soon after school finishes. Work improving Gornick Avenue and the Wisconsin Avenue pathway will begin later. Estimates from the city's engineers, with a 10-percent contingency added, were that th... |
Last year the city rebuilt portions of Petoskey Street and Indiana Avenue for $595,767. Initial cost estimates with a 10-percent contingency came to $673,291. The city generates more than $500,000 each year for road improvements through a 4.3-mill levy approved by voters in 1994 to last 10 years. This year City Manager... |
First Street will be bid through the street project, financed by the DDA bond, and paid for by the city. |
"It allows us to finance that street project over time through a bond," said Duff. "That reduces the need for us to pay for improvements to Court Avenue and First Street at a later point in time." |
The city will amend its budget to pay for cost overruns. |
With the financial adviser present, Duff also took the opportunity to explain to council members the likely bonding need for improvements to the city's new industrial park. He estimated $2.7 million in costs to develop utilities and infrastructure to the site. |
A response from the Economic Development Administration on a $1.2-million grant application isn't expected until later this summer. The city could bond for $942,700, leaving $546,600 to be made up in cash, most of which, nearly $450,000, the city has on hand in excess funds. |
Separate bonds would be sold for road ($205,000) and utility ($705,000) development. Those would be paid off through the sale of land in the park, possibly with the assistance of the Local Development Financing Act which would allow the city to capitalize on tax revenue from increased property values similar to the way... |
"Those are the chances we take," said Duff. 'All we can do is use our best judgment. The only way we can progress as a community is to do projects. We've had interest. We've got people that want to buy out there." |
* council members approved a new three-year agreement with the Police Officers' Labor Council. The new arrangement will give city officers a 5-percent raise in each of the next three years in exchange for lower health-care coverage. |
Published: June 2, 2008 12:00 am Updated: June 2, 2008 12:51 p.m. |
I am deeply grateful to the people of Massachusetts and to my friends, colleagues and so many others across the country and around the world who have expressed their support and good wishes as I tackle this new and unexpected health challenge. |
I am humbled by the outpouring and am strengthened by your prayers and kindness. |
Over the past several days, Vicki and I, along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation. This morning, I will be... |
Shortly thereafter, I will start radiation treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital and begin chemotherapy. After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president. |
I am pleased to report that Senator Kennedy's surgery was successful and accomplished our goals. Senator Kennedy was awake during the resection, and should therefore experience no permanent neurological affects from the surgery. |
The surgery lasted roughly three and a half hours and is just the first step in Senator Kennedy's treatment plan. After a brief recuperation, he will begin targeted radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital and chemotherapy treatment. I hope that everyone will join us in praying for Senator Kennedy to have an unevent... |
After waiting for 15 years, Vitor and Neta Pukri had reason to believe they were on the verge of adjusting their immigration status. Having lived in the shadows as undocumented immigrants, they were finally going to become legal U.S. residents. |
The Pukris, natives of Albania who now live in Clifton, received an email in December from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services summoning them to an interview at the agency's offices in Newark on Feb. 6. Vitor's application for legal status through a program called the diversity visa lottery had been selected for ... |
Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers appeared within minutes of the start of their meeting. The Pukris were told that there were existing orders of deportation against them and that they would be held on the spot. Their son Mikel, who accompanied them to the interview and is protected from deportation ... |
The Pukris hoped the visa lottery would help them gain legal status. But what they didn't understand was that under current law, that could never happen. Diversity visas simply are not granted to people who have existing deportation orders. |
Vitor Pukri has been held at the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility since the day of the interview, and Neta Pukri was fitted with an ankle monitor and released as part of ICE's Alternatives to Detention program. She will have to check in with ICE later this month, when she will be required to submit her passport. T... |
Apprehensions at USCIS interviews, although not new, have taken on a new significance under President Donald Trump, who vowed to crack down on illegal immigration, and immediately after taking office expanded the categories of immigrants considered priorities for removal. Since then, immigration arrests have surged 40 ... |
There has also been an increase in people taken into custody at USCIS interviews, said Lawrence LeRoy, a Newark immigration attorney and immediate past president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. |
It is less common for those applying to adjust status through the diversity visa, he said, because those ordered to be deported are not eligible for that visa. But he's heard of thousands of cases of people being detained while they try to adjust their status in other ways. |
"Mostly they are marriage cases, where somebody may have entered lawfully and is now married to an American citizen and they believe they're eligible to file for adjustment of status,'' he said. "They either don't know that they're under previous orders of deportation, or they have some idea but do not comprehend the f... |
Under the Obama administration, he said, frequently, but not always, if people appeared for an interview and there was an open order of deportation, USCIS would administratively close the application and tell the person to see a lawyer and file a new motion. |
"I have had people taken into custody during Obama, so this was not a hard-and-fast rule," he said. "But clearly, clearly, there is a great increase in the number of people being taken into custody at interviews." |
ICE in Newark does not keep figures on how many people are apprehended when they are at an appointment at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Emilio K. Dabul, a spokesman. |
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in an email statement, said it is standard practice to notify ICE if people are in their offices who have warrants of deportation or are in removal proceedings. |
Vitor and Neta Pukri arrived in the United States in 2001, Neta Pukri said. The couple said they had a good life in Albania, where Vitor worked as a veterinarian and Neta as an accountant. The couple owned a home and were economically stable in Albania, she said.But Neta said they were forced to leave because of Vitor’... |
They traveled to the United States on a tourist visa and moved to Michigan, where they had family members. Neta Pukri said that less than a year later, they paid an attorney to help them apply for asylum. |
But they said their initial asylum application was denied, and subsequent appeals were also rejected. Mikel and Neta Pukri said they received poor legal advice and blamed the denials on previous lawyers, who they said did not convey to the immigration judge adequately the fear of persecution they faced in Albania. |
“Since then they have looked at our case in a tainted way,’’ Mikel Pukri said. |
Neta and Vitor Pukri had previous orders of removal dating back to 2004, which were upheld by two appellate courts, said Dabul, the spokesman for ICE in Newark. |
The couple and their three children — Mikel, who is 21,Bepin, 26, and Angela, 10, who was born in Michigan and is a U.S. citizen — moved to Clifton in 2011 for better job opportunities. In New Jersey, Vitor Pukri found a job as a truck driver and Neta Pukri as a waitress at a diner. |
In 2012, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that shielded undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation and provided two-year work permits for them. Bepin and Mikel Pukri applied for the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. They still benefit fro... |
Bepin, who works at a Moonachie factory, and Mikel, who is a student at Passaic County Community College, said they don’t want their parents to return to Albania, a country they don’t remember. |
“I don’t know that place. I was 3 when I came,’’ Mikel said. |
As Christians, they also expressed concern over moving to a country where the most commonly practiced religion is Islam. |
More than a decade ago, the Pukris found out that a family friend from Kosovo had been approved for a diversity visa, and the family thought it would be an option for them, too, so they began to apply for that visa every year. Mikel Pukri said they never consulted an attorney, and applied on their own. They did not kno... |
Neta Pukri said that ever since the family moved to the United States and applied for asylum the first time, they have worked legally with authorization. She said she doesn't understand why the U.S. won't allow them to adjust status through the diversity visa, since they have a history of working and paying taxes. |
“Why not give us the diversity visa?'' she asked. |
Diversity visas benefit up to 50,000 people annually from countries with low rates of legal immigration to the U.S., such as Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and the United Kingdom. |
Most lottery winners live outside the United States, but there are a small number of lottery winners each year who, at the time of being selected, are residing legally with non-immigrant visas in the United States, according to information on the USCIS website. |
LeRoy, the Newark attorney, said a person who is out of status and applies for a diversity visa is not protected under the law. |
Neta Pukri said she didn’t think the deportation orders issued years ago would be used against them because they thought their case was still pending. |
“We thought we were still in the courts. I thought the case was still pending, or open, and we were still here trying to get legal status,’’ she said. |
Her son Bepin said they received notice in May 2017 that their father's latest diversity visa application had been selected, and they were ecstatic. His mother said it was a prayer answered. |
Bepin Pukri said that anytime they received requests for more information, they provided documents. The family, he said, spent thousands on applications, medical exams and biometric screening, in which their photograph and fingerprints are taken to establish their identity. The couple and Mikel, who was underage at the... |
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