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“It’s essentially a tax on transparency,” he said. |
Moeser said the fee could potentially give more reasons for corrupt officials to withhold records. |
“Imposing any kind of a user fee on public records like this would impose a significant burden on members of the public who are just trying to monitor government,” he said. |
Rich Robertson, a former journalist and owner of a Valley private investigation firm, said he’s concerned about placing a burden on all people just to deal with a few extreme cases. |
Robertson cited a case of an individual who was exonerated after he and other volunteers at the Arizona Justice Project were able to find information in public records that proved the man’s innocence after 38 years in prison. |
“Had this bill been in effect at that time, the sheriff’s office could have imposed substantial fees that would have likely been financially prohibitive to this group of volunteers to be able to go in and determine if this guy was wrongly convicted,” Robertson said. |
The Attorney General’s Office and the Arizona School Boards Association also registered their support for the bill. Other opponents included the Arizona Newspapers Association and Arizona Capitol Times Vice President and Publisher Ginger Lamb. |
It’s been more than seven decades since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but 91-year-old Albert Thomas’ memories of that day haven’t dimmed. He wants to make sure other Americans don’t forget the details either. |
Schepp’s protagonist is icy, methodical, ambitious and following in her famous father’s footsteps. When the head of the migration board is murdered — shot in his living room — Jana gets the assignment. |
There are plenty of suspects, along with a surprising child-sized handprint in the house (the couple had no children). The body of a young boy is found, with the murder weapon beside him, and letters carved into his body — a sure sign he was a victim of child trafficking. |
This opens dark, repressed childhood wounds for Jana as her investigation gets personal. |
Marked for Revenge, scheduled for March 2017, will be the second novel in the trilogy, and Schepp is at work on the third. |
Audio: Harlequin Audio, $39.99; narrated by Dallas-born actress Christine Lakin. |
Polish MEP Michal Tomasz Kaminski has called on EU's Ashton to step up Europe’s efforts to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization. |
Polish MEP Michal Tomasz Kaminski on Thursday called on EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to step up Europe’s efforts to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization after last week’s Bulgarian’s report that the Lebanese group was behind the terror attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas in July 2012. |
Ashton’s spokesman further conceded that outlawing the group, which the EU has long remained resistant to doing despite Israel and the U.S. having long ago designated it a terrorist group, was merely one of “several options” the EU had to consider. |
Calling for further clarification on the other available options at its disposal, Kaminski, who is a member of the Conservative group in the EU parliament, contended that “our failure to properly define Hizbullah allows the terrorist group to operate in Europe and use our member states as bases for money-laundering and... |
Bulgaria's announcement last week that Hizbullah was being the attack in Burgas last July, in which five Israelis were murdered, led to renewed calls from Washington and Israel on the 27-nation European Union to designate the group a "terrorist" organization. |
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the EU to follow Washington's lead by designating Hizbullah as terrorists in a move that will notably lead to a crackdown on its fund-raising activities. |
Shortly after the Burgas bombing, the EU decided not to list Hizbullah as a terrorist group. |
Cypriot Foreign Minister Gujarat Cossack-Marcolis said at the time that "there is no consensus on the issue, because Hizbullah also has an active political arm." |
She added that the matter is open for reconsideration if "tangible evidence" that Hizbullah is involved in terrorist activity can be brought. |
Kaminski has by no means been the sole European parliamentary critic of the EU’s reticence to definitely act on the Hizbullah threat, EJP reported. |
German Christian Democrat and parliamentary foreign affairs committee chairman Elmar Brok was quoted in the German daily Hamburger Abdendblatt as saying that the group “belongs on the EU terror list,” the report said. |
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, hit out at the EU on Tuesday for its failure to add Hizbullah to its list of terror organizations. |
“The Burgas terrorist attack demonstrated once again that the organization's activities are not limited to the Middle East and that its fingerprints can be found on five continents - from Kenya to Argentina, Thailand, India, Europe and the United States. The thesis that Hizbullah has a military arm and a political arm ... |
Sept. 19, 2017 — Over the summer there was a scare that surfaced, claiming that popular content hosting service SoundCloud was going to be shutting down. Over the years, the service has been home to thousands of content creators who have near countless hours of music, podcasts and other content hosted on their site. Lu... |
“There’s an insane amount of noise about SoundCloud in the world right now. And it’s just that, noise. The music you love on SoundCloud isn’t going away, the music you shared or uploaded isn’t going away, because SoundCloud is not going away. Not in 50 days, not in 80 days or anytime in the foreseeable future. Your mus... |
Ljung brings a calm to rumors of an impending storm, but there’s still reason to think things may not be all rosy behind the scenes. The service recently laid off more than 170 employees and shut down two offices. Sure, companies do things like this to trim expenses, but sometimes the trimming never stops until the com... |
However, for now, everything on SoundCloud is safe. |
For smart cloud users, the incident should serve as a warning. All cloud firms are businesses and businesses fail all the time. SoundCloud is just one of many third-party services that content creators use to host their content. If any of these services were to shut down, those who have content hosted on the site would... |
Myke Ladiona, co-host of The Geekdom Fancast along with his friend and fellow geek Derek Vigeant, utilize Libsyn to host their show. |
Ladiona says that he has all of the old episodes of The Geekdom Fancast on his computer’s hard drive, but not everyone plans for the future that way. Even so, anyone with backups would likely have a costly and complicated move to another service, if their current service shut down. |
If any one of these services were to suddenly shut down, it would be especially problematic for podcasters and lower-level musicians, who are often not generating a profit from their content. As Ladonia points out, many services charge once a certain storage limit is reached. That can get expensive as a content library... |
Haskin has been at this for many years and understands the value in having multiple backups, but podcasters and many musicians don’t always plan ahead. It is easy to take for granted that services like SoundCloud will just be there indefinitely. As far as Haskin is concerned, it isn’t a third-party service’s responsibi... |
Buzzsprout is another very popular hosting site for podcasters. Though they couldn’t provide exact numbers, Alban Brooke, head of marketing for Buzzsprout’s parent company says that they have “more than 30,000 and less than 100,000” users. So what would happen if their site suddenly had to shut down due to unforeseen c... |
But Brooke also wants to make it clear that there is no reason to think their service is in any jeopardy. |
Content creators using SoundCloud, Buzzsprout, Libsyn or any other popular service don’t need to be concerned at the moment. But this recent scare could serve as a reminder to those using such services that they may not always be there. It is good to have a backup plan in place and make sure that the creators take it u... |
While SoundCloud and other such services are safe, for now, that’s only temporary. Things change and one of these services will inevitably go under at some point. And unlike Buzzsprout, they may not have the luxury of giving several months for their users to move their files to a new location. So plan for the worst and... |
It’s time for China to get tough with North Korea. |
SHANGHAI — Over the last two months, Beijing has conveyed its concerns to North Korea about conducting a nuclear test. Yet on Feb. 12, China’s neighbor detonated its third nuclear weapon — smaller and more powerful than the two that preceded it. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China was "strongly dissatisfied and res... |
China likely handles North Korea with kid gloves because it fears what would happen if the regime collapsed. If things turned bad, tens if not hundreds of thousands of refugees could flee across the border, destabilizing parts of northeastern China. North Korea’s eventual reunification with South Korea might lead to a ... |
And what thanks does China get in return? Lies, insults, and provocations. On Jan. 22, after the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2087 as a response to Pyongyang’s December "satellite" launch, North Korea responded by announcing that the six-party talks over its nuclear program have ceased to exist. ... |
North Korea’s threatening behavior, meanwhile, has made the region less stable. By firing artillery at South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, killing four people, North Korea has pushed the envelope too far, undermining China’s interests in keeping Northeast Asia stable. And now, this third nuclear test not only disc... |
Let’s face it: China has reached a point where it needs to cut its losses and cut North Korea loose. |
But how? China can’t force North Korea to change its behavior simply by political means. North Korea is one of the most isolated states in the world, and its independence is a point of pride. While the regime survives due to its extraordinary resilience, China’s economic help is an extremely important external source o... |
So, what is to be done? Through the Security Council, China should vote for tougher sanctions, while at the same time reducing aid and trade with its erstwhile ally. By acting multilaterally to curb North Korea, China could also strengthen its nonproliferation partnership with the United States and other countries in t... |
China is dedicated to peace in East Asia. By pursuing its own national interest, China has also provided regional public goods, and has prevented a humanitarian disaster in North Korea. But Pyongyang’s search for an independent deterrent indicates that it doesn’t wish to put its security in Beijing’s hands. So why shou... |
The loss of this "ally" would be little felt in Beijing. China’s view of its security interests has been much broadened over the last few decades, and with relations with Taiwan fast improving, North Korea’s value as a security buffer has much diminished. And in an age where global public opinion matters more than ever... |
At this stage, it’s unlikely that North Korea’s pattern of provocations will end. North Korea’s repeated challenges have, time and again, made it a liability rather than an asset. Because it disrespected and hurt China’s national interests, North Korea must pay a severe price. |
Yeah Annie, we’re surprised you’re back too. |
Friends, Comic-Con has begun! You might have noticed, because there is news everywhere, just spilling out in all its glorious pop culture glory. Almost too much! If you need a quick catch up on everything so far, have no fear: io9 is here to do its job and tell you what’s up with the latest from San Diego. |
And There's Even More to Come! |
Sweeping changes are needed to fix deep-seated problems in the Immigration Department and the detention system, a damning report has found. |
The inquiry into the wrongful detention of the Australian resident Cornelia Rau recommends a shake-up of the department to rid it of systemic "cultural" and administrative flaws. |
The 208-page report by the former federal police commissioner Mick Palmer, published yesterday, found that even though immigration officials were justified in locking up Ms Rau, who was mentally ill, they did not understand their powers of detention and lacked "even basic investigative … skills". |
"There is a serious cultural problem within [the department's] immigration compliance and detention areas: urgent reform is necessary," Mr Palmer said. "Many of [the department's] compliance officers have received little or no relevant formal training and seem to have a poor understanding of the legislation they are re... |
The Prime Minister, John Howard, yesterday apologised to Ms Rau and Vivian Alvarez Solon, an Australian citizen the department wrongly deported to the Philippines in 2001. |
"Both Cornelia Rau and Mrs Alvarez are owed apologies for their treatment, and on behalf of the Government I give those apologies to both of those women who were victims of mistakes by the department," he said. |
Mr Palmer was highly critical of the Immigration Department and the mental health care it provided to Ms Rau during her months in a Queensland jail and then Baxter detention centre in South Australia. But he did not blame individuals, finding staff were overwhelmed by heavy workloads amid an overly defensive culture. |
Instead he called for the retraining of immigration officers and a national missing persons database. He also criticised the Government's contract with the company Global Solutions Limited to run detention centres as "fundamentally flawed". |
The Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, said the Government accepted the criticisms and would implement Mr Palmer's recommendations. |
"The Government acknowledges these mistakes and accepts that changes need to be made within the department," she said. |
Last night Ms Rau's sister Christine said: "Our view has always been that if Cornelia and Vivian had been treated as people, rather than as cases within a rigidly regulated system, a lot of the mistakes in their wrongful detention and deportation could have been avoided." |
George Newhouse, the lawyer for Ms Alvarez - who is still in Manila and still negotiating with the Government over compensation - rejected Mr Howard's apology as "crocodile tears". |
Despite the errors in the system, Mr Howard said, "public confidence overall in the administration of the Government's migration program remains very strong". |
Another 201 cases of wrongful detention are being investigated by the Ombudsman. |
Mr Howard resisted calls to sack Senator Vanstone, but two senior officers in the department are to be moved. One deputy secretary, Ed Killesteyn, will shift to Veterans' Affairs, and another, Philippa Godwin, will become deputy managing director in the Health Insurance Commission. |
The department's former head, Bill Farmer, has been named as ambassador to Indonesia. |
Mr Howard said he accepted the thrust of Mr Palmer's recommendations but he would not implement all of them. |
He would not guarantee Australians would not be wrongly detained or deported in future. Anyone "who gives a guarantee that you won't have a mistake in the future is misleading you". |
Sarah Colleen Pabon and Jerry Evan Abasto are engaged to be married in October. |
Sarah Colleen Pabon and Jerry Evan Abasto are engaged to be married. |
Abasto proposed Aug. 24 on Ocean Beach in San Francisco in the presence of the couple's friends and family. |
The bride-to-be is the daughter of Laura Pabon of Gardnerville and Paul Pabon of Dayton. |
She is a Douglas High School graduate who works as a leasing agent for The Dinerstein Companies in Reno. |
The groom-to-be is the son of John and Debbie Abasto of Oklahoma City, Okla. |
He is a Hug High School graduate, and is pursuing a degree in graphic design from Full Sail University. He is employed as a scheduler in radiology at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center. |
An October 2014 wedding is planned. |
Defender Per Mertesacker maintains Arsenal must put all thought of tackling Bayern Munich in the Champions League out of their minds as they look to book safe passage into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup against Blackburn. |
The Gunners host the npower Championship side just four days ahead of their showdown with the Bundesliga giants at Emirates Stadium. It is the start of a crucial period which could well define Arsenal's season, as they go to Tottenham on March 9 and then host Everton before travelling to the Allianz Arena for the secon... |
German centre-back Mertesacker said as part of adidas 'football Hangout on air' webchat: "We still have an important cup game on Saturday (first) - we absolutely want to advance in the FA Cup, that is why the preparations for Bayern are not that intense yet." |
He added: "However, beginning on Sunday the preparations for Tuesday's match will be extreme. Bayern are doing superb this year and that is a big challenge for us, but we are looking forward to both legs." |
The Germans have not lost since October 28 and have opened up a massive 15-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, maintaining their ominous form with four straight wins following the winter break. |
Former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann believes his old club will face a real challenge to progress further in the competition against last season's beaten Champions League finalists. |
Writing in a column for the Sport Bild magazine, Lehmann said: "For an English team it is the worst draw to play a German team directly after the winter break. |
"In addition to that Bayern has not been really challenged for once yet in the second half of their season. The only stress they have is the one at the training sessions." |
However, Lehmann, 43, believes Arsenal have the players to cause Bayern problems. |
He added: "(Bayern coach) Jupp Heynckes will warn his players of the speed that Arsenal still can play in the offensive game, especially Theo Walcott but also more and more Lukas Podolski can be very dangerous. Vice-versa, Arsenal will look to stop Bayern creating their good positioning game from which they can acceler... |
Mayim Bialik isn't just a leading cast member of the hit CBS show "The Big Bang Theory," she's also a neuroscientist and strong advocate for helping develop science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) interest in the United States. Bialik plays the role of "Amy Farrah Fowler," a neurobiologist, enjoying her... |
Bialik continues to strengthen her leadership in driving interest in US STEM programs, especially for women trying to break into the field. |
"Right now, research shows that more than half of high school freshmen who declare interest in STEM-related fields lose interest by the time they graduate," Bialik recently told TweakTown. "For female students, the problem continues into college. One-third of women who enter STEM bachelor's degree programs switch their... |
There has been a large effort to try and generate interest in STEM fields for women, though it has been a continued uphill battle. |
"Girls' interest in STEM must be nurtured in high school and beyond so it is maintained throughout their education and professional lives. One of the best ways to do that is by introducing them to real-life role models who can show them how to succeed in STEM-related careers. Young women can then envision themselves as... |
Women currently make up just 24 percent of STEM fields in the United States, with the US government and large private sector companies trying to change the current landscape. Bialik partnered with DeVry University to promote the HerWorld program, explaining the benefits of STEM fields, and how women can personally succ... |
"I am partnering with DeVry University's HerWorld program to help show high school girls how they can make a difference in their world throughout science, technology, engineering and math." |
In such an important effort, there is a sense of urgency to help stimulate interest in an industry that is poised to remain male-dominated in the US - and throughout the western world - but Bialik has a clear passion for her off-screen effort. |
"I don't feel pressured; I feel empowered to promote STEM because I have been involved in the sciences in such an empowering way since I was in high school. I was fortunate enough to have a STEM role model - my tutor while I was on the set of "Blossom" - who encouraged me to pursue my interest in science, so I hope sha... |
"I love seeing and experiencing the world through the lens of science and I am incredibly passionate about the opportunities that STEM-related fields can present to young women." |
With former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva barred from running by electoral authorities following a corruption conviction, far-right congressman Bolsonaro leads the polls. The former army captain has tapped into deep unease in Brazil, which is reeling from a sweeping corruption scandal and is struggling to grow ag... |
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