Five Secrets Of Companies That Build Great Teams

1571349678_be53430931_bAs the name of a recent conference in San Francisco suggests, there?s a war for talent going on right now. That shouldn?t come as a surprise to anyone. Over the last couple of years I?ve been fortunate enough to talk to many successful entrepreneurs and executives from some of the fastest-growing companies in the world. While the specifics of those conversations remain confidential, I?ve noticed some general trends that seem to separate the winners in the talent war from those who aren?t doing as well. Here are five I?ve picked up on:

pro bowl roster quirky chrissy teigen chia seeds embers shannon brown mike rowe

PFT: Gailey says the old Merriman is back

015_ralph_wilson_stadiumGetty Images

While 93-year-old Bills owner Ralph Wilson may have no desire to sell the team during his lifetime to someone committed to keeping the franchise in Buffalo, Wilson can make it difficult if not impossible for the next owner to relocate any time soon.

And so the Bills and Erie County officials are working toward a new lease that, depending on the language of the final document, could make it so expensive to move the team that only buyers intent on keeping the franchise where it is will make offers for the team, once Wilson?s lifetime ends. ?Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tells the Associated Press that a basic agreement on a new lease?could be reached by the end of July.

Step One would entail the negotiation of a ?memorandum of understanding,? which would be followed by the full-blown lease. ?The current deal expires in July 2013, which means that the Bills could become free agents after the coming season.

Which also means that time is of the essence, in more ways than one.

Poloncarz says the team has ?provided assurances of their commitment to stay in Buffalo.? ?Still, the only way to ensure that commitment will still exist when someone other than Wilson owns the team is to beef up the lease with terms that would make it difficult if not outright impossible to escape within the next 20 years, or longer.

The Bills are seeking roughly $200 million in upgrades to Ralph Wilson Stadium, a fairly modest amount for a facility that opened nearly 40 years ago. ?The challenge will be for the team, the county, and the state to work out a plan for sharing in the costs of the improvements.

The county definitely has an incentive to ensure that the team?s stay extends, indefinitely.

?We?re not New York City, we?re not Chicago, we?re not Boston, and we never will be,? Poloncarz said. ??But I certainly like us to be greater than other cities out there of comparable size that wish they had an NFL team. ?Well, we have one, and I have no intention of seeing that team leave on my watch.?

Ralph Wilson has no intention of seeing the team leave on his watch, either. ?And he?s in position to ensure that the lease will keep the next owner from seeing the team leave on his watch, too.

bronx zoo crash april 30 wwe extreme rules 2012 vontaze burfict jimmy kimmel amzn white house correspondents dinner

Lamar Smith: Obama's amnesty for illegal immigrants is against the law

The Obama administration decision for immunity from deportation for young illegal immigrants is a breach of faith with Americans. It also blatantly ignores the law. This isn't the first time Obama has waived rules or refused to enforce laws against illegal immigration, writes Rep. Smith.

By Lamar Smith / June 15, 2012

President Obama responds June 15 as he is interrupted while announcing that his administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants. Op-ed contributor Rep. Lamar Smith writes that to 'ignore Congress and the Constitution is exactly what the president has done.'

Susan Walsh/AP

Enlarge

It?s said that desperate times call for desperate measures. But in these dismal economic and political times, the Obama administration has called for unlawful measures that grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Today, Janet Napolitano, secretary of Homeland Security, announced immunity from deportation for illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and who are younger than 30 ? among other criteria. They can apply for a two-year work permit that can be renewed indefinitely.

The decision is not just a breach of faith with the American people. It blatantly ignores the rule of law that is the foundation of our democracy.

In an interview with Univision television earlier this year, President Obama said that he can?t just ?waive away the laws that Congress put in place? and that ?the president doesn?t have the authority to simply ignore Congress and say, ?We?re not going to enforce the laws that you?ve passed.??

But ignore Congress and the Constitution is exactly what the president has done ?? and this isn?t the first time. Throughout the past three years of his administration, Mr. Obama has waived applying several of our immigration rules and has refused to enforce other immigration laws.

Earlier this year, administration officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) outlined their plan to ignore a rule that requires illegal immigrants to leave the US before they can then ask the federal government to waive a law that bans them from legally returning here for several years.

While the waiver of this rule is sometimes allowed under current law, it is only applied on a case-by-case basis, not to entire categories of illegal immigrants. But Obama and his administration have bent these established rules by applying them to potentially millions of illegal immigrants.

And this decision comes on the heels of an even larger plan to reward illegal immigrants. Last year, political appointees at DHS issued new deportation guidelines to target illegal immigrants that have been identified by DHS. That amounts to backdoor amnesty and strikes another blow at the 13 million unemployed American workers.

Under Obama?s deportation policy, DHS officials review all incoming and most pending cases before an immigration court to determine if the illegal immigrant can remain in the US. Since DHS political appointees have made clear that many illegal immigrants are not considered ?priorities? for removal, this means that potentially millions of illegal immigrants can remain in the US without a vote of Congress.

The administration?s amnesty policy, expanded once again, not only violates the rule of law, it only benefits illegal immigrants, not Americans, and is a magnet for fraud. Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim they came here as children or are under the age of 30 and the federal government has no way to check whether their claims are true.

And once these illegal immigrants are granted deferred action, they can then apply for a work permit, which the administration routinely grants 90 percent of the time. This could put even more US citizens on the unemployment rolls.

Ignoring Congress and the Constitution may be politically convenient for President Obama, but this huge policy shift has horrible consequences for unemployed Americans looking for jobs. It violates the president?s oath to uphold the laws of this land.

It doesn?t matter how bleak poll numbers are or how low campaign coffers may be, the president of the United States cannot ignore the rule of law.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

marcel the shell with shoes on ecu john wooden tanuki mirror mirror trailer bob knight bob knight

Sigh of relief at G20 summit over Greek election

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) ? Finger-length and emerald-green, the lawns of time-share condos and all-inclusive resorts seem to gleam in the bright sun as the surf rolls gently against the white-sand beaches of Los Cabos. Sometimes the only noise is the ruffling of palm fronds in the languid ocean breeze.

It's an idyllic place to thrash out the uncertain fate of Europe and the global economy.

There was some relief as leaders of the world's largest economies began to assemble Sunday in this Baja California desert resort when the Greece's pro-bailout New Democracy party won the national elections, a vote for the financial status quo that could keep panic under control at least for now.

It had been a tense couple of days for those attending events ahead of the G20 summit, which starts Monday afternoon. A vote against the pro-bailout party in the Greek election could have forced the country to leave the joint euro currency, a move that would have had potentially catastrophic consequences for other ailing European nations and the world.

"The Greek people have spoken," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a joint statement. "We salute the courage and resilience of the Greek citizens, fully aware of the sacrifices which are demanded from them to redress the Greek economy and build new, sustainable growth for the country."

As the pair indicated, the path ahead for Greece, and by extension the bigger economies of Italy and Spain, remains unclear and market turmoil could erupt again at virtually any time.

Before the latest Greek results came in, Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, was grim-faced as she addressed the B-20 meeting of world business leaders running up to the G20. She beseeched the businessmen to exert their influence and pressure world leaders to address the "mission-critical" priority of restoring investor confidence in the world economy.

"Be as blunt as you can with the G20 leaders," she said. "Prioritize and indicate what in your view, in the view of the investors around the world ... is critical as far as you are concerned to restore confidence."

The IMF issued a restrained but slightly more optimistic statement after the Greek vote.

"We take note of the election results in Greece and stand ready to engage with the new government on the way forward to help Greece achieve its objective of restoring financial stability, economic growth and jobs," the fund said through a spokesman.

Most European leaders were on the long flight to Los Cabos, or had put off their travel until the results were in. U.S. President Barack Obama, set to arrive Sunday night, and the summit's host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, have been downplaying expectations for the summit

Obama is seeking bolder, swifter signals from Europe that it will contain its financial mess and keep it from torpedoing the U.S. economy and his re-election chances along with it.

Calderon has given a more optimistic message, including that he expects the G20 to produce record donations to the International Monetary Fund, exceeding member states' pledges of $430 billion this year and bolstering its ability to conduct more bailouts in Europe.

There were, however, clear signs of deep divisions over this relatively straightforward measure. Calderon said the U.S. would decline to contribute, a decision in line with Washington's position that more IMF money would be a de-facto U.S. bailout of Europe. It was unclear how much money would come from emerging economies such as Brazil and India, which have been pushing for more say in the governance of the IMF in exchange for greater contribution.

The twin resort towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo are ideal spots for Calderon's last moment in the international spotlight before July 1 presidential elections widely predicted to bring back the party that ruled Mexico with near-virtual control for seven decades before it was ousted from the country's highest office in 2000.

Recent months have been as bad as any for Mexico's battered international image, with scores of bodies dumped across the country by rival cartels, five journalists killed in the eastern state of Veracruz and a travel warning for Americans in a state on the Texas border to beware retaliation for a recent U.S. operation against the Zetas cartel.

"It's an issue that unfortunately puts Mexico on the world stage for the wrong reasons," Calderon told reporters Saturday.

But he also touted his record, saying Mexico had made fundamental changes for the better on questions of security, part of a legacy that also included improved health care coverage, infrastructure and the hosting of a series of international events including a climate summit, a visit by the pope, and the G20.

Violence in Mexico had been dropping steadily when he took office in 2006 then spiked during his stepped up offensive on Mexico's drug cartels. Since then more than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence.

Los Cabos is part of a small group of isolated coastal developments master-planned and developed on a massive scale by federal tourism officials to resemble U.S. suburban subdivisions more than they resemble the rest of Mexico, one reason Mexico's visitor numbers have remained surprisingly resilient despite the gruesome headlines.

"When I bring small kids I like to have all-inclusive, safe and protected, places," said Aaron Hendricks, a 42-year-old Salt Lake City mortgage banker walking past a strip-mall Starbucks to the beach with a body board and one of his six children, ages 5-17. "You can just leave them alone for a while and let them run around and play."

____

Follow Michael Weissenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mweissenstein

cloudy with a chance of meatballs the hobbit movie hanukkah gpa calculator menorah

Ortiz powers Red Sox past Cubs

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:01 a.m. ET June 18, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) - Franklin Morales and Ryan Kalish provided a much-needed lift for the injured Boston Red Sox.

Morales struck out a career-high nine and Kalish hit a tie-breaking single in the seventh inning to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night.

"That's what baseball's been for years," Kalish said. "People getting hurt and people stepping up. That's just the name of this game."

Kalish hadn't played in a Major League game since October 3, 2010, but was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game when Ryan Sweeney went on the disabled list (irritation in a bone in his left foot). Kalish stepped to the plate with the game tied 3-3 and runners at first and third and delivered a single to center.

"Got a chance in a big situation, kind of got over anxious at first," he said. "I just stepped out, told myself this is baseball, I've been here before."

Morales, starting in place of the injured Josh Beckett (right shoulder inflammation), gave up two runs and four hits in five innings in his first start since April 21, 2009, with Colorado.

"We had a hunch he could perform well in that situation and he proved our hunch correct," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. "He pitched five pretty good innings."

"The confidence I have and the opportunity Bobby (Valentine) gave me, I tried to throw strikes," said Morales.

The Red Sox rallied in the seventh against Shawn Camp (2-4), who gave up hits to both batters he faced - a double to Darnell McDonald and single to Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Kalish then singled to center off James Russell to drive in McDonald and put the Red Sox ahead 4-3. Saltalamacchia scored on pinch-hitter Will Middlebrooks' sacrifice fly, with Kalish advancing to third on catcher Wellington Castillo's fielding error. Kalish then scored on Daniel Nanva's squeeze bunt to give the Red Sox a 6-3 lead.

Matt Albers (2-0) pitched a scoreless sixth to pick up the win.

The Cubs loaded the bases with no outs against Alfredo Aceves in the ninth, but after David DeJesus hit a sacrifice fly to center, Reed Johnson struck out and Darwin Barney hit a popped out to third to end the game.

The Red Sox continued to be bit by the injury bug Sunday.

Nava entered the game in the sixth inning in place of Scott Podsednik, who left with left groin discomfort. Kevin Youkilis was forced from game in the eighth after he was stepped on.

Valentine said neither player's injury appears serious.

David Ortiz hit his 16th home run of the season in the fourth inning off Cubs starter Paul Maholm to the left-center field bleachers, giving Boston a 3-2 lead.

The Cubs tied it in the bottom of the sixth when, with runners on first and third, Jeff Baker hit a comebacker to Albers, who turned and fired to second, where both Pedroia and shortstop Mike Aviles converged at the bag simultaneously. Aviles dropped the ball and was charged with an error.

Barney, who had reached on an error by third baseman Kevin Youkilis to open the inning, scored.

Dustin Pedroia, mired in a 6-for-45 slump, had two hits for the Red Sox.

Pedroia's double to the gap in left-center in the first drove in Podsednik, and Pedroia scored on Ortiz's one-out single to put Boston up 2-0.

Starlin Castro, who had three hits and two RBIs to end a 2-for 21 slide, got the Cubs on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI triple.

The Cubs, who have lost 24 of their last 31, tied it in the second as Pedroia misplayed Castro's popup with two outs in the third, allowing a hustling Barney to score all the way from first base as the play was ruled a double.

The Red Sox added a run in the eighth on Saltalamacchia's RBI grounder.

NOTES: Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez was out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. He struck out as a pinch-hitter the ninth. ... Cubs manager Dale Sveum said the team will likely activate C Geovany Soto from the 15-day DL on Monday before the series opener against the White Sox. ... C Koyie Hill was released by the Cubs on Sunday after declining an assignment to Triple-A Iowa after clearing waivers. ... RHP Matt Garza (2-5, 4.04 ERA) will pitch Monday for the Cubs. ... The Red Sox are off on Monday and Clay Buchholz (7-2, 5.38) will take the hill on Tuesday at home against the Miami Marlins.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


advertisement

More news
Ortiz powers Red Sox past Cubs

David Ortiz homered and Ryan Kalish had a tiebreaking RBI single to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 7-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night.

Yankees sweep past Nationals

Ivan Nova pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano hit solo homers, and the Yankees beat the on-the-rise Nationals 4-1 Sunday to complete a sweep of the series between division leaders.

time 100 bob beckel anna paquin warren buffett 2012 nfl schedule dishonored april 18

Cuba's next step on capitalist road: advertising

(AP) ? For decades there's been no such thing as a commercial radio or TV spot in Cuba. Ditto for billboards, website banner ads, and newspaper classifieds.

It can be a refreshing change from the global marketing onslaught, but the lack of traditional advertising opportunities creates a problem for the thousands of budding entrepreneurs who have embraced President Raul Castro's push for limited free-market reform.

It's one thing to open your own business, but how to let potential customers know you exist? True to Cuba's famous knack for making do, the island's small-business owners have turned to low-cost, unconventional advertising ? a flurry of guerrilla marketing in a Marxist society whose founder, Fidel Castro, once denounced advertising as "alienating and noxious."

Getting the word out is "a nightmare," said Cedric Fernando, operator of Bollywood, the Island's only Indian restaurant, which opened in December. "We're running a race with one leg."

Fernando, a Londoner of Sri Lankan descent who is married to a Cuban, emblazoned both doors of his 1955 MG roadster convertible with the Bollywood logo, converting it into a rolling conversation-starter. Some people have snapped pictures with cell phones, called and made reservations.

He also recently paid someone $10 a day to slap coupons for two free drinks onto windshields around Havana, taking advantage of Cuba's color-coded license plate system to target a select clientele: Blue-plated tour vans, the black-and-white of diplomatic vehicles, bright orange for the foreign company employees paid in hard currency rather than the anemic Cuban peso. A thousand fliers lured about 50 dining parties to Bollywood in just two weeks.

"We put one on the ambassador of Spain's car a few days back and he turned up," Fernando said.

Cheaply printed fliers are a popular way of getting the word out. So is more permanent swag. Customers of the Enigma beauty salon go home with pens and lighters emblazoned with its logo and phone number.

At La Pachanga, a bustling burger joint, owner Sergio Alba Marin has pioneered the art of bumper-sticker marketing in Cuba, persuading more than 1,500 motorists to plaster his bright yellow decals on their cars for a 25 percent discount.

Probably nobody in Cuba has been more successful than Alba at drawing eyeballs to his brand. Besides the stickers, customers take home tiny, branded straw hats.

"It's the only way I can let people know of our existence, that we are here," Alba said. "One way or another, you have to get word traveling from mouth to mouth."

Alba scored something of a marketing coup last month when more than 30 employees, customers and friends wearing La Pachanga T-shirts marched in Havana's May Day parade carrying a banner supporting the Cuban Revolution.

The state-run media gave it prominent coverage. La Pachanga's logo, address and tagline ? "preferred by the party scene" ? appeared front and center on national television, and the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, or Rebel Youth, ran a six-inch photo the next day. It was an unusual sight for islanders accustomed to the media carrying revolutionary slogans like "fatherland or death."

"There was a lot of publicity from the May 1 thing," Alba acknowledged.

Restaurants, nightclubs and other businesses are also going a little high-tech, spamming cell phones.

"Unlock the iPhone 4, now it can be done! $150" read a recent text message from The Cellphone Clinic, launched in February 2011 by three friends. Javier Ernesto Matos said it does a brisk business unlocking phones purchased elsewhere so they can be used in Cuba.

The Cellphone Clinic does regular mass messagings of 3,000 or more, paying another entrepreneur in Cuba 3 cents per SMS to send them from a computer.

It may be the closest thing Cuba has to a chain, with three outlets that are registered separately but share a business plan and a branding theme: a green, stethoscope-wearing cellphone. That sets the company apart from the hordes of garage-based competitors, according to Matos.

"It's our identity," he said. "There are a lot of people repairing cellphones. But we're not just a workshop, we're The Cellphone Clinic."

People are also turning to the Internet, despite the island's woeful connectivity rates. Some restaurants have Facebook pages. Families who rent rooms beg travelers for write-ups on sites like TripAdvisor. Fernando says Bollywood is getting into Google ads. The Craigslist-inspired Revolico.com is blocked in Cuba but islanders able get around the technological wall are posting and reading a growing number of listings. The site recently started carrying ads for things like restaurants and international calling plans.

Since Castro opened up the door for more small businesses in the fall of 2010, the ranks of licensed entrepreneurs have swelled to more than 371,000 people. But few had any experience with capitalism after 50 years in a Marxist economy, and surviving cutthroat competition often meant overcoming an "If you build it, they will come" mentality.

"Many people thought that way, even us," said Daylin Hernandez Diaz, public relations manager for the restaurant Cafe Laurent, which opened in February 2011 around the corner from the storied Hotel Nacional.

"We thought we were going to open and because of our location, clients would fall into our lap. Well, that lasted 15 days," Hernandez recalled, chuckling. "And on day 16 we hit the streets to start handing out fliers."

Lesson learned, Cafe Laurent aggressively woos tour operators who can bring entire groups by for dinner. It floods the streets with business cards and fliers, including more than 800 handed out at the just-ended Biennial art festival. It also advertises in magazines distributed by tour companies in Canada and Spain, and by U.S. charter flight operators.

That's actually one of the few traditional advertising opportunities available in Cuba. Marketing is not illegal, strictly speaking, but the state controls all newspapers, broadcast airwaves and commercial buildings ? and it's not taking ads.

But there are signs the government is interested in making it easier for private businesses to publicize.

State telephone company Etecsa recently allowed small business owners to list and buy ad space in the yellow pages for the first time, and 500 signed up.

Communist Party newspaper Granma ran guidelines encouraging entrepreneurs to mount business signs, provided they don't block sidewalks or exceed 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length.

La Pachanga, meanwhile, is rolling out a unified marketing scheme based on a yellow, bug-eyed bumper sticker character known as Super Pachanga. Alba is about to release what he calls Cuba's first 3-D animated ad clip, 90 seconds long, telling the story of Super Pachanga's birth from a drop of mustard and transformation into a superhero after downing a Pachanga burger. The plan is to show it on flat-screen TVs at the restaurant, pass it around on CDs and flash drives, and beam it to cellphones via Bluetooth.

And all that advertising is creating work for other breeds of entrepreneurs, from PR specialists like Cafe Laurent's Hernandez to would-be ad agency startups.

Hernandez said she has even been approached by Cuban journalists interested in launching a newspaper that would sell commercial advertising.

One member of the team that helped create La Pachanga's campaign expects an upswing in demand for advertising as it becomes more sophisticated. The young designers dream of launching their own firm, even though Cuba has yet to formally add their profession to the 181 that have been approved for private enterprise.

"Going forward, we think this is how the competition will work," said Alejandro Perez Alvarez. "The other proprietors are going to see how things are going, come up with their own ideas and raise the bar."

Such freewheeling competition seems a far cry from the collectivist society envisioned by that earlier guerrilla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who once called capitalism "a contest among wolves."

___

Follow Peter Orsi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Associated Press

frankincense cloudy with a chance of meatballs the hobbit movie hanukkah gpa calculator menorah chanukah

EURO 2012 LIVE: Final Group A matches

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? Co-host Poland plays the Czech Republic, and Russia takes on Greece in the final Group A matches at the European Championship. The four teams are battling for two spots in the quarterfinals.

Here is a running account of Saturday's action. All times are local to Poland.

___

2118: GREECE VS. RUSSIA: Russia goes close again in Warsaw, where it's a lovely summer's evening and the stadium roof is open. Arshavin plays the ball into the center and fellow forward Kerzhakov is waiting to prod home, but the Greek defense clears.

___

2112: Still 0-0 in both matches.

CZECH VS. POLAND: Actually, the weather appears to be getting worse in Wroclaw. There were just rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. There's not going to be another suspension, is there? The players are absolutely soaked!

___

2105: CZECH VS. POLAND: It's raining in Wroclaw, but nothing like the downpour we saw in Donetsk on Friday for the France vs. Ukraine match. The Czechs have managed to take the sting out of a bright start from Poland.

GREECE VS. RUSSIA: Russia captain Arshavin tries his luck with a low shot from outside of the penalty area, but drags it wide.

___

2100: CZECH VS. POLAND: Lewandowski misses a great chance to give Poland the lead! On a quick break, Obraniak picks out the run of the striker in the penalty area and he holds off the challenge of Gabre Selassie but slices his left-foot shot wide. He should have tried to shoot across Cech there. That was a great chance to give the co-host a dream start.

GREECE VS. RUSSIA: Kerzhakov goes close now for Russia, which has come back into the game. Dzagoev tries to burst into the penalty area but he's blocked off by the Greek defense. The ball bounces out to Kerzhakov, who hits the ball on the bounce and it slowly curls wide of the far post.

___

2055: GREECE VS. RUSSIA: Early attempt for Greece through Katsouranis. He runs to the near post to flick the ball on from a corner and the ball loops toward the Russia goal. Goalkeeper Malafeev gets a fist to it at the last moment, pushing it away. The Greeks have started the brighter ? remember, they have to win to go through.

___

2050: We are up and running. Both matches are make-or-break ? one team will go through and one will go out in each game. After two matches, Russia is top of the group on four points, the Czechs three, Poland two and Greece one.

___

2044: And here are the teams for Greece vs. Russia:

Greece: Michalis Sifakis, Vassilis Torosidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Giorgos Tzavelas, Yiannis Maniatis, Giorgos Karagounis, Kostas Katsouranis, Dimitris Salpingidis, Georgios Samaras, Fanis Gekas.

Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeev, Alexander Anyukov, Alexei Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Denisov, Roman Shirokov, Denis Glushakov, Andrey Arshavin, Alexander Kerzhakov, Alan Dzagoev.

___

2040: Here are the lineups for the Czech Republic vs. Poland:

Czech Republic: Petr Cech, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Michal Kadlec, Tomas Sivok, David Limbersky, Jaroslav Plasil, Vaclav Pilar, Tomas Hubschman, Daniel Kolar, Petr Jiracek, Milan Baros.

Poland: Przemyslaw Tyton, Sebastian Boenisch, Marcin Wasilewski, Damien Perquis, Lukasz Piszczek, Dariusz Dudka, Eugen Polanski, Ludovic Obraniak, Rafal Murawski, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski.

branson mo monkees songs danica patrick school closings top chef texas rail gun harrisburg

Mobile Miscellany: week of June 11th, 2012

Mobile Miscellany week of June 11th, 2012

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Cricket found a new retail channel at Kmart and we received news that the HTC One S will soon arrive at Cincinnati Bell. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of June 11th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of June 11th, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of June 11th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments


sarah shahi george clooney rutgers dharun ravi george clooney arrested ravi leigh

Yale settles Title IX complaint, launches new sexual misconduct policies

The Department of Education had accused Yale University of violating Title IX by not having an adequate system for reporting and resolving incidents of sexual harassment and assault.

By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo,?Staff writer / June 15, 2012

To settle a Title IX civil rights complaint, Yale University has agreed to take a wide range of actions to improve its handling of charges of sexual misconduct.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

The voluntary agreement, announced Friday by the US Department of Education?s Office for Civil Rights, resolves 16 complainants? charges that the university violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by not responding adequately to sexual-misconduct reports.

Title IX, which marks its 40th anniversary this month, requires gender equity in educational settings that receive federal funding.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has been actively pushing for a wider understanding that sexual harassment and assault are violations of Title IX. It sent guidance to universities and schools last year detailing their obligations to create an environment that treats alleged victims sensitively, deals promptly with charges, and works to prevent such behavior.

?Students cannot learn if they don?t feel safe, and sexual harassment and sexual violence interfere with a student?s right to receive an education free of discrimination,? Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali said in a conference call with reporters Friday.

Between 2008 and 2011, the OCR has seen a 78 percent increase in sexual harassment complaints. In addition to investigating such complaints, it has been conducting proactive compliance reviews of eight higher education institutions and two K-12 settings.

The issue at Yale arose before the OCR's guidance letter was sent. Rather, it came into public view because of widely publicized incidents in the fall of 2010, when Yale fraternity pledges chanted comments outside dormitories that some students felt created a hostile environment ? including slogans that appeared to support rape, such as ?No means yes.? The civil rights complaint stemmed in part from such incidents.

Long before the agreement announced Friday, the university prohibited the fraternity involved from any on-campus activity for five years, and took other steps to improve the campus climate. It also delayed fraternity/sorority rush for first-year students until the second semester.

The agreement does not mean the OCR found the university in violation of Title IX, but simply outlines steps the university has taken or has agreed to through negotiations with OCR. Yale will be monitored through 2014 to ensure it is in compliance.

The investigation included interviews with dozens of students or recent graduates who told ?tragic? stories of harassment or assault, Ms. Ali said. It revealed weaknesses in Yale?s system for reporting, recording, and resolving such grievances, she added.

Ms. Ali applauded Yale?s leaders for their ?courage and willingness to change.?

Among the steps Yale has already undertaken or has agreed to:

  • Creating a university-wide Title IX coordinator who will oversee efforts to ensure compliance with Title IX in specific ways related to sexual misconduct.
  • Setting up a University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct to educate students and staff about the grievance procedures and resources on campus, and to enforce the policies.
  • Training campus police, residential leaders, students, and others to ensure a safer learning and living environment.
  • Creating a Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education Center where victims can turn on a 24/7 basis for help.
  • Assessing the campus climate, at least annually, with regard to sexual misconduct, discrimination, and Title IX.

?We are pleased ? with the terms of our voluntary agreement,? says a written statement from Yale. ?Over the past two years, the University has committed extensive resources toward improving its policies, procedures, practices and services to provide an environment in which all students feel safe and well supported, and protected from sexual misconduct.?

The OCR?s guidance letter sent to schools last year was somewhat controversial, largely because some academic-freedom groups disagreed with its requirement that schools adjudicate charges of misconduct with a ?preponderance of the evidence? standard ? in which a disciplinary body needs to be just over 50 percent sure the incident occurred to take action against the accused.

Since the letter was issued last spring, Ali said she?s been ?heartened to see institutions across the country share the concerns [about] sexual violence and harassment, and closely reevaluate and improve how they respond to and prevent these egregious acts.?

giants score aaron rodgers 2012 golden globe nominations houston texans houston texans texans lana del rey snl