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Our Facebook feedsWimbledon Guardian
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Rugby Union: Weybridge Vandals fortunes set to turn
Comeback: Weybridge Vandals lock Daryl Bryant could be set for a return to the starting line-up after a lengthy break from the game
Weybridge Vandals coach Aidan Turns remains upbeat over his side’s battle against the London Division Two South West drop, writes Tim Redigolo.
The Vandals sit two places off the bottom of the table in 10th on 20 points, two points clear of Andover and 12 points behind last weekend’s opponents Warlingham.
Turns’ side ran out 13-5 victors last Saturday thanks to captain Cassian Bramham-Law’s try, and Turns was pleased his side’s hard work over the Christmas is beginning to pay off.
“We’ve been working very hard on a lot of things since Christmas and the boys have put in a real shift in trying to work on improving and getting better,” he said.
“I think we’ve not quite got our rewards. We’ve had some really close results, pushing teams very close, but not quite got over the line, so the win against Warlingham was a welcome result.”
Despite his team sitting so close to the foot of the table Turns is confident Vandals will be a Division Two side next season.
“I am confident of avoiding relegation. We’ve got a team that’s good enough to stay up,” he added.
“We’re in a very competitive league. We could probably beat anyone in the league, but also lose to anyone in the league, depending on the conditions, how we perform and what personnel we can field.”
Vandals suffered an injury blow during last weekend’s clash, losing flanker Harry Brooks until May after he suffered a broken lower leg following a freak accident four minutes into the game.
“Harry will be a big loss. Luckily we’ve got some guys who give us strength in depth,” said Turns ahead of tomorrow’s visit of second-placed Winchester.
In the same division, leaders Cobham tightened their grip on the title with an 85-3 thrashing of bottom-club Basingstoke at Fairmile Lane.
Director of rugby Steve Pope’s side are now 16 points clear at the top, although third-placed London Cornish – who Cobham travel to on April 9 – have two games in hand.
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Google's Paid Clicks Continue to Slide: ComScore
Author: Betsy SchiffmanBetsy Schiffman
Investors dropped shares of Google like a hot potato this morning. The stock, which closed at $458.19 last night, was hovering around $445, when last we checked, and it traded as low as $441 earlier.
So why are Google shareholders' panties in a bunch? A comScore report suggests paid clicks (which measures the number of times people click on ads that are sponsored by advertisers) dropped 3 percent sequentially in February.
Although paid clicks were up 3 percent, year-over-year, that still represents a dramatic falloff from the 30 percent to 40 percent growth rates of 2007, according to Bernstein Research analyst Jeffrey Lindsay.
"We think that these earlier growth rates reflect Google's large search share gains over Yahoo and Microsoft at that time and also paid search's gains over display advertising . . . Now we believe the primary driver of Google's paid click growth is the fundamental shift of offline advertising to online," Lindsay wrote in a client note.
The comScore report suggests that the downturn in paid clicks in January wasn't an anomaly, and that paid clicks could continue to deteriorate. Still, ThinkEquity's William Morrison argues that it's something of a crock. He still expects a "solid quarter" despite weak paid click data.
"Through the course of the quarter, we have spoken with more than 30 search engine marketers that we believe spend approximately $1 billion annually on paid search marketing, or approximately 10 percent of the U.S. search advertising market. While January 2008 was clearly a slow month for search advertising, according to our research, we believe that the market has rebounded in February and March," Morrison wrote in a client note.
Photo: Photo: Bettmann/Corbis
Doubts Spread About Google's Q1 Earnings
How Long Before Google Shares Fall Below $400?
No, the Sky's Not Falling on Google, Says ComScore
Google Loses Its Gleam, Shares Get Trashed
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FHP: Man who caused fatal wreck involving teacher, granddaughter had suspended license
Updated: 7:36 AM EDT Nov 1, 2016
Bob Kealing
WEBVTT SUNDAY, DID NOT HAVE A VALID LICENS REPORTER: THE HIGHWAY PATROL SAYS THE YOUNG MAN SUSPECTED OF CAUSING THIS TRIPLE FATAL ACCIDENT 22-YEARS-OLD. HAD HIS LICENSE SUSPENDED A YEAR AGO AND KNEW HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BEHIND THE WHEEL IN THE FIRST PLAC >> HE DID NOT HAVE ANY REASON BEING BEHIND THE WHEEL OF ANY VEHICLE. 56-YEAR-OLD DEBRA IRWIN AND HER 3-YEAR-OLD GRANDDAUGHTER FALLON PAINTER WERE AT THE TOP OF THEIR FAMILY DRIVEWAY ON HIGH CREST COURT WHEN TROOPERS SAY A 2011 JAGUAR DRIVEN BY 22-YEAR-OLD JAMES ERIC WALKER OF SANFORD PLOWED IN TO THE WE BELIEVE RIGHT NOW THIS CRASH WAS CAUSED BY THE JAGUAR LOSING WE KNOW SHE WAS STATIONARY. THE HIGHWAY PATROL SAYS IRWIN WAS TAKING HER GRANDDAUGHTER TO CARVE PUMPKINS FOR HALLOWEEN. AT MONTVERDE ACADEMY WHERE IRWIN WAS A SCIENCE TEACHER ADMINSTRATORS SAID IN AN EMAIL WE ARE SADDENED BY THE LOSS OF OUR LOWER SCHOOL ASSISTANT DEBBIE IRWIN AND HER GRANDDAUGHTER AND LOWER SCHOOL STUDENT FALLON PAINTER THEY WERE DEEPLY LOVED BY THE MONTVERDE ACADEMY COMMUNITY. DEBBIE WORKED FOR THE ACADEMY FOR 9 YEARS AND TRULY LOVED HER CO-WORKERS AND THE STUDENTS SHE WORKED WITH. TROOPERS SAY WALKER WAS DRIVING AN UNREGISTERED CAR HE DID NOT OWN. WE CONTINUE TO HAVE AN ISSUE WITH DRIVERS THAT ARE SUSPENDED GETTING BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL CAUSING A SEROUS CRASH OR A
Three people, including a 3-year-old girl, were killed Sunday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash on County Road 455 in Howey-in-the-Hills, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The crash was reported on CR 455 near State Road 19 around 3:45 p.m. Troopers said 22-year-old James Eric Walker of Sanford was eastbound on County Road 455 in a Jaguar when he lost control and crashed into an Infiniti SUV driven by Debra Irwin, 56, of Montverde. Irwin and Walker were pronounced dead at the scene. Irwin’s granddaughter, Fallon Painter, was pronounced dead at Arnold Palmer Hospital, the FHP said. Irwin was a science teacher at Montverde Academy. Grief counselors were at the school Monday. Administrators released a statement via email: "We are saddened by the loss of our Lower School assistant Debbie Irwin and her granddaughter and Lower School student Fallon Painter. They were deeply loved by the Montverde Academy community." Troopers say Walker had a suspended license dating back to July of 2015. "He did not have any reason to be behind the wheel of any vehicle," said FHP Sgt. Kim Montes.
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. —
Three people, including a 3-year-old girl, were killed Sunday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash on County Road 455 in Howey-in-the-Hills, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The crash was reported on CR 455 near State Road 19 around 3:45 p.m.
Troopers said 22-year-old James Eric Walker of Sanford was eastbound on County Road 455 in a Jaguar when he lost control and crashed into an Infiniti SUV driven by Debra Irwin, 56, of Montverde.
Irwin and Walker were pronounced dead at the scene. Irwin’s granddaughter, Fallon Painter, was pronounced dead at Arnold Palmer Hospital, the FHP said.
Irwin was a science teacher at Montverde Academy.
Grief counselors were at the school Monday. Administrators released a statement via email: "We are saddened by the loss of our Lower School assistant Debbie Irwin and her granddaughter and Lower School student Fallon Painter. They were deeply loved by the Montverde Academy community."
Troopers say Walker had a suspended license dating back to July of 2015.
"He did not have any reason to be behind the wheel of any vehicle," said FHP Sgt. Kim Montes.
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© 2018 West County Democratic Club
Download a copy of our Bylaws.
BYLAWS WCDC revised 2.11.16-1.pdf
West County Democratic Club
The name of this organization shall be West County Democratic Club, herein after
referred to as WCDC is comprised of the following: The cities of El Cerrito, Pinole, Richmond,
San Pablo, Hercules; and the unincorporated areas of El Sobrante, Kensington,
North Richmond, Montalvin Manor, Tara Hills, Rodeo, Port Costa and Crockett.
Purpose and Goals
Section 1. The purpose of the WCDC is to promote participation in government and civic affairs.
Section 2. The goals of this organization shall include, but not be limited to,
participating in the delegate and committee process at all levels of the Democratic Party;
identifying and promoting Democratic candidates; registering Democratic voters which includes
promoting fair and equal access to precinct sites; taking appropriate public stands on
issues relevant to our communities; and posing, supporting, and when necessary,
opposing legislation relevant to the community.
Section 3. The goal of the WCDC shall include the development and training of new emerging
Democratic leaders.
Full Voting Membership and Dues
Section 1. Full membership shall be open to all registered Democratic voters who work
or live in the West Contra Costa County and who support the purposes and goals as stated in
Article II.
Section 2. Dues shall be paid annually for the following members: $20.00 for
individual general members, $5.00 for students, and $5.00 for seniors aged 55 or over.
Section 3. A member is in good standing when his or her application has been
accepted and the dues have been paid according to Article III, Section 2.
Non-Voting Associate Membership
(Individuals, Small Business, Corporate or Group)
Section 1. Associate Membership shall be open to all individuals, small business and
corporations who support the purposes as stated in Article II.
Section 2. Dues:
a. Small Business- $125.00 per year.
b. Corporate- $250.00 per year. c.
Group- $125.00 per year.
d. Individual - $20.00
Section 3. An associate member who does not live or work in the West Contra Costa County is
in good standing when his or her application has been accepted and the dues have been paid
according to Article IV, Section 2.
Section 4. Applications for membership shall be on a form that states the goals and purposes
of the WCDC.
Section 5. Associate members shall have limited privileges as defined below:
a. Will receive all notices of this organization.
b. May attend all meetings of the organization and participate in any
deliberations.
c. May not vote on any issues before the full membership.
d. May not hold an office.
e. May volunteer to participate in committees of this organization.
Section 1. The general membership meetings shall be held on the second Thursday of the month.
Section 2. Special and emergency meetings may be called by the Chapter President, a majority
of the WCDC Executive Board, or by petition of those members in good standing.
Petitioners must consist of at least 10% of the total membership or a minimum of 9 members in
good standing.
Section 3. Notice of the date, time, location, and the proposed agenda for all meetings
shall be mailed by the secretary of his or her designee at least 10 days prior to the date of the
Section 4. 10% of the membership or a minimum of 9 members in good standing,
three of which must be executive officers, shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of
voting at any meeting of the general membership.
Section 5. Unless otherwise specified in these bylaws, meetings shall be governed by
Roberts Rules of Order.
This organization shall have the following organizational structure:
Section 1. The Executive Board:
The Executive Board shall meet monthly and exercise all its powers on the behalf of the
WCDC. It shall be composed of the following: officers duly elected by the membership or
appointed by the President to fill a vacancy; Chairpersons of all Standing Committees; and the
immediate past president. The Executive Board shall develop an annual budget for the fiscal
year. The fiscal year shall be defined as January 1 through December 31.
Section 2. The WCDC shall be composed of all members in good standing. It shall
receive and decide and vote on all recommendations from the standing committees and
special committees, and the Executive Board.
Section 3. Standing Committees:
a. Any of the following Standing Committees shall be established to advise and report
to the Executive Board at its monthly meetings and at general membership monthly
(1) Issues & Legislation
(2) Youth Issues
(3) Special Events/Fundraising
(4) Political Organization; Candidate Search, Development and Endorsement; and
Voter Development
(5) Publicity/Public Relations
(6) Finance
(7) Membership
b. Standing Committee members and chairs of these committees shall be
appointed by the President of the WCDC with the concurrence of the
Executive Board no later than August of every year.
c. Additional Standing Committees may be formed by majority vote of the
members who attend a general meeting.
d. Members of a Standing Committee are required to attend Standing Committee
meetings; three consecutive absences of a Standing Committee meeting without a
valid excuse may subject that member to removal from the Standing Committee by
the Chair with concurrence of the Executive Board. Illness or temporary absences
from the county shall constitute a valid excuse.
e. Standing Committee Chairs or an alternate shall regularly attend Executive
Committee meetings.
Section 4. Duties:
a. The Issues & Legislation Committee shall keep the membership informed on
significant issues and pending legislation, research legislation which needs to be
developed, and shall arrange for interaction with public office holders.
b. Youth Issues (To be defined by this committee).
c. The Special Events/Fundraising Committee shall plan, coordinate, and
implement fundraising subcommittees to execute specific events.
d. The Political Organization Committee shall be responsible for planning and organizing
grassroots political activities including voter registration, get-out- the-vote, precinct
organization, mailing list compilation and Democratic Club development.
The Candidate Search & Development Committee shall continuously search for,
identify and advise persons who would qualify as Democratic candidates for public
office. It shall also identify and promote Democratic candidates. This function is not to
be construed as an endorsement.
The Voter Development & Education Committee shall work with the Political
Organization Committee in an effort to register voters; promote citizenship as
a means to register voters; educate the general community about the political
process; and educate the general community about Democratic issues.
The Publicity/Public Relations Committee shall be responsible for planning and
coordinating public relations, Club newsletters; outreach to community constituencies.
Further, the committee shall also be responsible for all printed materials in consultation
with appropriate committees and approval of the Executive Committee.
e. The Finance Committee shall be responsible for the planning and oversight of the
annual budget and shall make recommendations for the management of SCLDC
assets. The Treasurer may be a member of this committee.
f. The Membership Committee shall be responsible for recruitment of new
members and for keeping a membership roster.
Section 5. Chartered Membership:
a. This organization qualifies as a chartered member of the Contra Costa County
Democratic Central Committee upon receipt of:
(1) A list of 20 members in good standing.
(2) Dues for at least 20 members in good standing.
(3) Notice of this organization's liaison for purposes of communication. b.
The annual dues to be a chartered member of the Contra Costa County
Democratic Central Committee will be paid from the WCDC treasury.
c. The WCDC shall operate autonomously although it is a chartered member of
the Contra Costa County Democratic Central Committee.
Endorsement Procedure
(adopted 3.10.16)
No Elected Official shall be elected as an officer during their election year
Section 1. President:
The term of the office of a President shall be set at two years. The President/Chair shall be
spokesperson for the Chapter. The President shall preside over all the general meetings of this
organization. The President shall participate as an ex-officio member of all committees, with the
power to vote in the event of a tie vote, and shall have such other powers and duties as may be
prescribed by the Executive Board, or by the bylaws, including the power to appoint committee
chairpersons and a liaison in consultation with the Executive Board.
Section 2. Vice-President:
There shall be a Vice-President elected to serve a term of office of two years. The Vice- President
shall exercise the responsibilities of the President upon request of the President, and act in his/her
behalf in chairing general meetings.
Section 3. Recording Secretary:
The Recording Secretary shall serve a term of two year and shall maintain correspondence as
directed. In addition, the Recording Secretary shall be responsible for the distribution of the
minutes and meeting notices, maintaining copies of all reports and documents pertaining to official
business involving this organization, as well as other duties that may be assigned by the
Chairperson. The Recording Secretary shall keep the official minutes and prepare a draft to
distribute at· the Executive Board and General Member Meetings for final approval.
Section 5. Treasurer:
The Treasurer shall serve a term set at two years. The Treasurer shall be an ex-officio member
of the Finance Committee. Also, the Treasurer shall maintain custody of all funds received by
this organization, shall maintain a bank account for deposit of funds, and make all disbursements.
The Treasurer shall at each Executive Board meeting and at each regular meeting, submit a report
of all receipts and expenditures. The Treasurer will prepare and submit all legally required financial
Section 6. Officer Accountability and Removal
Officers are required to attend all regularly called meetings; three consecutive absences of an
officer without a valid excuse may subject that officer to removal by majority vote of the members in
good standing in attendance during a general meeting. Illness or temporary absence from the county
shall constitute a valid excuse.
When removal is pending, the Executive Committee shall send written notification to the elected or
appointed member in question setting forth the reason(s) for the removal and the date of the
pending removal meeting. The officer in question shall receive a written notice, which states the
date of the removal meeting and the reasons for the pending removal. This officer shall have an
opportunity to make a statement prior to the vote for removal. Said person shall be given a
reasonable opportunity to appeal his or her removal.
Section 7. Financial Oversight
a. Expenditures over the proposed and approved budget shall be voted on as
1. Checks written over the amount of $250.00 and under the amount of
$1,000.00 must receive approval of the Executive Board and must be
co-signed by the President and the Treasurer. Any expenditure over the
amount of$1,000.00 must receive approval by the general membership;
and when approved, must be co-signed by the President and the
Treasurer. If the President is not available, then the Vice President may
co-sign.
2. An annual internal audit is to be conducted by the Executive Board. The
auditing committee shall be appointed by the President.
All resignations from office shall be submitted to the Chair, or to the Executive Committee if
the Chair is resigning, within 30 days of the date the resignation is to take meeting.
Section 8. Executive Board Meeting Quorum:
A quorum for Executive Board meetings shall consist of 3 Standing Committee Chairs
and three WCDC Officers serving at that time.
Section 1. The President shall appoint an ad hoc nominating committee three months prior to
the election of officers.
Section 2. The election of officers shall occur every other year during the month of July.
Section 3. The terms of officers shall be set as follows: the President, Vice-President
Secretary and Treasurer shall be set at two years.
Section 4. Any person wishing to have a vote in the WCDC shall be a full member in good
standing. Voting may be done in person, by written proxy, or mailed to the official WCDC
mailbox. If a ballot is mailed, it must be postmarked at least three working days prior to the
issue in question with the exception of Sundays and holidays.
Section 5. The President will appoint a Sergeant-at-Arms, i f needed to keep order during
elections.
Section 6. Voting shall be by secret ballot.
Section 7. In case of a tie, a new vote will be taken immediately.
Section 8. The election for each office shall be won by the candidate who receives a majority
of all votes cast for that office. If there is no candidate who receives a majority then the two (2)
candidates with the highest number of votes will be resubmitted to the membership.
Section 9. An ad-hoc Election Committee shall be formed prior to each annual election in
order to conduct the elections. It shall consist of a minimum of 3 members in good
standing. This committee shall collect and submit nominations for each office; formulate the
ballots; count the ballots; and reports the results.
Section 10. Selection of representatives to the California Democratic Party (CDP) Pre-endorsing
Conferences (revised 2.11.16)
1. Club representatives shall be allocated as follows: one representative, resident in the
Assembly District and duly registered as a member of the Democratic Party, for each full
(not a fraction thereof) 20 members in good standing registered to vote in the Assembly
District who were listed on the roster submitted to the Contra Costa Democratic Party and
appropriate Regional Director of the CDP no later than July 1 of the year immediately prior
to the endorsing process.
2. For purposes of this Section:
a. Only members in good standing, who are registered Democrats, as of the July 1
deadline shall be included on the roster;
b. “Member in Good Standing” shall mean a member who’s dues are current, or have
been waived due to economic hardship;
c. The status of such members shall be certified by the Club’s President, Secretary
and Treasurer; and;
d. The Club’s representatives to any particular pre-endorsing conference be from the
roster described above and that the overall list of representatives to all
conferences be equally apportioned between men and women, to the extent
3. Said representatives shall be selected by majority vote of the membership in good
Amendments to the Bylaws
Section 1. The President may select one or more persons from the membership to
periodically review and update the bylaws and make any recommendations for amendments.
Section 2. Whenever practical, the membership should receive proposed changes to
these bylaws, in writing, at least two weeks before the meeting at which time they are to be
considered.
Section 3. A change in the bylaws may be approved by the affirmative vote of two- thirds
of those voting at a properly called meeting and at which a quorum is known to be present.
--oOo--
(adopted March 10, 2016)
Criteria for WCDC Endorsement:
All Races (Federal/State Partisan/Non-Partisan/Local Races)
Candidates must be a registered Democrat and meet at least one of the following criteria:
• resident of West County.
• dues paying member of WCDC.
• exemplary record of supporting the purpose and goals of the WCDC.
Voting Eligibility
• Dues paying members in good standing who live in the jurisdiction and who have been in good standing
for 30 days prior to voting.
• Request candidate to complete endorsement questionnaire.
• Invite the candidate to a candidate forum or general membership meeting to respond to member
questions. Candidates will be interviewed by a quorum of at least 15 members.
• Endorsement voting to take place immediately following the candidate interviews.
• Voting members must be in good standing for a period of at least 30 days prior to voting.
Threshold for endorsement
• The endorsed candidate must receive the vote of 60% of voting members present at the endorsement
or general membership meeting.
• A single vote is taken with each voter choosing one of the eligible candidates or “no endorsement”.
• All votes are public per the Democratic National Committee (DNC) By-Laws
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WANTED: Police looking for York woman they say hit man with metal pipe in robbery
Lamira Caprice Holton, 25, faces one count each of burglary, robbery and aggravated assault.
WANTED: Police looking for York woman they say hit man with metal pipe in robbery Lamira Caprice Holton, 25, faces one count each of burglary, robbery and aggravated assault. Check out this story on ydr.com: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/crime/2019/09/09/police-looking-york-woman-who-hit-man-metal-pipe-robbery/2262653001/
Ted Czech, York Daily Record Published 10:23 a.m. ET Sept. 9, 2019 | Updated 10:35 a.m. ET Sept. 9, 2019
York City Police are asking for help in tracking down a woman who they say beat a man with a metal pipe during a robbery in May 2018, according to an arrest warrant.
Lamira Caprice Holton, 25, of the 600 block of Courtland Street, York, faces one count each of burglary, robbery and aggravated assault and one count each of conspiracy to commit those crimes, the warrant states.
Just after 10:30 p.m. on May 15, 2018, York City Police responded to a home in the 600 block of East Market Street for an assault and once there, found blood on the home's steps and threshold of the front door.
More: A man allegedly attempted to hit a cop at York Fair. It took 11 officers to arrest him
Officers then spoke with victim Vernon Daniels, who said that just before the incident, he opened his rear door, because he was expecting company. Instead of his invited guests, waiting for Daniels were Holton, Devante Dalvin Shorts and a third woman he did not recognize. The warrant did not explain how Daniels knew Holton and Shorts.
Shorts, standing outside the house, punched Daniels in his face, knocking him backward into the kitchen. Shorts pursued Daniels inside and continued to hit him, according to the warrant.
Lamira Holton, wanted for burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. (Photo: Submitted)
"Daniels added Holton entered the kitchen at the same time, and began hitting him with a two to three foot long metal pipe," the warrant states. "Daniels' two year old son was present at the time."
More: Mom drives DUI with 3 kids in car, then tries to bribe cops with sexual favors, police say
Daniels said he was trying to defend himself and keep his son free of danger, but Shorts and Holton continued to attack him. He ran out his front door and into the street and when he returned, Holton, Shorts and the other woman were gone, according to the warrant.
Daniels said the unknown woman took a Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox from his home, the warrant states.
Police said Daniels suffered a cut above his left eye, a split lip and several bruises on his back from the attack.
Shorts, who faced similar charges to Holton, was arrested Sept. 7, 2018. His case proceeded to York County Court of Common Pleas, where the majority of the charges were dropped and on Sept. 5, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft. He was sentenced to 11 months, 15 days to 23 months in prison, according to dockets.
Anyone with information regarding this incident, or any of the individuals involved is asked to contact the York City Police Department using any of the following methods. Callers can remain anonymous. Please reference incident number 19036054.
York City Police Tip Line at 717-849-2204
York City Police Department at 717-846-1234 or 717-849-2219
Text information to “York tips” at 847411 (TIP411)
Instructions for using text tip line:
Enter number 847-411
start message with - yorktips
text your message
Read or Share this story: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/crime/2019/09/09/police-looking-york-woman-who-hit-man-metal-pipe-robbery/2262653001/
4-year-old boys need 17 crowns, police say
Fixing York Follow Ups: What are bandit signs?
Inspections: Red Lion Italian restaurant out
Report investigates sexual abuse among the Amish
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'Where are we living?' Livnat
Photo: Dana Kopel
Minister warns theater boycotters
If artists bring up political considerations, politicians may do same, intervene in art's content, Minister Livnat says
Ynet|Published: 09.02.10 , 13:40
Minister Limor Livnat is warning artists who refuse to perform beyond the Green Line that their conduct may prompt politicians to do the same and interfere in the work of artists.
Livnat's comments were made as the Knesset's Education, Culture, and Sports Committee discussed on Thursday the refusal of numerous Israeli artists to perform in the West Bank city of Ariel.
"The fact that you (artists) are bringing up political considerations, may lead us (politicians) to do the same and intervene in the content," said the education and culture minister.
Supporting Boycott
Yehoshua, Oz, Grossman back boycott of Ariel
Boaz Fyler
Prominent authors back actors' refusal to perform beyond Green Line. 'If settlers refuse to evacuate, they can stay and become Palestinian citizens,' Yehoshua says
"You are shooting yourselves in the foot," the Likud member added. "Boycotts of any kind are prohibited. You are not boycotting Ariel; you are boycotting its residents. You perform before an audience, not a city.
"I cannot recall a harsher public outcry than the one surrounding the letter," said the minister, referring to the letter in which a long line of actors and artists from all fields of the theater industry vowed not perform in Ariel.
"Thousands of talkbacks leveling harsh criticism at the petition's signatories have been posted," she said, "The people have spoken."
Livnat added, "Where are we living? In a democracy or a totalitarian state?"
Committee chairman Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) said during the meeting, "Actors are not technicians, they are public figures."
The controversial letter, which was addressed to the boards of the Cameri, Habima, Beit Lessin, Khan and the Haifa and Beersheba theatres, read, "We wish to express our disgust with the theater's board's plans to perform in the new auditorium in Ariel. The actors among us hereby declare that we will refuse to perform in Ariel, as well as in any other settlement. We urge the boards to hold their activity within the sovereign borders of the State of Israel within the Green Line."
Follow Ynetnews on Facebook
See all talkbacks "Minister warns theater boycotters"
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Beginner Game Design Course
Design your video game quick and easy
Use the course material to create your game
Share your game with friends and family
Zachary Berenger
My name is is Zack Berenger I’m the lead developer of the CMS game development company and also your instructor for this course. Our small team of three have created titles available on Steam and are currently in the works of a brand new game expected to launch in April of 2018!
Every enrolled student is taken very seriously and I’m available for contact if you may run into any coding issues. zack@codingmadesimple.com
I absolutely love teaching game development and have invested years of my personal time into making solid courses for programmers of all skill levels.
What You’ll be Building…
Hey it’s Zack the lead instructor of this game design course and today you’ll be building a complete video game from scratch using Game Maker Studio 2. The game you’re creating is called ‘Collect the Chicks’. The point of the game is to collect all of your chicks eggs without dying. This concept was one of the first video games I ever built when I was only 12 years old.
What is Game Maker Studio 2?
“YoYo Games is the home of GameMaker, the fastest and friendliest cross-platform game development technology out there. GameMaker Studio 2 has been completely redeveloped with usability and efficiency at its core, allowing developers to create games within a single code base and then publish them to run natively across multiple platforms including Android, iOS, HTML5, PS4, Xbox One, Windows Desktop, OS X, Ubuntu, Windows UWP.” – https://www.yoyogames.com/about
What You’ll be Learning…
Throughout this course you’ll be hammered with core fundamental programming techniques and challenges setup to make you think and create video games like a triple A developer. Here are a few topics we’ll touch on at the start of this course. View all of the curriculum below.
Importing and animating art assets
Directional player movement
Advanced shooting system
Introduction to paths
Building expansive levels
Building a health system
Building a Scoring System
Precise pixel to pixel collision system
Start Development Today!
After you’ve completed this course, you’ll have the necessary skills to start creating your own video games from scratch. I much look forward to your success as a game developer.
This course includes a free pixel art course!
Don’t stop at just learning the code. Personalize your game by creating your own art for them. use this free course and assets to help you get started!
Beginner Pixel Art for Games Course (13 page PDF eBook)
700+ copyright free sprite assets (Including assets from ‘So Much Blood’)
Resources for learning more about pixel art
$12.99 value
My name is Duane McNulty, I just wanted to let you know that this course has helped me out tremendously! The games I’ve created aren’t flashy shootem up type games but one’s to reinforce memorization. I teach Network Security classes primarily for the military and government agencies. Now, to express the value to me, since those two classes, Camp Pendleton and cape Cod, I’ve acquired some new clients and about $15K of additional work over the next couple of months and I think with the new project it can be even more successful.”
Thanks again Zack!
Duane McNulty
This course took me from complete unfamiliarity to using GameMaker studio and understanding game concepts in a very short amount of time. The thing that I appreciate the most about Zack’s courses is that he explains what he’s doing as he is going along, as well as talking through debugging and design decisions. I feel that this course has positioned me to be able to move forward in my game development career much faster than before, and I’m looking forward to his other courses.
Donald Wheeler
This (Game Maker) course truly helps me understand the code when using Game Maker. I love the course too bits. There’s no doubt that it’s aiming for beginners but it still helps if you ever need a better understanding of game development. With the random challenge’s throughout the course, it gives you time to practice and challenge yourself. Thank you for sharing this course with the world. I’m glad you did.
Daniel Cox
Aspiring Indie Game Developer, @ShadowDaniel6
Introducing Particle Designer 2.5.3
To create stunning particle effects in the game we’ll be using new software called Particle Designer. This was a program built in Game Maker itself and implements perfectly into any project. I use this software for my personal projects!
Where Particle Designer 1 and 2 were aimed to accompany Game Maker, a new version would focus on the generation of the effect as a graphic for any platform. For this to work properly, seemless transitions of the animations would be useful to make professional looking effects without the use of actual particles for certain situations. Another export option would be through code, which allows more control over the effect over time (timeline). By using a number of particles in sequences and durations, effects become more entertaining to the viewer.
The course modules will show up here when installed…
You will have lifetime access to the course immediately upon payment.
Do I need Game Maker Studio: 2 Professional Edition?
No, this course was designed to create your game without needing to purchase the full version of Game Maker Studio 2
What if I am unhappy with this course?
I never want to make you feel unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact me within the first 14 days of enrollment and I will give you a full refund.
Become a Game Developer Today!
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UPDATE: Brainerd Rec Center reopened after Wednesday evacuation after chlorine spill
CFD Captain Chuck Hartung says work was being done to the facility's pool when a 'splash scare' happened with chlorine.
Wednesday, May 29th 2019, 3:54 PM EDT by WRCB Staff
Thursday, May 30th 2019, 11:31 AM EDT
UPDATE: The Brainerd Recreation Center reopened Thursday morning after a chemical scare forced the evacuation of the building the day before.
PREVIOUS STORY: The Chattanooga Fire Department has evacuated the Brainerd Recreation Center due to a chemical scare on Wednesday afternoon.
It happened shortly after 2:00 p.m.
CFD Captain Chuck Hartung says work was being done to the facility's pool when a "splash scare" happened with chlorine.
Captain Hartung says the building has been evacuated as a precaution and crews are checking to see if the chemical poses any hazard.
No one has been hurt.
Stay with the WRCB app for updates to this story.
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The 4 R’s for Personalizing your Product Documentation
Posted by Adam Vinokoor July 2, 2019
Customer Experience, Personalization
You may have become so used to it that you take it for granted, but everywhere you look, you’re surrounded by personalized content – from your LinkedIn feed to your Amazon shopping experience to your Google Search results.
That’s because when it comes to digital experiences, personalization is a win-win strategy. For customers, it creates a more relevant and engaging experience, and for companies, it provides an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with them.
So why has product documentation been left behind? Why do its users – from support agents to programmers to IT professionals – often encounter documentation that makes searching for answers akin to finding a needle in a haystack? For example, in looking for an answer about a product, they might encounter a dozen “installation guides”, “setup guides” and “configuration guides”, and not even know where to start. And just to figure out where to start, they might need to search through each guide independently. Why are we making them work so hard?
Most companies are stuck with an outdated approach to publishing technical content – one that all but ignores how users actually search for and use that information. But personalization is finally finding its way into product documentation, creating new and improved ways for users to access and locate the content they need.
So what would personalization look like in a documentation portal? Before we get to that, let’s talk about the four basic principles of personalization strategy.
The 4 R’s of Personalization
There are four key components that any business can leverage to create a personalized digital experience for users:
Know your customers by gathering data about them – like their role, company, location, preferences, and which product of yours they use.
Keep a record of your customer’s history – like their browsing behavior, actions taken, and implicit interests.
Help them navigate the mounds of information by presenting content that’s uniquely relevant to them. This can come in the form of content recommendations, product announcements, cross-sell opportunities, and calls to action.
Personalize the experience so they get the content and options most relevant to them; this may include boosting or hiding results based on who they are, which product or version they’re using, or where they’re located.
The 4 R’s of Personalization (image courtesy of https://alidropship.com)
How ServiceNow personalizes their content
Now let’s put theory into action and see how ServiceNow, a billion-dollar IT services company, has used the 4 R’s to create a richer, more helpful, and more personalized content experience.
ServiceNow’s documentation portal is completely public, but a pop-up on the homepage encourages users to log in to improve their browsing experience. By logging in, they can set personal preferences like their location or the product or versions they wish to see content for. This is done via ServiceNow’s SSO system, and the portal will remember this information for future visits.
Users can log into the ServiceNow documentation
portal to enjoy a personalized experience.
This user information is then used to personalize the search and navigation experience, allowing ServiceNow to surface better content recommendations and provide a more relevant experience. For example, from that point onwards, the user will have a pre-selected filter that surfaces more relevant search results depending on what product version they’re using.
The portal will also present content recommendations based on the user’s profile, rather than simply showing the latest content, or menu options that may not even be relevant.
ServiceNow’s portal displays content and menu options based
on user preferences, such as product version (e.g. London).
In this case, a personalized approach means that users can also subscribe to certain topics and to receive a notification when each topic is updated. Not only does this proactively help users and make the content more versatile, but it also allows the company to monitor what users are most interested in so they can optimize content efforts accordingly.
As a final example, users can use the “Send Feedback” on each piece of content to submit their own questions or thoughts. This helps the company keep their content up to date, and even more importantly, helps users find the answers they need more quickly in the future.
As older methods give way to the new, personalization is a key driver behind the evolution of product documentation. To learn more about this shift and see personalization in action, check out Zoomin’s webinar What’s Up, Doc(S)? Bringing The Global Personalization Trend Into Documentation.
All product names, logos, brands and trademarks used on this page are property of ServiceNow.
Sign up to get the latest developments and news from Zoomin.
Transform your product content into a competitive advantage
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How to level up on B2B customer experience | Using data to build a better customer culture | Mastercard gives customers AR app to explore benefits
News and insights to advise your customer strategy
Customer Service Highlight
How to level up on B2B customer experience
Phil Britt, with the help of several business-to-business marketers, explores how to elevate B2B customer experience, including humanizing messaging, acting on customer feedback and understanding the need for a consistent team and wide-ranging strategy. "Building good B2B customer experience is all about being intentional with that experience throughout the entire lifecycle of your interactions with a new prospect or company," says Sendoso Chief Marketing Officer Dan Frohnen.
CMSWire (1/10)
Using data to build a better customer culture
Becoming customer-centric depends upon data-collection practices and maintaining cybersecurity, according to Danny Bluestone. It's also critical for an organization's leadership to ensure that insights about customers are shared liberally, he writes.
The Drum (free registration) (1/9)
Digital Trends & Transformation
Mastercard gives customers AR app to explore benefits
(Mastercard)
Mastercard revealed at CES 2020 that it's launching an augmented reality app for iPhones in the second quarter, and it features three AR experiences -- Peace of Mind, Experiences and Everyday Value -- that can be accessed by customers via scanning their cards. "By leveraging an intuitive AR design, cardholders can now easily find and fully explore their benefits that otherwise might have been overlooked," says Mastercard's Raja Rajamannar.
Next Reality (1/8)
Health insurers testing plan to expedite prior authorizations
A group of health insurance companies is testing the Fast Prior Authorization Technology Highway, which uses technology to expedite prior authorizations and gives doctors the ability to know whether a medication requires prior authorization and how much a patient's medication will cost before they leave the office. Many physician offices still manually obtain prior authorizations, and 83% of them recently surveyed by the Medical Group Management Association say it is their No. 1 burden.
Health Data Management (free registration) (1/6)
World Economic Forum warns of wide-scale threats ZDNet (1/15)
CRM trends to look out for in 2020 DestinationCRM (1/10)
Instagram tests browser messaging TechCrunch (tiered subscription model) (1/14)
Experts: More banks likely to limit third-party access to data
Industry experts say more financial services companies will likely follow PNC and JPMorgan Chase in tightening third-party access to banking data this year. Ray Walsh, a digital privacy expert at ProPrivacy.com, said such a move would improve privacy and security, but it could also lead companies to limit the number of services bank customers could attach to their accounts.
Banking Dive (1/7)
Protecting data privacy provides "competitive advantage"
(Pixabay)
Marketers need to take steps now to protect data privacy, experts say, as 2020 saw the implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act. "You might have to make some adjustments, but honestly, you'll be way ahead of other organizations, and you'll be realizing a competitive advantage which a lot of people lack today," says Kristina Podnar, a digital policy consultant.
Hotel vending machines that dispense Champagne
Guests at Lennox Miami Beach with a sudden taste for bubbly can turn to a vending machine stocked with three types of Champagne in 7-ounce bottles. The golden-hued machine requires a $30 token purchased from the front desk, but it comes with two flutes. New York's Lexington Hotel and Naples, Fla.'s Ritz-Carlton have similar vending machines.
TheTravel (1/13)
Public outreach, education help utilities' advance renewables
Utilities can avoid public opposition that can delay and ultimately result in the denial of renewables such as wind and solar by being aware of local ordinances, holding information sessions with local officials and hosting education sessions where the community and local leaders can learn about projects, write Alex Garel-Frantzen, Amy Antoniolli and Brett Cooper of law firm Schiff Hardin. Utilities should also create information-sharing websites and promote the economic benefits of proposed projects, they write.
The National Law Review (1/13)
T-Mobile extends 5G NR tests to more of 600 MHz band
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Federal Communications Commission has approved T-Mobile's request to broaden its testing of 5G New Radio technology across parts of the 600 MHz band for which it does not have a long-term license. T-Mobile received a two-year permit for tests in Las Vegas, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle in order to work with several vendors and test the technology in areas with large populations.
RCR Wireless News (1/10)
J.D. Power News
"Uniform process" for self-driving vehicle repairs would benefit drivers, insurance
With as complex as vehicles are, new technologies like self-driving vehicles are making them even more so, write J.D. Power's Kristin Kolodge and David Pieffer. To ensure consumers' confidence, such as for repairs, and to help repair shops and the insurance industry, automakers should "develop a uniform process and governance that all repair facilities can use to verify that any repairs for vehicles equipped with ADAS features are calibrated correctly."
Insurance Thought Leadership (9/30)
Industry Benchmarks | Advisory Services | Press Releases
Join the J.D. Power Mailing List
Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's.
Billy Wilder,
filmmaker, screenwriter, producer
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Revision as of 03:14, 23 August 2011 by Larry0011 (talk | contribs) (→Service Records)
United States U.S. Military U.S. Civil War North Carolina Military Records North Carolina in the Civil War
10 FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
U.S. Colored Troops Formed in North Carolina - this site searchable by regiment and surname
Compiled Service Records - The Compiled Service Records ($) (Fold3.com) of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the state of North Carolina are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available at no charge at National Archives research rooms. The compiled service records consist of an envelope containing card abstracts taken from muster rolls, returns, pay vouchers, and other records. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. For more information see Confederate Service Records.
United States. Adjutant General’s Office. Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M230. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1956. (Family History Library films 821768–810.) This source can help you determine if an ancestor served in the Civil War. The records are listed by regiment, then company. These films index the following records:
United States. Record and Pension Office. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of North Carolina. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M270. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1960. (Family History Library films 1381001–500 and 1447001–80.) These microfilms have cards with Civil War service information about individual soldiers. The records are listed by regiment, battalion, or company.
FamilySearch Historical Record Collections[edit | edit source]
An online collection containing this record is located in FamilySearch.org
A wiki article describing this collection is found at:
North Carolina Confederate Soldier's and Widow's Pension Applications (FamilySearch Historical Records)
Retrieved from "https://wwwp.familysearch.org/wiki/en/index.php?title=North_Carolina_in_the_Civil_War&oldid=719653"
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Going Big and Bad: Custom PC Makers Build Hot Rods for 4K Gaming
João-Pierre S. Ruth
the way resolution is measured. For example, the benchmark for full high-definition is 1,080-pixel (1080p) vertical resolution. Depending on who does the measuring (not everyone gauges this exactly the same way), 4K resolution offers double or quadruple the density of full HD screens. “Imagine four 1080p monitors stitched together and displaying one screen,” Santos says. “That’s what 4K is.”
While the makers of custom PCs say they can build machines that run 4K content smoothly, they question when rival devices will catch up. “In the console space, 4K gaming is seven years away,” Santos says. “The new consoles [Xbox One and PlayStation 4] won’t do native 4K games.” (Native 4K games have yet to hit the market).
Falcon Northwest, like its peers, offers custom paint jobs for their machines. (photo courtesy of Falcon Northwest)
Reeves also sees 4K content pushing the custom market forward. Falcon Northwest, with its Mach V line, is regarded in many circles as the progenitor of custom PC gaming machines; it was founded in 1992. Reeves says that casual games run just fine on tablets and phones, but the advent of 4K video represents a substantial evolution for the medium. “For 17 years, resolution increased gradually, then the TV industry went crazy for 1080p,” he says.
The introduction of the high-end liquid crystal Retina Display in Apple products, he says, pushed the technology further. Reeves says Hollywood studios should be able to switch relatively easily to 4K resolution for video content on future Blu-ray players and Ultra HD televisions. The gaming market though will need hefty hardware, by his assessment, to achieve that level of resolution. “It takes a lot of PC horsepower,” he says. Two $800 video cards working in tandem would be the minimum to run 4K games, he says though more expensive graphics processing power is necessary to play the content smoothly. “This is the biggest leap in PC technology in a while,” he says.
Origin PC’s Piedra also says 4K gaming may elevate awareness of the custom PC sector. “These next generation consoles like to say they are 4K-ready—for video, which is very different,” he says. “A cell phone can do video playback in 4K. You don’t need a lot of processing or GPU for that.” Getting 4K resolution in a game, especially with fast-paced action, requires hardware in a machine that easily costs $4,000 to $5,000, he says. “There’s no way any tablet or console could ever do 4K gaming without heavy-duty graphics cards or CPUs,” Piedra says.
Eventually 4K will be the norm for video resolution, he says, but for now pricing will be a limiting factor for consumers. Piedra says a recently announced 31-inch 4K gaming monitor costs $3,500. “Just for a monitor alone, that’s expensive,” he says, especially when added to a computer system powerful enough to render graphics at that level.
Of course putting together a monstrously powerful PC rapidly increases the cost. Santos says his company’s average customer is in his or her mid-30s, looks to gaming as another form of entertainment, and is willing to pay for an extremely powerful PC. “It’s a hot rod,” he says. “There are people who will spend $100,000 on a car and there’s people who’ll spend $30,000 on a PC.”
Santos says a machine from Maingear’s uppermost tier, such as the gargantuan Force line equipped with nickel-plated water blocks and multiple pumps for the cooling system along with a ton of other premium components, can cost $25,000. Many of the high-end desktop computers he builds though range from $8,000 to $10,000. “You’re not going to get much more if you go beyond that,” he says. At that level, the PC already has three or four powerful graphics cards, the fastest processor money can buy, 64GB of memory, and a couple of solid state drives.
Maingear sees repeat customers buying new high-end models every two to three years, Santos says, even though they can still outperform off-the-shelf computers. “A five-year-old Maingear desktop is still faster than what you can buy at Best Buy today,” he says.
At Falcon Northwest, Reeves says some customers order machines that range from $8,000 to $15,000 at the upper end, though an extreme purchase of $30,000, which included enough backup parts to completely rebuild the PC, is not unheard of.
Piedra says Origin PC, founded in 2009 by former employees of Alienware, builds machines that start at the lower end around $1,300 but can scale up to more than $8,000 with quad graphics cards, liquid cooled towers, and custom paint for the case. “Our average selling price is $4,000,” he says. The company’s Big O machine literally is a humongous fish that devoured another fish—it can be equipped with an Xbox 360 slim console built directly inside its chassis.
“I don’t think people would play Angry Birds on our computers, Piedra says. “That just doesn’t make any sense.”
Origin PC’s Big O with an Xbox 360 slim console built into the chassis. (photo courtesy of Origin PC)
More from Xperience
It’s Not You, It’s Your Officials: Amazon Cancels HQ Plan for NYC
One response to “Going Big and Bad: Custom PC Makers Build Hot Rods for 4K Gaming”
Tom Bombadil says:
Been thinking about buying a computer? Dont waste your money on something because it has a logo on the front of the box, buy a custom built computer, they will give you better performance for a cheaper price, check this out http://www.TheWizardPC.com
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Arrowhead’s Novartis RNAi Deal: Big Boost or ‘Stale Potato Chips’?
Xconomy Wisconsin —
Arrowhead Research CEO Christopher Anzalone thinks he just got a massive bargain. For just $35 million, his company grabbed Novartis’ last remaining RNA interference assets: a group of patents and preclinical drug candidates that give Arrowhead more technological tools to play with.
If all goes as Anzalone hopes, this one small deal could “substantially” expand his company’s capabilities and give it a better chance to deliver RNAi drugs to market, he said in a conference call Thursday with investor analysts.
Despite a rival’s dismissal of the deal’s significance, Anzalone told Xconomy that the Novartis assets allow his company to develop RNAi drugs for “any target” and “any indication,” among other benefits.
John Maraganore, CEO of RNAi leader Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY), told Xconomy he thinks that the Novartis assets—some of which once belonged to Alnylam—are “pretty un-useful.”
Arrowhead (NASDAQ: ARWR) already has two candidates in clinical testing for hepatitis B and the rare genetic disorder Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The drugs are in Phase 2 and Phase 1 trials, respectively.
Arrowhead has built its pipeline and strategy around nanoparticles that shepherd fragile RNAi drugs as they move through the body to their target cells. Delivering RNAi drugs into the right cells has been a major obstacle for companies in this space; Arrowhead thinks its particles, which it calls “dynamic polyconjugates,” solve the problem.
The Novartis deal is meant to help Arrowhead expand its technology so it can make the most effective therapeutics possible, Anzalone said. “This is all about maximizing our ability to silence target genes, and with this acquisition, we have increased our ability to do that and have broadened out our freedom to operate.”
The acquisition includes four key pieces:
—A license to 30 of the 31 gene targets Novartis originally licensed from Alnylam, which does not include technology for delivering the drugs. Alnylam would receive milestone payments and royalties in the “high single digits” for sales of any approved therapies targeting any of those 30 genes, Maraganore said. The specific genes and the target diseases have not been disclosed.
As for the 31st target, Anzalone said Novartis “sent one target back” to Alnylam. He declined to comment further, and Maraganore was tight-lipped about it as well. (It’s not the first time Arrowhead has snagged Alnylam technology. The pair signed a cross-licensing deal in 2012.)
—Rights to three Novartis preclinical RNAi drug candidates. Arrowhead declined to disclose the targets or any data Novartis accumulated on the drugs’ performance. Anzalone doesn’t expect Arrowhead will start any clinical trials for those three drug candidates this year, but the company will evaluate “whether or how we’re going to move those forward.”
—The rights to molecules developed by Novartis that Arrowhead thinks match or surpass the capabilities of similar molecules commonly used to trigger the drug’s RNA interference mechanism, Anzalone said. Arrowhead contends this technology falls outside of competitors’ existing patents and gives the company the freedom to develop drugs for any target and indication.
—Rights to “intracellular targeting ligands” developed by Novartis, which are specialized molecules that bind themselves to the RNAi trigger molecules and appear to boost their activity, Arrowhead said. The theory is the ligands might also increase the stability of the RNAi trigger molecules, thereby potentially helping the drug’s gene-silencing effects to last longer, Anzalone said.
The sale marks the end of Novartis’ decade-long foray into RNAi, a field that has gone through ups and downs over the past 15 years trying to live up to the promise of a new class of drugs to treat diseases other medications couldn’t touch.
Early on, RNAi’s potential drew several companies. Novartis got in via a partnership with Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam in 2005 worth some $56 million at the outset, and potentially $700 million more, if the collaboration led to multiple approved therapies.
But over the next few years, Big Pharma bolted from RNAi, opting to cut their losses in part because of problems with effectively delivering these drugs to their targets. That exodus included Roche, which sold much of its RNAi technology—along with its R&D team in Madison, WI—to Pasadena, CA-based Arrowhead for $25 million in 2011.
Novartis continued to work on the 31 gene targets it had licensed from Alnylam, but it declined to extend their partnership in 2010.
That decision was a blow to Alnylam: it soon cut a quarter of its workforce. But the company kept plugging away, and is now closer than anyone to commercializing the first RNAi drug. Its first candidate, patisiran, is in Phase 3 trials that should wrap up in 2017. It has also climbed from the depths to a $9 billion market cap, more than $1 billion in cash in the bank, and plans to grow its staff to 700 from about 250.
Novartis, meanwhile, announced plans last spring to get out of RNAi entirely, prompting Maraganore to publicly chastise Big Pharma for, in his view, an inability to innovate.
Anzalone expressed interest in Novartis’ R&D portfolio in early 2014, before the Swiss company publicly announced intentions to abandon the field. “We were sort of getting rumblings that they were slowing down,” Anzalone said.
Talks progressed during the summer. Arrowhead leaders believed there would likely be multiple bidders for Novartis’ RNAi technology portfolio, including “several venture-backed groups interested in building new companies around all those assets,” Anzalone said. Arrowhead decided to pay Novartis $7 million to buy some time; that allowed it to exclusively vet the RNAi work before making a final offer. “We wanted to make sure if we didn’t get the assets, it’s because we didn’t want them, not because” another company bought them “out from under us,” he added.
Over the past few months, Arrowhead took a look under the hood. “We were really excited about what we saw,” Anzalone said. “It was a deal we really felt we had to do.”
Arrowhead announced the purchase Thursday, saying it would pay Novartis an additional $3 million in cash and $25 million in stock for the RNAi assets. Arrowhead’s stock closed Thursday at $7.94 per share, up nearly 6 percent from the previous day’s close at $7.51.
Alnylam’s Maraganore doesn’t see the appeal. In an interview with Xconomy, he likened the deal to “buying a bag of stale potato chips.”
It would be easy to chalk up this difference of opinion to predictable posturing by a competitor. But the dynamics go much deeper than run-of-the-mill IP maneuvering, given the fractured alliance between Novartis and Maraganore’s company and the fact that he knows these Novartis assets better than most.
“We certainly had a lot of familiarity with the IP, and zero interest in acquiring any of it,” Maraganore said.
He also takes issue with Arrowhead’s assertion that the Novartis patents give it the ability to develop drugs that go beyond the 30 targets tied to the Alnylam IP. “That’s a statement that I think is a bit phantasmagorical,” he said. “At a very high level, these are patents that don’t overcome the early, broad patents in RNAi that only Alnylam has access to.”
Anzalone was left scratching his head at Maraganore’s reaction to the deal. “For him to scoff at the value of this is a little bit funny when a big part of this is a license to his IP for 30 targets,” Anzalone said. “That alone is quite valuable, we think.”
What’s more, Anzalone thinks Arrowhead has a better understanding of Novartis’ RNAi assets than Alnylam, thanks to the close look it got when vetting the technology. “We are better positioned to opine on the value of these assets than someone who hasn’t seen them up close,” he said.
Bio Roundup: Rare Disease Showdowns, Prices on TV, Dealmania & More
Mark Levin Named Xconomy’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner in Boston
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Z’s Balagan
EAD 2019
Z's Balagan
completed, SNAFU
23 March 2016 7 August 2019 Teen Wolf
SNAFU (Teen Wolf)
WARNINGS: Rampant assholery and idiocy, character bashing, extremely minor characters die (blink and you miss it). Oh, and violence (canon-level).
The school is held hostage by gun toting assholes.
Timeline: This is post Season 2, but Jackson stuck around. Alpha pack has shown up, but no confrontations have taken place.
Thank you to my lovely betas, Icefallstears (chapter 1) and MyzticMyanMøøn (chapters 2 & 3) who are made of complete win.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Stiles blurted out when the masked gunman burst into the room, slammed the door shut, and fired a few shots into the air.
“Shut your fucking mouth and sit down,” the gunman said, locking the door. All the students in Aidan Harris’ chemistry class stayed in their seats, quietly stunned at the turn of events.
“Now, see here –” Mr. Harris began, but was cut off by a bullet to the leg. He fell to the ground, almost catching his head on the corner of his desk. The girls in the classroom screamed again, and the boys pushed themselves back from their desks.
The gunman stood over Mr. Harris pushing the gun in his face screaming, “You need to shut up and stay quiet like a good little boy until we’re done.”
“Maybe you should tell us exactly what you want,” Stiles said, drawing the gunman’s attention to himself.
“Unless you’re just happy to keep shooting our teacher — which is fine — otherwise, we can’t help you complete your goal without knowing what that goal actually is.”
“Well, aren’t we the Brave Little Boy. Trying to be the hero, kid?”
“Uh, no, not in the least. Or did you miss the part where I gave you permission to continue shooting my teacher? I just want to be able to make it home alive in one piece. And so logically helping you reach your goal is the fastest way to get that to happen.”
Screams could be heard coming from other classrooms. How many men could they have to cover each class and be sure that no one was wandering the halls? Stiles slowly got up from his seat, continuing to speak, flailing about as he spoke a little more than usual. Distraction was the name of the game today, apparently.
“But really, what kind of plan is this? You realize that this is just the tiny bit ridiculous? You took a school hostage. A school. This isn’t Toy Soldiers, dude –” at the blank look from the gunman he stopped and explained. “You don’t know that movie? It’s about gunmen who take a boarding school hostage. Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton – really? Nothing? That’s sad, dude. Who doesn’t know a movie that has two of the actors from Stand by Me in it? For fucks sake, it has a hobbit and Wesley Crusher!”
“Stop with the dude.”
“Uh, no. Scarier dudes than you have tried and failed on that account.”
“I demand some respect –“
“Assholes with guns deserve absolutely no respect from me,” Stiles responded and managed to surprise the jerk by grabbing the barrel of the gun from him and smashing it into his face. He then swung it once, whipping it across the hostage takers temple, knocking him out. “How the hell did he let me that close to him? Amateur.”
Stiles turned to the class to see shocked faces staring back at him. Before they could start talking and shouting, ruining whatever peace they currently had, he started barking orders.
“Thing One and Thing Two, I don’t give a shit at the moment who you’re working for, right now I need you to go do some recon with Jackass over there,” pointing to Jackson Whittemore sitting behind them, “and find out how many more assholes with guns there are and where they are located. Should you fuck me over in this, be sure in the fact that I will make you regret it.” He held their eyes while speaking, making them understand his seriousness in this. He then removed his belt and started making a tourniquet for Mr. Harris’ leg to stop the bleeding.
“Sorry, Mr. Harris, this is going to hurt.”
“Just do it, Mr. Stilinski,” he said, face pale with pain. “Besides, I thought you were advocating additional injuries to my person, not the healing of them.”
“Eh, we can come back to that,” he replied with a smile.
“Lydia,” Stiles continued while tightening the belt, “we’re going to need some party favors, non-lethal.”
“Stiles, what the hell? Why are you giving orders, loser?”
“Do what he says, Whittemore,” Mr. Harris instructed. “For once, he isn’t spewing idiocy and is actually making sense.”
Turning to the werewolf twins — because there was nothing else they could be with their mannerisms — and Jackson, he made shooing motions to get them out the door. “You three take off your shoes and get going.”
“Our shoes?” Jackson asked.
“He’s right,” Aiden said, obeying instructions, “so we don’t make any noise by accident.” The three of them left shortly afterwards.
The noise level had started to rise a bit, which wasn’t a good idea as far as Stiles was concerned.
“Okay, people, we need to keep it down. If we make too much noise, they are going to wonder what’s wrong and come looking.” And with that they all shut up.
Because of course, Scott Fucking McCall had to have a fucking opinion.
“Stiles! We need to get everyone out of here!”
Stiles just gave him an exasperated look, along with everyone else, including Mr. Harris. “Scott, I know. Everyone knows. But we need to wait until we know where all the players are so we can do it safely!” Sometimes – or really, a lot of the time – Scott’s inability to think of the bigger picture really got on Stiles’ nerves.
Stiles went back to tending Mr. Harris, leaving Lydia to order around her minions helping with the party favors. Stiles had confidence that she would know what he needed best – also he had confidence that him trying to tell her — Lydia Martin, Queen of Beacon Hills High School — what to do in more of a way than just that he needed party favors would result in him losing life and limbs.
Of course, Scott wasn’t satisfied with any of this. Honestly, ever since the whole deal with the Kanima,
Stiles hadn’t been happy with Scott. For about a week after it went down, it seemed like they were BFFs again … and then Scott had gotten back together with Allison and Stiles was abandoned once again. Then Stiles found out about Scott’s plan to defeat that piece of shit Gerard and what had happened before his arrival at the warehouse, and his love and trust for Scott took a huge nosedive. He had tried to speak to Scott about it, but was brushed off every time.
Scott stood up and started dragging Allison towards the classroom door, despite the fact that Allison seemed to be fighting him on it; she was no match for werewolf strength, not that Scott noticed. Stiles stopped what he was doing and moved to block him. “Scott, what the fuck do you think you are doing?” Stiles asked in what he hoped was a calm voice.
The entire class stared at Scott in surprise and anger as Stiles blocked his way. “What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m getting Allison out of here.”
“Because Allison is the only one that matters? You asshole!” Stiles pushed Scott back towards his seat and away from Allison. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight it and backed away, moving towards Mr. Harris, checking on his wounds. Stiles nodded his thanks to her and turned his attention back to the idiot he once called friend. “Are you trying to get everyone killed? Because that’s what would happen if you walked out that door, you moron!”
“What the hell do you know?”
“I know that you still have your sneakers on and that they squeak no matter how stealthy you try to be, and in that silent tomb out there, everyone would hear it.” Another push back. “I know that everyone else here is content to wait until the twins and Jackson return to tell us what the situation is before jumping in blindly, including Allison .” Another push. This time, Scott’s eyes flashed and his claws came out a bit. “I know that no one here wants to be the reason that someone else dies. You’ve already been the cause once, Scott. Want go for a second? Or is it third, now?”
“What are you –” Allison began.
“How dare –” Scott started as he lost control of his shift. He would have completely lost it if Isaac hadn’t shoved him into his seat with a wolf’s strength, knocking him breathless. Thankfully, no one else was in a position to see his wolfy features.
“We will continue this later,” Allison said, directing it at both Scott and Stiles as the three boys returning from their wanderings entered the room.
Taking a deep breath, Stiles turned to Jackson and just waited for them to speak. Eying the room, and taking in Lydia’s project with some minions; Harris being cared for by Allison; Scott pouting in his seat with Isaac standing over him somewhat confused and the general tension in the room — Jackson decided it was probably best to just get on with it.
“Right, so we split up to cover more ground faster. I took the North wing and the East wing, and there are 15 guys covering every occupied classroom. No students were in any of the bathrooms or stairwells or hidings spots. There is no gym this period, either. No injuries so far as I could tell.”
“I took the South wing and faculty room, which was covered, and another 10 rooms occupied, all covered by gunmen. No issues so far on my end, either,” Ethan reported.
“West wing was also covered, 12 rooms. No students in bathrooms or hiding spots,” Aiden finished up.
“You got that Lydia?” Stiles asked.
“We’re on it,” she responded, not breaking her stride in keeping the assembly line going.
“What –” Jackson started to ask but Stiles waved his question away.
“Later, Jackson.”
Turning to Aiden, he saw there was more that the Alpha wanted to say, and he was curious to hear it.
“Spit it out, what has your fur in a twist?”
Flashing some red too quick for most to notice, he replied, “This is way too organized to have been done on the fly. They have the exact amount of men needed to cover all the occupied rooms including the faculty room, made sure to clear out all the bathrooms and hiding spots— knew the hiding spots —that screams inside job to me.”
The students all started whispering about who they thought could have been the inside man until Scott said loudly, “I think it was Mr. Harris.”
“Detention for the rest of the year, Mr. McCall.”
Everyone broke out in quiet laughter and snickers, all of them in complete agreement.
“Holy faulty reasoning, Batman! You are such a potato, Scott! Mr. Harris is not in on it. He was completely surprised when they entered, also when they shot him. There were no signs of expectation anywhere, nor recognition when I removed the mask from the gunman. So no, he is not the inside man,” Stiles explained quickly, completely exasperated. “I’m sure my dad will figure that out later.”
Lydia stood up from her group and announced that they were done with their project with a simple look in Stiles direction. “All right, now that our distractions are done and we have a delivery system,” he affirmed that with another look to his Queen, “we can start getting people out of here quietly.” Everyone let out a breath of relief.
“Mr. Harris, you obviously need to get out of here first. So, how about this –” Stiles paused and took a moment to organize himself and a plan. This was his thing, planning. He was good at it, and strategizing the best possible outcome, of seeing the bigger picture especially under pressure.
Focusing on the twins once more he began again, “Do any of the assholes with guns have line of sight if we start shunting people from the windows here out to the parking lot to the street and beyond?”
Ethan took this one. “No, we’re protected here, thankfully. But we have to be very strict; no one can go off, they will have to go straight to the street, beyond the first row of houses before they can stop to rest.”
“Right, so –” Stiles turned to Isaac. “You, Puppy,” Isaac grimaced at the name, “Oh, shut up, you know it suits you — you will have to go out first to catch Mr. Harris — Scott will hand him to you, and then he will follow you. Allison, you will go with them because otherwise Scott will get everyone killed yelling about you being left behind.”
Scott began to say something but Allison slapped a hand over his mouth and glared him silent. Absolutely no one in that room was happy with him.
“All of you need to keep your cell phones off or silent — and I do mean all of you. Not one of you is special — Isaac, take Scott’s phone, please — and if you decide you are special and get someone killed because of it, I’ll make sure everyone in the school and town knows it. You need to quietly haul ass all the way to those houses. Once there Isaac will call my Dad and say code words I will give him — and only him,” here Stiles started writing down a sentence on some note paper before handing it to Mr. Harris who put it in his pocket. Everyone knew it was to keep it safe from Scott by this point.
“Allison, I’d like you to make contact with your Dad, see if he can get my father some backup, as I don’t think he has enough deputies at the moment to handle this many men.”
Stiles paused and then took out another sheet of paper, then quickly wrote out another few sentences. He folded it up and then handed it to Allison. “Once you call your father, please read this, but keep it to yourself. It’s information you need, but we don’t have time to really discuss it now.” Allison gave him a quizzical look, but just nodded and tucked the paper in her own pocket. She trusted Stiles enough to know that it was important and to do what she was told.
Stiles asked Lydia with his eyes whether she was staying or going and was made aware that she was most definitely staying to see this through, as were Ethan, Aiden, and Jackson.
Isaac slipped through the window first, then Scott and Aiden helped Mr. Harris through to him. The rest of the students that were leaving then exited followed by Allison and then Scott. Once Stiles saw Scott cross into the yard of the house on the far side of the parking lot, those left gathered up the party favors and started on their part of the plan.
Reaching the front of the house, Isaac lay Mr. Harris down on the ground and turned around to face the rest of the students with him. He nodded to Allison to call her dad and took out his own phone. Scott had reached out to get his from Isaac, but Isaac slapped his hand away. “No Scott, not yet. First, we need the cops here. Then you can call your mom.”
He looked around to everyone else who thankfully was still quietly standing in a small group. “We all need to stay quiet and not call attention to ourselves; we don’t want to alert anyone over at the school since we’re still pretty close.” Looking down at Mr. Harris, he made a decision. “Mr. Harris, I’m going to carry you a couple more streets up so that we’re a little further away before calling an ambulance, okay?”
“Good thinking, Mr. Lahey, on all counts. Let’s get going. I have a feeling I’m going to pass out soon.” His voice was getting weaker, and his skin was already pale, despite the first aid Allison and Stiles had given him.
Isaac didn’t like how jittery Scott looked, as if he was about to jet and ruin everyone’s plans. He glanced over at Allison, hoping that she would be able to calm him down. She caught his look and nodded that she understood, getting off the phone with her father after relaying the details — including that Isaac was getting hold of the Sheriff – and then made her way towards Scott. But first, she took out the note from Stiles.
“Scott, do me a favor and check on Mr. Harris’ bandages before we move him again, please?” Allison asked to keep him occupied while she read the note. Scott jumped to do her bidding with an adoring look on his face. Even Allison was a little disturbed by it this time. She quickly took out the note and scanned the message; she was shocked and then angry at what it contained. Now was not the time for anger though, and she pushed it aside before Scott would notice, as he was obviously hyper-vigilant about her and anything noticeably different in her heartbeat or emotional scent would trigger questions.
Isaac looked up as he spoke with the Sheriff on the phone and saw Allison motioning him over. She was texting something, and when he was near enough he could see her screen. All it said was “Text Derek to get his ass over here and what is going on, Scott might fuck it up for everyone. Dad knows what’s up, you called the Sheriff, Stiles handling stuff inside. Don’t let Scott know you are texting him.” She then deleted the screen quickly before Scott could see. It took a lot of self-control to keep it together, but she was suddenly curious about what else Scott could have lied about if something as huge as her mother’s death was one of them.
“Alright, people, let’s move. The ambulance will meet us three streets up, they are already on their way.” And with that, Isaac picked up Mr. Harris and started leading the group on. Allison made sure to keep Scott in her sights so that he couldn’t go haring off like he seemed to want to do the entire time.
Back at the school, the small strike team of students put their game plan into motion. Moving from their side of the school inwards, they kept sending students out of the windows: Lydia was guarding the classroom with Jackson further along the hallway. Each time they took another asshole down, they gave the spiel about “shoes off, phones off, no special snowflakes”. To keep everyone safe, they all regrouped in the chemistry classroom to see them off each time.
Chris Argent had shown up outside the chemistry classroom windows to help escort students along with two deputies.
“Your father says to be careful, don’t die, and you’re grounded.”
“Of course, of course, and I figured,” Stiles responded, relieved to have some actual useful help. “I’m assuming there’s an assembly line of help from now on so there are no students straying from the safe path to the houses?”
“Pretty much. Also so that no ‘would-be heroes‘ try and return.” Chris gave Stiles a meaningful glance, indicating that he knew full well what that message to Allison contained. “A couple of attempts have already been made and thwarted.”
“Color me shocked,” was all Stiles had to say about it. Now was not the time to get up on his soapbox of how things with Scott were fucked up. “We need to continue with this. Can you spare two guys to help us here? I’m not too keen on leaving Lydia in the room alone the further we get from it.”
Chris agreed and sent one of the deputies off to get a couple of his men to come towards them. By the time the next group of students were ready to escape, the strike team had two more bodies to help gather and defend. It was a well oiled and thought out plan. Soon enough, they would have everyone out.
Sheriff Stilinski could not believe what he was hearing. Well, not exactly. He could believe it, he just didn’t want to. To the left of him, Scott McCall was trying to tell him that Mr. Harris had hired some gunmen to take over the school and that Stiles was acting crazy because of Lydia Martin, trying to show off for her. To the right of him, Isaac Lahey and Allison Argent were explaining that Stiles managed to strategize a rescue plan — after disarming their hostage-taker and putting him out of commission. And there went Mr. Harris in an ambulance promising Scott suspension for the rest of the year.
All of the students were glaring at Scott the more he spoke; Allison – the supposed love of his life – was one second away from stabbing him with the nearest sharp implement; Isaac was doing his best to stay between Scott and Derek Hale, whom Scott was now trying to blame for something – although he was not quite sure what. Suddenly the lawman was not so sure about all those times he had blamed Stiles for the lies and troublemaking, it was really Scott’s fault if this mess was anything to go by.
“Scott, I need you to shut up. Now.”
“What? But Sher –” Scott started with a whine.
“I said shut up. As in quiet. No more speaking. Zip it.” He glared at the young man until Scott lowered his eyes in submission. He kept staring a few minutes longer to make his point.
Looking around a moment he gestured towards a deputy and one of Argent’s men. “You two stay with him. He doesn’t go anywhere or use any phones. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” they both replied.
“You three, with me,” he ordered pointing at Derek, Isaac, and Allison.
None of them were under any misapprehensions that explanations were going to be needed. Full and complete explanations that included mentions of fur and claws, despite what Stiles might have wanted.
They were down to the cafeteria when of course, the other shoe dropped. Things had been going too well, almost too easy. Door opened, bad guy dropped, teacher silenced by out-stubborning, overriding them and shocking students into compliance. Students saved. Rinse and repeat.
And then suddenly, that wasn’t what was happening. Screams were heard, students started rushing out towards the small group causing them to stop and move to the side of the hallway, trying to move against the tide. Four gunmen were following behind them with their weapons held high, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. The panicked students just kept running, knocking into Lydia, taking her out. The two hunters were trying to shove students out of their way, but this just resulted in scaring them even more; most likely mistaking them for more of the hostage-takers instead of rescuers.
Ethan and Aiden tag teamed a pair of men charging towards them. Using their strength to pick them up by their chests, slam them down and knock them out. One of the hunters — crouched by the lockers now — grabbed a third gunman from behind as he passed quickly snapping his neck, not taking any chances. Jackson, distracted by Lydia’s predicament was slammed into the lockers by rushing students. He managed to yell out for Stiles distracting him as well. The final gunman saw all this, standing behind all the others. He saw the calm and determined faces, the attempts to direct the scared kids out of the way, the unfamiliar adults helping them, and the way his men were being taken out right in front of him. And he saw the one young man that was now looking away from him, back completely left vulnerable, and his way out of this clusterfuck.
He aimed.
He fired.
Lydia Screamed.
The down and dirty “why yes, the supernatural do exist ” conversation had gone down pretty well, all things considered. So had the bullet pointed explanation of what had gone down in the school that led to Isaac reaching out to the Sheriff in the first place. Just as Isaac was explaining that Scott was getting out of control, all those of a supernatural inclination flinched, covering their ears.
“Something is wrong,” Derek growled, eyes flashing red. “We need to get to the school.”
“Was that Lydia?” Isaac asked, trying to shake off the ringing in his ears.
“Whatever that was — Allison, I need you get these students heading towards the hospital to get checked out and staying calm. Find the teachers and have them start organizing a way to get parents to come get them picked up.”
“Yes, sir.” But before she could head off to do that, they were all distracted by Scott once again try to make a break for it.
“We need to get over there right now!”
Scott pushed the deputy in front of him away too hard and it flung him into the nearest tree. Thankfully, Derek managed to catch him before he was injured. Moving into Scott’s path, Derek pushed him back down.
“You aren’t going anywhere, not as out of control as you are. Do you even have a plan?”
“You! This is all your fault!” The commotion was bringing everyone’s attention to them, quiet spreading over the entire crowd as they settled in to watch the show. They had all heard about the mysterious Derek Hale. “I know you had something to with this!”
“Are you fucking kidding me, McCall? What, are you going to accuse me of murder, again? How fucking stupid are you? I’m out here trying to help these Deputies come up with a plan to help the rest of the students get out of the school safely, and all you’re doing is distracting them from doing their job. What are you going to do, charge in there like an idiot, no plan at all?”
When Scott didn’t answer, everyone around him just glared. “That’s what I thought. Just sit there, be quiet and stay out of it. We all know that Stiles is the one who has saved our lives countless times. Stiles is the one who comes up with the plans to get us away from the trouble you end up causing because you can’t stop thinking with your dick. So just sit there, shut up, and stay out of the way.”
Before anything else could be said or question what Derek was talking about one of the radios came to life.
“Shots fired, shots fired, man down. Backup required on site right now. Sheriff get over here!”
The Sheriff paled, but stood firm, turning to Isaac he asked, “Can you keep him here,” pointing to Scott, “until his mother arrives? I don’t want him interfering.”
“Yes, sir. And I’m sure some of the other students would be more than happy to help.” A few other lacrosse players stepped up and nodded in agreement, circling them.
Sheriff Stilinski called for another ambulance to meet them at the school, and while he had no idea who was injured, he just had this bad feeling in his gut.
“Holy fuck, that hurts,” Stiles said as the gunman grabbed him, spun him so he was back to chest, gun to head.
“Everyone freeze,” the man with the gun ordered into the silence of Lydia’s scream.
“Yeah, I think they got that part down already, buddy.”
“Shut the fuck up, you little shit. I’ve already shot you once, want me to do it again?”
“Want? Not really, no. Hey, what should I call you? Asshole with a gun just seems a bit long and if we’re gonna be here a while, then a proper name would be best, right?” Stiles did his best stay bright, cheery and as obnoxiously teenager-like, hoping it would keep the remaining students calm. Maybe it would give the twins some time to help him out since they were closest.
“You don’t need to call me anything, just shut your mouth and do what I tell you.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s not really something I do well. Like, at all. You can ask pretty much anyone in front of you. So how about Frank? Or Maurice? Or maybe –“
“Does my having a gun to your head mean absolutely nothing to you? Is there something wrong with you?”
“Yes,” came the immediate collective reply.
“And there you go. I think I’ll go with Maurice, I think it’s nice, very exotic.” Maurice’s hand tightened in annoyance, pressing on the gunshot wound in Stiles’ shoulder, so Stiles brazenly moved his hand to make his captivity less painful.
“There, that’s better. So let’s talk Maurice, because, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re all a bit confused as to why this is happening.”
“Did you just move my hand to make yourself more comfortable?”
“Yes. Keep up, Maurice. I mean, really.” He adjusted his position once again, sneaking a look at Aiden and Ethan, judging their distance. They were slowly making their way closer. One of the hunters was keeping watch over the students nearest to hem, ready to provide cover should the need arise.
“Stop baiting him, loser,” Jackson chimed in.
“No, no, I would like to know the reason for all this as well, sweetie,” Lydia said with a cold smile on her face. “And of course he’s baiting him, it’s like you’ve never met him at all.”
“The people have spoken, Maurice, so give it up. Why this elaborate plan for getting us out of a math test today?”
Once more Stiles adjusted his stance, this time turning both his and Maurice’s bodies so that their backs were slightly facing the twins’ direction, giving them more space to move. He just hoped none of the students gave them away. His strength was waning, so this needed to end soon.
“We were hired to collect a student who just inherited a fortune. Don’t know the first name, only last.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s the name, dude?”
“Don’t call me ‘Dude’.”
“Sure thing, buddy, ol’ pal. So what’s the name?”
“Family name is Jax, but he’s been adopted, so no clue what his adopted name is. So if you know who it is, you better tell me now,” he demanded, digging the butt of the gun into Stiles’ head.
It took Stiles no time at all to put the clues together, to figure out who they were looking for while casually if not recklessly batting away Maurice’s gun from his head as if it were an annoying insect. One glance at Lydia and he knew she had figured it out as well. They needed to end this before anything was said aloud. Finding out who the inside man was could be left for his father to figure out.
“Right, so Maurice, here’s the thing, I kind of want to go home. I’m in a bit of pain here, and these guys all look like they either need to pee and/or go throw up. So how about we all go our separate ways. Except you. You can go to jail or something.”
“Well aren’t you just the talented comedian. Don’t quit your day job, kid.”
“Yeahsureyoubetcha. The thing is, Maurice, I’m pretty sure this is gonna go my way.”
“Oh yeah? How’s that, you little shit. I’m the one with the gun.”
“Well, first of all, you aren’t the only one with a gun.” Before Maurice could react to that Stiles was already moving, as were the twins and the hunters. “And second, I was just waiting for my backup to get in place.”
“Your wha –”
Ethan and Aiden came at him from behind and on both sides, Stiles twisted around and down, but not before Maurice had fired another shot, this time, somewhat more effectively.
Stiles waited patiently for his father to get himself settled, dreading this conversation. He knew that having his father in the know about the supernatural meant things would change at home, but maybe it would mean that the distance between them would close as well. But it just appeared as if he was setting himself up to be resigned about the situation as well as waiting for the other shoe to drop. Although it could just be that the pain meds were making it difficult to put two and five together.
Before they could begin the door to his hospital room opened and Derek Hale walked in, along with Isaac, Jackson, Lydia, and surprisingly enough Allison and Chris Argent. “Um, hello. Does someone want to tell me what’s going on here? Sourwolf? Bueller?”
“Stiles, while everything was happening, we had to give your father a rundown of everything going on in town, albeit a really, really abbreviated version,” Isaac stepped in to explain.
“You had maybe 10 minutes to tell him everything, I’m betting. So what did you do? ‘Hey, Sheriff, werewolves are real, things are fucked up in town and it’s turning into a Hellmouth. But, hey, right now forget all that because your son is stuck in a school full of assholes with guns?’ What. The. Actual. Fuck?”
“Language, son.”
“That’s the part you’re picking at here? Come on!”
“Would you rather I start on the part where you’ve been hiding a huge part of your life for the last year or so? Where you’ve been putting your life on the line? Lying to me? Lying to others?”
Tears were threatening to fall, but Stiles fought them back as he croaked out, “I couldn’t let you get hurt! There was too much going on and I won’t let you get put in the middle of this!”
“It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around, Stiles!”
There was silence, and deep breathing, and tears, and then some more silence. The others in the room just stood by and let the Stilinski’s have their moment, let them get it out now so it would be done and they could move on. They all knew how important it was to clear the air.
“How many times have you tried to tell me? How many times did Scott keep you from telling me everything?”
“Pretty much every time except the first time. I didn’t want to blame Derek that time at the school, that was all Scott. I absolutely did not want to be stuck between him and Allison, but Scott guilted me into it. I think he’s decided that he can use me when he needs to, but otherwise I’m not important. Pretty sure he’s used me as an alibi to his mom, considering the looks I’ve been getting from her.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him since he decided it was completely okay to lie to me about my Mom and blame it all on Derek even though it was all his fault,” Allison chimed in.
“And you will be explaining that in further detail later on,” the Sheriff said to her before turning back to his son.
“You need to rest. Someone named Deucalion has requested that we all meet at the house as soon as you are allowed to be released. Apparently, the Alpha Pack has some things they need to speak to us all about.”
“And that doesn’t sound ominous at all, nope, not one bit,” Stiles mumbled, already falling asleep again.
It was a week later that Deucalion led his pack into the Stilinski living room where Stiles lay propped up on the couch, the Hale pack spread around him. Lydia and Jackson had agreed to join Derek, negotiations for Danny being a permanent member were underway. The last person joining them, purely for information gathering was Melissa McCall.
In the preceding week, Stiles had filled his father in on every detail of his furry adventures so far, including his emotional roller-coaster of a friendship with Scott, and how he no longer believed it existed. After being interrogated to get all the facts, and after Isaac, Allison, Derek, Jackson, and Lydia had received the same treatment, they decided that it was time to speak with Melissa as well.
It seemed that Melissa had been fed quite a large serving of lies from her son, and she was beside herself with worry about what to do. The fallout from the school hostage crisis was ongoing; no student wanted anything to do with Scott. He had been kicked off the lacrosse team, no one spoke with him any longer and no one sat with him at lunch. The kicker was, he still blamed it on everyone else and took no responsibility for it.
After the formal introductions were out of the way, Deucalion began. “Thank you for giving us some time to take care of this. As you know, we have been in town to see how your pack has been operating. There has been much talk about the upheaval in the area, about the potential outing of the supernatural due to so much activity. After seeing you all in action, and seeing your interactions, we have realized that it’s not the Hale pack itself that is the problem.”
“So what do you see as the problem, then? And do you have a solution already?” The Sheriff asked.
“Yes,” he answered, and then turning he addressed Derek. “Derek, you are to be commended for stepping into your role so quickly, even though you were never really trained for it. But part of the problem is that you have a wolf in your territory that is essentially an omega. He is a threat to the whole community and to your pack as well. I am speaking, of course, of Mr. McCall.
“Mrs. McCall, while everyone speaks very highly of you, your son has a lot of growing up to do. I am sorry to tell you, it will not be done here. If he continues as he is now it is more than likely he will be put down.” Deucalion paused as Melissa seemed to need a moment to digest this.
“I’m sorry, it’s not like I didn’t expect this, but it’s still hard to hear. Please go on. If you have an area you can recommend, please let me know. If there is a pack I can help with my skills, I would be more than happy to do so.”
“Thank you, yes. There is a pack in Nevada that would very much like your assistance. They have extensive experience with troubled werewolf youth, a “boot camp”, so to speak. It is on a ranch, so I think young Scott will enjoy working with the animals. Also, I think being away from Doctor Deaton will do him well. I heard about that ridiculous plan of his.” Everyone grimaced in remembrance. “That is such an incredible violation of person, of oaths, of ethics and of pack. I think the further you take Scott from that man, the better.”
“Yes, I agree,” she said. “I’ve already given notice at work and they all understand. My boss has written me a glowing recommendation and is ready to send it wherever I ask. Please just send me the information,” she told him handing him a card with her contact numbers and email.
“Derek, I would like to leave the twins here for a couple months to go over information that I think you need to learn, such as rituals, legends, traditions. I will take Isaac to join Erica and Boyd, who are already with Kali learning the basics of what being a beta is all about; I will return them in about a month if that’s alright with you.”
“Isaac, is that okay with you?” Derek asked, not wanting to displace the young man without asking, considering his rocky history.
“Yes, I think being with the two of them again would be great, and this way we can train without there being another ‘problem of the week’ at the same time. Stiles was right about this place turning into the Hellmouth!”
Everyone laughed, but Stiles was strangely silent. When the Sheriff looked over at his son, he noticed he had dozed off again.
“Right, I think that’s all our cue to go away and leave him be. Thank you, everyone.”
On Ziva David (NCIS)
If it’s broke, fix it – Chapter 4
Taking Stock – Part 3
Mentoring – part 2
on Travelers (2016-?)
Moving over from Tumblr
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