County Chairman's view: Saving our community newspapers important

Freeport, Ill. ?

When I make reference to community I am geographically referring to Stephenson County including the City of Freeport, every village, and all of our townships. This is the reference point from which I try to generate and measure the efforts to improve our quality of life and build opportunity for current and future residents.

I mentioned last week the importance of quality relationships in the maintenance and growth of a great community. Another cornerstone to a solid community is the strength of our institutions. Institutions would be those organizations that create value for the entire community over the long term. Examples of institutional presence include churches, high schools, community colleges, libraries, courthouse, park districts, airport, and many more.

We are very fortunate that, for a community our size, we have very solid institutions that provide a stable and quality foundation for all who live and work in Stephenson County.

One of the significant community institutions is a community newspaper. We have a number of newspapers that are delivered into our community every day such as the New York Times or the USA Today. However, the more important and relevant information involving our community are contained in a local newspaper.

A community newspaper has the ability to not only assist in the formation of community relationships, but can help harmonize these relationships over time. We have a few weekly and some monthly publications that connect all of us and provide information and recognition for the citizens and businesses of our community.

The biggest print news resource we currently enjoy is The Journal-Standard. This six-day per week newspaper has been the courier of community news since 1846, before radio, before television, and certainly before the Internet. This newspaper has served our community for more than eight generations and has survived world wars, great depressions, and many leadership changes.

The current challenge is certainly the advance of the Internet age and the paperless economy. It would seem the Internet is about to make the printed newspaper obsolete, especially those in the very small markets such as Stephenson County.

I am sure that The Journal-Standard is dealing with the challenges brought about by the digital age and the competition from various web-based news services. I am also sure that the change to remote corporate ownership and control will have a greater effect on the future of our local newspaper than any digital competition. As management and production components of The Journal-Standard are exported in the interest of efficiency and cost control we lose one more local toehold on the quality and fabric of our community.

I believe that we need to improve our appreciation of the benefits a local newspaper provides our community. It is certainly a forum for community dialogue and a consistent record of community proceedings. Even though there are times when opinions or articles that appear in print seem off the mark to me personally, I realize that it is part of a process that eventually provides perspective to a variety of viewpoints.

If one wants to search our community history the first stop is usually the archives of the Freeport Public Library where old issues of The Journal Standard are catalogued. If our community would happen to lose this daily record of news, events, and life as it was lived, we lose a great deal of the thread that holds our community quilt together.

This might be an appropriate time for our community to become involved in the continued presence of The Journal-Standard as our community newspaper. We need to understand what the financial, operational, and human factors that are involved in keeping our own daily newspaper. We need to understand the business plans of the current management with regard to the continued local operation of The Journal-Standard.

We do need a newspaper that has the content and personality that will draw us to read it daily. We do need a newspaper that can advertise and draw customers to our local businesses. We do need a newspaper that reports on the efforts of local government. We do need a newspaper that will give us information to help us think rather than what to think. We do need a local newspaper.

Without community involvement, this long legacy could slip away and it would be most difficult to reconstruct.

John Blum is the Chairman of the Stephenson County Board.

Source: http://www.journalstandard.com/opinions/guestcolumns/x1015653789/County-Chairmans-view-Saving-our-community-newspapers-important

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The Liike project. Mobile Web guidance from Microsoft P&P

Posted by: Pablo M. Cibraro (aka Cibrax), on 02 Jan 2012 | View original | Bookmarked: 0 time(s)

Microsoft Patterns & Practices has recently started a new project whose codename is Liike (pronounced as LEEE-keh) for delivering guidance and a reference application in the mobile web space. As many of the recent initiatives started by different teams in Microsoft, this project will also be hosted in GitHub under http://liike.github.com/. All the artifacts, patterns and code generated during the project will be shared as part of that project. Html5 and the rise of mobile devices have contributed...

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Lorraine Devon Wilke: New Hire Mr. Potter Brings Blue Shield Into the New Year

Is it just me or is there something inordinately mean about sending out medical insurance rate hike packages in time for the very last day of the year? Just when we're wrapping up the holiday, taking down the tree, rebalancing the checkbook, tightening our belts to compensate for the joy of the season, there's Blue Shield of California to greet us at the door of 2012 with a big, fat rate hike envelope.

Happy effin' New Year.

Yep, looks like they've brought in old Mr. Potter, got him running the show over there now. Customer good will? Compassionate service? Thoughtful financial planning? Naw, not him. He's their "bad cop," the one with no qualms about kicking the customer when they're counting pennies, passing exorbitant fees onto unwitting private payers, offering a festive "You Didn't Think You Could Ring in the New Year Without a Departing Kick In the Ass From Us Did You?"

Come on...he's old Mr. Potter!

You know him; that greedy, money-grubbing a-hole who browbeat kindly George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life; did his curmudgeonly best to do a whole town in with his avarice and jaw-grinding disdain. That guy. He's a perfect shill for the insurance industry, don't you think? I wonder if they've already got his picture hanging the Blue Shield boardroom.

So we get these packages on the Friday before New Year alerting us to hikes as high as 39% for some, great angst for all, and I couldn't help but wonder how the Blue Shield Big Wigs celebrated their New Year's Eve after rushing those into the mail just in time for ours. Must have been a relief to get that hefty task accomplished in time for the parties! Did they do it up in style? Say, a private mansion in Sea Cliff, maybe an ornate ballroom at the Fairmount; everyone dressed to the nines with a reality show-winning chef serving up truffles and boeuf; airbrushed colleagues warmly circled, waving sparklers and slugging back Cristal, burnished by the glow of those unexpected and seemingly good-will rebates of earlier this year and the no-doubt profitable year to come? I bet that really cute blonde from the 3rd Floor temp pool got old Mr. Potter out on the dance floor and whirled him around in his wheelchair to beat of "Celebrate Good Times, Come On!"

Celebrate, indeed.

It's not just me, is it?

Let's go back to those rebates for a minute: For the first time ever, as least as far as any of us longer-term Blue Shield members can recall, we were notified - not once, but twice - in 2011 that, per the promised "2% pledge," rebates were a'comin' our way. And, lo, they did. A smaller one earlier this year, then a larger, much welcomed one in time for the December premium...a sweet Christmas gift from a thoughtful, caring nonprofit ready to do right by its customers. SEE, not all Big Insurance is bad!

To clarify the 2% Pledge for all those wondering, per the somewhat pandering letter tucked in my rate hike package:

Our 2% Pledge: Blue Shield of California's commitment that if our net income exceeds 2% of our revenue, we will give back the difference to Blue Shield of California and Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company customers and the community as long as we remain financially solvent, with sufficient funds to make the investments needed to stay competitive. The 2 percent pledge is a direct reflection of our commitment to making healthcare coverage affordable." Douglas King, VP, Individual & Small Group Markets|

Why, thank you, Mr. King, we're so very grateful -- BAM! Rate hike!

Well played, Blue Shield, well played. You're like that abusive parent who gives us a dollar, slaps our face, then gives us another dollar only to slap our face again because...well, you can.

But here's my question, BS (hmmm): if your net income was so high that you could afford millions of dollars in the public relations bonanza of those "look-at-us-aren't-we-good?" rebates, why is it that now, just a few short weeks after the second one arrived, we're ordered to pony up big bucks to cover your costs because "there are number of factors that contribute to increased healthcare costs, including hospitals, physician and drug costs, as well as the cost of ever-advancing technology." Economic whiplash, I tell ya, which leads to the next logical question: WHO'S THE HELL'S DOING YOUR BOOKS OVER THERE?

Oh, right...Mr. Potter.

Here's a personal anecdote that may illuminate why "increased heathcare costs" are, well, increasing; follow me here: My son, husband and I all go in for our "well person" physicals earlier this year, covered by our very high-deductible Blue Shield plans. The accompanying routine blood work is not covered so that comes out-of-pocket. Son and husband go to one medical office, I go to another. My blood work, after adjustments, costs around $70. Their blood work, after adjustments (same panels with a few extras for the husband), costs $363 for my son, $711 for my husband. WTF, right? A little investigation reveals that the medical office they went to had improperly coded their blood work billing, indicating services had been provided at a hospital as opposed to the actual doctor's office they visited. Stunned, I asked the Blue Shield customer service representative, "So you're telling me that the exact same blood tests billed out of a hospital are almost $1000 more than if they're billed out of a doctor's office??" The answer...yes. No reason for the $1000 differential other than the type of facility running the tests. There's your "increased healthcare costs"...otherwise known as price gouging. Now multiply that by millions of gouges and millions of dollars.

When the caterwauling starts - continues, ratchets up, gets crazier - about how the government should stay out of healthcare and how private business is better equipped to handle this unwieldy mess of an industry and, oh dear God, the sky will surely fall if insurance is mandated or choices are offered or regulations are insisted upon, blah, blah, blah, I want to run screaming into the street, "Are you all crazy?" Private, non-government companies already are handling it and frankly, they suck.

Until it gets figured out, my fellow citizens, tighten your belts and batten down your wallets because we're just going to be paying more and more and more for reasons that are out of our control and built upon greed, waste, mismanagement, fraud, and extortionary billing practices. SOMEBODY else has got to have a better plan, please!

And, by the way, Blue Shield, tell Mr. Potter that while we appreciated the rebates when we thought they were an uncharacteristic burst of good customer service, in the future...don't bother. Keep the money we already paid in and save us from your transparent and manipulative "good will." If there's anything worse than being a pawn in the PR hustle of Big Insurance, it's having to hand back the bonus after the klieg lights go out.

?

Follow Lorraine Devon Wilke on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LorraineDWilke

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lorraine-devon-wilke/blue-shield-hires-mr-pott_b_1177731.html

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South Korea says 'new era' possible for Koreas

People watch a TV screen reporting about North Korea's next leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. South Korea's president opened the door Monday to possible nuclear talks with North Korea and warned the neighboring country to avoid any provocations, saying the Korean peninsula is at a crucial turning point.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People watch a TV screen reporting about North Korea's next leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. South Korea's president opened the door Monday to possible nuclear talks with North Korea and warned the neighboring country to avoid any provocations, saying the Korean peninsula is at a crucial turning point.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People watch a TV screen reporting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak delivers New Year's speech to the nation, at the Seoul Train Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. South Korea's president opened the door Monday to possible nuclear talks with North Korea and warned the neighboring country to avoid any provocations, saying the Korean peninsula is at a crucial turning point.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak delivers a speech to the nation during his New Year's speech at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Lee opened the door Monday to possible nuclear talks with North Korea and warned the neighboring country to avoid any provocations, saying the Korean peninsula is at a crucial turning point.(AP Photo/ Yonhap, Kim Byung-man) KOREA OUT

In this Jan. 1, 2012 image released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed Monday, Jan. 2, 2012 in Tokyo by the Korea News Service, North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un, 2nd right, inspects a room to educate about revolutionary achievement at Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the Korean People's Army in North Korea to congratulate servicepersons on New Year's day. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this Jan. 1, 2012 image released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed Monday, Jan. 2, 2012 in Tokyo by the Korea News Service, North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un inspects a washroom at Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the Korean People's Army in North Korea to congratulate servicepersons on New Year's day. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? South Korea's president urged rival North Korea on Monday to use the transition of leadership after Kim Jong Il's death to usher in a new era of peace on the tense Korean peninsula, even as he warned the North against any provocations.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak reached out in his New Year's message to the North Korean government now led by Kim's son, Kim Jong Un, saying he has high hopes for a breakthrough this year in negotiations over the North's nuclear program.

However, Lee warned that Seoul would respond sternly to any North Korean provocations. Relations between the rival Koreas dropped to their lowest point in decades following the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors and North Korea's deadly shelling of a front-line island later that year.

Lee's comments in a nationally televised speech came a day after the North called on its citizens to rally around Kim Jong Un and transform themselves into his "human shields."

Lee said Kim Jong Il's death is "portending a sea change" for the fractured Korean peninsula. "If North Korea comes forward with a sincere attitude, it will be possible for us to work together to open a new era," he said.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of conflict because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North and South remain divided by a heavily fortified border, and their navies have traded deadly fire at their disputed maritime border over the years.

After a decade of warming ties, relations plummeted in 2008 after Lee took office with a firm policy of linking aid to the impoverished North to its commitment to dismantle its nuclear program. Most joint business ventures and other civilian, humanitarian and cultural exchanges were suspended.

Lee said the Korean peninsula is at a turning point with Kim's death, and "new opportunities always emerge amid such changes."

His speech shows South Korea "has no intention" of provoking North Korea, said Cheon Seong-whun, an analyst with the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

On Monday, state media accused Lee of plotting to shake up the North by temporarily placing his troops on high alert after Kim Jong Il's death. The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial that Lee must "kneel down and apologize" for his acts.

However, in one of his first roles as North Korea's leader, the young Kim met briefly in Pyongyang last week with a former South Korean first lady who was leading private mourning delegations paying respects to Kim Jong Il ? a clear sign he is open to reaching out again to the South Koreans.

North Korea's New Year's message Sunday didn't include the country's routine harsh criticism of the United States and avoided mention of the country's nuclear ambitions, a sign the North may be willing to continue talks with Washington to win food aid in exchange for denuclearization.

North Korea also repeated a call in the message for implementing past agreements for the Koreas to cooperate on potentially lucrative economic projects.

Lee said negotiations can resume if North Korea halts its nuclear activities.

North Korea, which has tested two atomic devices since 2006, said it wants to return to long-stalled six-nation talks on halting its nuclear weapons program in return for aid. Washington and Seoul, however, have insisted that the North first show progress on past disarmament commitments.

"We are ready to resolve security concerns on the Korean peninsula and provide assistance to revive North Korea's economy through agreements in the six-nation talks," Lee said.

The disarmament talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

However, Lee vowed that South Korea would maintain a "watertight defense posture" to deal with any North Korean provocations.

"If any aggression occurs, we will respond with strength," he said.

Meanwhile, North Korea's propaganda efforts to build up Kim Jong Un continued Monday, with state TV showing him dressed in a dark overcoat and laughing with officers as soldiers applauded during a field inspection. State TV also played a song widely associated with Kim Jong Un: "Footsteps," a reference to his role carrying out his family's legacy.

This year is a crucial one for North Korea as it aims to build a "great, prosperous and powerful nation" befitting the April 2012 centenary of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung, the new leader's grandfather.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-02-AS-Koreas-Tension/id-5e59c59b880647afab0d3eadbef030b0

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Kelly Clarkson tempers Ron Paul endorsement

To Kelly Clarkson, the Republican presidential field would suck without Ron Paul.

But, the pop star explained adamantly after her endorsement of the Texas congressman was met with many boos and hisses from the peanut gallery, that doesn't mean she endorses the party line.

"I am really sorry if I have offended anyone," Clarkson wrote on whosay, responding to the backlash to her "I love Ron Paul!" Facebook post.

MORE: Which movie star does Daniel Craig think should run for office?

"Obviously that was not my intent," she continued. "I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women's rights, men's rights, white/black/purple/orange rights. I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government and letting the people (all of us) make the decisions and mold our country. That is all. Out of all of the Republican nominees, he's my favorite."

A little background: Clarkson reportedly voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and, last year, she performed for the president, his family and the nation on the America Celebrates July 4th special taped at Ford Theatre.

But while a bunch of, shall we say, concerned citizens took offense at Clarkson saying she would vote for Paul for president if he won the GOP nomination, the haters apparently took no issue with offending right back.

MORE: Coldplay vs. Kelly Clarkson--Who Won?

"Man my eyes have been opened to so much hate tonight," Clarkson's post continued. "If y'all ever disagree with something I say please don't feel the need to attack me. I will listen to what you say and any articles or viewpoints you have when you say it with respect. Being hateful is not a healthy way to get people to see or hear you. I was raised to respect people and their decisions and beliefs and I hope you will grant me the same decency. If you don't agree with me simply unfollow me. It's really that easy. I hope you don't because I would love the chance to hear what you have to say but if you're so blinded by hate you can't seek peace and progress then that is your unfortunate prerogative."

As for Paul, his team tweeted, "Kelly Clarkson loves Ron Paul," and linked to her initial statement--"I love Ron Paul... I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he's got my vote."

Paul's site also noted a response to Clarkson from fellow singer Michelle Branch: "@kelly_clarkson I wholeheartedly agree. #RonPaul."

And yes, Branch attracted her share of haters, too:

"Hmm. Didn't mean to offend," she tweeted afterward. "I am not racist and am absolutely not a homophobe. Just trying to weed through the non-impressive choices! I should listen to my father who said never to share my beliefs on religion&politics. However I will always share my view on civil rights."

GALLERY: Hollywood Gets Political

? 2011 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45825825/ns/today-entertainment/

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Nigeria's Jonathan declares state of emergency (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Saturday in parts of Nigeria plagued by a violent Islamist insurgency, and ordered shut the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast.

Coming nearly a week after radical sect Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded 57, Jonathan told state television the measures would aim to restore security in troubled parts of Nigeria's north.

"The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be resumed as soon as normalcy is restored," he said.

He added that his chief of defence staff had been instructed to take other "appropriate" measures, including setting up a special counter-terrorism force.

The blasts have raised fears that Boko Haram, a movement styled on the Taliban and whose name means "Western education is forbidden," is trying to ignite sectarian strife in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer.

Jonathan has been criticised by the opposition and Christian groups for what they said was a slow response to the bombings.

"The crisis has assumed a terrorist dimension," Jonathan said. "I therefore urge the political leadership (in northern local governments) to give maximum cooperation to ensure that the situation is brought under control."

He listed the northern local governments affected by the decree, including a part of Niger state near the capital Abuja, the northern half of the conflict-prone city of Jos, and parts of Yobe and Borno in the remote, semi-arid northeast.

The bombings by the northern-based movement have strained Nigeria's already fractious north-south divide.

Jonathan, a Christian from the south, upset many northerners by running for and winning the presidency in April, which in the eyes of many tore up a tacit deal to rotate the top job between a northerner and a southerner every two terms.

More than 500 people were killed in post-election violence in the north after Jonathan's victory, reflecting long-standing northern grievances about perceived alienation and exclusion by the central government from the fruits of national oil riches, concentrated in the south.

"CRUSH THE TERRORISTS"

Earlier in the day, Jonathan visited the scene of the deadliest Christmas attack, on St. Theresa's Catholic church in Madalla, on the outskirts of Abuja.

"We will crush the terrorists. If there are institutions ... which are harbouring terrorists, we will deal with them," he told weeping relatives of the victims gathered in the church, amid tight security by dozens of armed soldiers.

Traces of the devastation were still evident, with the church windows shattered and glass on the ground.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushua Shuaib said authorities were on "full alert" for more attacks.

"The government has put security throughout the federation, including near the flashpoints. We are optimistic, but we are fully mobilised," he told Reuters.

The government held an emergency meeting with security officials on Thursday and is also looking at using other channels to stop the conflict, which started as a local northern problem but is fast destabilising the whole country.

National Security Adviser General Owoye Andrew Azazi told Reuters the security services were considering making contact with moderate members of Boko Haram via "back channels," even though explicit talks are officially ruled out.

In Jos, which was also bombed at Christmas, two dozen armoured personnel carriers were patrolling the streets ahead of New Year celebrations.

The commissioner of police for Plateau state, Dipo Ayeni, told Reuters: "We have deployed this tactic of a show of force so that we can celebrate the New Year without any hindrance, and so there should be no cause for panic."

"The events that caused Nigeria's civil war are repeating themselves," said Uche Udemezue, an Igbo woman in the southeast, referring to the secessionist war of her people against northern rulers in which more than a million people were killed in the late 1960s.

"The north should know nobody has a monopoly on violence."

Attacks in and around the capital - including one on the U.N. headquarters in August that killed at least 24 people - suggest Boko Haram is trying to raise its jihadist profile.

In a separate, unrelated incident, clashes between rival ethnic groups in southeastern Nigeria's Ebonyi state on Saturday killed at least 50 people, the state government spokesman said, and police said mobile units had been sent to the state to quell the violence.

There was no suggestion they had anything to do with wider security problems, but the clashes are likely to add to Jonathan's woes at a time when his forces are already stretched.

(Additional reporting by Tife Owolabi in Jos and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha; Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111231/wl_nm/us_nigeria_emergency

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Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson's foster son facing gun, drug charges

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Source: http://www.nationalpost.com/Vancouver+Mayor+Gregor+Robertson+foster+facing+drug+charges/5925130/story.html

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