What: GE CEO Jeff Immelt is delivering the commencement address at Boston College on Monday, May 24th.

Why: Immelt and GE are lobbying for the job-killing cap and tax scheme. Immelt also sits on Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board where he supports the Obama agenda and receives in return billions of dollars in stimulus money and federal guarantees of shaky GE debt.

When: Monday, May 24th at 7:45am

Where: meet at intersection of Beacon Street and House Road, right outside Alumni Stadium (MAP)

Contact & RSVP: Evan Dent - 530-524-2645, Evan.Dent@gmail.com

Momentum, home-field advantage, superior offensive firepower.

The Twins appear to have all these advantages heading into tonight’s tiebreaker against Detroit, not to mention a major off-field distraction for the Tigers involving MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera.

PARIS (AP) - A French gay soccer team says its members were victims of homophobia when a team of Muslim players refused to play a match against them.

The Paris Foot Gay team says Tuesday it received an e-mail from the Creteil Bebel club canceling a match scheduled for last Sunday.

From JCCC:

KANSAS COURT OF APPEALS TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS AT JCCC ON APRIL 7

The Kansas Court of Appeals will be honoring JCCC again by holding oral arguments in the Craig Auditorium, GEB 233, on April 7.

The court will be hearing three oral arguments, one beginning at 9 a.m.; another at 10:30 a.m., and the final one at 1 p.m. These arguments are the “real thing,” not mock or practice presentations. The arguments usually run about 30-40 minutes.

Students, teachers, and staff are welcome to attend this special event, as well as the general public. Please contact Anita Tebbe for more information.

From JCCC:

Who: Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art and
JCCC theater department
What: Trompe L’oeil, world premiere
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 6-7
Where: Polsky Theatre, Carlsen Center
Johnson County Community College
Tickets: March 6, $5
March 7 (with reception and post-performance discussion), $35 and $15 students
Box Office: 913-469-4445
(more…)

Reuters:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Resource-poor Japan just discovered a new source of mineral wealth — sewage.

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world’s best mines. An official in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, said the high percentage of gold found at the Suwa facility was probably due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal. The facility recently recorded finding 1,890 grammes of gold per tonne of ash from incinerated sludge.

That is a far higher gold content than Japan’s Hishikari Mine, one of the world’s top gold mines, owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, which contains 20-40 grammes of the precious metal per tonne of ore.

From Rockhurst University:

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Marjorie Wilson, (816) 501-3477
Katherine Frohoff, (816) 501-4151

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 2, 2009

Rockhurst University Theater Presents The Busy Body

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Rockhurst University theater students will perform The Busy Body at 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday, Feb. 26 and 27, and 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 28 and March 1, in the Mabee Theater.
(more…)

From Coveritlive.com:

Hello,

As a startup in a problematic economy, we have been often asked, “Are you guys going to be around in 12 months?”  It’s a reasonable question that usually comes from users who have come to depend on our software as part of their core reporting.  I am pleased to provide some good news on that front today.

Before I get to that.  Rejoice all Dutch and Norwegian speaking users.  We finally made the Viewer Window available in your native tongue.

Ok…

$1.2M Investment
Flagstone Capital (our current investor) has agreed to significantly increase its financial commitment to CoveritLive as we continue to develop our customer base and business model.  This brings their total investment in CiL to $1.2M (CDN$).  We fully expect that this commitment will provide support to the company until we generate revenues to match our cost basis.  I am personally very grateful and feel fortunate that we have the right kind of investors behind us.

Additionally, we were able to add to our list of investors:
(more…)

From KU:

Today’s News from the University of Kansas
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
FROM THE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS  |  http://www.ur.ku.edu

Headlines:

* KU officials support bill that aims to recruit out-of-state students to Kansas schools
http://www.news.ku.edu/2009/february/3/legacy.shtml
A “Jayhawk Generations Tuition Plan” could be instituted for students whose parents or grandparents graduated from KU and who meet certain academic requirements.

FULL TEXT OF STORIES BELOW (more…)

From JCCC:

Workshop benefits JCCC interior design scholarship

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College interior design department will host  Don Gerds teaching a Perspective and Rendering Workshop from 5-10 p.m. Friday, March 6, and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 7, in room 234 of the Carlsen Center. Gerds is an instructor in interior design, architecture and graphic design at Santa Monica College, Calif.
(more…)

From Congressman Jerry Moran:

This Week in Congress

By Congressman Jerry Moran

February 2, 2009

www.jerrymoran.house.gov

Dear Friend,

Welcome to “This Week in Congress.” Kansas became a state on January 29, 1861.  To help mark this occasion, my wife Robba and I joined many Kansans for Kansas Day activities in Topeka this weekend to celebrate our state’s 148th birthday. One event we attended was the 91st Annual Meeting of the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas. This group was formed to preserve our state’s history and traditions and to honor outstanding citizens of Kansas. Those honored this year included the city of Greensburg, Kansas University men’s basketball coach Bill Self and former U.S. ambassador Delano E. Lewis. I hope you find this week’s newsletter useful.
(more…)

From Ft. Hard Knox:

#LIBHIPPOS POLL OF THE WEEK

What in the world is a “LibHippo”? Click here to find out, then click here to vote on who you feel is the biggest LibHippo in this week’s news. Oh, and be sure to follow us on Twitter!

Here are this week’s choices:

Internet Inventor sticking to his “Global Warming” theory in arctic temps (story)
Ministry of Truth petitioning against Rush for being mean to the Obamessiah (story)
Prez Hope & Change signs ‘Fair Pay Act’ – yet his own female staffers made 78% of males’ pay in Senate (story)
Planned Parenthood Perv – protects 31 yr old child molester (story)
Single Mom with 14 kids she can’t afford wants $2M for MSM interview, and will probably get it (story)

VOTE HERE (more…)

From AFP:

Runaway appraisals have driven an 83% increase in property taxes over the last ten years. The appraised values of many homes are rising faster than our incomes, meaning our ability to pay just can’t keep up with the appraisals.

Kansas needs a property tax system that prevents appraisals from growing faster than income.  And we need a system that is predictable so that businesses can expand and create jobs. AFP supports a better property tax system: Proposition K. This system would eliminate appraisal-driven tax increases. (more…)

From JCCC:

Story by Peggy Graham

Rick Moehring named dean of Learner Engagement at JCCC

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Rick Moehring has been named as the dean of the new Learner Engagement division at Johnson County Community College. The division of Learner Engagement encompasses Access Services to Students with Disabilities, Career Services, Counseling and Student Life and Leadership Development.
(more…)

From KU:

Today’s News from the University of Kansas
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
FROM THE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS  |  http://www.ur.ku.edu (more…)

From the Royals:

REGISTER NOW FOR OPENING DAY TICKETS

Tickets for Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium vs. New York Yankees on Friday, April 10, 2009, will be available through a special ticket opportunity only on royals.com.

There are a limited number of tickets available through this opportunity. Applicants must fill out and submit the registration form on royals.com by 1pm on Monday, February 23 to participate in this opportunity to purchase. As an added benefit, all fans registering will have the chance to purchase tickets for all other 2009 home games prior to the general public through a special online pre-sale on March 5. (more…)

News from K-State:

TO VIEW AND PRINT INDIVIDUAL NEWS ARTICLES, please go to http://www.k-state.edu/media
———————————————–

1) FEATURE: Postgraduation Report Shows That Even in Times of Recession K-State Grads Continue to Do Well in the Job Market (more…)

From Sarah McIntosh at Flint Hills Center for Public Policy:

Title: How the Supreme Court Destroyed Property Rights and a Little Pink House

Author: Sarah McIntosh

Three years ago the United States Supreme Court made a decision that not only threatened the very core of Americans’ property rights, but also destroyed the dreams of a woman who just wanted to live in her beautiful pink house.

Perhaps you have already heard the story. If not, I will warn you it is a sad one. Ms. Suzette Kelo moved to New London Connecticut in 1997 after a divorce. She found an old cottage from 1893 that was in dismal shape, but she saw the promise in it. Even the front door was overgrown when she first laid eyes on it. But she purchased the cottage and started fixing it up right away.

She had a lot of work to do from the foundation to the roof. She devoted time, energy, and money to transforming the ramshackled cottage into a beautiful home. Ms. Kelo worked as a nurse and held other jobs on the side in order to make ends meet. (more…)

From JCCC:

SPECIAL OLYMPICS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR FEB. 21 TOURNAMENT

For the past three years, JCCC has hosted several Special Olympics Tournaments with great success and wonderful volunteer participation from our faculty, staff and students.
(more…)

Congratulations to the fall honor roll students at JCCC:

Story by Peggy Graham

JCCC Announces Honor Roll for 2008 Fall Semester
(more…)

From Starlight:

And the Blue Star Award goes to…

The anticipation in the air is thick. Students representing 45 metro area high schools perch on the edge of their seats anxiously awaiting a conclusion to that sentence. What’s all the excitement about? The annual Blue Star Awards Ceremony at Starlight Theatre!
(more…)

From JCCC:

GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENTS WIN 19 ADDY AWARDS

Johnson County Community College students will walk away with 19 out of 24 student ADDY awards at the Kansas City Advertising Club banquet later this month.
(more…)

From JCCC:

Story by Peggy Graham

JCCC police officers to take oath of employment

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. –  Seven officers will take an oath of employment as members of the Johnson County Community College Campus Police Department following the JCCC board of trustees meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Hugh Speer Board Room, room 137 of the General Education Building.
Officers taking the oath will be Larry Able, Don Emerson, Steve Hebauf, Jimmy Keaton Jr., Dwight Rhodes, Michael Wranich and Ed Vesey.
The board approved the establishment of a Campus Police Department in April 2008, when the decision was made to issue firearms to officers who meet Kansas Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements.
Fifteen officers took an oath of employment in August 2008. The seven new officers will bring the total of JCCC police officers to 22.
###

From the City of Olathe:

This Edition of E-News
• Survey Results Released 2/3
• More Plastic Can Now be Recycled
• Citizen Request System Is 24/7
• Polar Plunge Update
• Help Plan for Emergencies

City Council Agenda (more…)

From JCCC:

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR IRISH HERITAGE DAYS FEB. 18 TO 21

Johnson County Community College will celebrate four days of Irish Heritage on Feb. 18-21, made possible by a grant from the Kansas City Irish Fest Grant Fund. Events are free and open to the public except for the Tomáseen Foley’s St. Patrick Celebration.
Wednesday, Feb. 18

A presentation of the film The Wind that Shakes the Barley, a drama that tells the story of two County Cork brothers who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from the United Kingdom, and a post-viewing discussion led by English professor Danny Alexander will be from 2-4:30 p.m. in the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Auditorium.
Thursday, Feb.19
• Irish singer Kelly Dougherty accompanied by guitarist Mike Dugger will perform from 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in the Corner Lounge of the Commons Building. The singers will also play for the children at JCCC’s Hiersteiner Child Development Center.
• An additional post-viewing discussion of the film The Wind that Shakes the Barley will be 2-4 p.m. in room 212 of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art led by Alexander.
Friday, Feb. 20
• Steve Werkmeister, assistant professor, English, will lead a discussion of How the Irish Became White, a book by Noel Ignatiev, from 2-4 p.m. in the In-Focus Dining Room, lower level of the Commons.
• Tomáseen Foley’s St. Patrick Celebration at 8 p.m. Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center. Tickets are $25 and $35, available at the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445. The Clanna Eireann Ceili Dancers will do a free pre-performance show from 7:05-7:30 p.m. in the Carlsen Center lobby.
Saturday, Feb. 21
• Tomáseen Foley’s St. Patrick Celebration at 8 p.m. Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center. Tickets are $25 and $35, available at the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445. The Clanna Eireann Ceili Dancers will do a free pre-performance show from 7:05-7:30 p.m. in the Carlsen Center lobby.
Drawings for free tickets to Foley’s St. Patrick Celebration will be held at all free events.
Dining Down Under, Java Jazz and Café Tempo will be featuring selective Irish cuisine Wednesday-Friday, Feb. 18-20.
The campus celebration of Irish Heritage is sponsored by JCCC’s Carlsen Center ArtsEducation; Student Services; Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; the Carlsen Center for Performing Arts, and Hiersteiner Child Development Center.

For more information, contact Angel Mercier at 913-469-8500, ext. 4221.

CNSNews.com:

(CNSNews.com) – The Employee Free Choice Act may not be the slam dunk for Big Labor that labor union activists want the public to believe.

Known as “card check,” the bill is the centerpiece of Big Labor’s agenda for the Obama administration.

But on Friday, with top union leaders gathered at the White House for the president to sign three executive orders that apply to labor unions – including an order barring federal funds from being used to discourage a union — no mention of the card check bill was made.

From JCCC:
1/26/09
Story by Peggy Graham

JCCC theatre department takes a ‘Holiday’

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Johnson County Community College theatre department will perform Holiday, written by Philip Barry and directed by Linda Ade Brand, at 7:30 p.m Feb. 26-28 and March 6-7 and at 2 p.m. March 8 in the Black Box Theatre of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College.

(more…)

From OP:

Action Summary

Feb. 4, 2009

Summary of action taken at the Feb. 2 OP City Council meeting (more…)

ComputerWorld.com: “Adobe Flash on iPhone? Here we go again.”

Bloomberg reported this weekend that Adobe engineers are working diligently on getting Flash down to an acceptable level of power usage and performance to work on the iPhone/iPod touch architecture.

From KU:

Today’s News from the University of Kansas
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
FROM THE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS  |  http://www.ur.ku.edu
(more…)

Reuters:

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - A European Union law to reinforce freedom on the Internet would be unnecessary and put operators in a difficult position, the bloc’s top telecoms and media regulator said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Congress has drafted a Global Online Freedom Act. Some European Parliament members want the EU to follow suit, saying authoritarian nations are increasingly censoring the Web by blocking sites and intimidating users with “cyber police.”

ComputerWorld: The next iPhone –

The iPhone that Apple will likely be releasing in June has been popping up all around the southern San Francisco area.  What kind of sweet upgrades will this thing have that will make those with older iPhones want to upgrade?

Processor.  I think Apple will match (or exceed) Palm’s Pre with an ARM Cortex A8 class processor.  I doubt we’ll see multiple cores but would love to be surprised by the PA Semi crew at Apple.

Video.   Imagination technologies will likely make some kind of video processor that will put the current one to shame.  Multi-core?  Perhaps, but it had better not drink too much battery.  Bonus points for OpenCL capabilities.

ComputerWorld.com:

Here’s more evidence you’ll see Windows 7 faster than Microsoft has been saying: The company now says that the just-released beta is the last one, and the next released version will be a Release Candidate (RC.)

Windows honcho Steven Sinofsky, in the Engineering Windows 7 blog, puts it plainly:” The next milestone for the development of Windows 7 is the Release Candidate or ‘RC.’”

Microsoft remains mum on the actual ship date of Windows 7, although in the past it has said that it would ship three years after Vista was generally available, which was late January, 2007. That would mean a Windows 7 ship date of about a year from now. I’ve tested the beta, and it’s very solid, so it’s hard for me to imagine that there’s still a year of development left.

From Tiahrt:

U.S. Capitol Update
January 17, 2009

Dear Friend,

I hope this week’s U.S. Capitol Update finds you well.

Protecting Kansas Jobs
This week House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) included language in H.R. 384, the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) Reform and Accountability Act of 2009 that would require all companies participating in the federal financial rescue package to divest of business jets even when use of such jets could save businesses time and money.

This job-killing provision was a slap in the face to the millions of workers spread across every state whose jobs depend on general aviation. A bailout for one industry and pink slips for another is not economic stimulus.
(more…)

ComputerWorld.com:

1. E-mail CSI. I had a phone interview (I’ll write the blog later) with a lawyer at a document management company. The Wall Street meltdown and outrage is leading to a host of litigation about who knew what when. E-mail archives, for those of you in tech, are not the neat libraries of past emails that those outside of tech believe. Tapes — and a lot of it is still on tape — are full of email dumped en masse. Someone needs to be able to mold the mass into a structured pile where the lawyers can delve to heart’s content. Tip: It is not so much a technology trick to become an e-mail CSI as a project manager. Unfortunately, lots of opportunity here.

2. Glass house builder. How many times can politicians, media commentators and lawyers use the word transparancy to describe the unfolding, new, government funded banking environment? Banks that took government money (and are there any that haven’t?) are going to find themselves facing a new set of compliance rules regarding disclosing loans, salaries and expenses. Compliance spending was one of the big drivers of tech spending following the creation of SarBox and it is going to happen all over again. Tip: again it is not technology as much as technologists able to translate new rules and legislation into IT projects.

ComputerWorld.com:

February 2, 2009 (Computerworld)  Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 7 will be “more thoroughly” monitored for compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement than earlier versions of the operating system, according to a status report filed last week with the federal judge overseeing the company.

A three-member panel of computer experts created by the decree has been testing Windows 7 since at least last March. Its work was significantly delayed late last year when Microsoft delivered 30 new and 87 revised technical documents that explained “changes to the protocols in Windows 7.”

From KFL:
Call To Action

KANSANS FOR LIFE

Press Release-For Immediate Release

January 26, 2009

Contact: Kathy Ostrowski , KFL Legislative Director:  785-250-4502
(more…)

Computerworld.com:

Google screwed up massively this morning, identifying every page on the Internet as one that could “harm your computer.” Most users would click on a link, and instead of the page requested, received a big warning message. This went on for entire hour.

The company said that the problem was caused by “human error.”

Because the error essentially shut down Google for everyone in the entire world, the company fixed it immediately.

But what if Google made another error, and decided YOU were malware? What if the company, for whatever reason, came to the conclusion that you were a spammer, or a criminal, or somehow abused their rules? What if they simply invalidated your password to prevent you from using their many services?

From Lenexa:

NEWS RELEASE
City Clerk’s Office
12350 W. 87th St. Pkwy.
Lenexa, KS 66215 (more…)

KMBC:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police are being cautious about what they say regarding a shootout during a high school basketball game at the Tony Aguirre Community Center.

Police officers, members of the parks board and some of the people who run the basketball league met at the community center for about an hour on Monday. They discussed what happened Friday night when a group walked onto the court at the start of the game and started firing.

Five people were hit by gunfire; they are all OK. No one was seriously injured.