Thursday, May 25, 2006

Lawyers for students who sued to stop the use of the California High School Exit Exam today filed a request for an expedited hearing of their case in appellate court, hoping to have the test set aside in time for graduation.

“It would be tragic if students were deprived of the once in a lifetime opportunity to graduate with their classmates due to scheduling issues in this matter,” according to the text of the appeal filed in Division Four of the First Appellate District.

Today’s filing fulfills a promise made by lead attorney Arturo Gonzalez yesterday after the State Supreme Court issued a stay of an Alameda County Superior Court judge’s order that the test not be used to determine graduation. “Our clients are disappointed in today’s 4-3 split decision of the California Supreme Court. However, this fight is not over,” Gonzalez said, “We intend to seek immediate relief in the court of appeals in San Francisco. We are hopeful that oral argument can be scheduled in time to obtain an order that would allow the Class of 2006 to graduate.”

On May 12, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman decided that the test was unfair and unconstitutional and issued an injunction against the use of the test. The following week, attorneys for State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell, author and avid supporter of the law requiring the test, appealed Freedman’s decision directly to the State Supreme Court, asking the court to stay the effect of the injunction immediately and to over rule it. Yesterday, the court issued the stay, but send the state’s appeal down to the appellate court.

“Yesterday, the Supreme Court noted that it was “not persuaded” that the injunction was the appropriate remedy,” according to the papers filed in court today. “It stayed the injunction and remanded the case to this Court with instructions to “establish a schedule for expedited briefing and argument.”

“Plaintiffs respectfully submit that, if the schedule established by this Court does not allow for a decision on the remedy issued by the trial court before the bulk of high school graduations have taken place, then that schedule cannot be considered to be expedited,” according to the filing, “There is only one issue that needs to be decided by this Court prior to the pending high school graduations — whether, assuming Plaintiffs prevail on their constitutional claims, the injunction granted by the trial court was an appropriate remedy.”

In the filing, lawyers for Liliana Valenzuela, et al., who sued in February to have the test set aside so she and the other students involved in the case could graduate, remind the appellate court that the State Supreme Court needed only a few days to reach its decision.

“With the majority of graduations occurring in early June, Plaintiffs respectfully submit that it is a reasonable interpretation of the Supreme Court’s Order to set a hearing for this matter next week,” lawyers wrote in the filing.Cynthia O’Brien, who oversees testing at James Logan High School in Union City, expressed some exasperation over the on-again, off-again situation regarding the test. “What is happening at this time with the emotional lives of students who are in limbo is not reasonable or in their best interest” she said. “Although the exam’s intention is to create a better education environment for students (my words), it is now more about politics than the students.”

However, she’s not opposed to the test itself. “I believe that the intent of minimum proficiencies is in the right direction. We do a disservice to students who are not prepared to compete in their adult world,” she told the James Logan Courier, “I do believe that the State needs to study real alternate paths that could be pursued, such as using proficiency on STAR, a senior project demonstrating both math and English proficiency or some other pathway.”

This article is based on Appeals Court Asked for Quick Decision in Exit Exam Case by Patrick Hannigan of The James Logan Courier, which has a copyright policy compatible with our CC-BY 2.5. Specifically “Creative Commons 2.5 Share-Alike license“

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a visit to Hamilton yesterday to watch the 2007 annual Tim Hortons Brier at the Copps Coliseum.

Harper, who is currently writing a book about the history of Hockey, admitted he’s a curling fan. He started to be a fan of curling in Winnipeg Manitoba 10 years ago and said his father used to play it.

“I’ve never curled but my father did when I was very young,” he said. “I’ve followed the Brier for years. About the last decade or so I’ve made an effort to get to the Brier when I could. It is such a great Canadian tradition.”

He cheered on for Alberta’s Kevin Martin. Martin won 9–8 over players from Nova Scotia. Harper met with Kevin Martin after the event. Martin handed the PM his jersey from Monday’s game.

“I’ve obviously got a soft spot for Kevin Martin and Alberta because he’s had such a great career,” said Harper. “But what’s so great about the Brier is whoever wins is not like your normal pro athlete. They’re usually great community people and Canadians. It’s always easy to identify with whoever goes forward.”

Robin MacPherson of Hamilton sat in front of him. She wore a large crown and was draped in gold.

She got to meet the PM and was quoted saying: “Not a lot of people get to meet a prime minister.”

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Tropical Storm Irene, recently downgraded from a hurricane, passed over New York City at about 0900 local time (1300 UTC) today, bringing heavy rain and winds up to 65 miles per hour (96.6 km/h).

Flooding has been reported in New York City, where the Hudson River spilled over its banks into Manhattan and the East River briefly flooded. Floods were also reported in Brooklyn. Water was reported to be inside Battery Park and near the New York Mercantile Exchange. The water level of New York Harbor is as much as four feet higher than normal, with a predicted storm surge of up to eight feet.

Elsewhere in the northeast, suburbs of Philadelphia also flooded; mayor Michael Nutter described the scene in one area as “couches, furniture, all kinds of stuff floating down the street.”

Up to eleven people have been reported killed by the storm, five in North Carolina, three in Virginia and one each in Florida, Maryland and Connecticut. Some three million people evacuated from areas expected to be impacted by the storm, and another three million are reported to be without power.

Irene made landfall in North Carolina on Saturday, bringing up to fourteen inches (~36 cm) of rain and a storm surge measuring four feet in the Cheasapeake Bay with it. At about 0530 local time today, the storm made its second landfall as it passed over Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey.

According to New Jersey governor Chris Christie, the storm is expected to cause damage “in the billions of dollars, if not in the tens of billions of dollars.”

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Earlier this month, Wikinews spoke with University of Sussex professor of economics L. Alan Winters regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum and the subsequent negotiations leading up to and following the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement of December, which he has researched extensively. In a call, a Wikinews correspondent spoke with Professor Winters about recent developments in UK trade policy to learn more about his observations.

Winters is professor of economics at the University of Sussex, as well as founding director and fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO). His career spans over 15 years, including as chief economist at the Department for International Development, director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank, CEO of the Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium and advisor for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Three reports where Winters is listed as an author were used as reference during the interview: “COVID-19 will reinforce the Brexit shock”, “The Costs of Brexit” and “Taking stock of the new UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: governance, state subsidies and the level playing field”.

Winters was awarded the title “Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath”, styled C.B., on June 16, 2012 as part of the 2012 Birthday Honours.