City College of San Francisco Prepares for Possible Closure

January 23, 2013

In danger of losing its accreditation, City College of San Francisco recently outlined what it plans to do should the school have to close its doors next fall.

This past July, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges highlighted a number of issues that CCSF needed to address in order to keep its accreditation. Since then, the school has been working hard to make changes, but with just two months left until officials must present a final report to the commission, some are worried that there is too much that still needs to be done.

Earlier this month, the SF Examiner reported CCSF officials had asked for an extension on the March 15 deadline. Bob Agrella, the state-appointed trustee assisting the college, noted that some teachers and staff have been resistant to change, particularly after significant pay cuts and layoffs. Their resistance has caused problems and slowed down the process.

?Change is difficult for any institution, and we?re talking some major changes across an institution,? Agrella explained in the SF Examiner. ?It would be nice to take a year to do some of these changes, but we don?t have the luxury of time.?

It is unclear whether an extension has been granted.

According to another article from the SF Examiner, CCSF recently released a draft report outlining what officials have done so far to address the issues. The report showed that the school has already done things such as approve a new mission statement, create a new administrative structure and close campus locations. The draft report also included a plan for if the school lost its accreditation and was forced to shut down.

As SF Gate reported, CCSF could face three scenarios?closure, probation or full accreditation.

?The closure report is contingency planning,? said Larry Kamer, spokesperson for City College Chancellor Thelma Scott-Skillman, to SF Gate. ?We?re talking things we hope never come to fruition, but which we?re required to think through.?

If CCSF does close, the college has said it would help its more than 40,000 students who are currently earning college credit or vocational certificates. If the commission grants permission, students who have finished three semesters?or 75 percent of their program?could complete their work at City College. Otherwise, the school would help those students find another program elsewhere. The 40,000 CCSF students who are taking free, noncredit classes would not receive any assistance.

Neighboring colleges will be notified if CCSF has to shut down so that they can assist students. SF Gate noted, however, that some of these colleges are also questionable as they are either on warning from the accreditation commission or on probation.

The commission is currently scheduled to meet in June to discuss the future of CCSF.

---

Compiled by Heidi M. Agustin

Sources:

?CCSF officials to ask for extended deadline to meet accreditation requirements,? sfexaminer.com, January 9, 2013, Andrea Koskey

?CCSF outlines what would happen if it were to close,? sfexaminer.com, January 21, 2013, Andrea Koskey

?CCSF would still help students if closed,? sfgate.com, January 22, 2013, Nanette Asimov

Source: http://www.citytowninfo.com/career-and-education-news/articles/city-college-of-san-francisco-prepares-for-possible-closure-13012303

tesla model x lou gehrig toby mac blue ivy carter photos purple squirrel blade runner close encounters of the third kind

Israeli voters punish Netanyahu but keep him in power

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly won an election in which disgruntled voters catapulted a new centrist challenger into second place and he now faces the daunting task of building a coalition.

Tuesday's vote crystallized demands for attention to bread-and-butter issues over the ambitions of religiously fired hardliners and largely sidelined foreign policy issues such as thwarting Iran's nuclear plans and Palestinian aspirations.

The right-wing prime minister claimed victory after his Likud party and its ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu ally took 31 of parliament's 120 seats, according to a near-final tally.

That made it the biggest single bloc, despite losing 11 of its previous seats. Overall, right-wing and religious parties emerged with roughly half the total, an erosion of the dominance Netanyahu had enjoyed during almost four years of deadlock in peacemaking with the Palestinians and jitters over Iran.

"A blow for Netanyahu," was the headline in the biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday, echoing other Israeli media homing in on the surprise surge of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, runner-up with 19 projected seats.

Yesh Atid and the centre-left Labour party, which came third with 15 seats, tapped into secular middle-class resentment that tax-payers must shoulder what they see as the burden of welfare-dependent ultra-Orthodox Jews exempt from military conscription.

Netanyahu, who in two terms as premier has enjoyed core religious backing, quickly made overtures to his opponents by saying he wanted to form as broad a coalition as possible, a process that is likely to take several weeks.

A senior member of Yesh Atid, led by former television presenter Yair Lapid, said the issue of ending exemption from military service was central to the party's platform, as was reviving peace talks with the Palestinians.

"Whoever wants Yesh Atid in the coalition will need to bring these things," Ofer Shelah told Army Radio.

"COSMETIC DECORATION"

Palestinians reacted warily to the outcome of the poll, voicing doubts it would produce a government more willing to compromise for peace, even if it included centrist parties.

An editorial in the Ramallah-based Al-Quds daily said such parties would provide a "cosmetic decoration" for a Netanyahu-led government that would mislead world public opinion without halting a drive to expand Jewish settlement on occupied land.

"We're not seeking to make peace with this or that party in Israel," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, adding that peace required creation of a Palestinian state to live alongside Israel based on the lines that existed before the 1967 war.

Netanyahu, with his scarcely veiled threats of military action against Iran and his tough approach to the Palestinians, has had a fractious relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama, who himself embarked on a new term this week.

"The first challenge was and remains preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said, claiming election victory at Likud campaign headquarters after midnight.

Iran denies it is planning to build an atomic bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.

Netanyahu views Tehran's nuclear program as a threat to Israel's existence and has stoked international concern by hinting at possible Israeli military action to thwart it.

He has shunted Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda despite Western concern to keep the quest for a solution alive.

Now weakened by the verdict of voters, he is almost certain to need centrist partners for a stable coalition and may perhaps offer more flexibility toward the Palestinians, although few expect any breakthrough in the coming months.

Israeli shares traded higher after the election, with the blue-chip Tel Aviv index up 1.5 percent at 1030 GMT, while the shekel held steady against the dollar, showing markets were unfazed by fears of prolonged coalition talks.

"DREAM GOVERNMENT"

Amram Mitzna, a senior member of former Prime Minister Tzipi Livni's centrist Hatnua party, told Army Radio the election had "arrested the rightward drift of Israeli society" and urged Netanyahu to heed to message delivered by voters.

He even mooted an unlikely "dream government" in which Likud would forge a strong coalition with leftist and centrist parties, excluding far-right and religious factions.

Lapid won support amongst middle-class, secular voters by promising to resolve a growing housing shortage, abolish military draft exemptions for Jewish seminary students and seek an overhaul of the much-criticized education system.

He urged Netanyahu "to build as broad a government as possible so that we can bring about real change in Israel".

Naftali Bennett, high-tech millionaire son of American immigrants who leads the hard-right, pro-settler Jewish Home party, remained a likely coalition partner despite making a poorer election showing than opinion polls had predicted.

Bennett, who advocates annexing West Bank land to Israel, told cheering supporters: "There is only one truth and it is simple. The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel."

U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down in 2010 amid mutual acrimony. Since then Israel has accelerated construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want for their future state - much to the anger of Western partners.

Aaron David Miller, once a senior U.S. adviser on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, said a weakening of the right might improve Netanyahu's relations with Obama.

"The fact is, if (Netanyahu) goes with Lapid and he reaches out to the centre, you're going to end up with an American-Israeli rapprochement to a certain degree," Miller told CNN.

Tuesday's vote was the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.

Netanyahu has said the turbulence, which has brought Islamists to power in neighboring Egypt and elsewhere, shows the importance of strengthening national security.

Foreign policy issues barely registered during the election campaign. The next government, which is unlikely to take power for weeks, will have to tackle the stuttering economy and a budget deficit that presages spending cuts and tax hikes.

(Reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Alastair Macdonald, David Brunnstrom and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-turns-iran-narrow-election-win-000524166.html

joseph kony ipad 3 release date apple store down apple live blog ohio primary cell phone jammer g8 summit

Tissue Boxes, Quiet Ringtones, and Secret iPhone Emoticons

Readers offer their best tips for fixing tissue box annoyances, making your ringtone louder, and unveiling a secret iPhone keyboard full of emoticons.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons?maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in?the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.

Stop Tissues from Falling to the Bottom of the Box

YeEun June Sung fixes the ever-failing tissue box. When the box starts getting low, you can cut out part of the bottom of the box, then fold it down as shown above. From then on, the tissues won't fall to the bottom of the box when it starts getting empty; they'll just fall on top of the little "loft" you've created. Click here to see the full trick with step-by-step images

Use Sound Recorders to Fix Quiet Ringtones

MsCassLopez makes her ringtone more audible:

No matter what cell phone I have, everyone else's ringtone seems to be louder. I can hear my neighbor's over the fence and around the corner of her house but I miss all my calls when mine is in my pocket book on the swing right next to me. So I decided to take action! I used Cool Edit, courtesy of nineties legend Peter Quistgard, but any simple and free sound editor will do. Try Total Recorder or MP3Gain among many. I just plugged in my phone to the computer with a USB cable?Android has to be rooted to be able to access the file but you can also just choose any sound file or ringtone?navigated to the mp3/ogg in my sound editor of choice, and pumped up the volume. I then saved the file back in the same place with a new name; selected it as my ringtone and instantly became one with those who never miss a call.

Seriously, if you wish your chosen ringtone was louder then just do the above to increase the volume. If you get some kind of scale in your chosen sound editor then an increase of 10dB seems to work well without causing any distortion.

Enable the Secret Japanese Emoticon Keyboard in iOS 6

Benjamin Guise finds a wealth of emoticons hidden inside the iPhone:

I was just messing around with my iPhone keyboards and found this. It's not an app, it is part of the stock keyboards.

To enable it, go to Settings > General > Keyboards and add the "Japanese - kana" keyboard. There is a little key on the bottom left that looks like a face. When you tap this key, you can drag the top up and there are hundreds of different faces and other interesting combinations of characters.

Add Curved Edges to Your Business Cards Without the Premium Price

Timgray shows us a cheap trick for business cards:

If you want a fancy curved edge on your business cards but cant afford the premium, you can buy the die cutters to do that at a hobby store for less than the price of paying the premium for your business cards to have that special cut. you can cut the edges of a box of 250 cards in less than an hour of vegging in front of the TV.

Photo by Connor Turner.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/pB4q9IoP2Mw/tissue-boxes-quiet-ringtones-and-secret-iphone-emoticons

july 4th higgs boson Malware Monday First Row Sports American flag Happy 4th of July 4th Of July Desserts

Suicides in military rise, even as combat lessens

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For U.S. troops, less combat is not translating to less stress. Members of the military committed suicide at a record pace in 2012 ? almost one per day ? and some experts think the trend will grow worse this year.

Pentagon figures obtained Monday by The Associated Press show 349 suicides among active-duty troops last year, up from 301 the year before and exceeding the Pentagon's own internal projection of 325.

Last year's total is the highest since the Pentagon began closely tracking suicides in 2001. It exceeds the 295 Americans who died in Afghanistan last year, by the AP's count.

The Pentagon has struggled to deal with suicides, which Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others have called an epidemic. The problem reflects severe strains on military personnel burdened with more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is increasingly complicated by anxiety over the prospect of being forced out of uniform as defense budgets are cut.

"Now that we're decreasing our troops and they're coming back home, that's when they're really in the danger zone, when they're transitioning back to their families, back to their communities and really finding a sense of purpose for themselves," said Kim Ruocco, whose husband, Marine Maj. John Ruocco, killed himself in 2005. She directs a suicide prevention program for a support group, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS.

One such case was Army Spc. Christopher Nguyen, 29, who killed himself in August at an off-post residence he shared with another member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., according to his sister, Shawna Nguyen.

"He was practically begging for help, and nothing was done," she said in an interview.

She said he had been diagnosed with an "adjustment disorder" ? a problem of coping with the uncertainties of returning home after three deployments in war zones. She believes the Army failed her brother by not doing more to ensure that he received the help he needed before he became suicidal.

"It's the responsibility of the military to help these men and women," she said. "They sent them over there (to war); they should be helping them when they come back."

David Rudd, a military suicide researcher and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Utah, said he sees two main categories of troops who are committing suicide at an accelerating pace: Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffering from depression, post-traumatic stress or substance abuse and those who have not gone to war but face troubled personal relationships, money problems or legal woes.

He is not optimistic about a decline soon.

"Actually, we may continue to see increases," he said, since the military is headed for major personnel cuts as budgets shrink. Fear of being compelled to return to civilian society is especially stressful for people whose identity and self-esteem is closely tied to their role in the military, Rudd said.

Military suicides began rising in 2006 and soared to a then-record 310 in 2009 before leveling off for two years.

The Pentagon says that although the military suicide rate has been rising, it remains below that of the civilian population. It says the civilian suicide rate for males ages 17-60 was 25 per 100,000 in 2010, the latest year for which such statistics are available. That compares with the military's rate in 2012 of 17.5 per 100,000.

Officials say they are committed to pursuing ways of finding help for service members in trouble.

"Our most valuable resource within the department is our people. We are committed to taking care of our people and that includes doing everything possible to prevent suicides in the military," Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said Monday.

The Army, by far the largest of the military services, had the highest number of suicides among active-duty troops last year at 182, but the Marine Corps, whose suicide numbers had declined for two years, had the largest percentage increase ? a 50 percent jump to 48. The Marines' worst year was 2009's 52 suicides.

The Air Force recorded 59 suicides, up 16 percent from the previous year, and the Navy had 60, up 15 percent.

All the numbers are tentative, pending the completion later this year of formal pathology reports on each case.

Suicide prevention has become a high Pentagon priority, yet the problem persists.

"If you have a perfect storm of events on the day with somebody who has high risk factors, it's very difficult to be there every moment, fill every crack, and we just have to continue to be aware of what the risk factors are," Ruocco said.

Two retired Army generals, Peter W. Chiarelli and Dennis J. Reimer, have spoken out about the urgency of reversing the trend.

"One of the things we learned during our careers," they wrote in The Washington Post last month, "is that stress, guns and alcohol constitute a dangerous mixture. In the wrong proportions, they tend to blow out the lamp of the mind and cause irrational acts."

Each year the Pentagon performs an in-depth study of the circumstances of each suicide. The most recent year for which that analysis is available is 2011, and among the findings was that those who took their own lives tended to be white men under the age of 25, in the junior enlisted ranks, with less than a college education.

The analysis of 2011's 301 military suicides determined that 60 percent of military suicides were committed with the use of firearms ? and in most cases the guns were personal weapons, not military-issued.

That study also found that most service members who attempted suicide ? about 65 percent ? had a known behavior disorder such as depression, whereas 45 percent of those who actually completed the act and killed themselves had such a history.

The Defense Department provides veterans in crisis with a toll-free number, 800-273-8255, for assistance.

___

Associated Press writer Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors: http://www.taps.org

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicides-military-rise-even-combat-lessens-080600461--politics.html

north korea news giuliana and bill giuliana and bill bill rancic nflx jennifer hudson chicago blackhawks

Venezuela opposition furious over likely Chavez inauguration delay

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition has accused the government of violating the constitution by proposing to delay cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez's inauguration Thursday for a new term amid growing uncertainty over the polarized OPEC nation's political future.

The socialist leader's allies say the January 10 inauguration date laid out in the constitution is just a "formality." They insist Chavez, who has not been heard from for almost a month after complex cancer surgery in Cuba, can take office when his health allows.

His adversaries say that would be running roughshod over the constitution as the former soldier remains in Havana and appears too weak to return to Venezuela after winning re-election in October for a third six-year term.

"If the president of the republic does not take office (on January 10), the country cannot be left in a power vacuum," said Tomas Guanipa of the opposition Justice First party, insisting that the head of Congress, Diosdado Cabello, should be sworn in temporarily.

The dispute centers on an article of the constitution that says a president-elect should be sworn in on January 10, but does not say what happens if the inauguration does not take place that date.

A fierce debate over the issue has deflected attention from the president's absence from the political scene and apparent inability to speak in a live broadcast.

The government, which has refused to discuss having Chavez temporarily step aside as he recovers, is providing only terse statements with bare-bones details of his condition.

On Monday, the information minister said Chavez's condition was "stationary" with respect to the last medical bulletin, released on Thursday, which described a "severe" pulmonary infection that has hindered the president's breathing.

The official position is that Chavez is still fulfilling his duties as head of state, despite his weak health.

For days, television networks have aired contrasting interpretations of the constitutional articles in question, with the opinions of constitutional lawyers and ad-hoc experts now filling social networks.

A Justice First leader has said the opposition could file complaints against the government with international agencies over the potential violation of constitutional protocol.

A popular political cartoonist depicted what appeared to be a wolf running with a copy of the constitution in its mouth, leaving a trail of pages behind it.

The opposition's Democratic Unity coalition has been holding meetings to hash out a unified stance on the issue.

One Chavez critic who called for a national strike via Twitter to protest the situation was ridiculed by the opposition as an extremist but quickly cited by the government as a sign that Chavez's critics want to destabilize the country.

ALLIES ADAMANT

"There is nothing here that would create a power vacuum and nothing that should give (the opposition) hope that Chavez will leave (office) on January 10," said Cabello, a top Chavez ally and a leader of the ruling Socialist Party, at a press conference.

He called on supporters to hold street rallies in support of Chavez on Thursday but would neither confirm nor deny the president would be in Venezuela by then. He said several Latin American presidents would be present.

In Argentina, a government spokesman said President Cristina Fernandez would travel to Cuba late this week, as part of a trip that includes stops in the Middle East and Asia, and would seek to visit Chavez.

An aide to Brazil's president, consulted on the situation in Venezuela, said he thought the process was being carried out according to the constitution.

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October election, said the obsession over Chavez's health had left government frozen and unable to take action.

"The truth is that we have a government that doesn't govern, completely paralyzed!" Capriles said via his Twitter account. "These pseudo-leaders are not interested in the problems that Venezuelans face."

Twitter is alight with rumors that the president is nearly at death's door and that the government has not released pictures of him to avoid revealing his physical deterioration.

If he died or had to step aside, new elections would be called within 30 days with Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's heir apparent, running as the Socialist Party candidate.

Maduro for the last month has stepped in to fill the void left by Chavez, mimicking his style of bombastic speeches and televised appearances for ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

On Monday, he marked the start of the school year by reading children's books at a public school in a stilted imitation of Chavez's frequent informal visits to social programs or state-run factories.

(Additional reporting by Ana Flor in Brasilia; Editing by Kieran Murray and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-opposition-furious-over-likely-chavez-inauguration-delay-002445240.html

autism speaks ubaldo jimenez ncaa final country music awards autism awareness angelman syndrome total recall

16 Things Singles Need To Stop Saying | YourTango

There's no need for a pity party!

As told by GIFs, of course.

You've heard them from friends, your favorite TV characters and you've probably even said them at one point or another. Single people cliches are everywhere.

From "Boys are dumb" to "I'm going to die alone", these negative sayings really aren't getting us anywhere.

More from YourTango: How To Keep The Romance Hot When The Temperature's Cold

Our friends at The Frisky are kicking off the new year by putting an end to these useless phrases in the best way possible: GIFs!

See the banned sayings at The Frisky:?16 Things Single People Need To Stop Saying As Told In GIFs

More from The Frisky:

Source: http://www.yourtango.com/2013170210/16-things-singles-need-stop-saying

kim kardashian flour bomb hunger games box office xavier joan crawford joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall

Counting the cost of mercury pollution

Monday, January 7, 2013

Cleaning up mercury pollution and reducing prenatal exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) could save the European Union ?10,000 million per year, finds a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health. New estimates suggest that between 1.5 and 2 million children in the EU are born each year with MeHg exposures above the safe limit of 0.58?g/g and 200,000 above the WHO recommended maximum of 2.5?g/g.

While some mercury occurs naturally in the environment for example from volcanic eruptions or forest fires, most is generated by burning fossil fuels. Marine and fresh water species bioconcentrate MeHg; consequently the main source of exposure for humans is from eating fish.

A team of researchers from across Europe used the DEMOCOPHES study of exposure to environmental chemicals to assess the impact of MeHg on humans. Hair samples of child-mother pairs, collected from 17 European countries, demonstrated that, as a lower estimate, 1,866,000 children are born in Europe exposed to toxic levels of MeHg. 232,000 of these are exposed to hazardous levels, five times higher. But not every child in Europe is equally at risk. When analysed per country, children born in Portugal and Spain were the most exposed to MeHg, and Hungary the least.

Exposure to MeHg in humans affects brain development, resulting in a lower IQ, and consequently a lower earning potential. The long term cost to society can be calculated as lifetime earning loss per person, although this estimate does not take into account other aspects of brain toxicity or risks of cardiovascular disease in adults.

Prof Philippe Grandjean explained, "If we convert the effects of MeHg on developing brains into IQ points then the benefits of controlling MeHg pollution equates to 700,000 IQ points per year and monetary benefits of ?8,000 to ?9,000 million per year for the whole of the EU. Exposure abatement would mainly benefit southern Europe ."

Once MeHg is formed, it cycles though the environment for thousands of years, exposing humans and other species to potentially toxic levels for generations. Commenting on the research Dr Elsie Sunderland said, "Mitigating the harm caused by methylmercury requires global-scale cooperation on policies and source reductions. Negotiations by the United Nations Environment Program are currently underway to address mercury emission levels."

###

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 47 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126158/Counting_the_cost_of_mercury_pollution

amare stoudemire tallest building in the world the pitch brandon inge freedom tower freedom tower eric church