#jeffrey rockland

[camyfilms]

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 1965

Lara, I am determined to save you from a dreadful error. There are two kinds of men, and only two, and that young man is one kind. He is high-minded. He is pure. He is the kind of man that the world pretends to look up to and in fact despises. He is the kind of man who breeds unhappiness; particularly in women. Now, do you understand?

[rocklandhistoryblog]

The Ramapo Pass has played more than one significant role in the history of New York State. The earliest settlers of New York were blocked by the steep Ramapo and Haverstraw mountains from migration into what is now Orange County. Albany, Ulster and Orange counties were all initially settled by travel up the Hudson River to Fort Orange (Albany). From there the Dutch set­tled Wiltwyck (now Kingston) and then many followed the legendary Old Mine Road from Kingston through the Minisink territory down into Orange County. Only after the early settlers cleared the Ramapo Pass and con­structed a road along the old Indian trail, during the course of the 18th century, did upstate migration begin inland through what was to become Rockland County. The work of clear­ing and improving the pass for wagon travel was largely attributable to the Van Deursen (Van Duzer) and Sloat families, and Isaac Van Deursen III himself was one of the first to take advantage of this new route when he moved north to Cornwall. These early families also built inns in the pass to accommodate travelers. Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who stopped overnight at Sidman’s Inn in 1761, described the path as “very stony and narrow.”

The Ramapo Pass acquired strate­gic importance during the American Revolution when the city of New York was held by the British who hoped to gain control of the Hudson River. The Ramapo Pass served the troops of Gen­eral Washington, who ordered improvements to the road and fortifi­cations built at Sidman’s Bridge to prevent the British from using the pass and to facilitate his own troop movements. From the Liberty Rock, which is the highest elevation in Sloatsburg and in direct line with the the Torne Mountain, communication was effected by signaling. The look­outs on the Torne were primarily on the alert for movement of British ships in New York Harbor, as Washington was concerned that they would advance up the Hudson River. This strategy, combined with the blockade of the Hudson River at West Point, prevented the British from capturing Albany and other areas of New York.

Over the years of the 18th and 19th centuries, the road through the Ramapo Pass became known as the Clove Road, then the Albany Post Road, and later as the Orange Turnpike and State High­way 17. During the 19th century, the pass continued to be important as part of the route of the Albany Stage and later the Erie Railroad. Even today, the Ramapo Pass serves as a major trans­portation route for the New York State Thru way and Route 17.

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Image: Map drawn by Claire Tholl for a 1997 article that appeared in our award winning history quarterly entitled The Van Duzer and Sloat Families in the History of the Ramapo Pass by Gene Kuykendall. To read the article in its entirety, visit our archived issue here: https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/hsrc/id/3793/rec/1

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This image, like many of the historic images posted here, comes from the HSRC archives. If you like them, please consider becoming a member of the HSRC. Your member dollars help us preserve and share the rich history of Rockland County and you get tangible benefits - like receiving our award winning history quarterly "South of the Mountains," the only journal of Rockland County history published continuously since 1957!

Learn more about membership here: http://www.rocklandhistory.org/product.cfm?category=17

www.RocklandHistory.org

[henpeckedho]

Time article about polio below cut. Sorry again to mobile people.

Link to article: https://time.com/6206535/polio-vaccines-how-to-stay-safe/ Written: 8/16/2022 By: Jeffrey Kluger

Until recently, polio had been a relic of history in the U.S. Once a scourge that paralyzed or killed up to tens of thousands of children every year, the U.S. declared the disease officially eradicated in 1979, thanks to widespread vaccination.

But polio is back. On July 21, the New York State Department of Health announced a case of polio in an unvaccinated man in Rockland County. Poliovirus has since been found in wastewater in both Rockland and neighboring Orange County, as well as in New York City.

The development has led to justified alarm. “Even a single case of paralytic polio represents a public health emergency in the United States,” write a group of researchers in a report published Aug. 16 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The bottom line is that anyone who is not fully vaccinated against the disease should get up-to-date on the shots immediately. Here’s what to know about what polio’s re-emergence in the U.S. means for your health.

A brief recent history of polio

As recently as 1988, polio was a worldwide menace: endemic in 125 countries and causing an average of 350,000 paralytic or lethal cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It was that year that the World Health Assembly established the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the goal of wiping out the disease, just as smallpox had been officially eradicated in 1980.

The means to the end of polio would be the same as it was for smallpox: worldwide vaccination. The strategy has worked extraordinarily well. Today, polio is endemic in just two countries—Afghanistan and Pakistan—which have seen just 18 cases between them so far this year, according to the Initiative. But there are problems with that overall success story, and they involve the vaccination campaign itself.

What is vaccine-derived polio?

There are two types of polio vaccine: the oral polio vaccine (OPV), which, as its name suggests, is administered by drops to the mouth; and the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is administered by injection. The IPV uses a killed poliovirus to familiarize the immune system with the disease and prime it to react if it ever encounters a living virus. The OPV uses an attenuated virus—weakened to the point that it can do the same work of priming the immune system without actually causing the disease.

The big advantage of the OPV is that it is cheaper and much easier to administer, making it the vaccine of choice for mass inoculation campaigns. The disadvantage is that on exceedingly rare occasions, the weakened virus can revert to virulence, causing the disease in the person who received the drops or allowing the revived virus to be shed in feces of the infected person and circulate in wastewater—leading to the possibility of so-called vaccine-derived polio in others.

The reversion to virulence is rare. Since 1988, an estimated 18 million cases of polio have been prevented by vaccination, and 1.5 million lives have been spared, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since 2000, reports UNICEF, 10 billion doses of OPV have been administered worldwide. Measured against those numbers, vaccine-derived polio is low-risk, with a total of 540 global cases so far this year—not including the U.S. case—and a recent peak year occurring in 2020, when 1,100 cases were reported globally. Typically, there are far fewer cases in a given year.

To eliminate the problem domestically, the U.S. stopped using the OPV in 2000 and switched over to the IPV exclusively. But that doesn’t prevent vaccine-derived strains from being imported by travelers from overseas, or by a U.S. resident who traveled internationally, picked up the virus from someone who had received the OPV, and brought it back home. Typing of the virus found in the Rockland County man showed that it was indeed a vaccine-derived strain that caused the disease.

No matter how the virus got here, it is now among us—and it is by no means necessarily limited to the water supply in just three New York regions. If a traveler could bring it into one state, other travelers could carry it anywhere.

“The fact that we’re finding it in wastewater tells you it’s more common than people appreciate,” says Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “We’re looking at the tip of the iceberg.”

Adds virologist Vincent Racaniello of the Columbia University School of Medicine: “I suspect it’s already in many, many places in the U.S. In fact, I think that if we look in every major city in the U.S., we will find vaccine-derived polio in the sewage for sure.”

Polio vaccination rates are frighteningly low

Vaccine guidelines call for children to receive three polio shots by age two to be considered fully vaccinated. But polio vaccine uptake in the U.S. falls short. In Rockland County, just over 60% of eligible children have received their three doses. (These rates vary wildly within the county; in one zip code, only 37% of children are vaccinated according to the Aug 16 report.) In Orange County, less than 59% of children are fully vaccinated. In New York City, the rates are much higher, at about 86%, but the average varies by borough, with Manhattan reaching 91% and Brooklyn trailing the other boroughs at 81%. Statewide vaccination rates are just below 79%.

Nationwide, the figures are higher, with 92.6% of children fully vaccinated by age two, according to the CDC. But here, too, there are local differences; for example, just 79.5% of kids in Oklahoma, along with 80.3% in South Carolina, are fully vaccinated. That worries experts because every unvaccinated child is at risk of becoming a polio victim—and a reservoir for the virus. For every case of paralytic polio, up to 200 other people are likely infected who either show no signs of the virus or who have mild cold- or flu-like symptoms. Every one of them is a walking viral vector.

“The majority of people who are infected with polio have no symptoms,” says Lipkin. “They aren’t even aware that they are infected, but they can transmit the disease.”

Even people who have been vaccinated against the disease with the IPV—which is the only type of polio vaccine used in the U.S.—can potentially shed the virus. The OPV establishes what’s known as gut immunity, meaning that—assuming a person is not among the few who in whom the poliovirus reverts to its virulent state—there is no viral replication in the intestinal system, and therefore there is no infectious virus shed in feces. But the IPV, since it must be injected to be effective, does not provide gut immunity, meaning that if an IPV-vaccinated person picks up a vaccine-derived strain, that active virus can reproduce in the intestines and be shed.

That poses no health risk to an IPV-vaccinated person, but they can unintentionally contribute to the spread of the virus if they come into contact with it. “You do not develop polio” if you have the IPV vaccine, “because once the virus enters your blood, your immune system would take care of it,” says Racaniello. “But the virus can reproduce in your gut and you can shed it and it can end up in sewage that way.”

What you can do to reduce your risk

The reappearance of polio does not necessarily mean that a nationwide spread of the disease is imminent. But it is a wake-up call that unvaccinated children and adults have to get their shots now. “The solution to the problem is just making sure you’re vaccinated,” says Racaniello. “Because if you’re vaccinated, you will not develop polio.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare that the wisdom of getting vaccinated against an infectious disease can bump up hard against politics, claims of personal freedom, and unfounded rumors about the safety and efficacy of the shots. Even before the pandemic, there was already a robust anti-vaccine community in the U.S., and that cohort has not gone away. “There are all sorts of bizarre conspiracy theories that have been put forward by one group or another,” says Lipkin. “It’s a huge problem.”

The good news is that both polio vaccines are remarkably effective and long-lasting. If people received a full course of either vaccine as children, they do not need to get a booster now. “Anyone who has had a complete polio vaccination series does not need a booster,” says Racaniello. “Immunity to polio conferred by vaccination lasts a lifetime.” This, he stresses, is true whether you received either the IPV or the OPV in childhood.

That doesn’t mean that polio boosters are never necessary. People traveling to high-risk areas, like Afghanistan, Pakistan, or any of the countries that have seen high rates of vaccine-derived polio—such as Nigeria, which is home to 238 of the 540 global cases this year—should first receive a booster, says Lipkin.

For most people though, the re-emergence of the poliovirus in the U.S. does not present a danger, thanks to the simple preventative tool of vaccines. They defeated the disease once before in the U.S., and put to work nationwide now, they can do so again.

[esperanza1955]

El 22 de diciembre de 1965, en New York, EEUU, se estrenaba la película "Doctor Zhivago" - Origen: EEUU - Producción: Metro Goldwyn Mayer & Carlo Ponti Production - Dirección: David Lean - Guión: Robert Bolt sobre libro de Boris Pasternak - Reparto: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, Tom Courtenay, Ralph Richardson, Siobhan McKenna, Rita Tushingham, Geoffrey Keen, Bernard Kay, Jack MacGowran, Adrienne Corri, Wolf Frees, Gwen Nelson, Noel Willman, Gerard Tichy, Klaus Kinski, Jeffrey Rockland, José María Caffarel, Tarek Sharif, Mark Eden, Erik Chitty, Lucy Westmore y Virgilio Teixeira - Música: Maurice Jarre - Ganadora de cinco Oscars (Mejor guión adaptado, Mejor cinematografía, mejor dirección de arte, mejor vestuario y mejor banda sonora), cinco Globos de Oro (Mejor película, mejor director, mejor actor, mejor guión adaptado y mejor música) y otros once premios internacionales

Un poco de historia: Cuando Omar Sharif se presentó ante el director para intentar ser seleccionado para el papel de 'Pavel Antipov' se encontró con un David Lean impertérrito. De muy malos modos le dijo '-Señor Sharif, ni se tome la molestia en intentar convencerme de darle el papel de Antipov'. El actor al borde de ahorcarlo le pregunta '-¿Por que?', Lean con una leve sonrisa le respondió '-Porque lo quiero interpretando al mismísimo Dr. Yuri Zhivago'. La película fue rodada en España durante el régimen del general Francisco Franco. Cuando se rodó la escena donde una multitud canta el tema revolucionario marxista en los alrededores se provocó un inmenso revuelo. Los españoles de la zona creyeron que Franco había sido derrocado y salieron a la calle, algunos a festejar y otros a protestar. La policía tuvo que calmar los ánimos e instar a los productores a terminar la escena lo mas rápido posible. Yuri Zhivago fue interpretado por Omar Sharif, en la escena donde aparece Yuri de niño, fue interpretado por el propio hijo del actor, Tarek Sharif. La crítica fue muy dura con el filme, David Lean estaba devastado, sin embargo bromeaba '-Si se derrumba el cine donde se proyecta mi película no habría víctimas'. Sin embargo se convirtió en la primera película donde el boca en boca hizo que se sobrepusiera a las críticas y fue una de las películas mas vistas del año siguiente a su estreno.

[orendrasingh]

Observers of New York politics over the past several years understand that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s fanatical obsession with humiliating and overruling his fellow Democrat Bill de Blasio towers over every other consideration in the Empire State. Sometimes Cuomo’s habits come across as merely silly, as when he intervened in de Blasio’s decision to euthanize a deer found roaming around in Harlem. Sometimes Cuomo has slowed down de Blasio’s aggressive moves to the left. But when it came to the coronavirus, de Blasio was the first of the two to decide to take it seriously. As always, Cuomo could not allow de Blasio to seem to be ahead of him on any matter, so he reflexively opposed de Blasio’s suggestion to take serious steps to curb the spread of infection. Here at last New York’s petty political turf war led to the deaths of innocent bystanders, as surely as if Cuomo had been spraying bullets around in a gang beef. Rarely, however, do gangsters kill more than a few onlookers. Cuomo’s intransigence cost the New York area an extra 17,000 lives, according to one study.Throughout January and February, far too many leaders at all levels downplayed the Wuhan virus, but by March 17, New York City’s mayor had seen enough. Schools had shut down the day before, and de Blasio said in a news conference that New Yorkers should prepare to “shelter in place” to slow the spread of the virus. The governor’s team immediately jumped in to tell de Blasio this idea sounded “crazy.” “Phones were ringing off the hook,” de Blasio’s then-press aide Freddi Goldstein told the Wall Street Journal in an exhaustive, damning tick-tock of Cuomo’s horrific decisions. Cuomo’s officers told Goldstein’s crew in City Hall that “de Blasio was scaring people. You have to walk it back. It’s not your call.”Five crucial, lethal days went by before Cuomo decided de Blasio was not crazy. As he has done on many other occasions, such as hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour (de Blasio proposed this, Cuomo opposed it, then Cuomo enacted it and bragged about it), Cuomo furiously opposed de Blasio, then switched sides while calling himself the true author of the idea. Millions of New Yorkers went to work, packed into mass transit, and otherwise crowded together. Yet “if everybody had done exactly what they did one week earlier, more than 50% fewer people would have died by the end of April,” Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University and co-author of a study on the matter, told the Journal. Shaman pegs the number of lives that could have been saved by acting one week earlier at 17,514 in the metropolitan area or 36,000 nationwide. Cuomo’s March 25 order that nursing homes must accept those infected with coronavirus was a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe; and Cuomo has sternly resisted all efforts to launch an independent investigation into how much damage the virus did within such long-term care facilities. Cuomo’s claim that only about 20 percent of the state’s 33,000 deaths from the virus were linked to nursing homes is risible given that the percentage is far higher in other states; the true death toll in New York nursing homes is likely to be something like 11,000, maybe more. Cuomo’s continuing refusal to allow an independent look at this is simply a coverup. “I think you’d have to be blind to realize it’s not political,” Cuomo has said, as he prepares to publish a book celebrating his stewardship of the crisis. A bipartisan bill to authorize such an investigation is pending.By carefully curating his public image with the aid of CNN and his own brother, Cuomo has portrayed himself as a forthright, determined leader, but the Journal’s exposé paints him as a micromanager who substituted his own, spectacularly poor, judgment for that of others. You don’t get to argue, “The buck stops here but by the way everything that happened was President Trump’s fault.” State agencies were forced to wait for permission from Cuomo before offering guidance, and on March 19 the emergency was so obvious that Attorney General Letitia James met with other officials to discuss how they could go about convincing Cuomo to institute the lockdown “without making it appear that he was taking a cue from the mayor,” the Journal reported. In Rockland County, officials pleaded with Cuomo to allow a local emergency order to wear face masks after a local outbreak on April 2. “I found a hot spot, and they did nothing,” county executive Ed Day told the paper. Also on April 2, de Blasio told New Yorkers going outside or venturing near other people to wear a face covering; on April 3, Cuomo downplayed the idea, saying masks might cause a “false sense of security,” then signed a state law mandating their use beginning April 17.Andrew Cuomo’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus isn’t an aberration; it was a natural outgrowth of his petty, ridiculous, one-sided feud with de Blasio, now more than six years old. As a New York Times report noted, Cuomo previously had long-simmering disputes with lots of other politicians and fellow Democrats, such as ex-governors Eliot L. Spitzer and David Paterson and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, not to mention a “legendary” clash with the inspector general of HUD when Cuomo ran that agency in the 1990s. New Yorkers pride themselves on being pugnacious and stubborn and tend to choose leaders to match. But when the clock was ticking and people were dying, Cuomo’s obstinacy cost thousands of lives.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3coimpq

[realestatedigitalsales]

Top 10 U.S. housing markets that could be hardest hit by coronavirus

Top 10 U.S. housing markets that could be hardest hit by coronavirus

Top 10 U.S. housing markets that could be hardest hit by coronavirus

Jeff Ostrowski Senior mortgage reporter   The housing slowdown caused by the coronavirus could deliver the sharpest shocks to real estate markets in New Jersey, Illinois and Florida. That’s according to an analysis by ATTOM Data Solutions. The provider of property data studied housing markets in 483 U.S. counties and looked for signs of weakness based on housing affordability, the share of homes where owners owe more than their homes are worth and foreclosure rates. Those metrics serve as “major distress indicators,” and they highlight the areas of the country that already were vulnerable heading into the coronavirus downturn, says Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM. As housing demand weakens and struggling borrowers stop making mortgage payments, the areas singled out by ATTOM face a heightened risk of foreclosures and falling property values – although for now, most lenders are refraining from initiating foreclosure proceedings. The Garden State fares poorly in ATTOM ‘s analysis. New Jersey locales make up six of the nine most vulnerable counties and 10 of the 20 counties with the gloomiest outlook. The analysis considered only economic factors, not public health data, so Teta says he didn’t factor in the high number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey. The state ranks second to only New York in confirmed cases of coronavirus and deaths from COVID-19.

An unequal housing boom

In the nation’s strongest housing markets, home values have rallied far past their peaks set during the housing boom of 2005 to 2007. That’s not the case for much of New Jersey, however. Even before the coronavirus pandemic struck, New Jersey’s housing market was struggling, says Jeffrey Otteau of Otteau Group, an appraisal firm in Matawan, New Jersey. The state’s housing market still hasn’t fully recovered from the last global financial crisis. “New Jersey has been one of the worst-performing states in terms of home price recovery coming out of the Great Recession,” Otteau says. “You have very thin equity levels, and you still have negative equity. And you layer on top of that the COVID-19 recession.” Among the economic headwinds, New Jersey’s steep taxes and high cost of living have hampered job growth and population growth. “New Jersey has more outbound migration than inbound migration,” Otteau says. “People and jobs are both leaving, in stark numbers.” In one small upside for New Jersey’s housing market, the coronavirus crisis has spurred some residents of New York City to look for homes in the suburbs, he says. Not everyone agrees with the dire assessment. “We are a healthy state,” says Angela Sicoli, president of the New Jersey Realtors and owner of Century 21 Award Agency in Nutley. “We were in an upswing prior to the pandemic.”

The 10 most vulnerable counties

The national housing market was strong going into the pandemic. A typical homebuyer needed to devote a reasonable 31 percent of income to afford a median-priced home. Less than 14 percent of homeowners were underwater, meaning more was owed on the mortgage than the house is worth. And just 0.08 percent of American homes were in foreclosure, a historic low. But all real estate is local, as the saying goes. ATTOM says housing markets in these counties showed the strongest signs of stress heading into the coronavirus crisis: Sussex County, New Jersey: This area along the Pennsylvania border has a population of 140,000. More than a quarter of homeowners were “underwater” – meaning they owed more than their homes were worth – at the end of 2019. And the foreclosure rate was 0.3 percent, compared to a national total of less than 0.1 percent. Warren County, New Jersey: Warren County is located along the Pennsylvania border and is adjacent to Sussex County. Fully 28 percent of homeowners were underwater, and the county’s foreclosure rate also was 0.3 percent. However, its affordability picture is slightly more favorable than Sussex County’s. Charles County, Maryland: In this county south of Washington, D.C., affordability poses a problem. A typical buyer needed to spend nearly 43 percent of income to afford the median-priced home during the first quarter of 2020, according to ATTOM. McHenry County, Illinois: In this county northwest of Chicago, nearly 24 percent of homeowners were underwater at the end of 2019, and the foreclosure rate was 0.2 percent. Illinois has mostly missed the economic boom of the past decade, Teta notes. The state’s job growth has been tepid and home values have barely appreciated. Rockland County, New York: Homes are eye-wateringly expensive in this suburban county in the New York City metro area. A typical buyer needed to devote a whopping two-thirds of income to afford a home in the first quarter of 2020, when the median price was $406,500. Atlantic County, New Jersey: This coastal county is home to Atlantic City, where the tourism economy has been hit hard. More than a third of Atlantic County homeowners were underwater, and the foreclosure rate topped 0.2 percent. Passaic County, New Jersey: Affordability is the major challenge for this area just outside of New York City. A typical buyer needed to devote more than half of income to afford the median-priced home during the first quarter of 2020, according to ATTOM. Ocean County, New Jersey: This county along the Jersey Shore is another place where affordability poses a high hurdle. Median-income homebuyers needed to devote nearly 45 percent of their income to afford a median-priced home. Gloucester County, New Jersey: In this county in suburban Philadelphia, more than 27 percent of homeowners are underwater, and the foreclosure rate is more than 0.3 percent. Flagler County, Florida: This small coastal county is situated between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine. Affordability poses the major pain point: A buyer would spend 47 percent of income on a median-priced home. Not all of New Jersey is in the danger zone. Some Garden State counties were well-positioned heading into the pandemic. For instance, Hudson County ranks No. 349 on ATTOM’s list of 483 counties. Somerset County is No. 217, and Morris County is No. 158. While just one Florida county made the top 10, there are 10 Florida counties ranked among the 50 most vulnerable housing markets. These include Flagler, Lake, Bay, Clay, Broward, Hernando, Santa Rosa, Osceola, Highlands, and Charlotte counties. Four Illinois counties, in addition to McHenry, also made the top 50: Kane, Will, Tazewell and Lake. Fast-appreciating housing markets in the western half of the U.S. are mostly absent from ATTOM’s list of vulnerable areas. California has just one county in the top 50. Colorado and Washington state don’t have a single county in the top 300. That’s because soaring home prices have given homeowners a cushion of equity. If you’re wondering, ATTOM says the nation’s most solid housing market is Indiana’s Tippecanoe County, home of Purdue University.

What to do if you’re facing housing distress

With many homeowners suddenly out of work, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has opened forbearance programs that allow for missed mortgage payments. “If you have any level of financial impact from this, I’d certainly research the forbearance programs that are out there,” Teta says. “That’s what they’re there for. These mortgage relief programs are better designed than the ones in the Great Recession.” The earlier generation of initiatives helped some homeowners but frustrated others. If you had been pondering a home sale, it would be wise to sit on the sidelines, Teta says. “Unless you need to sell, I would not right now,” he says. “We’re of the opinion that this is a three- to five-month delay in the selling season. In three to five months, there’s going to be a lot more demand.” For those shopping for homes, on the other hand, the coronavirus slowdown could offer some bargains. Sellers who have kept their properties on the market could be signaling a willingness to negotiate. “If you’re a buyer,” Teta says, “there are some potential opportunities out there.” Read more https://global.goreds.today/real-estate-10-years-later-many-underwater-counties-have-not-escaped-the-housing-crisis/   Read the full article

[go-redgirl]

Bill de Blasio on Hanukkah Attack: Trump’s ‘Hateful Speech’ Emboldened Violent Forces.

On Sunday broadcast of MSNBC’s “Weekends,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio commented on five people being stabbed in an attack at a synagogue in New York’s Rockland County.

De Blasio said, ��For the last three years in this country the forces of hate have been unleashed, and we see more and more violence associated with those hateful impulses. Some of it organized and premeditated. The uptick in hate crimes in this city has led the NYPD to recognize we’ve got to get under the skin of these trends and see if they can disrupt them.”

He continued, “We’ve also known for years that there are white supremacists forces that are organizing to do violence. We know about the militias in some parts of the country. They’ve targeted law enforcement. These right-wing militias have targeted law enforcement for years in this country. Unfortunately, that trend is growing, that form of extremism. We’ve got to be able to track it and disrupt it in a way that, honestly, we didn’t face before in the city, nor much of the country. But let’s be honest, the last three years everything has changed. Once hate gets normalized, it spreads like wildfire, and it takes a more violent form, and we’ve got to stop it now before we end up making the wrong kind of history.”

He added, “It’s not a time for a partisan discussion, but it is a time to say some of the most hateful speech is emanating from Washington, D.C. What we need our president to do is be a unifier, a calming positive voice, reminding us of what we have in common as Americans. That’s what presidents have done for generations. We’ve missed that. 

And the hateful speech even if it’s not inciting specific violence, let’s face it, we have seen these violent forces emboldened. We saw it in Charlottesville. We’ve seen it all over the country. And we’ve got to be honest about it without falling into a partisan battle to say something is different in recent years. I’ll be the first to say there were other problems before that. There were campus shootings and other horrible things, but the connection to racial and ethnic motivation, that has been growing in the last few years, and that’s what we’ve got to stop.”

READ MORE STORIES ABOUT:

Clips Politics Bill de Blasio Donald Trump Hanukkah

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INDIVIDUALS/COMMENTS/POSTS:

Jeffrey Dodd 

The only idiots dumber than this ass are the people who actually believe him.

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John Truman Paul Gerst • 4 hours ago

Disgusting comment by DeBlasio.

And such a lie.

And such a lie.

These kids are #TeamFarrakhan #TeamObama

The outbreak of NYC crime has nothing to do with "white."

Dems want to turn "white' into a synonym for "enemy."

Nothing more racist than that.

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Dave W John Truman •

This year its become open warfare against the police. For deblasio to blame white supremists? No wonder NYPD turns their back on him

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C C Dave W • 4 hours ago 

As ususal a liberal leader is passing the buck on his own failed policies. DeBlasio is a disgrace and an embarrasment to his city. That his constituents would vote this clown into office speaks volumes about their IGNORANCE. Trump has it right----liberal voters are LOW IQ!!!!

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Trump Train aka Honey Badger C C • 4 hours ago

Racist 0bama created this he put targets on the backs of our protectors. Just a quick look at the homicides in Baltimore, Chicago and other D-Rat cities tells you everything you need to know about criminal democrat run cities. DeBlasio should be arrested for inciting racist hate against 63 million Trump supporters. When they blame Trump they blame US.

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Schrödinger's cat Trump Train aka Honey Badger 

The person who is running NYC so badly is Blaming Someone Else (BSE mad cow disease !!!)

That is how Democrats roll !!!

MAGA 2020

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noman Schrödinger's cat • 4 hours ago

Why not? Newsom is blaming the crap on SF streets on--Trump.

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gman noman • 3 hours ago • edited

It looks like Bill de Blasio blames everybody but himself for the problems in his own City.

Sounds like your typical Democrat. White supremacy? Was that attacker in New City wearing blackface? Did I miss something? LOL

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jordanminn gman • 3 hours ago

Let me get this straight..........

President Trump is the most pro-Jewish President...........

EVER...........

yet he is to blame for Dem anti-Semitism???

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Deplorable_Shadow_Ax jordanminn • 3 hours ago 

"It's not a time for a partisan discussion..." ...He says right after engaging in a partisan attack against President Trump and his supporters. I would say that the hypocrisy is stunning, except that it is the norm for Democrats these days. Constantly accusing us of what they, themselves are doing. Smh.

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Spock Deplorable_Shadow_Ax • 3 hours ago • edited

Democrats are some serious projecting sick fooks. The 180% off party.

Calling good evil and evil good. What shall it profit a man to gain the world only to lose his soul? (Paraphrased from bible.)

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Bret Rekcah Spock • 2 hours ago

All the antisemitism I read or see about are from democrats or leftists. They hate Israel. As Levin says as well, there are many self hating jewish people in this country.

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Spock Bret Rekcah • 2 hours ago • edited

0bama, the most un-American American president, ever, was "community-organizing" in Israel to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu's (A clear-headed, sane patriotic leader) re-election

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Nick Danger Sway Snub • 2 hours ago • edited

Pathalogical liars De Blasio and A. Cuomo are both blaming Trump's rhetoric. In fact, real actions are to blame. Allowing more Muslim refugees in NYC, bail reform, hamstring the police, and general, albeit typical, Dem incompetence. These two are cockroaches trying to cover their own stupid policies with blatant lies.

PS: There is an article out today noting that NYC is no longer safe for business. Good job Dem's.

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Silence DoGood Bret Rekcah • 2 hours ago • edited

Amazing. The Marxist Democrats are so good at blaming the consequences of their own dysfunction on to Republicans. Notice how Democrats NEVER take responsibility for problems that have long existed in cities and states they have LONG run!

Constantly pawning the blame off. They are champion liars, and Masters of Deceit.

It's funny, because they are Socialists, make no mistake about it, and another Socialist, Hitler, touched off World War 2 with a false flag at Gleiwitz.

I'm convinced the left is planning a false flag event, as they are terrified of Trump winning in 2020.

https://www.historyhit.com/...

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L5P Silence DoGood • an hour ago

Democrats are so good at blaming the consequences of their own dysfunction on to Republicans. Notice how Democrats NEVER take responsibility for problems that have long existed in cities and states they have LONG run! Democrat solution: cut back on arresting perps in the name egalitarianism until the.....

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OPINION:   Bill de Blasio Is The Mayor Of New York, And Its his Responsibility As Mayor To Do His Own Job As Mayor.  

Stop Trying To Blame The President Of The United States For Your ‘Lazy’ Do Nothing Job.  Bill de Blasio Is A ‘Loser’ By All Definition.  And He Has The Poorest ‘Rating’ Of Any Mayor In This Country.  

He Need To Be Voted Out Immediately.   Don’t Blame President Trump For Your Own Incompetence.  Bill de Blasio Is A ‘Lazy’ Rat And One Of The Worst Mayors New York Has Ever Elected.  He Has Nothing To Show For Any Progress In New York That He Had Done. 

 Bill de Blasio Performance Has Been Rated As F-.  Thats The Lowest Anyone Can Get.   Every Low Life In This Country That Hasn’t Done Anything For Their City Or State Is Trying To Blame The President.  Well Its Not Going To Work.  

You Just Need To Get  Up Off Of Your ‘lazy A** And Do Your Own Job. Many Need To Ask Themseleves The ‘Millon Dollar’ Question.  What  Were You Doing Before Donald J. Trump Was Elected President?  

The Answer Is ‘Nothing’ But Wasting Tax Payers Money. And, The Fact Is, You Are Still Not Doing Anything Positive For Your Own State.

Let The Truth Be Told!

[rocklandhistoryblog]

#MarkerMonday

Hopper House

Birthplace and boyhood home of the eminent realist painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967). The Hoppers’ forebears came from Holland in 1652, and the artist’s grandfather built this house in 1858. After graduating from Nyack High School, Hopper moved to New York but returned to the family home throughout his life. Local citizens saved the house in 1970 and formed the Edward Hopper Landmark Preservation Foundation. Hopper lies buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Nyack Rotary Club

Marker is at 82 North Broadway, Nyack NY 10960

Upon the occasion of Hopper’s 100th Birthday, the Historical Society of Rockland County mounted an exhibition honoring the great American artist. The following essay appeared in a special edition of the HSRC’s history quarterly “South of the Mountains.”

EDWARD HOPPER: HIS ROCKLAND HERITAGE AND LEGACY

by Arthayer R. Sanborn

South of the Mountains Special Exhibit Edition

Vol. 26 Special Exhibit Edition Summer 1982

Edward Hopper was born 100 years ago, on July 22, in the small white house that still bears his name on Nyack’s North Broadway. The house, in which he spent his boyhood, was built by his maternal grandparents, John DeWint Smith and Elizabeth Griffiths Smith. When in 1879 their daughter, Elizabeth, married Garret Hopper, the young couple took over and for more than a century, their home has been the Hopper house.

In the early 1970's, the house narrowly escaped extinction. After the last Hopper had died, it became a dilapidated, boarded-up relic, still filled with Hopper memorabilia but an almost certain candidate for demolition. Then a small, determined local group, aware of Hopper’s worldwide fame and of the local and historic influences which had helped to shape it, went into action. Spear­headed by Jeffrey Arnold, the group included Winston Perry Jr., Robert Kassel, Stephen Leeman, Sterling Norris, William and Dorothea Hope, John Cant, Ruth Diebold, Alan Gussow, Susan Reed, John Moment, and Robert Miniciello. They raised the funds to stave off demolition. They did the hard, grueling hands-and-knees work necessary to restore and preserve the house.

By May 1971 they had established the Hopper Landmark Preservation Foun­dation which the following month was incorporated under the New York State Board of Regents. Soon programs and exhibitions, featuring local artists present and past, brought visitors from all over the metropolitan region to the house —tens of thousands in the last decade.

Hopper House is not only a loving memorial to a great artist, but a vibrant symbol of local recognition and commitment to preservation of cultural values.

John DeWint Smith, Edward Hopper’s maternal grandfather, may be called the founder of Hopper House. He selected the site and built the house in 1858. The plot, part of the land of Simon Sickels, was owned at the time by Richard Decantillon and Richard R. Eells. The land cost $1100 and the house $1593.

Mr. Smith came from the family who had owned the DeWint House in Tappan. Johannes DeWint, born April 12, 1716, on the Danish Island of St. Thomas, was a wealthy sugar plantation owner. At the age of 30, he bought the DeClark House, built in 1700 by Daniel DeClark, one of the original Tappan patentees. This house, the oldest in Rockland County, sometimes served as headquarters for General Washington. It is a historic landmark, but it had been owned through the years by some of Hopper's relatives. The last of the family to occupy it was Thomas Blanch Smith, John DeWint Smith's son by his first wife, Eleanor Cornelison Blauvelt. [Read More here: https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/hsrc/id/2460/rec/1]

There is a new exhibition at the Hopper House on view now celebrating Hopper’s early years in Nyack. Learn more here: https://www.edwardhopperhouse.org/hopper-boyhood.html

There is a special screening of a new documentary on Hopper at Rivertown Film on 11/16. Learn more here: https://rivertownfilm.org/hopper/

[nyfacurrent]

Introducing | NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program Recipients and Finalists

NYFA has awarded $661,000 to 98 New York State artists working in the categories of Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design, Choreography, Music/Sound, Photography, and Playwriting/Screenwriting.

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program, which it has administered for the past 33 years with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The organization has awarded a total of $661,000 to 98 artists (including three collaborations) whose ages range from 25-76 years throughout New York State in the following disciplines: Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design, Choreography, Music/Sound, Photography, and Playwriting/Screenwriting. Fifteen finalists, who do not receive a cash award but benefit from a range of other NYFA services, were also announced. A complete list of the Fellows and Finalists follows. 

The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program makes unrestricted cash grants of $7,000 to artists working in 15 disciplines, awarding five per year on a triennial basis. The program is highly competitive, and this year’s recipients and finalists were selected by discipline-specific peer panels from an applicant pool of 2,542. Since it was launched in 1985, the program has awarded over $31 million to more than 5,000 artists. This year, thanks to the generous support of photography nonprofit Joy of Giving Something, NYFA was able to award an additional five Fellowships in Photography, which has the largest application pool of any Fellowship category.

“We are grateful to NYSCA for this annual opportunity to provide nearly 100 artists from New York State with unrestricted cash grants,” said Michael L. Royce, Executive Director, NYFA. “What’s most exciting is that the Fellowship impacts artists of all disciplines and career stages and that these artists are being recognized by a jury of their peers. Beyond the financial aspect, it empowers them to keep creating and exploring new possibilities in their work.”

New York State Council on the Arts Executive Director Mara Manus described how the program makes New York communities more vibrant: “The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship recognizes that artists of all disciplines, backgrounds, ages, and career stages make vital contributions to New York’s creative culture. Over the past 33 years, the Artist Fellowship has been a launching pad and a critical source of support for artists whose work helps build healthy communities in all regions of the state.”

On receiving a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting, Brooklyn-based Nabil Viñas said: “It is a deeply moving honor to be recognized by NYSCA/NYFA. I took up screenwriting out of necessity, as it became clear that the voices and stories from my life would not appear in works by others. This fellowship tells me our stories matter, and that my voice is worth hearing.”

For Ben Altman, a Fellow in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design from Danby, NY, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship represents another facet of support from NYFA: “NYFA has informed my artistic practice throughout my 12 years in Upstate New York, providing professional development, fiscal sponsorship, grant application support, workshops, critique, and timely advice. To be awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is as much a tribute to those inputs as it is an important and very welcome recognition of the work NYFA’s support has helped me to produce.”

To Veena Chandra, a Fellow in Music/Sound from Latham, NY, the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship empowers her to “continue to create, promote, and preserve” musical tradition. “I feel blessed to have been playing Indian sitar music for the last 63 years. I am so grateful to my father, who created an environment for me to learn this beautiful music and taught me from the very beginning of my life. To be recognized for my work in performing and preserving Indian Classical music means a lot to me, especially at this point in my career,” she noted.

Fellowship Recipients, Finalists, and Panelists by Discipline and County of Residence:

Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design Fellows

Ben Altman (Tompkins) Kenseth Armstead (Kings) Shimon Attie (New York) Sonya Blesofsky (Kings) Yeju Choi and Chat Travieso - Yeju & Chat (Kings) * Blane De St. Croix (Kings) Sun Young Kang (Erie) Kyung-jin Kim  (Queens) Ming-Jer Kuo (Queens)*** Lindsay Packer (Kings) Christopher Robbins (Westchester) Jeffrey Williams (Kings)       

Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design Finalists      

Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels (Kings) Justin Brice Guariglia (Kings) Pascale Sablan (New York)    

Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design Panelists    

Ann Reichlin (Tompkins) Ekene Ijeoma (Kings) Nina Cooke John (New York) Victoria Palermo (Warren)      

Choreography Fellows

Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie (New York) Justina Grayman (Queens)**** GREYZONE (Kings) Dan Hurlin (New York) Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (Kings) Shamel Pitts (Kings) Melinda Ring (New York) Same As Sister (Queens)* Rebeca Tomas (Westchester) Kelly Todd (Kings) Donna Uchizono (New York) Vangeline (Kings) Adia Tamar Whitaker (Kings)        

Choreography Finalists      

Parijat Desai (New York) DELIRIOUS Dances/Edisa Weeks (Kings) Netta Yerushalmy (New York)        

Choreography Panelists    

Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp (Monroe) Robin Collen (St. Lawrence) Trebien Pollard (Erie) Marie Poncé (New York) Kota Yamazaki (Kings)  

Music/Sound Fellows

ALMA (Kings)* Lora-Faye Åshuvud (Queens) Newman Taylor Baker (New York) Bob Bellerue (Kings) Leila Bordreuil (Kings) Vienna Carroll (New York) Veena Chandra (Albany) David First (Kings) Micah Frank (Kings) Kate Gentile (Kings) Michael Harrison (Westchester) JSWISS (Kings) Liz Phillips (Queens) Kenneth Kirschner (Kings) Elliott Sharp (New York) Jen Shyu (Kings) Ann Warde (Tompkins) Eric Wubbels (Queens)    

Music/Sound Finalists      

Lily Henley (Kings) Earl Howard (Queens) Tobaron Waxman (New York)    

Music/Sound Panelists    

Toni Blackman (Kings) Sarah Hennies (Tompkins) John Morton (Rockland) Margaret Anne Schedel (Suffolk) Elio Villafranca (New York)        

Photography Fellows

Manal Abu-Shaheen (Queens) Yasser Aggour (Kings) Aneta Bartos (New York) Lucas Blalock (Kings) Matthew Conradt (Kings) Debi Cornwall  (Kings) Robin Crookall (Kings) Tim Davis (Dutchess)****** Eli Durst (Queens) Nona Faustine (Kings) Jonathan Gardenhire  (Kings) Rachel Granofsky (Kings)***** Carlie Guevara (Queens) Gail Albert-Halaban (New York) Daesha Devón Harris (Saratoga)****** Gillian Laub (New York) Jiatong Lu (Kings)****** Diana Markosian (Kings) Rehan Miskci (New York) Rachelle Mozman Solano (Kings) Karina Aguilera Skvirsky (New York) Erin O'Keefe (New York) Paul Raphaelson (Kings) Victor Rivera (Onondaga)****** Jahi Lateef Sabater (Kings) Nadia Sablin (Kings) Derick Whitson (New York) Letha Wilson (Columbia)****** Alex Yudzon (Kings)        

Photography Finalists      

Mike Crane (Kings) Julianne Nash (Kings) Dana Stirling (Queens)

Photography Panelists    

Nydia Blas (Tompkins) Carmen Lizardo (Hudson) Lida Suchy (Onondaga) Sinan Tuncay (Kings) Penelope Umbrico (Kings)

Playwriting/Screenwriting Fellows

Rae Binstock (Kings) Benedict Campbell (Bronx) Sol Crespo (Bronx)**** Amy Evans (Kings) Stephanie Fleischmann (Columbia) Robin Fusco (Queens) Myla Goldberg (Kings) Ryan J. Haddad (New York) Susan Kathryn Hefti (New York) Holly Hepp-Galvan (Queens) Timothy Huang (New York) Fedna Jacquet (New York) Nicole Shawan Junior (Kings)** Serena Kuo (Kings) Kal Mansoor (Kings) Michael Mejias (Kings) Joey Merlo (New York) Rehana Lew Mirza (Kings) Joél Pérez (New York) Keil Troisi (Kings) Nabil Viñas (New York) Craig T. Williams (New York)    

Playwriting/Screenwriting Finalists      

Iquo B. Essien (Kings) Becca Roth (Kings) Sheri Wilner (New York)        

Playwriting/Screenwriting Panelists    

Sheila Curran Bernard (Albany) Clarence Coo (New York) Randall Dottin (New York) David Ebeltoft (Steuben) Julie Casper Roth (Albany) 

* Collaborative artists ** Geri Ashur Screenwriting Award *** Joanne Y. Chen Taiwanese American Artist Fellow **** Gregory Millard Fellows made with the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; Gregory Millard Fellowships are awarded annually to New York City residents chosen in several categories. The award was established by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in 1984 in memory of poet and playwright Gregory Millard, who served as Assistant Commissioner of Cultural Affairs from 1978 until his death in 1984 and championed the causes of individual artists. ***** Deutsche Bank Fellow ******Joy of Giving Something Fellow

Funding Support

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Major funding is also provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA). Additional funding is provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, ​Taiwanese American Arts Council​, The Joy of Giving Something Inc., and individual donors.

Find out more about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program, a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant awarded to individual artists living and working in the state of New York. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more news and events from NYFA. To receive more artist news updates, sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News.

Images from Top: Lindsay Packer (Fellow in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design ’19), False Fold, 2019, colored light and found objects, Photo Credit: Lindsay Packer; Donna Uchizono (Fellow in Choreography ’19), March Under an Empty Reign (Sextet), 2018, performers Natalie Green and Aja Carthon, Photo Credit: Ian Douglas; Eli Durst (Fellow in Photography ’19), Bread (Cross), 2017, archival pigment print; Veena Chandra (Fellow in Music/Sound ’19), Image Credit: MARS Fotographi

[buynsellsolar-blog]

Nautilus Solar completes 2.83-MW New York community solar project

New Post published on http://roofnrays.com/nautilus-solar-completes-2-83-mw-new-york-community-solar-project/

Nautilus Solar completes 2.83-MW New York community solar project

Nautilus Solar Energy, a national solar acquisition, development and asset management company, is holding a the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its first of three community solar projects serving Orange and Rockland’s utility service territory. Located in Westtown, New York, the 2.83-MW community solar garden covers 15 acres and will provide energy cost savings to 300 homes.

Using its full-service platform, Nautilus will be responsible for the project management, long-term asset management and maintenance services for the projects. The energy generated by the Westtown solar project will directly benefit qualified residential community solar subscribers. The project reached commercial operation on May 8, 2019. Nautilus’s other solar projects in the towns of Greenville and Chester are scheduled to open by Q3 2019.

Laura Stern, president and co-founder, Nautilus Solar Energy, Frank Mace, NYSERDA; Kevin Purdy and Rob Miller, EnterSolar; Jason Kaplan, PowerMarket; Rodney Manalo, 360 Managed Services; and various Nautilus employees celebrate the completion of Nautilus’ new Westtown Community Solar project on June 13th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Nautilus Solar Energy

“This community solar milestone extends Nautilus’s vision towards extending a sustainable future for those customers that are unable to install large-scale solar facilities directly on [their property],” said Jim Rice, CEO, Nautilus Solar Energy.

This project received over $1 million from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through NY-Sun, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s $1 billion initiative to advance the solar development and move New York State closer to have a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry.

“We’re particularly excited that this project propels Nautilus’s community solar expansion into New York, our fifth market entry over the last year,” added Jeffrey Cheng, COO, Nautilus Solar.

Since 2011, solar in New York has increased more than 1,700% and leveraged nearly $3.8 billion in private investments. NY-Sun projects help support Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal, which calls for 70% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030.

“Congratulations to Nautilus Solar on the completion of their community solar project, which is becoming an increasingly popular option for New York residents and businesses that are unable to install solar on their property or rooftop,” said Alicia Barton, president and CEO, NYSERDA. “I commend the residents and businesses in Orange County for taking part in solar projects like this to support locally-produced renewable energy, lower consumer costs, and help reduce emissions in support of Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading clean energy and climate goals.”

News item from Nautilus Solar Energy

[robertruizbn]

Help after Amputation Injuries in Massachusetts

ABC5 News reports a Rockland industrial accident severed a 66-year-old man’s arm at the elbow after it was caught and pulled into the gears while he was working on a machine.

Massachusetts workers’ compensation lawyers know amputation injuries are common across a number of New England industries, including manufacturing and farming. While many resources for recovery exist for victims of traumatic amputation,  a comprehensive legal and medical approach is best deployed when it comes to obtaining all of the benefits to which a victim is entitled.

In this case an employee used a t-shirt as a makeshift tourniquet until medical help arrived and transported the man to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. The Boston Herald reported that quick thinking Rockland police officers saved the man’s life by providing additional emergency medical care.

Amputation Injury Risks in Massachusetts

Amputation injuries are much more common than many people realize. The Massachusetts Amputee Coalition reports there have been more than 55,000 amputations performed at Massachusetts hospitals over the past 20 years.

It is estimated that 1 in 200 individuals in the United States will suffer some form of amputation injury during their lifetime. Outside of the military, amputation injuries are most likely to occur in traffic collisions or while operating heavy machinery, and are particularly common among industrial, manufacturing and agricultural employees.

At least 30,000 traumatic amputation injuries occur reach year in the united states.

About 2 million U.S. residents are living with limb loss.

Upper-limb amputation is by far the most common, accounting for more than two-thirds of traumatic amputation injuries.

Nearly 80 percent of traumatic amputation victims are men.

A prosthetic limb can cost as much as $50,000, and even those of the highest quality are only meant to last 3-5 years. Proper access to treatment, rehabilitation and prosthetic care is critical, with Disabled World estimating every dollar spent on rehabilitative care results in savings of $11 on welfare and disability benefits. Those who do not have access to proper prosthetics care within two years of an amputation injury are at greater risk of poverty, depression and health concerns like obesity and heart disease.

Injury Lawsuits, Workers’ Compensation and Disability after Amputation

A work injury lawyer in Boston can review all of the facts and circumstances of your injury to determine all available means of financial and physical recovery.

Worker’s compensation benefits should be available almost immediately for employees who are injured on the job. These benefits are meant to provide for medical care, rehabilitation and a portion of lost wages. However, employees dealing with moderate to severe injuries are always best served by seeking the representation of an experienced Massachusetts workers’ compensation lawyer, as these can be complex cases and employers and insurers often make it difficult to obtain all of the benefits to which you are entitled. In all cases of life-altering injuries, such as amputation, an experienced law firm should always be contacted as soon as possible after injury.

Employees who are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits, are generally prohibited from suing an employer for additional damages, except in cases of intentional injury or gross negligence. However, in many cases a third-party, such as an equipment manufacturer, can be found partially liable and may be sued for additional damages. Seeking a law firm with extensive experience in personal injury litigation, workers’ compensation, and Social Security Disability Insurance, can best identify and pursue all of the benefits to which your are entitled. In some cases, it may be necessary to establish a trust, so that any personal injury settlement is not counted toward your eligibility for government assistance programs, including Social Security Income (SSI).

Our work injury lawyers work closely with our team of Social Security Disability Insurance professionals to ensure our clients receive seamless access to federal disability benefits in the wake of a serious work injury. Under certain circumstances, victims of amputation injuries may automatically qualify for SSDI benefits:

Amputation of one or both feet above the ankle.

Amputation of both hands.

Amputation of one hand and one leg at or above the ankle.

Amputation of one leg at the hip (hip disarticulation).

In addition to SSDI, those who qualify with a presumptive disability may also be qualified for Social Security Income, which provides additional benefits, including Medicaid, to the low-income disabled.

For other amputation injuries, the Social Security Administration will access your “residual functioning capacity.” Your RFC will take into account functionality with prosthetic assistance, as well as your ability to work at sedentary activities. This is where having an experienced SSDI lawyer in Boston can be critical, as applicants can still be disqualified, despite an amputation injury, if the Social Security Administration determines you can perform any available job, not just a job in your career field or the work you did previously.

The Occupation Safety and Health Administration warns machines in motion create the highest risk for amputation injuries, including rotating flywheels, gears and couplings; reciprocating parts that move back and forth or up and down; and transversing parts that move along a continuum. Safe-guards are routinely built into machinery to protect operators from moving parts, although they are often removed or altered by companies to increase efficiencies.

A number of OSHA regulations aim to reduce the risk of amputation injuries, including:

29 CFR Part 1910 Subparts O and P cover machinery and machine guarding.

29 CFR 1926 Subpart I covers hand tools and powered tools.

29 CFR Part 1928 Subpart D covers agricultural equipment.

29 CFR Part 1915 Subparts C, H, and J; 29 CFR Part 1917 Subparts B, C, and G; and 29 CFR Part 1918 Subparts F, G, and H cover maritime operations.

OSHA also publishes a comprehensive outline of machine-guarding standards.

An amputation injury is life-altering. However, comprehensive recovery options are available, including world-class improvements in prosthetics developed over the last 20 years for military veteran amputees. Seeking qualified legal help at the outset of injury can put you and your family in the best position to make a complete financial and physical recovery. At the Law Offices of Jeffrey S. Glassman, we are dedicated to throughly investigating the causes of your accident and pursing all of the damages to which you are entitled under the law.

If you or someone you love has been injured a Boston work accident, call for a free and confidential appointment at 1-888-367-2900.

More Resources

Industrial Amputation Injuries, Occupation Safety and Health Administration.

  The post Help after Amputation Injuries in Massachusetts appeared first on Massachusetts Workers Compensation Lawyers Blog.

Help after Amputation Injuries in Massachusetts published first on http://lawpallp.blogspot.com

[capecoddaily]

Deck: See the mugshot gallery…Towns: WarehamTopic: Police and Fire NewsHub Category: Police and FireAuthor: CapeCodToday StaffTeaser: See the mugshot gallery…Main Image: Main Image Credit: Jeffrey Hiltz,age 50, of Rockland was summoned to court on multiple charges, including OUI liquor, following a crash with this Volvo Friday afternoon.  (WPD photo)Thumbnail Image: Image Gallery: Body:  On Friday, October 26, at about 3:45 p.m. Wareham…

[nyfacurrent]

Introducing | NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program Recipients and Finalists

NYFA has awarded $623,000 to 89 New York State artists.

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced the recipients and finalists of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, which it has administered for the past 32 years with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The organization has awarded a total of $623,000 to 89 artists throughout New York State in the following disciplines: Fiction, Folk/Traditional Arts, Interdisciplinary Work, Painting, and Video/Film. This year’s recipients range in age between 26 and 77. Fifteen finalists, who do not receive a cash award, but benefit from a range of other NYFA services, were also announced. A complete list of the Fellows and Finalists follows.

The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program makes unrestricted cash grants of $7,000 to artists working in 15 disciplines, awarding five per year on a triennial basis. The program is highly competitive and this year’s recipients and finalists were selected by discipline-specific peer panels from an applicant pool of 3,071. Since it was launched in 1985, the program has awarded over $31 million to more than 4,500 artists.

“Artists deepen humanity and help us to understand the world and each other through their work,” said Michael L. Royce, Executive Director, NYFA. “We’re proud to collaborate with NYSCA to offer unrestricted grants to artists of all disciplines across New York State to support their artistic visions,” he added.

“We recognize that at the heart of the arts is the individual artist,” said Mara Manus, Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts. “These grants provide artists in a multitude of disciplines with financial support so they can take risks and flourish in their work, fueling the creative capital of New York.”

Sejal Shah, a Fellow in Fiction from Rochester, NY, reflected on the award saying: “Receiving the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship means it is possible for me to teach less, worry (a little) less, and write more. It is allowing me to focus on the big picture and helps me to believe that what I am doing has value to someone other than me. As an artist, I feel freer to take risks with my work, to experiment, and to continue to write about gender, race, silence, and speech.”

Kim Brandt, a Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work from Queens, NY, shared the following about her fellowship: “Receiving a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a real gift—both a vote of confidence and a sigh of relief. On a practical level, it supports a continued commitment to my work by easing the financial burdens of its costs. For a contained stretch of time, I can pay for studio space and materials, take time away from my jobs, and travel for a residency with less worry and reduced stress. Yet to have my work recognized and acknowledged by NYFA and their panelist of arts professionals, peers, and colleagues, to be included in a roster of previous awardees whose work I’ve long admired and respected—this is the deeply meaningful support that doesn't run out once the last penny is spent. This kind of support feeds and fuels long past the fellowship period, and its value is immeasurable and unlimited.”

Fellowship Recipients and Finalists by Discipline and County of Residence:

Fiction Fellows

Caitlin Cass (Erie) Diane Chang (Queens) Martin Cloutier (Kings) Dana Czapnik (New York) Nicole Dennis-Benn (Kings) Eric Gansworth (Niagara) Susanna Horng (New York) Naomi Jackson (Kings) Swati Khurana (New York) Lisa Ko (Kings) Marie Myung-Ok Lee (New York) Haifa Lakshmi Koleilat (Rockland) Lissette J. Norman (Richmond)** Bino A. Realuyo (Queens) Mike Scalise (Kings) Jennifer Sears (Kings) Sejal Shah (Monroe) Kelli Trapnell (Kings)

Fiction Finalists    

YZ Chin (New York) Adalena Kavanagh (Kings) Yahaira Lawrence (Westchester)       

Fiction Panelists  

Roohi Choudhry (Kings) Janet McNally (Erie) Anne Panning (Monroe) Edward Schwarzschild (Albany) Cathie Wright-Lewis (Kings)       

Folk/Traditional Arts Fellows

Douglas Barr (Richmond) Danielle Brown (Kings) Moris J Cañate (Queens) Helen Taylor Condon (St. Lawrence) William Crouse Sr. (Cattaraugus) Wafa Ghnaim (Kings) Zhong-hua Lu (Rensselaer) Potri Ranka Manis (Queens) Tashi D Sharzur (Techung) (Essex) Jake Shulman-Ment (Kings) Salieu Suso (Bronx)**

Folk/Traditional Finalists

Martin Macica (Saratoga) Halyna Shepko (Ulster) Alicia Svigals (New York)  

Folk/Traditional Panelists  

Mary Tooley Parker (Westchester) Blanka Amezkua (Bronx) Naomi Sturm (Richmond) Elinor Levy (Dutchess) Carrie Hill (Franklin)

Interdisciplinary Work Fellows

Noel W Anderson (Queens) Kim Brandt (Queens) A.K. Burns (Kings) Tyler Coburn (Kings) Ayana Evans (New York) Allison Janae Hamilton (New York) Kathy High (Rensselaer) Sue Jeong Ka (New York) Baseera Khan (New York) Mary Mattingly (Kings) Christie Neptune (Kings) Ernesto Pujol (Columbia) Elise Rasmussen (Kings) Aki Sasamoto (Kings) Kuldeep Singh (Kings) Tiffany Smith (Kings) Tattfoo Tan (Richmond)

Interdisciplinary Work Finalists  

Keren Benbenisty (New York) Kameelah Janan Rasheed (Kings) Aida Šehović (New York)    

Interdisciplinary Work Panelists

Matt Bua (Greene) David Court (Ulster) Glendalys Medina (New York) Rachel Fein-Smolinski (Onondaga) Jaimie Warren (Kings)       

Painting Fellows

Samira Abbassy (New York) Maria Berrio (Kings) Gabe Brown (Ulster) Tom Burckhardt (New York) Ginny Casey (Kings) Elizabeth Colomba (New York) Lisa Corinne Davis (Kings) Lydia Dona (New York) Donise English (Dutchess) Derek Fordjour (New York)* Clarity Haynes (Kings) Vera Iliatova (Kings) Julian Kreimer (Kings) Joel Longenecker (Dutchess) Kathryn Lynch (Kings) Sangram Majumdar (Kings) Tracy Miller (Kings) Patrick Neal (New York) David Opdyke (Queens) Paul Pagk (New York) Luisa Rabbia (Kings) Gretchen Scherer (Kings) Emily Mae Smith (Kings) Michael Stamm (Kings) Amy Talluto (Ulster) Leslie Wayne (New York) Deborah Zlotsky (Albany)

Painting Finalists

Jordan Casteel (New York) Clayton Schiff (Queens) Don Voisine (Kings)

Painting Panelists

Julia Whitney Barnes (Dutchess) Franklin Evans (New York) Elliot Green (Columbia) Sarah McCoubrey (Onondaga) Mie Yim (Kings)    

Video/Film Fellows

Abbesi Akhamie (Kings) Jessica Beshir (New York) Ira Eduardovna (Kings) Fernando Frias de la Parra (Kings) Brent Green (Ulster) Devin Horan (Kings) Haisi Hu (Kings) Hannah Jayanti (Kings) Steffani Jemison (Kings) Ekwa Msangi (Kings) Shayok Mukhopadhyay (Westchester) Iva Radivojevic (Kings) Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli (Kings) Lynne Sachs (Kings) Fern Silva (Kings) Sasha Wortzel (Kings)      

Video/Film Finalists

Melanie Crean (Kings) Case Jernigan (Kings) Nikyatu Jusu (Kings)   

Video/Film Panelists

Justin Ambrosino (Richmond) Zia Anger (Columbia) Shirley Bruno (Kings) Megan Roberts (Tompkins) Bhawin Suchak (Albany)

*Deutsche Bank Fellow **Gregory Millard Fellows made with the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Click here for more information about the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program.

Funding Support

NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships are administered with leadership support from New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding is also provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), Deutsche Bank, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and individual donors.

Images, from above: Maria Berrio (Fellow in Painting ‘18); In a Time of Drought, 2016, collage with Japanese papers and watercolor paint, 60”x72”; Haisi Hu (Fellow in Video/Film ‘18), New York After Rain, 2017, claymation and cel animation (still); Kim Brandt (Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work ‘18), Untitled, 2014, Performance, Presented at The Kitchen, NYC, Photo Credit: Paula Court; Tashi D Sharzur (Techung) (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ‘18), Semshae, Heart Songs, Performance for Tibetan children, Tibet House, NYC, 2013, Photo Credit: Kurt Smith

[johnaculbreath]

Prop2 Class 4 – The Contract of Sale II

Today we will continue our discussion of the contract of sales with a focus on duty to disclose defects and the merger doctrine. The lecture notes are here.

Here is the Texas form listing all the required disclosures.

The New York Times and Atlas Obscura have good articles about the Haunted House.

The Times writes:

The phones have been ringing at real-estate offices in Rockland County. A patient in a psychiatric hospital called. So did a para-psychologist from Florida. And so did the Amazing Kreskin, all the way from his hotel room in Atlantic City.

That turreted turn-of-the-century Victorian house in Nyack is back on the market – the one that the owner says has not one, not two, but three ghosts. The one that was the subject of a court ruling last week.

There was nothing creepy about Justice Edward H. Lehner’s decision in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He found that a would-be buyer, Jeffrey M. Stambovsky, could not back out of a $650,000 contract on the three-story clapboard house without losing his $32,500 down payment on it.

Mr. Stambovsky, who acknowledges that the contract expired after he skipped a scheduled closing last fall, had argued that no one warned him about any preternatural residents who, presumably, would not comply with ordinary eviction orders.

…

As for whether he will see the ghosts in Nyack – in 22 years, the owner, Helen V. Ackley, has seen only one.

”He was sitting in midair, watching me paint the ceiling in the living room, rocking and back forth,” she said. ”I was on an 8-foot stepladder. I asked if he approved of what we were doing to the house, if the colors were to his liking. He smiled and he nodded his head.”

Mrs. Ackley said one of the other ghosts would waltz into her daughter’s bedroom. ”We don’t know whether or not she was the one who woke the children up by shaking the bed,” she said.

Ghost No. 3 was a Navy lieutenant during the American Revolution. ”My son saw him eyeball to eyeball outside the basement door,” Mrs. Ackley said.

Atlas Obscura writes:

During the 1960s, the 7,000 residents of the tiny village knew that the 5,000 square foot house was haunted, but nobody bothered to tell the Ackley couple before they decided to move in.

Helen and George Ackley, who lived in the home for more than 20 years, reported that they had seen a ghost in the house on at least one occasion and that they would be awoken every morning by a shaking bed, but otherwise lived in peace with whatever spirits resided in their home. When they decided to move and sold the house in 1990, they didn’t bother to tell the new buyers about the ghost problem.

With $32,500 in escrow, Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky backed out of the contract when they learned that the house was haunted. When the Ackleys refused to refund the deposit, the Stambovskys sued, leading to what would come to be known as the “Ghostbusters” ruling. The New York Appellate court ruled that, because a routine home inspection would never uncover it, sellers must disclose that a house is haunted to potential buyers.

Here is a Google Map of the haunted house:

View Larger Map

There was at least one Texan who wanted a lease voided because the house was haunted. In some cases, a haunted house may actually increase the property value. Recently the Pennslyvania Supreme Court found that there was no duty for sellers to disclose there was a murder-suicide in the house. Also, the ABA Journal asks if spirits, slayings are “material defects.”

Prop2 Class 4 – The Contract of Sale II republished via Josh Blackman's Blog

[saxllp]

Qualified Opportunity Funds Encourage Long-Term Investments

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) enacted a new opportunity to incentivize real estate investment and development in low-income communities across the country. This new incentive creates Qualified Opportunity Zones (“QOZs”) in which investors who previously recognized a taxable gain can defer or eliminate it by investing the gain proceeds into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (“QO Fund”). QOZs are designated low-income housing communities in the United States (or Puerto Rico) in which a population census tract is above the poverty rate, or median family income does not exceed a percentage of the statewide median family income.

This program is designed to be a complement to other Federal incentive programs such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits or New Market Tax Credits.

The Tax Incentive to Invest in a QO Fund

1. Tax deferral of previous disposition gain.

The investor interested in benefiting from this newly created program must invest their gain from a previous transaction in a QO Fund, which can be structured as a corporate or partnership entity. Please note that this can be any gain from the sale of real or non-real property, even assets which generate ordinary income. The gain is deferred by investing the amount of the gain into a QO Fund, hence the return of the capital portion does not need to be invested in order to benefit from the deferral. The investment must be made within 180 days after the sale of the property which triggered the gain. The gain is deferred to the earlier of (i) the date on which a QO Fund is disposed or (ii) December 31, 2026.

2. Basis increase of a QO Fund.

An investor’s initial tax basis of a QO Fund is initially zero since the cash being invested is from a transaction in which the gain is being deferred. However, if the investor holds its interest in a QO Fund for at least five years, the tax basis is increased by 10% of the deferred gain; if the interest is held for at least seven years, the basis of the deferred gain is increased by an additional 5% of the original gain. Hence there is a potential of an overall basis step up of 15% on the deferred gain.

3. Elimination of the gain on certain properties held by a QO Fund.

Investors that hold the Opportunity Fund investment for at least 10 years can receive the added benefit of paying no tax on any realized appreciation in investments made with the QO Fund. Please note that this permanent exclusion would only be beneficial for any gain appreciation after December 31, 2026 since the original gain which was invested in the QO Fund will need to be recognized.

In a real estate deferral structured as a like-kind exchange, the investor would need to invest all of the proceeds related to the sale of the disposed property, and the gain and return of capital proceeds. This is not the case with QO Funds since the investor would only need to invest gain from the previous transaction.

Qualified Opportunity Zone Designations:

State governors were required to nominate Qualified Opportunity Zones within their state to the U.S. Department of the Treasury by March 21, 2018 to be considered for approval. As of May 21, 2018, the Treasury announced that 20 states and two U.S. territories have designated QOZs including New York and New Jersey. This designation is retained for the next 10 years until it would be required to be renewed.

The New Jersey approved designations include (but are not limited to) tracts of land in the Atlantic, Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic and Union Counties. Please click here to reference the complete list.

The New York approved designations include (but are not limited to) tracts of land in the Bronx, Kings, New York (Manhattan), Nassau, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester Counties. Please click here to reference the complete list.

QO Funds and the Certification Process:

A QO Fund is designed to be an investment vehicle that is set up as either a partnership or corporation by investing at least 90% of its assets in an eligible QO Zone Property. A QO Zone Property is either one of the following: QO Zone Business Property, QO Zone Stock, or QO Zone Partnership Interest.

QO Zone Business Property is tangible property used in a trade of business of the QO Fund and meets the following requirements: The property must be acquired by the fund by purchase and from an unrelated party to the fund; The original use of the acquired property must start with the QO Fund; or, the QO Fund substantially improves the used property.

Substantial improvement requirement is met if 30 months after the date of acquisition the additional improvements to the property exceed the cost of acquiring the property.

A domestic corporation or a partnership will be treated as either QO Zone Stock or QO Zone Partnership Interest if such entity was acquired by a QO Fund after December 31, 2017, and solely for cash. Furthermore, the QO corporation or partnership in which a QO Fund invests must have an underlying active business located in a QO Zone, and the business itself does not operate in certain types of entertainment or recreational activities (i.e. golf course, country club, massage parlor, hot tub facility, suntan facility, racetrack, gambling casino, or any store the principal business of which is the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption off premises).

The certification process to become a QO Fund is a self-certification process in which the corporate or partnership entity will self-certify by attaching a form to their timely filed federal income tax return for the tax year. No approval or action by the IRS is required.

If at any year the QO Fund holds less than 90% of the QO Zone Property, it would be subject to a penalty for each month it fails to meet the requirement.

How the Deal is Structured:

A QO Fund is formed and self-certified.

An investor with a recently realized gain elects to invest this gain into the QO Fund, taking stock or partnership interest in return. By so doing, the investor gets to defer the gain. Please note that the investor is required to invest only the amount of the gain to be deferred, not the total amount realized.

The QO Fund uses the investment to acquire a QO Zone Property. This investment represents the QO Fund’s interest in the underlying business in the low-income community.

If the investor sells or exchanges his QO Fund interest before December 31, 2026, the investor will recognize the deferred gain. However, if the investor holds the investment for at least 5 years, the investor will receive a 10% step up in basis in connection with the original gain.

On year seven, the investor receives an additional 5% step up in basis in connection with the original gain, so 15% of the gain is reduced.

By December 31, 2026, if the investor has not sold the interest associated with the original gain, they must then recognize the gain. Please note that if the investment was held by at least seven years, the investor would only pick up 85% associated with the original deferred gain.

If the investor holds their interest in the QO Fund for at least 10 years, the investor would not owe any tax related to any QOZ property which has been appreciated during such time.

Investing within a Qualified Opportunity Fund can be truly beneficial to developers who will see significant tax incentives, and property owners who can sell these properties and defer their taxable gains.  This new development opportunity will draw additional investments to low-income communities and generate economic growth for their respective residents.

The advisors at Sax will be sure to release updates and further information on Qualified Opportunity Funds as they emerge.  For any questions or additional information needed at this time, please feel free to reach out to Sax’s Real Estate Practice.

Jeffrey P. Roude, CPA is a Partner at Sax LLP and a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice.  With over 30 years of experience, Jeff provides industry specific services to family-owned and closely-held residential and commercial properties, in addition to common interest realty engagements for cooperative housing corporations and condominium associations.  Jeff can be reached at jroude@saxllp.com.

  Michael Benguigui, CPA is a Senior Manager at Sax LLP and a member of the firm’s Tax and Real Estate Practices. He specializes in tax and accounting services for property owners, developers and private equity investors. Michael can be reached at mbenguigui@saxllp.com.

from SAX https://www.saxllp.com/qualified-opportunity-funds-encourage-long-term-investments/

[trendingnewsb]

How the Army Recruits Straight Out of Prisons

As job fairs go, this one didnt look much different from any other. Men and women of various ages wandered from booth to booth in business attire, filling out applications and handing out resumes. A photographer was set up on one side of the room, taking professional pictures the job seekers could use on their LinkedIn pages.

However, there was one big difference between this, the second annual Second Chance Job Fair, and a regular employment expo. Here, everyone looking for work had been to jail.

Twenty-three employers had been invited by the organizers, M.A.D.E. Transitional Services, a Rockland County-based reentry organization; only a handful showed up. Unibody Fitness, a Brooklyn personal training business run by ex-offenders, had a table set up, and a representative from People Ready, the temp agency, was on hand. Tarik Greene, M.A.D.E.s co-founder and deputy executive director, said Shake Shack came last year, but didnt make it this time.

A volunteer sat at a card table offering resume advice.

There are too many people saying, Ill take anything, she said. It tells me they havent had an opportunity to think expansively; how will they tell their own story?

If that story happened to involve joining the military, theyd be in luck. Along the far wall, two U.S. Army recruiters sat quietly, handing out brochures to the smattering of job seekers who slowed down long enough to take one. Unlike most employers, who are normally solicited by M.A.D.E., Greene said the Army in fact reached out to them this year and asked to attend.

You can have one non-violent felony as an adult, one of the recruiters, Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Boswell, told The Daily Beast. Some of the best and most capable candidates we get require a waiver.

The current pool of qualified applicants from which the Army can recruit is the shallowest in over a decade, with just a quarter of all 17 to 24 year-olds eligible to join and only one in eight willing to. Stretched thinner than its been in years, with a mandate to grow by 8.500 soldiers under the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the Army is granting so-called moral waivers to people it would likely turn away under normal conditions, including convicted felons.

Recruitment standards in the U.S. military are elastic, to put it mildly, depending on need, according to retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich, who graduated from, and later taught at, West Point.

When recruits are hard to come by, standards previously considered sacrosanct get waived, Bacevich told The Daily Beast. Offering waivers to convicted felons suggests that the servicesprobably the army in particularare struggling to meet their quotas of warm and willing bodies. As to whether military service offers a way to turn your life around, there's no easy answer. For some, sure. For others, it's probably a dumb idea for the individual and for the service.

The vagaries of the job market have a notable impact on the use of moral waivers, said Kate Germano, who commanded the Marine Corps 4th Recruit Battalion at Parris Island before retiring as a Lt. Colonel in 2016.

Its becoming harder for all of the services to make their recruiting goals; this is what happens anytime conditions favor the kids just graduating high school or college, Germano told The Daily Beast. But if we just open the floodgates without looking at the whole person because were worried about the economy being strong and not making mission, thats when things become problematic.

The United States Army does not actively seek individuals who require conduct waivers, Army spokesperson Lt. Nina Hill told The Daily Beast in a statement. We seek individuals who have the ability to meet all of our cognitive, physical and moral qualifications and can successfully complete a term of service. A small percent of new recruits meet the requirements to join the Army with a conduct waiver. We only consider conduct waivers for individuals who are otherwise fully qualified and have met prescribed waiting periods that prove rehabilitation has occurred. If an individual requests a conduct waiver for a past offense, factors such as the nature of offense, how long ago the offense occurred, and the overall number of infractions, are critical in determining suitability for service. All new recruits must meet Department of Defense accessions standards.

Moral waivers are given out on a case-by-case basis, and as Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark Milley said last year, considering a waiver is not the same as granting a waiver.

Still, between 2003 and 2006, the military allowed 4,230 convicted felons to enlist by granting them moral waivers. In 2006 and 2007, waivers were given to three applicants with manslaughter convictions; 11 who had been convicted of arson; 142 who had been convicted on burglary charges; seven with convictions for sex crimes; three with convictions for making terrorist threats, including bomb threats; and one with a conviction for kidnapping. In 2008, the Army issued 372 waivers for felony convictions, down from 511 the year before. In 2009, the Army granted 220 waivers for Major Misconduct (Conviction), seven in 2010, and none between 2011-2014.

One in three American adults70 million peoplehave a criminal conviction. 650,000 people are released from prison in the United States each year, and three in four of them are unable to find a job during the first year theyre out.

I dont know how many ex-prisoners would want to do it, but the military can be a good place to get your life together, said Brian DiMarco, a NYC wine and liquor importer who spent three years finding himself in the Navy after high school. It can be a little bit like trading one form of prison for another, but at least the military gives you free healthcare for life.

Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel who served as executive officer to General David Petraeus in Iraq and now teaches military history at Ohio State, isnt particularly keen on moral waivers but is pragmatic about their existence.

In general its better if the military does not grant moral waivers because we know that on average, people who have had offenses in their past dont do as well with discipline in the military, Mansoor told The Daily Beast. That being said, for those that do join having received a moral waiver, some of them do turn their lives around and its a great thing for those people. Im just not sure that we want to devise military policy on that basis, though.

When she was on recruiting duty, Kate Germanos team analyzed situation data and found a high correlation between people with felony waivers and those who didnt complete basic training. Yet, there are still some good candidates in there. Its just a matter of identifying them, she explained.

Im still in touch today with people I took a chance on, so it does work, said Germano. But if were not looking at both the whole person and the systems we have in place to make sure theyre committed, thats how you end up with those horror stories.

Plenty of recruits given moral waivers turn out to be model soldiers. But there are a fair number of horror stories, and theyre not hard to find. In 2005, the Army accepted recruit Steven Dale Green under a moral waiver for three past convictions (underage alcohol possession, drug possession, and fighting). The following year, while deployed to Iraq, Green and four other soldiers gang-raped 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, murdered her and her family, then burned the bodies. A year after that, Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis joined the service despite being arrested on a gun charge in 2004.

The successes, on the other hand, get far less attention.

Nasser Hempel spent 11 years behind bars for his role in a 1991 armed robbery outside a Houston nightclub. Shortly after he was released in 2002, Hempel took a trip to South Padre Island with some friends for Spring Break. The Army had an obstacle course set up, and Hempel decided to give it a try.

I was working for Viacom at the time, hanging their billboards, so I did a lot of climbing on a daily basis, Hempel told The Daily Beast. Me being a little cocky, I asked one of the recruiters who had the fastest time. He pointed to this guy from the 10th Mountain Division, a hotshot. I said, Im gonna beat your time. And I beat his time.

Impressed, the recruiters asked Hempel if he had ever considered joining the Army. He replied that he had just gotten out of prisonit had been less than a yearand was afraid he wouldnt qualify. You might with a moral waiver, the recruiters told him.

Like most people who have done significant amounts of time, finding his footing again on the outside was difficult for Hempel. When life began to hit him like a sledgehammer, Hempel decided to go to his local recruiting office and see what his options were. He was 33 years old.

The recruiter he spoke with seemed to lose interest when Hempel revealed his criminal history. But another one sitting nearby overheard their conversation and took an interest in Hempel, offering to help guide him through the moral waiver process. They began the paperwork, and eight months later, the day after Hempel got off parole he signed his Army contract, becoming one of 1,002 incoming recruits that year with felony records.

After basic training, Hempel would ship out for back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 808th Engineering Company. He left the Army and returned to Houston five years ago, where he now runs a bootcamp-style gym.

Theres been some collateral damage, said Hempel, choking up. I got blown up three times. I ended up getting divorced. There was a time when I got back that I was borderline homeless. It was a rough time but to this day I still look back and say, I wouldnt change a thing.

There are studies that show a correlation between pre-service criminal history and in-service misconduct. Others have found service members with moral waivers are more likely to complete their terms of service than those accepted without them. A more accurate picture only comes into focus upon a more granular analysis of the available data. One study found the correlation between unsuitability discharges and whether or not a recruit graduated from high school to be significantly stronger than having been issued a moral waiver.

Thus, unless we are prepared to say that, across the board, non-graduates make bad troops, we should not say that ex-offenders cannot make good ones, wrote legal scholar Michael Boucai in his 2007 study, Balancing Your Strengths Against Your Felonies: Considerations for Military Recruitment of Ex-Offenders.

Of course, the absence of a criminal record doesnt always mean an absence of criminal behavior. While the rate of criminal offenses is pretty evenly distributed across the general population, those who wind up getting charged with those crimes is not, explained Boucai, now a professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law.

If the question is how many people in the Armed Forces have smoked marijuana at some point, youll get a pretty good cross-section across all races, Boucai told The Daily Beast. But if the question is how many people have smoked marijuana and have some sort of criminal record for it, thats going to be overwhelmingly black and brown. The idea that were letting in people who are morally bad is based on the criminal record, which is a record of encounters with the criminal justice system. In reality, its very often not telling us who has actually committed an offense.

According to Boucai, bringing ex-offenders into the military is not only good for the offenders themselves but also a smart investment for the population at large, by allowing offenders to restart their lives when the bulk of the private sector has all but discarded them.

Right now, there exists a de facto ex-offender recruitment policy in the US military, maintains Boucai. Recruiters need to hit their targets when the service needs bodies, often meaning, Boucai maintains, that violations are ignored, applicants are told to omit negative information, and background checks are left incomplete.

Each of the services has different standards and approval rates when it comes to waivers. To those who receive them, moral waivers are for the most part presented as an exception, not the rule. But, contends Boucai, many problems related to ex-offenders in the service might be traced back to this system of winks and nods, rather than simply acknowledging the fact that the military ranks include a certain number of people with checkered pasts, says Boucai. (People should understand that the majority of ex-offenders, when offered a job, make good employees, former NYC Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn told The Daily Beast, and it undermines civil society when we ostracize them.)

According to a 2013 Army War College Strategy Research Project by Lt. Colonel John Haefner, informed leadership could pay closer attention to recruits who enlisted under moral waiversnot just to steer them away from trouble, but to be better prepared for other issues that could arise, such as the fact that males with a criminal conviction are 200 percent more likely to attempt suicide than those without.

However, privacy laws prohibit commanders from knowing which soldiers under their supervision have records or whats in their criminal histories.

Nevertheless, if a recruiter has adequately tested an applicants commitment to joining the military before they ship out to boot camp, the higher-ups dont need to know about their pasts, said Kate Germano. Whats important, she maintains, is doing proper due diligence on people from the very beginning to make sure theyre a good fit for the service and the service is a good fit for them.

As the Second Chance Job Fair wound down, Staff Sgt. Boswell, the recruiter, said he was feeling cautiously optimistic.

I think prison is kind of good preparation for the Army, in a way, he said. You have to be mentally tough in the Army, you also have to be mentally tough in prison.

Boswells partner, Staff Sergeant Minji Hwang, explained that people with criminal histories tend to be really motivated when theyre with us, because they have a lot to prove, as well as a lot to lose. Plus, she added, Army benefits are really, really good.

The two may not have broken any recruiting records that day, though they emphasized that that wasnt really the point.

We didnt come here expecting to recruit dozens of people, Boswell said, but we definitely got two or three that we can help.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-army-recruits-straight-out-of-prisons

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