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But his proposal, on which the Board of Regents is expected to vote in September, addresses neither how many new teachers will be required to extend English language instruction nor how the state will recruit certified instructors. The question of staffing is crucial, because less than half of the state's bilingual tea...
Statewide, about 225,000 children have limited English skills, with the vast majority in New York City. Most of them are in the early grades, but there are substantial numbers of immigrant children who enter in the ninth and 10th grades for whom the new graduation standards are most pressing. Some are enrolled in Engli...
In recent weeks, New York City's Schools Chancellor, Rudy Crew, has also expressed interest in intensifying English instruction for non-English speaking children. But city education officials have yet to spell out how much it would cost or how qualified instructors would be recruited.
The state proposal echoes what was once common practice in New York City: Until budget cuts in the late 1980's, most high school students with limited English skills were offered three periods of English instruction every day, J.D. La Rock, a Board of Education spokesman, said.
With "Avengers" sinking all comers, this marks the second straight quarter in which one movie swallowed up a series of other potential hits. Is "Dark Knight Rises" next?
“The Avengers” is a bona fide box office phenomenon – but is it crowding out every other movie at the cineplex?
In the past, the superheroes' moneymaking powers would have been good news for other summertime movies, like “Dark Shadows,” ‘The Dictator” and “Battleship," the argument being that a rising tide lifts all boats.
Instead those movies have struggled to stay afloat, with “Battleship” opening to a dismal $25 million.
Starting with "The Hunger Games" and now “The Avengers" – two massive franchise pictures have dominated the box office and made it impossible for other movies to secure huge openings.
“'Avengers created an undeniable excitement worldwide and dwarfed other films that attempted to create an event,” Kevin Goetz, founder and CEO of market research company ScreenEngine, told TheWrap.
Studios are finding that in a packed season there is less breathing room than ever before.
“When you have ‘Titanic’ or ‘The Avengers,’ it becomes difficult to grow the business for the other films opening — there’s only so much the marketplace will expand,” Universal Pictures domestic distribution chief Nikki Rocco, whose studio distributed “Battleship," told TheWrap.
“In my heart of hearts I feel 'Battleship' would have fared much better if in its third week 'Avengers' wasn’t doing $55 million."
Now, all eyes will turn to “Men in Black 3” to see if the sequel to the popular science fiction comedy can break “The Avengers” stranglehold on the multiplexes. The film is currently on pace to earn between $70 million to $80 million over the holiday weekend.
Still, this marks the second straight quarter in which one movie swallowed up a series of other potential hits.
The monster debut of “The Hunger Games” appears to be partly to blame for “American Reunion” and “Wrath of the Titans” opening to roughly $5 million to $10 million below where they were expected to debut, while “The Avengers” performed a similar hat trick with the three major studio movies that opened in its wake.
“There seems to be a price sensitivity that has crept into consumer consciousness that only began appearing about two to three years ago. As 3D reaches a critical mass, moviegoers’ are using phrases like “I can’t wait to see THAT movie,” versus “THAT movie’s not worth the money," Goetz said.
The rise of mass appeal event films, such as “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games,” poses serious problems for the other big-budget movies that open in their wake.
Though Rocco argued the summer would hold space for multiple blockbusters, some studio executives fear this kind of ripple effect could be felt again when “The Dark Knight Rises” hits theaters on July 20. Or after such hotly anticipated films as the “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” or “The Hobbit: An Unexpec...
There’s also the issue of demographics and cost. Now that studios are committed to releasing fewer films overall, most of the slates aren’t as diverse as they had been before.
Big-budget action movies, often involving a superhero, will bow almost every weekend this summer. Comedies and movies aimed at women, which might have attracted different audiences, are few and far between.
The good news for studios, increasingly looking to expand into the global market, is that the event picture cannibalization is not apparent at the overseas box office. Staggered openings contrast with the packed domestic schedule, enabling "Battleship" to lock in $200 million before it even opened stateside.
Yet with the average costs of movies on the rise, the definition of what constitutes a good opening for a movie has become skewed.
“The movies didn’t do well because they weren’t good movies,” a studio distribution executive who declined to be identified, told TheWrap.
Overall, the breakaway success of movies like “The Avengers” and “The Hunger Games,” has had a positive effect on box office grosses in this country, with the domestic tally up 14 percent through last weekend to over $4 billion.
However, the wealth is not evenly distributed and attendance in recent years has been in decline. Beneath the gaudy grosses, a small crop of movies, paired with higher ticket prices for 3D and Imax screenings, are driving the industry's success.
The key may be to release big-budget movies that boast top-shelf stars and talent, but lack a Harry Potter or a Batman, in the spring or fall.
LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - World stocks attempted to steady on Wednesday following a bruising Wall Street session that wiped $1 trillion off the value of leading U.S. tech shares, while oil prices staged a modest rebound after slumping to one-year lows.
U.S. shares were set to open sharply firmer, futures indicated , after two days of losses that wiped out the S&P500’s gains for the year and left the tech-heavy Nasdaq index teetering on the brink of falling into the red.
Losses have been concentrated in the technology sector, as investors lightened holdings of FAANG shares — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google — the group that had propelled the Wall Street’s decade-long bull market.
The falls saw the Nasdaq index touch seven-month lows and energy shares too had dropped in line with a 6 percent oil price slump S&P 500 .
That fed through to Asia on Wednesday, taking MSCI’s index of ex-Japan Asia-Pacific shares almost half a percent lower, but it clawed back some of those falls to trade flat by 0900 GMT. MSCI’s all-country benchmark was flat too, attempting to snap two days of falls.
That, alongside a 1.5 percent bounce in Brent crude futures and some optimism over Italy’s budget stance, helped European equities open 0.4 percent higher, with a tech index up half a percent.
David Vickers, senior portfolio manager at Russell Investments, noted however that gloom has tended to deepen as the Wall Street session progresses and more company earnings emerge.
“High-flying momentum stocks have come off in a fairly spectacular fashion. At one point Apple and Amazon accounted for 40 percent of U.S. equity gains and people were just recycling money into the winners,” Vickers said.
Markets also appear to be preparing for a loss of momentum in global economic growth as China takes a hit from Washington’s trade tariffs and the United States comes off the sugar-high of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
Vickers said that after 20 percent-plus earnings growth at U.S. companies, some investors were disappointed with signs this would slow to single digits as the stimulus effect wore off.
“If you have a market like the S&P500, which is two standard deviations expensive, it becomes difficult if you don’t think you will get the same kinds of earnings growth in future,” he added.
The growth concerns have also been revived by comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials who suggested economic outlook concerns could slow the pace of its monetary policy tightening cycle or even end it.
The comments have knocked U.S. 10-year bond yields to near two-month lows around 3.03 percent, after trading above 3.25 percent at the start of November.
But the recovery in global sentiment allowed yields to rise around three bps to 3.08 percent while the dollar’s index, which had jumped 0.7 percent on Tuesday, slipped 0.2 percent.
The euro rose after a 0.75 percent drop on Tuesday , buoyed by reports that Italy may be open to reviewing its draft budget for 2019, possibly easing a confrontation with the European Union. The League party, part of the ruling coalition, later denied the report.
Italians bond yields fell up to 16 basis points initially, putting 10-year yields on track for their biggest daily drop in almost a month but the market gave up some of its gains after the denials.
Italian bank shares too eased off session highs but were still up 2 percent on the day after sinking to two-year lows on Tuesday.
Focus is now on the European Commission which should take the first step on Wednesday towards disciplining Italy over its draft fiscal plan.
“This procedure will take several months, but stands to keep (government bonds) and the Italian banking sector under pressure. Favour euro underperformance in Europe and probably further choppy euro-dollar trading in a $1.1350-$1.1450 range,” ING Bank analysts told clients.
Oil’s bounce helped commodity currencies such as the Australian dollar and Norwegian crown, which recovered around 0.4 percent versus the dollar after heavy recent slides.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The mayor of Puerto Rico's capital has announced that she is running for governor of the U.S. territory.
Carmen Yulin Cruz is a polarizing figure who became an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria.
She said Friday that if elected, she plans to hold a constitutional assembly to decide the future of Puerto Rico's political status. Cruz also said she wants to eliminate a federal control board overseeing the island's finances and allow government agencies to declare bankruptcy if needed.
Cruz is a member of the Popular Democratic Party, which supports the island's commonwealth status.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party has already announced he will seek a second term.
Puerto Rico will hold general elections in November 2020.
BENTON, KY - The Humane Society of Marshall County will Host a holiday-themed event, Jingle Tails. The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 10 am - 2 pm at the Joe Creason Community Building, 1600 Park Ave. in Benton. Santa will be there from 10 am - noon Admission to the event is free.
It's a time families and their pets. There will be a variety of vendors selling items that would make great holiday gifts. A photographer will be on-hand to take pictures in front of a holiday backdrop. For $10, you can get a flash drive with pictures of your family, including your pets.
All proceeds from this event will go to the Humane Society of Marshall County. For more information, email the Humane Society at mchumanesociety@yahoo.com.
The Humane Society of Marshall County is a 501(c)3 organization, which runs solely on fundraisers, grants, donations and memberships.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Every week, the story seems the same - Oklahoma gives up a ton of points, yet Heisman contender Kyler Murray puts up crazy numbers and the Sooners pull out a victory.
The sixth-ranked Sooners (10-1, 7-1 Big 12) have allowed at least 40 points in victories over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Kansas the past three weeks. That winning formula that might not work against an offense the caliber of West Virginia’s in a Friday showdown that will send the victor to the conference title game...
The Sooners are still winning with interim defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill, but their chances at reaching the College Football Playoff could vanish if things don’t get better in a hurry. Despite the numbers, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley remains confident in McNeill and said he has seen improvement since firing Mik...
Kansas, one of the worst offensive teams in the Big 12, gained 524 yards against the Sooners in Oklahoma’s 55-40 win on Saturday . Freshman Pooka Williams ran for a career-high 252 yards on just 15 carries for the Jayhawks.
Linebacker Curtis Bolton, who led the Sooners with 10 tackles against Kansas, said Oklahoma’s issues come even before tackling.
That’s a lot to fix in a short time, given what West Virginia brings to the table. Grier ranks third in the nation in pass efficiency, receiver David Sills V is tied for second nationally with 13 receiving touchdowns and Kennedy McKoy is coming off a career-best 148-yard rushing performance against Oklahoma State.
Gary Jennings has 692 yards and 11 touchdowns receiving and Marcus Simms has 44 catches for 682 yards.
Even with all that, Oklahoma has reason to be confident. The Sooners have won 16 straight November games dating back to 2014.
“This is how this one probably should come down to,” Riley said. “It’s kind of a perfect script for us, going and playing on the road, tough environment, good football team, lot of things on the line. That’s just the way we like it. These are the kind of games we’ve been able to win here for the last few years.
Coast Guard members from Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles stand by at a triage area during a joint agency mass rescue exercise in Port Angeles, Wash., Sept. 27, 2016. Federal, State, County and Canadian agencies responded to a simulated vessel taking on water after hitting a submerged object near Ediz Hook ...
Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Sealfon.
Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound’s extensive area of operations extends north to the challenging waters of the Strait of San Juan De Fuca and on any given day more than 400 passenger vessels transit the Puget Sound.
One of the Coast Guard’s many responsibilities is insuring the safety of international ferry vessels that traverse this heavily trafficked area. Coast Guard Sector Field Office/Air Station Port Angeles, located on Ediz Hook, Port Angeles, Washington, sits uniquely positioned to respond to situations that may develop ei...
Neoprene cold water immersion suits float in water near Ediz Hook Light in Port Angeles, Wash., Sept. 27, 2016, during a joint agency mass rescue exercise held in the area. Sixty life-saving suits were used to help simulate an actual response to the event. Volunteers from the Coast Guard Auxiliary acted as victims for ...
However, with the high volume of passengers carried daily across international waters, any potential disaster would quickly overwhelm current Sector Field Office/Air Station Port Angeles capabilities. To effectively fulfill its mandated mission, Sector Puget Sound is tasked to establish and maintain a Mass Rescue Opera...
The primary goal of a MRO is to adopt an all-hazard, capabilities-based approach to preparedness necessary to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from a maritime emergency which overwhelm local response capabilities.
The effectiveness of the Sector Puget Sound MRO plan was recently tested in late September by conducting a full-scale exercise in U.S. waters near Ediz Hook Light.
This exercise was initiated by the staff of the Sector Puget Sound contingency section that coordinated and put together an exercise planning team which consisted of Coast Guard surface assets, Coast Guard Auxiliary surface facilities and crew, multiple federal, state, and county agencies, and the Canadian coast guard ...
The mass rescue exercise scenario involved a fictional ferry travelling from Port Angeles to Victoria with 500 passengers aboard. Thirty minutes into the morning voyage, the vessel simulating striking a drifting cargo container and sustaining fatal damage, which required abandonment of the vessel. Within five minutes o...
Coast Guard and Clallum Fire Rescue personnel work together to assess simulated medical injuries on patients during a joint agency mass rescue exercise in Port Angeles, Wash., Sept. 27, 2016, after a ferry with 499 passengers aboard, struck a submerged object. The joint exercise is designed to better understand each ag...
Converging on the scene in real time was the Coast Guard Cutter Wahoo, two Coast Guard Response Boat-Mediums, two Coast Guard Auxiliary vessels, and Arrow Marine’s Seattle Arrow. Within an hour they were joined by the 47-foot Canadian rescue-lifeboat Cape Naden and a rescue helicopter.
All vessels and a rescue swimmer were involved in retrieving “survivors,” performing on-site triage, and expediting medical transport to the triage staging area located at Sector Field Office/Air Station Port Angeles and onto the Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
At the triage site, Auxiliary volunteers, who had moulage applied by local high school volunteers, were staged based upon type and severity of injury.
Bravo Zulu to Team Coast Guard and all participating agencies.
Sgt. Paul Lloyd, a search and rescue technician with the Royal Canadian Air Force, walks on the runway at Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, Wash., Sept. 27, during a joint agency mass rescue exercise. The Royal Canadian Air Force wings, located across Canada, provide military air resources in response to ap...
The Drum and Bell towers are situated at the northern end of the central axis of the Beijing Inner City to the north of Di' anmen Street.
The Drum Tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan, at which time it stood at eh very heart of the Yuan capital Dadu. At that time it was known as the Tower of Orderly Administration (Qizhenglou). In 1420, under the Ming Emperor Yongle, the building was reconstructed to the east f the original site and in...
The first level of the Drum Tower is a solid square terrace four meters high, 55.6 meters long and 30 meters wide. The front and rear of the terrace are pierced with three arched openings and the two sides with one opening each. The broad, squat multi-eaved wooden structure built atop the terrace is impressive with its...
The four bronze clepsydras, which once functioned in the Drum Tower, were reputed to date from the Song Dynasty. Set between these four devices was a large bronze gong, which through a series of mechanical devices was linked to the water clocks and sounded each quarter of an hour. When the system of telling time with i...
In ancient times the upper story of the building housed 24 drums, of which only one survives. Its head is made of an entire ox hide and is 1.5 meters in diameter. A sword score on the side of the drum is a souvenir of the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of Beijing in 1900.
In the Qing Dynasty, the hours were marked at night beginning at 7:00 p.m., a procedure that was popularly called "setting the watch." At this hour, the drums were sounded 13 times. After the watch had been "set" in this fashion, each subsequent two-hour interval was marked by a single drum beat. Civil and military off...
Close behind the Drum Tower stands the Bell Tower, a 33-meter-high edifice with gray walls and a green glazed roof. Each face of the base of the building is pierced with an arched opening and each side of the Bell Pavilion, which stands on the platform, has an arched gateway as well. The Bell Tower first came into use ...
The Bell Tower originally housed a huge iron bell. But because its tolling was not loud enough, this was replaced by a massive cast bronze bell over 10 inches thick that is in perfect condition today. The iron bell was moved to the back of the Drum Tower where it has remained for over 500 years. As recently as 1924, th...
According to legend, an official named Deng tried unsuccessfully for over a year to cast the bell. On the eve of the final casting, his daughter, fearing that further delays and loss of working time would bring blame on her father, decided to sacrifice her life in order to move the gods to bring about a perfect casting...
After the bell was installed, the chimes could be heard clearly and resonantly all across the city. But on stormy evenings, the bell would emit a desolate moaning sound similar to the word xie, which means "shoe" in Chinese. Recalling the old legend, mothers would comfort their children with: "Go to sleep! The Bell Tow...
Pete Van de Putte — owner of Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company and husband of former state Sen. and San Antonio mayoral candidate Leticia Van de Putte — changed his mind Tuesday and decided to stop making and selling Confederate flags.
Screenshot of out-of-stock Confederate flags from Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company in San Antonio, Texas.
As major retailers abandoned sales of Confederate flag merchandise in the wake of the South Carolina church massacre, Pete Van de Putte — owner of Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company and husband of former state Sen. and San Antonio mayoral candidate Leticia Van de Putte — eventually decided Tuesday that his company will s...
When first contacted Tuesday, Van de Putte said he had no plans to stop manufacturing the Confederate banner. Later in the day, however, he said, "We've decided as an industry we don't need to fuel this fire. We're taking the product out completely."
Van de Putte said Dixie Flag will remove the flags immediately from the San Antonio store and its website.
Van de Putte's wife ran unsuccessfully last year for lieutenant governor as a Democrat. Earlier this month, she narrowly lost the runoff for mayor of San Antonio, a race in which her husband's flag-making store was briefly an issue. The San Antonio Express-News reported the business had more than $100,000 in tax liens ...
Retail powerhouses Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Sears have announced over the last few days that they will discontinue Confederate memorabilia as pressure mounts to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol following the murder of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston.
Yet sales of Confederate flags at Dixie Flag have jumped, Van de Putte said, and the store sold about 25 flags in one day compared with usual sales of about four a week.

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