Proximity beats ratings in DPS school choice | EdNewsColorado

Proximity to schools matters more than the school district?s rating system when families choose schools in Denver.

Image from the school choice page on the DPS website

That?s among the findings of two recently released reports, conclusions that could spark debate about some of the assumptions education reformers have about school choice.

?Almost every family we talked to ? even though they are getting through SchoolChoice, they were not accessing any of these beautiful tools that have been created,? said?Mike Kromrey, executive director of Together Colorado, which conducted a small study focused on low-income Latino families in Denver. ?A?lot of money has been poured into creating some pretty nice tools, but what we have learned is that we? have a lot of work to do.?

The report SchoolChoice: How Parents Chose Schools in 2012 examined the new one-stop open enrollment application rolled out in Denver Public Schools and used for the first time last year.

The online application allows families to rank their top five school choices and then matches them with a compatible school based on capacity, availability, neighborhood preference and other factors.

Last year, the application included three optional questions about the most important factor in choosing a school, useful choice resources and additional information that would have helped.

The Donnell-Kay Foundation and the Piton Foundation partnered with the University of Colorado Denver?s Buechner Institute of Governance to analyze responses to those questions. Of the 23,154 forms completed, about half included an answer to at least one of the three questions. Here are the findings:

• Fewer than a quarter of the respondents listed Denver?s School Performance Framework (SPF), which documents student academic growth and school status, as an important factor in a choice decision.
• Nearly half of respondents said the most important reason for selecting a school was location close to home, work or family.
• Just under a third of parents indicated that a special program or a school?s focus was an important reason.
• Parents of Hispanic students were almost twice as likely (59 percent) to cite location as an important factor as parents of white students (32 percent).
• Parents of students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunches were twice as likely to endorse school ratings as an important reason in selecting their school, compared to parents whose students do not qualify.
• When asked which resource provided parents the most useful information, about one third of all respondents cited teachers or administrators at the school. The other most popular resources listed were information from other parents (30 percent) and the SchoolChoice enrollment guide (28 percent).
• Parents of black and Hispanic students were most likely to respond that the SchoolChoice enrollment guide was their top resource (35 percent and 37 percent, respectively), while parents of white students were most likely to respond that other parents were the best resource (35 percent).

?A lot of families ? especially families living in poverty ? are still choosing schools more based on location than the School Performance Framework,? said Rebecca Kisner, a Donnell-Kay Foundation fellow and community engagement coordinator at Denver?s Rocky Mountain Prep.

Chart from Buechner Institute of Governance report. (Click to enlarge)

Kisner said when she and her team presented the results to local school reform groups ?people felt like the number of families choosing (schools) based on the SPF was better than it has been but still certainly not as high as we?d like it to be.?

Interestingly, when families were asked what resource they would have wanted but didn?t have, they said information about academic performance. So, there seems to be a disconnect between parents and the SPF, with parents not understanding that the framework reflects academic performance, Kisner said.

The bottom line to Kisner?

?To find a really quality neighborhood school in a poor neighborhood is rare. There needs to be more quality choices in all parts of the city.?

Meanwhile, Together Colorado, The Piton Foundation and Stand for Children Colorado recently released their own report on school choice in Denver and documented similar findings.

Their study, called Fulfilling the promise of choice: Challenges and opportunities in school choice decisions made by Latino families, found families struggling to make sense of the performance framework.

The organizations hired a researcher who spent hours observing and interviewing Latino families as they went through the choice process and conducted six 10-person focus groups.

One of the biggest findings was something the reform groups already knew: Education is highly valued by new immigrants, Together Colorado?s Kromrey said.

?In many cases families come to this country for education,? he added.

The performance framework came up in both studies as something average people struggle to both access and comprehend.

The ratings are based on points awarded for student academic growth, status, post-secondary readiness, student engagement, school demand and parent engagement. Each category is weighted differently, with student growth carrying about two-thirds of the weight, followed by status (whether or not students are performing at grade level). The remaining categories carry less weight.

Schools end up with color-coded rankings that affect a school?s operations and its future. A school consistently labeled ?red? can be shut down.

The ratings are:

• ?Distinguished? or blue, which means a school has earned 80 to 100 percent of points possible
• ?Meets expectations? or green, meaning that a school has earned 51 to 79 percent of points possible
• ?Accredited on watch? or yellow, indicating a school has earned 40 to 50 percent of points possible
• ?Accredited on priority watch? or orange, meaning a school has earned 34 to 39 percent of points possible
• ?Accredited on probation? or red. This means a school has earned only 33 percent or less of points possible

The report offered several recommendations on how to help Latino parents better use all relevant information for selecting schools. These suggestions include providing:

• Comprehensive outreach through community members about school choice and factors to consider.
• More detailed information on transportation, extracurricular activities and school performance information beyond what was presented in the choice materials last year. In particular, the information presented must meet one of Latino parents? primary concerns ? geographic proximity to home.
• Information about school academic performance that is more accessible and presented more clearly to parents.
• Clearer language in choice materials.
• Informative websites that are simple and streamlined, with an easy-to-find Spanish language option, featuring data that is searchable using geographic criteria, rather than simply comparing schools against each other.

The organizations involved in the research commended DPS for making several key changes since the research was done. Relatively recent tweaks to the SchoolChoice system include creation of a new electronic SchoolMatch tool, improving the enrollment guide, use of school choice liaisons and expanding school choice expos.

But Kromrey pointed out that more needs to be done to help families access and understand the rating data.

?They did care about being close to their families. They did want to be involved with children. They wanted to see how the schools around them were doing,? Kromrey said. ?They do want to understand how data works. They need some tools that simplify without being so simple that they?re not fair to the schools.?

Kromrey also noted that transportation remains a huge issue for many low-income families. Together Colorado worked on the Success Express shuttle plan in Northeast Denver and will continue to be involved in those issues, he said. He said families also wanted more information from schools, such as information about arts programs or special education.

?The whole reform community and DPS have work to do to change this,? Kromrey said. ?We need to create some different tools. Many parents don?t have computer access. There are some computer literacy issues.?

Understanding How Parents Chose Schools: An Analysis of Denver?s SchoolChoice Form Questions

Source: http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2013/01/30/55373-proximity-beats-ratings-in-dps-school-choice

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Macklemore Holds #1 Spot On Billboard Digital Song Chart, Timberlake Falls To #8

'Thrift Shop' logs third week at #1, JT's 'Suit & Tie' drops six spots, Lumineers rise to #2 on album chart.
By Gil Kaufman

Macklemore
Photo: NBC

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701069/macklemore-thrift-shop-digital-songs-chart.jhtml

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Gun Control Reformers and Firearms Wholesalers Take Aim at Kids

A few weeks ago in Concord, New Hampshire, my 14-year-old sister, Daphne Jordan, attended a gun rights rally. A few hundred people crowded around the grand steps of the State House building, which with its gold dome and neo-classical design is a typically beautiful New England state seat. Daphne had written a speech. When given the chance to address the crowd, my young sister grabbed the rally by the bullhorn.

People cheered wildly at her oratory, according to my father?s slightly biased account. My sister, a still-growing blonde who runs track, is a very well-spoken teenager, it must be said.

?I was simply doing what our Founding Fathers would have wanted me to do,? Daphne told me. ?When I see injustice, it?s my civic duty. When Obama used children to push gun control, I was forced to take action to set the record straight based on our constitution.?

And, evidently, she set that record straight with panache. After her speech to the rally, representatives from New Hampshire?s state legislature?the third largest deliberative body in the world after U.S. Congress and British Parliament, with 400 members?asked Daphne to address a hearing.

After school last Tuesday, Daphne returned to the capital. The conference room reserved for her presentation was overflowing. So they moved to a larger room, which also proved too small. Finally, press, politicians and public moved to the State Assembly building across the street, and Daphne read an expanded version of The Speech.

She started with her take on what she had anticipated a gun rights rally would look like.

My sister and my family are not gun owners. They don?t hunt. But they do not want the federal government further messing with their lives.

?I expected it to be all about hunters and guns,? she said to the crowd. ?I was shocked. They were afraid of the government taking away their freedoms.

?If President Obama wants to take our guns, isn?t he taking away our means to protect our right to freedom?

?So I ask myself, what gun would our Founders want their citizen militia to have today to protect us from a government greedy for power.?I think Thomas Jefferson would recommend a semi-automatic rifle with 50-round clips, and pistols that hold 20. But, I?m sure George Washington would demand these arms."

It?s difficult to know exactly what Jefferson and Washington would think. But as the gun debate reaches Congress this week, it?s important to look at states like New Hampshire?with Libertarian tendencies, a Live Free or Die motto and an advanced political culture?to understand the arguments against further regulation.

New Hampshire has the lowest murder rate in America. In the past decade, the state averaged 10 to 20 murders per year within a population of 1.3 million. Consider this: The city of East St Louis, Illinois, population 27,000, has about the same annual number of murders.

As much as I would like, for the sake of pleasant family dinnertimes, to agree with my sister?s reading of the Constitution, I don?t and I can?t.

A recent TakePart story I wrote about Chicago teen rappers killing one another is an example of why I can?t accept handguns or assault rifles as basic human rights. When I read the 2nd Amendment, I see an outdated provision about muskets. If every man were entitled to the tool of American liberation, we?d all get nukes at birth, right?

But my sister touched on a universal truth by speaking out: ?I learned what it is to be an American citizen, to speak up and tell the truth. You can?t just let your country take your rights. This country was built out of action-orientated people. And I wanted to take action. I was able to exercise my right of free speech. Everyone was 30 years or more older than me, and I?m the voice of a new generation. People think we?re all about Facebook and haircuts or something?but I was there honoring the social contract of citizenship and to let them know our nation won?t die and that someone still understands what it is to be American.?

When asked if the other side is entitled to the same rights of free speech, Daphne agreed, but with a caveat: ?The other side has a right to voice opinion, but not to take our rights. The executive is there to enforce law, the legislature is there is to write them, and the court is there to make sure they?re constitutional. Obama is pushing a political agenda,? she added.?

Later in the week, New Hampshire hit national headlines when its Association of Chiefs of Police announced, of all things, a gun raffle giving out 31 weapons, including a Ruger SR-566C semiautomatic military style rifle. Police giving out assault weapons to raise money for more police is a bit weird, if not fully tone deaf, given the national mood after 20 children and six adults were shot dead at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Then there was a Sunday New York Times cover story detailing the gun industry?s marketing pivot targeted at kids my sister's age and younger.

?Threatened by long-term declining participation in shooting sports,? the Times sums up, ?the firearms industry has poured millions of dollars into a broad campaign to ensure its future by getting guns into the hands of more, and younger, children.?

My sister and my family are not gun owners. They don?t hunt. But they live in a peaceful state, one that is not in debt or suffering from high unemployment. They do not want the federal government further messing with their lives. And it makes sense framed from the ?shire?s endless forest, lakes and mountains. In this glorious New England setting, my sister?s classmates aren?t gunning one another down.

On the streets of Chicago, where guns are killing more than 500 people?half of them children?a year, things are different. There, guns are part of the problem. In New Hampshire, there is no major problem. Both perspectives make sense.

But this American is going to disagree with his sister.

Protecting the Constitution and basic freedom is an important American concern. Protecting human lives is a universal one.

These are solely the author's opinions and do not represent those of TakePart, LLC or its affiliates.

Do you and your family have any differences of opinion on how to control gun violence? Spell them out in COMMENTS.

Related Stories on TakePart:

? As Volunteers Get to Work, Are We Missing MLK?s Deeper Message?

? $wagg: Life as a Rap Artist During a Plague of Gun Violence

? The Nation's Gun Policies Are All Over the Map?So How Do We Control Gun Violence?

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Ray LeMoine was born in Boston and lives in New York. He?s done humanitarian work in Iraq and Pakistan and has written for various media outlets, including the New York Times, New York Magazine and the Awl.

?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-control-reformers-firearms-wholesalers-aim-kids-191401239.html

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New look at cell membrane reveals surprising organization

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sight would dramatically alter a blind man's understanding of an elephant, according to the old story. Now, a look directly at a cell surface is changing our understanding of cell membrane organization.

Using a completely new approach to imaging cell membranes, a study by researchers from the University of Illinois, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Institutes of Health revealed some surprising relationships among molecules within cell membranes.

Led by Mary Kraft, a U. of I. professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, the team published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Cells are enveloped in semi-permeable membranes that act as a barrier between the inside and outside of the cell. The membrane is mainly composed of a class of molecules called lipids, studded with proteins that help regulate how the cell responds to its environment.

"Lipids have multiple functions serving as both membrane structure and signaling molecules, so they regulate other functions inside the cell," Kraft said. "Therefore, understanding how they're organized is important. You need to know where they are to figure out how they're doing these regulatory functions."

One widely held belief among cell biologists is that lipids in the membrane assemble into patches, called domains, that differ in composition. However, research into how lipids are organized in the membrane, and how that organization affects cell function, has been hampered by the lack of direct observation. Although the cell membrane is heavily studied, the imaging techniques used infer the locations of certain molecules based on assumed associations with other molecules.

In the new study, Kraft's team used an advanced, molecule-specific imaging method that allowed the researchers to look at the membrane itself and map a particular type of lipid on mouse cell membranes. The researchers fed lipids labeled with rare stable isotopes to the cells and then imaged the distribution of the isotopes with high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry.

Called sphingolipids (SFING-go-lih-pids), these molecules are thought to associate with cholesterol to form small domains about 200 nanometers across. The direct imaging method revealed that sphingolipids do indeed form domains, but not in the way the researchers expected.

The domains were much bigger than suggested by prior experiments. The 200-nanometer domains clustered together to form much larger, micrometer-sized patches of sphingolipids in the membrane.

"We were amazed when we saw the first images of the patches of sphingolipids across the cell surface," said Peter Weber, who directed the team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "We weren't sure if our imaging mass spectrometry method would be sensitive enough to detect the labeled lipids, let alone what we would see."

Furthermore, when the researchers looked at cells that were low on cholesterol ? thought to play a key role in lipid aggregation ? they were surprised to find that the lipids still formed domains. On the other hand, disruption to the cell's structural scaffold seemed to dissolve the lipid clusters.

"We found that the presence of domains was somewhat affected by cholesterol but was more affected by the cytoskeleton ? the protein network underneath the membrane," Kraft said. "The central issue is that the data are suggesting that the mechanism that's responsible for these domains is much more complicated than initially expected."

In addition, the new study found that sphingolipids domains were incompletely associated with a marker protein that researchers have long assumed dwelled where sphingolipids congregated. This means that data collected with imaging techniques that target this protein are not as accurate in representing sphingolipid distribution as previously thought.

"Our data are showing that if you want to know where sphingolipids are, look at the lipid, don't infer where it is based on other molecules, and now there's a way to directly image them," said Kraft, who also is affiliated with the department of chemistry at the U. of I.

Next, the researchers plan to use the direct-imaging method in conjunction with other more conventional methods, such as fluorescence, to further determine the organization of different kinds of molecules in the membrane, their interactions and how they affect the cell's function. They plan to begin by targeting cholesterol.

"Cholesterol abundance is important," Kraft said. "You change that, you tremendously change cell function. How is it organized? Is it also in domains? That's related to the question, what's the mechanism responsible for these structures and what are they doing?"

###

The paper, "Direct chemical evidence for sphingolipid domains in the plasma membranes of fibroblasts," is available from PNAS.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu

Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 42 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126511/New_look_at_cell_membrane_reveals_surprising_organization

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The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Recap - Dinner, Drinks & Stripper Poles

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/the-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills-recap-dinner-drinks-and-str/

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Prop 8 Supporters Claim Gay People Don't Need Marriage Because ...

You know how I know you're gay? You keep fighting for the right to marry your same sex partner and for you and your children to have access to simple things like your spouse's health insurance.

The battle over Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act drags on in California and Prop. 8 supporters are getting desperate. Case in point, Paul D. Clement, a former solicitor general under George W. Bush, has recently given a ridiculous argument against new marriage laws where he claims that gay people don't need legal marriage contracts because their relationships rarely result in unplanned pregnancies. Huh?

Clement says, "Traditional marriage laws reflect a unique social difficulty with opposite-sex couples that is not present with same-sex couples ? namely, the undeniable and distinct tendency of opposite-sex relationships to produce unplanned and unintended pregnancies ? Unintended children produced by opposite-sex relationships and raised out-of-wedlock would pose a burden on society."

So what he basically argues is that gay couples should have ample time to plan a family and put aside money for a child's insurance needs whereas straight couples need the safety net of a marriage contract because none of us can remember to wear a condom. Never mind, as Katie McDonough at Salon points out, the 1,049 statutory provisions ? which includes tax breaks, disability benefits and joint parenting rights ? that marriage gives couples access to. Apparently, gay couples have some magic planning technique to get around those as well.

Gay marriage opponents use "Knocked Up" defense in Supreme Court case [Salon]

Source: http://jezebel.com/5979820/prop-8-supporters-claim-gay-people-dont-need-marriage-because-they-cant-get-accidentally-knocked-up

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Is it time to abandon privacy? | Webdesigner Depot

Whilst the trend for online business continues to grow, there is a significant increase in the number of consumers choosing not to do business online. The most oft-quoted reason is privacy.

Six months ago, several thousand euros were charged to one of my cards. A criminal had somehow accessed my Amazon account and purchased hundreds of gift certificates for himself via amazon.de, the German language version of the retailer.

It?s clear that the weak link was my account rather than my card as all fraudulent charges appeared in my account history. Exactly how the access was gained is a mystery: I?m not exactly a newbie to the internet. Since it happened I?ve been very wary providing details to anyone, and haven?t shopped with Amazon at all. If I can be discouraged to easily, how much more off-putting must it be for the less tech-savvy? Can they be blamed for mis-trusting online purchasing?

Financial details are not the only data being exploited. Last week Google released their Transparency Report detailing the user information they have handed out at the request of courts and government agencies. Requests have increased by 70% in the last 3 years, with more than 21,000 requests in the last six months alone.

Data about you isn?t restricted to what you hand over knowingly. Numerous devices including cameras include geolocation technology. When a suspected hacker posted photos online of his girlfriend taunting the police last year, the GPS information in the photos? metadata lead federal authorities straight to her door.

Of course, the argument goes, that if you?ve done nothing wrong, you?ve nothing to fear. So what leads customers to fill out online forms with phone numbers like ?01234567890?? Why lie, what does the user have to hide? The answer is nothing, they simply don?t trust you not to lose, or sell their information.

As developers, building websites for our clients, how can we combat this climate of mistrust?

The first step, as advocated by Nathan Barry last month is to limit the amount data we ask for: do you really need a street address in order to contact someone, wouldn?t an email do?

A second, and potentially more long-term solution is to balance the exchange of information by showing the same level of trust in the user that you ask them to lend you.

It?s extremely unlikely that a customer?s survival depends on the goods or services you?re offering, your business? survival on the other hand is very much dependent on sales. The balance of need is in the customer?s favor, it makes sense therefore that the business, which has the most to gain, is the one to take the risk.

It?s time that businesses stopped offering callback forms and made themselves reachable. If a phone call may be necessary to verify a transaction then provide your phone number, don?t ask for the customer?s. If you?re genuinely worried about the cost to the consumer then provide a toll-free number.

If businesses continue to value their privacy over that of their customers they may soon find themselves so private that they have no customers at all.

As for Amazon, they refused to provide a phone number to resolve the fraud on my account. Fortunately, my bank has a branch down the road, I walked in there and they took care of it for me.

?

How happy are you for companies to collect your private data? Should businesses be more open with their own information? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image/thumbnail, security image via Shutterstock.

Source: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/01/is-it-time-to-abandon-privacy/

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Fraud concerns linger over new Illinois license law

CHICAGO (AP) ? As Illinois becomes the fourth and most populous state to give illegal immigrants permission to drive, nagging concerns remain about whether there are enough safeguards to avoid the identity fraud and other pitfalls other states faced.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed Illinois' measure into law Sunday in Chicago. Backers, including Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some of the state's top Republicans, tout it as a public-safety measure. They argue that required facial recognition technology is reliable enough to prevent fraud.

They hailed it as an important step for immigrant rights in Illinois, which approved its own Dream Act in 2010 to create a privately-funded scholarship program for immigrant students. President Barack Obama plans to discuss his plan to overhaul the immigration system during a trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday.

"This was a bipartisan effort to pass an important law," Quinn said. "When the president speaks on Tuesday, he can say about his home state of Illinois ... we not only passed the Dream Act last year, we passed driver's licenses for those who are undocumented ."

However, the law's opponents have pointed to hundreds of fraudulent cases in New Mexico, Washington and Utah after those states began giving illegal immigrants permission to drive. Illinois will not require applicants to be fingerprinted, for fear that would discourage immigrants from applying.

"How many people would apply for this document knowing that fingerprints will be going to (federal authorities)? Probably not all that many," said Fred Tsao, policy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a driving-force behind the measure.

Proponents say it will allow an estimated 250,000 people unlawfully residing in the state to apply for a three-year temporary driver's license and require them to get training and insurance. The Illinois secretary of state's office said the licenses will be available starting in October.

Those ready for the change include 45-year-old Victoria Chavez.

"I need to get my driver's license because I have two kids," the Chicago woman said. "They need my support. This is a victory for all of us in the immigrant community."

The licenses will be like those already issued to certain foreign-born, legal visitors. Applicants will be photographed, and their photo will be entered into the state's facial recognition database ? like the rest of Illinois' licensed drivers? to verify their identity.

But other states' driving programs for illegal immigrants have been abused. New Mexico and Washington both issue licenses, while Utah issues a permit.

An Associated Press investigation last year found a striking pattern in New Mexico, suggesting immigrants tried to game the system to obtain a license. In one instance, 48 foreign-born individuals claimed to live at a smoke shop in Albuquerque to fulfill a residency condition.

Authorities also busted a fraud ring last year that forged documents for illegal immigrants to use after driving from as far as Illinois and North Carolina to obtain a New Mexico license. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has vowed for years to repeal the decade-old measure, but the Legislature has rejected such efforts.

Washington's requirements attracted national attention when Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, revealed his illegal immigration status in an essay for the New York Times Magazine in 2011. Vargas chronicled how he obtained his Washington license. State authorities conducted an investigation that revealed Vargas did not reside at the address he stated in his application and canceled his license.

Utah's permit is not valid for identification. Illinois' law follows suit.

Utah's Republican-controlled Legislature amended the state's law in 2011 to require illegal immigrants to be fingerprinted, and mandates that the state notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an applicant's fingerprint check yields a felony on record. If the applicant has a misdemeanor warrant outstanding, the state must notify the agency that is seeking the person's arrest.

That kind of information-sharing between state and immigration authorities worries Illinois' immigrant-rights advocates, such as Tsao, who pushed for the legislation without a fingerprinting requirement. They say fingerprinting could deter potential licensees from applying for fear of being identified and deported.

Local law enforcement officials argue in favor of fingerprinting.

"We could see if they have committed a crime; it could be a crime in another state or it could be a crime in their home country," said John Kennedy, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

The Illinois secretary of state's office says its facial recognition database is highly sophisticated and accurate. The program uses an algorithm to match more than a dozen facial features that are not easy to alter, such as eye sockets and sides of the mouth.

"The integrity of our driver's license system is a priority," said Henry Haupt, a spokesman for the office.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat, said state roads will be safer because illegal immigrants will receive training and be tested before obtaining a license. They also will be required to purchase insurance, Acevedo said.

Tsao's organization estimates uninsured illegal immigrant drivers cause $64 million in damage claims each year, an expense currently covered by increased premiums.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Springfield, Ill.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fraud-concerns-linger-over-ill-license-law-155828827.html

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Moves for iPhone Automatically Tracks Your Every Step Throughout the Day

iOS: You won't find a shortage of activity monitors in the iTunes App Store, but Moves is a very simple app that tracks your daily activity without the need for an external device or extraneous social features.

Moves works in a couple of different ways. First off, it's a simple pedometer that can track how many steps you take a day. It can also automatically differentiate between walking, running, and cycling. On top of that, it also tracks your GPS data so you can see where you go throughout the day, how you get there, and how long you spend there. The whole thing is automatic and runs in the background, so if you take a walk, then jump on a bicycle, there's no need to open up the app and change any settings?Moves knows what you're doing. At the end of the day, you can view where you've gone (and how you got there) in a simple timeline.

Of course, this all comes at the detriment of a battery life, but your phone should make it through the day with normal usage. That said, if you're interested in tracking your daily activities without worrying about sharing it on social networks (Moves has a pretty solid Privacy Policy too), or buying a gadget, Moves does the job well.

Moves (free) | iTunes App Store via TechCrunch

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/0zOeZvjyV4I/moves-for-iphone-automatically-tracks-your-every-step-throughout-the-day

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Obama lauds Clinton as she prepares to leave

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama lauded Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as one of his closest advisers and said their shared vision for America's role in the world persuaded his one-time rival ? and potential successor ? to be his top diplomat while he dealt with the shattered economy at home.

During a joint interview that aired Sunday, Obama and Clinton chuckled as they described their partnership and stoked speculation that Obama may prefer Clinton to succeed him in the White House after the 2016 elections. Clinton is leaving Obama's Cabinet soon, and speculation about the former first lady and senator has only grown more intense after a heated appearance last week on Capitol Hill.

Both Obama and Clinton batted away questions about future campaigns, but the joint interview ? the president's first with anyone other than first lady Michelle Obama ? was only likely to increase the fascination with Clinton's future.

"The president and I care deeply about what's going to happen for our country in the future," Clinton said. "And I don't think, you know, either he or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year."

Obama, who suggested the joint interview as Clinton prepared her exit from the State Department, lavished praise on his rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He called her a friend and an extraordinary talent, and praised "her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project."

It teetered on an endorsement of a 2016 presidential bid that is still an open question. Clinton advisers say she has not made a decision about a run, while Democratic officials suggest Clinton would be an early favorite if she decided to mount another campaign.

Obama and Clinton laughed when asked about the political future.

"You guys in the press are incorrigible," Obama said when pressed on another Clinton presidency. "I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you're talking about elections four years from now."

The possibility of a presidential campaign for Vice President Joe Biden did not come up during the interview, taped Friday at the White House.

Obama described why he insisted Clinton become his secretary of state.

"She also was already a world figure," Obama said. "To have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought, would be hugely important."

It was a job she initially refused. But Obama kept pushing, Clinton said.

"The one thing he did mention was he basically said: 'You know, we've got this major economic crisis that may push us into a depression. I'm not going to be able to do a lot to satisfy the built-up expectations for our role around the world. So you're going to have to get out there and, you know, really represent us while I deal with, you know, the economic catastrophe I inherited."

It's a job she embraced during the last four years. She arrived on the job with a global brand she quickly lent to promoting U.S. interests. In return, the public rewarded her with high approval ratings that could come in handy if she runs in 2016.

But her tenure has had its blemishes. For example, the United States did not directly intervene in the civil war in Syria, where the United Nations says more than 60,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people have been internally displaced since the start of the conflict in March 2011.

"There are transitions and transformations taking place all around the world. We are not going to be able to control every aspect of every transition and transformation," Obama said, saying his jobs are to protect the United States and engage where the U.S. can make a difference.

In a separate interview with The New Republic, also released Sunday, Obama said, "As I wrestle with those decisions, I am more mindful probably than most of not only our incredible strengths and capabilities, but also our limitations."

On "60 Minutes," he praised Clinton's State Department for helping him sort out what the United States can ? and cannot ? accomplish.

"It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her. Wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit," Obama said.

It's something of a turnaround from 2007 and 2008, as the two raced through Iowa and New Hampshire and onward. In increasingly bracing language, the two excoriated the other. At one point, a visibly angry Clinton seethed, "Shame on you, Barack Obama."

Obama now jokes about the rivalry.

"Made for tough debates, by the way, because we could never figure out what we were different on," the president said.

Both acknowledged disagreements continue but said they had common goals.

"Are there going to be differences? Yeah. Deep differences? Of course," Clinton said. "You had a lot of strong-willed, -minded people. But the president deserves our best judgment, our advice and then he deserves us to stand with him and to execute."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lauds-clinton-she-prepares-leave-000119075--politics.html

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Senate Takes First Step on Immigration With Bi-Partisan Plan ...

A bipartisan group of prominent senators, four Republicans and four Democrats, will announce a plan for an immigration law overhaul today. The framework, released early to reporters, includes a tightly controlled route to citizenship for many undocumented immigrants and additional immigration enforcement measures on the border and in workplaces.

The blueprint comes a day before President Obama is expected to give a speech on immigration reform in Las Vegas. Together, the plan and the president?s speech will push comprehensive immigration reform into high gear.

Democratic Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado will join Republicans Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Marco Rubio of Florida. The group, which has been meeting since after the 2012 elections to draft the plan, will discuss their proposal at a press conference in Washington this afternoon.

The ?framework? is intended to serve as a set of guiding principles for a comprehensive immigration reform legislation that members of Congress expect will be introduced in March.

The plan is a mix of legal immigration programs for undocumented immigrants and additional immigration enforcement measures. The path to citizenship will kick in only after additional border security and visa entry controls are implemented.

Immigrants under the plan would be required to pay back taxes, fines and other penalties and learn English before they can apply for permanent status. Applicants will also have to show they are currently employed. Those who have been convicted of crimes or are found otherwise ineligible for visas will be susceptible to deportation. It?s not clear now many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the country would be excluded because of these restrictions.

To accommodate conservatives who have long demanded increased border security before agreeing to a path to citizenship, the framework states clearly that the process to gain permanent immigration status will begin only ?[o]nce the enforcement measures have been completed.?

Those measures include new security on the border in the form of drones and surveillance and additional border guards sent to the areas between border crossing checkpoints. ?The purpose is to substantially lower the number of successful illegal border crossings while continuing to facilitate commerce,? the senators wrote.

Many liberals and rights groups have resisted additional enforcement in light of the massive buildup of border security measures and investment during the Obama administration. More money is currently spent on border control and more border guards currently patrol the region than ever before.

Democratic congressional staffers involved with drafting the proposal say they were not thrilled with the additional border security provisions, but, one aide said, ?If we need some more [unmanned aerial vehicles] to get 11 million people legalized, we?ll take that.?

The framework includes language requiring that border patrol guards be trained to prevent racial profiling and inappropriate use of force.

It?s not clear from the framework how the legislation will determine how much new enforcement is enough before unauthorized immigrants can gain permanent status. In the past, Republicans have used demands for more enforcement to derail reform efforts.

The senators were clear in the language that the path to citizenship will be a long one for most undocumented immigrants. Those living in the U.S. without authorization ?will only receive a green card after every individual who is already waiting in line for a green card, at the time this legislation is enacted, has received their green card,? the document reads.

Currently, it can take more than two decades for those applying for permanent immigration status to gain citizenship. Democratic Senate staffers involved in drafting the plan say the only way to make a system work that requires applicants to go to the ?back of the line? would be to expand the number of available visas.

The senators make two important exemptions to the lengthy citizenship path. Young people who came to the U.S. as kids, the groups referred to as DREAMers, ?will not face the same requirements as other individuals in order to earn a path to citizenship.?

Similarly, agricultural workers would be offered a clearer path to citizenship under a bill based on these proposals.

?Individuals who have been working without legal status in the United States agricultural industry have been performing very important and difficult work to maintain America?s food supply while earning subsistence wages,? the framework reads. ?Due to the utmost importance in our nation maintaining the safety of its food supply, agricultural workers who commit to the long term stability of our nation?s agricultural industries will be treated differently than the rest of the undocumented population.?

The plan calls for expanding the number of green cards for immigrants with a PhD or master?s degree in science, technology, engineering, or math from a U.S. university. The senators also agreed that a bill would need to reduce backlogs for family and employment-based visas that can currently take years and keep families separated for long periods of time.

Vague language for an expanded program for new immigrants seeking work in the U.S. is also part of the framework. Whether this will be a so-called guest-worker program is not clear. Unions and worker?s rights groups have long resisted guest worker programs that lack strong protections for workers. In apparent recognition of this tension, the section of the framework dedicated to such a program is titled, ?Admitting New Workers and Protecting Worker?s Rights.?

An additional part of the plan would mandate that employers check the immigration status of prospective hires ?through non-forgeable electronic means prior to obtaining employment.? In past years, employer verification proposals have included a national identity card. Civil liberties groups have resisted these kinds of programs.

The release of the framework puts the Senate group ahead of President Obama, who will present his own immigration platform. The president?s proposal is likely to be to the left of the bi-partisan groups, though not significantly. Meanwhile, some Republicans have vowed to introduce their own piecemeal immigration legislation, though Senator Marco Rubio?s inclusion in the group of senators may undercut that approach. Rubio, a prominent Republican, has previously proposed a multi-part immigration reform fix but appears to have agreed to an omnibus proposal.

Senate aides say they?ll now turn to drafting an actual bill, which will likely arrive in the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. Advocates for immigration reform, meanwhile, are keeping the pressure on. Rallies are scheduled in cities cross the country to demand action on a broad immigration reform bill that includes a clear path to citizenship.

Source: http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/01/bi-partisan_senate_group_releases_immigration_plan_kicks_reform_into_high_gear.html

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Obama lauds Clinton as she prepares to leave

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2013 file image taken from video and provided by CBS, President Barack Obama, center, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak with ?60 Minutes? correspondent Steve Kroft, left, in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington. The interview will air Sunday, Jan. 27 during the ?60 Minutes? telecast on CBS. (AP Photo/CBS, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2013 file image taken from video and provided by CBS, President Barack Obama, center, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speak with ?60 Minutes? correspondent Steve Kroft, left, in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington. The interview will air Sunday, Jan. 27 during the ?60 Minutes? telecast on CBS. (AP Photo/CBS, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama lauded Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as one of his closest advisers and said their shared vision for America's role in the world persuaded his one-time rival ? and potential successor ? to be his top diplomat while he dealt with the shattered economy at home.

During a joint interview that aired Sunday, Obama and Clinton chuckled as they described their partnership and stoked speculation that Obama may prefer Clinton to succeed him in the White House after the 2016 elections. Clinton is leaving Obama's Cabinet soon, and speculation about the former first lady and senator has only grown more intense after a heated appearance last week on Capitol Hill.

Both Obama and Clinton batted away questions about future campaigns, but the joint interview ? the president's first with anyone other than first lady Michelle Obama ? was only likely to increase the fascination with Clinton's future.

"The president and I care deeply about what's going to happen for our country in the future," Clinton said. "And I don't think, you know, either he or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year."

Obama, who suggested the joint interview as Clinton prepared her exit from the State Department, lavished praise on his rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He called her a friend and an extraordinary talent, and praised "her discipline, her stamina, her thoughtfulness, her ability to project."

It teetered on an endorsement of a 2016 presidential bid that is still an open question. Clinton advisers say she has not made a decision about a run, while Democratic officials suggest Clinton would be an early favorite if she decided to mount another campaign.

Obama and Clinton laughed when asked about the political future.

"You guys in the press are incorrigible," Obama said when pressed on another Clinton presidency. "I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you're talking about elections four years from now."

The possibility of a presidential campaign for Vice President Joe Biden did not come up during the interview, taped Friday at the White House.

Obama described why he insisted Clinton become his secretary of state.

"She also was already a world figure," Obama said. "To have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought, would be hugely important."

It was a job she initially refused. But Obama kept pushing, Clinton said.

"The one thing he did mention was he basically said: 'You know, we've got this major economic crisis that may push us into a depression. I'm not going to be able to do a lot to satisfy the built-up expectations for our role around the world. So you're going to have to get out there and, you know, really represent us while I deal with, you know, the economic catastrophe I inherited."

It's a job she embraced during the last four years. She arrived on the job with a global brand she quickly lent to promoting U.S. interests. In return, the public rewarded her with high approval ratings that could come in handy if she runs in 2016.

But her tenure has had its blemishes. For example, the United States did not directly intervene in the civil war in Syria, where the United Nations says more than 60,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people have been internally displaced since the start of the conflict in March 2011.

"There are transitions and transformations taking place all around the world. We are not going to be able to control every aspect of every transition and transformation," Obama said, saying his jobs are to protect the United States and engage where the U.S. can make a difference.

In a separate interview with The New Republic, also released Sunday, Obama said, "As I wrestle with those decisions, I am more mindful probably than most of not only our incredible strengths and capabilities, but also our limitations."

On "60 Minutes," he praised Clinton's State Department for helping him sort out what the United States can ? and cannot ? accomplish.

"It has been a great collaboration over the last four years. I'm going to miss her. Wish she was sticking around. But she has logged in so many miles, I can't begrudge her wanting to take it easy for a little bit," Obama said.

It's something of a turnaround from 2007 and 2008, as the two raced through Iowa and New Hampshire and onward. In increasingly bracing language, the two excoriated the other. At one point, a visibly angry Clinton seethed, "Shame on you, Barack Obama."

Obama now jokes about the rivalry.

"Made for tough debates, by the way, because we could never figure out what we were different on," the president said.

Both acknowledged disagreements continue but said they had common goals.

"Are there going to be differences? Yeah. Deep differences? Of course," Clinton said. "You had a lot of strong-willed, -minded people. But the president deserves our best judgment, our advice and then he deserves us to stand with him and to execute."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-27-US-Obama-Clinton/id-f28cfef4390d4639b603025fee0b20b4

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Brazil nightclub fire kills more than 230 people

A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react as they wait for news near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

Firefighters work to douse a fire at the Kiss Club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

People help an injured man, victim of a fire in a club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the Kiss club in the city of Santa Maria while a band was performing. At least 200 people were also injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

A crowd stands outside the Kiss nightclub during a fire inside the club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing 245 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Roger Shlossmacker)

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air while stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the blaze.

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who had attended a university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at windows and walls to free those trapped inside.

Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper that firefighters had a hard time getting inside the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance."

Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit flares that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that officials counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in Santa Maria, a major university city with about 250,000 residents at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

An earlier count put the number of dead at 245. Another 117 people were being treated at hospitals, he said.

Brazil President Dilma Roussef arrived to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," Roussef said.

Most of the dead apparently suffocated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who went to the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

Beltrame said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity during a party for students at the university's agronomy department.

Survivors, police and firefighters gave the same account of a band member setting the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze, he said.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

In the hospital, the doctor "saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information," he said, calling it "one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed."

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

The event featured a group called Gurizada Fandangueira, which plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. It was not immediately clear if the band members were among the victims.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said that all possible action was being taken.

"Sad Sunday" Genro tweeted. He planned to be in the city later in the day.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

In 2004, at least 194 people died in a fire at an overcrowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Seven members of a band were sentenced to prison for starting the flames.

Several years later, in December 2009, a blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, killed 152 people after an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

Similar circumstances led to a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people in the United States. Pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of a Rhode Island music venue.

___

Associated Press Writer Stan Lehman contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-27-Brazil-Nightclub%20Fire/id-2ec34f9507d64404bd2915c6c9bdd783

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Sports are a civil right for disabled, U.S. says

WASHINGTON ? Breaking new ground, the U.S. Education Department is telling schools they must include students with disabilities in sports programs or provide equal alternative options. The directive, reminiscent of the Title IX expansion of athletic opportunities for women, could bring sweeping changes to school budgets and locker rooms for years to come.

Schools would be required to make ?reasonable modifications? for students with disabilities or create parallel athletic programs that have comparable standing as mainstream programs.

?Sports can provide invaluable lessons in discipline, selflessness, passion and courage, and this guidance will help schools ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to benefit from the life lessons they can learn on the playing field or on the court,? Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement announcing the new guidance on Friday.

Federal laws, including the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, require states to provide a free public education to all students and bans schools that receive federal funds from discriminating against students with disabilities. Going further, the new directive from the Education Department?s civil rights division explicitly tells schools and colleges that access to interscholastic, intramural and intercollegiate athletics is a right.

?This is a landmark moment for students with disabilities. This will do for students with disabilities what Title IX did for women,? said Terri Lakowski, who led a coalition pushing for the changes for a decade. ?This is a huge victory.?

Education Department officials emphasized they did not intend to change sports? traditions dramatically or guarantee students with disabilities a spot on competitive teams. Instead, they insisted schools cannot exclude students based on their disabilities if they can keep up with their classmates.

?It?s not about changing the nature of the game or the athletic activity,? said Seth Galanter, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department.

It?s not clear whether the new guidelines will spark a sudden uptick in sports participation. There was a big increase in female participation in sports after Title IX guidance instructed schools to treat female athletics on par with male teams. That led many schools to cut some men?s teams, arguing that it was necessary to be able to pay for women?s teams.

There is no deadline for schools to comply with the new disabilities directive.

But activists cheered the changes.

?This is historic,? said Bev Vaughn, the executive director of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, a nonprofit group that works with schools to set up sports programs for students with disabilities. ?It?s going to open up a whole new door of opportunity to our nation?s school children with disabilities.?

A Government Accountability Office study in 2010 found that students with disabilities participated in athletics at consistently lower rates than those without. The study also suggested the benefits of exercise among children with disabilities may be even important because they are at greater risk of being sedentary.

?We know that participation in extracurricular activities can lead to a host of really good, positive outcomes both inside and outside of the classroom,? said Kareem Dale, a White House official who guides the administration?s policies for disabled Americans.

Dale, who is blind, wrestled as a high school student in Chicago alongside students who had full vision.

?I was able to wrestle mainly because there was a good accommodation to allow me to have equal access and opportunity,? Dale said, describing modified rules that required his competitors to keep in physical contact with him during matches.

Those types of accommodations could be a model for schools and colleges now looking to incorporate students with disabilities onto sports teams. For instance, track and field officials could use a visual cue for a deaf runner to begin a race.

Some states already offer such programs. Maryland, for instance, passed a law in 2008 that required schools to create equal opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in physical education programs and play on mainstream athletic teams. And Minnesota awards state titles for disabled student athletes in six sports.

Increasingly, those with disabilities are finding spots on their schools? teams.

?I heard about some of the other people who joined their track teams in other states. I wanted to try to do that,? said 15-year-old Casey Followay, who competes on his Ohio high school track team in a racing wheelchair.

Current rules require Followay to race on his own, without competitors running alongside him. He said he hopes the Education Department guidance will change that and he can compete against runners.

?It?s going to give me the chance to compete against kids at my level,? he said.

In cases where students with disabilities need more serious changes, a separate league could be required.

Although the letter is directed to elementary and secondary schools and the department hasn?t provided comparable guidance to colleges, some of the principles in the letter will be read closely by administrators in higher education, said Scott Lissner, the Americans with Disabilities coordinator at Ohio State University and president of the Association on Higher Education and Disability.

?The logic that?s in there applies us to us as well as it does to K-12, for the most part,? Lissner said.

While slightly different portions of civil rights law apply to colleges and universities, ?their approach in this letter was really more about the basic underlying equity and civil rights issues? that colleges also must ensure they?re applying to pass muster under the law.

Generally, Lissner said, as colleges review their policies, the effects would more likely be felt in intramural and club sports programs on campus than intercollegiate ones, Lissner said. That?s because relatively few people can meet the standards to compete in intercollegiate sports, and nothing in the guidance requires a change in such standards. But the purpose of intramural and club sports is broader, and colleges may have to do more to ensure students with disabilities aren?t deprived of a chance to compete.

Some cautioned that the first few years would bring fits and starts.

?Is it easy? No,? said Brad Hedrick, director of disability services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and himself a hall-of-famer in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. ?In most places, you?re beginning from an inertial moment. But it is feasible and possible that a meaningful and viable programming can be created.?

Establishing students? needs would be the first step, followed by training for educators and coaches.

?We need to determine how many children would qualify and then look to where kids can be integrated onto traditional teams appropriately. Where we can?t, then we need to add an adaptive program,? said Vaughn, who has advised states and districts how to be more inclusive.

?Typically, the larger school districts realistically could field a varsity and junior varsity team in each sport. In more rural areas, we would do a regional team. It?s not going to overwhelm our schools or districts. It?s just going to take some solid planning and commitment.?

?

Source: http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/01/25/sports-are-civil-right-disabled-us-says

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QUESTS

A city only where you either can be a Meister or a Weapon. A man out of darkness plans revenge upon the people of Death City. Teams are created, to defeat the darkness. (Never to late to join.)

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Death's Game of Shadows?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Completely ignore the quest box. I will be posting quests here. Message me if you got any questions.

pepperx3

Member for 0 years

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Dear Students,
I Lord Death will give you the chance to try collecting at least 12 souls by the end of the week.
Remember dear students you need a total of 99 souls, and 1 witch soul to become one of my Death Scythes.
Also, witch souls are very hard to collect so if you mess up on collecting the witch soul.
I am sorry to say but you must repeat the process of collecting 99 souls from the beginning.
Take care everyone,
-Lord Death.

pepperx3

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