Wednesday, May 10, 2006

A California judge has delayed until Friday his decision on whether to stop the state from requiring high school students to pass the California High School Exit Examination in order to graduate.

On Monday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Freedman said he would issue an injunction against the high-stakes test, which was taken Tuesday by thousands of seniors in danger of not being graduated unless they pass, unless the state’s attorneys came up with an otherwise convincing argument by 2 p.m.

Instead, Freedman said he would wait until Friday to issue his decision.

The San Francisco law firm Morrison & Foerster filed the lawsuit on behalf of Richmond High School senior Liliana Valenzuela and others. It contends that the test violates the “equal protection” concept of the law in that poor students and English-language learners don’t have access to equal education.

The ruling would affect about 47,000 California high school seniors, and dozens at James Logan High School, who have yet to pass the exam and would be barred from being graduated if they don’t.

Thirty-two James Logan students were scheduled to take the second half of the two-day test Wednesday, along with thousands of others throughout the state.

Last week, state Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said that about 47,000 California high school seniors still needed to pass the test or face the prospect of completing four years of schoolwork without receiving a diploma. O’Connell wrote the law requiring the test while serving in the state legislature.

The statistics O’Donnell cited also show that, while nearly 90 percent of seniors have passed the test, only 71 percent of seniors who are English learners have passed, and 83 percent of those classified as low-income have passed.

Of the 50 taking the first part of the test at Logan High on Tuesday, only 13 were native English speakers.

Cynthia O’Brien, who is coordinating the administration of the exit exam at James Logan, said she’d like some certainty about whether the test is going to be required or not.

“The politicals in STATE and our judicial system need to get together and do the right job by the students. If the Exit Exam is going to go forward, then it needs to go forward. If not, then it needs to be cancelled completely,” she said after a long day of testing Tuesday.

“It is not fair to the students to work their hearts out and agonize over something that has such a large impact on them and then find they didn’t need to work so hard. I know there are probably students who have not taken the exam seriously, but the vast majority of Logan students have. They deserve better than to not know from one day to the next what they need to do to be granted a diploma. Most of our students who are taking the exam this go around have given up electives, lunches or time after school to prepare for the test,” she said.

“I am afraid that the message we are giving our students is that you don’t need to care,” O’Brien continued, “Then, one day, the system will pull the rope tight, and students will be caught not having what they need. Yes, they should all be doing their best, but when the system cries WOLF too often, people tend to ignore the message.”

O’Donnell, in a statement released on Monday, said he would try to make sure the test counts.

“Recognizing that today’s ruling is not final, I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that at the end of the legal day we maintain the integrity of the high school exit exam, and that all graduates in the class of 2006 will enter college or the workforce with a diploma that reflects their mastery of critical academic skills,” he said.

“Independent research shows that because of the High School Exit Exam, students are working harder and learning more, and those who are struggling are getting the help they need to succeed,” he said.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “Delaying the exam’s implementation does a disservice to our children by depriving us of the best tool we have to make sure schools are performing as they should be. We must increase our efforts to help all students meet the minimal bar set by the exam, not lower our standards or expectations of them.”

“I am disappointed in the Court’s tentative ruling to stop implementation of the California High School Exit Exam this year but I remain hopeful this will not be their final word,” he said.

If Freedman grants the injunction, the state’s lawyers say they’ll appeal.

Whatever happens with Valenzuela vs. California, the battle isn’t over. Next week, Freedman is scheduled to hear arguments in another suit that seeks to block the test. Lawyers for Public Advocates claim the department failed to hold until December a public hearing to consider alternatives to the test, six years after the Legislature approved it.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Standard Chartered Marathon, nicknamed “The Greatest Race on Earth“, held its third stage in Mumbai, India today. Because of the scorching hot weather in India, marathon runners had to adapt to the weather to overcome the challenge.

More than 30,000 runners participated in this race, joined by local NGOs and disabled who participated in a special charity short-distance running including 6km dream run, 4.3 km senior, and 2.5km wheel-chair classes. Gabriela Szabo, former Romanian Olympic Gold Medalist, named as charity ambassador of the race, was pleased by the participation from experts and NGOs.

An hour into the race, former champion Daniel Rono and Joseph Kimisi took the lead, but then Tariku Jifar from Ethiopia and defending champion John Ekiru Kelai took over Rono and Kimisi. After 40 kilometres, Kelai took a decisive lead and finally retained his champion title in 2 hours 12 minutes 22 seconds.

In the Women’s Group, Mulu Seboka from Ethiopia won the champion with 2H30m03s. Local runners Surendra Singh & Kavita Raut won the Men’s and Women’s Champions in the half-marathon class.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Venezuela’s government has opened a granite processing plant in the state of Bolívar, with the intention of providing about 25% of the granite required nationwide.

Ricardo Menéndez, vice president of the Productive Economic Area, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has yearned for the creation of this project to empower Venezuelan construction. Granito Bolívar is reportedly the most modern Venezuelan granite plant, not consuming community water or electricity, and is also the largest, with a daily capacity to supply enough material for use in construction of about 820 houses.

Menéndez said, “These granite blocks are the natural resources of our country, are the wealth we have as a country and often [some] simply decided to remove this richness from our country and take them to other countries” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Esos bloques de granito son la riquezas naturales de nuestro país, son las riquezas que tenemos como patria y que muchas veces sencillamente esas riquezas decidieron sacarlas de nuestro territorio nacional y llevarlas a otros países}.

According to Menéndez, with the help of a state plan, Venezuela intends to exploit its 40,000 million cubic meters or more of granite reserves, generating a set of factories. “[T]he central theme is that these plants, all these factories, are for the construction of socialism; that means using our potential, develop the value chain within the country and of course that yields benefits from the point of view of the production system’s organization…. [Granito] Bolívar is not only the vision that historically we had of exposing richness, but the industries, basic industries we have, that level of our workers in the basic industries and in addition the development of the potential we have in the state” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?el tema central es que estas plantas todas estas fábricas son para la construcción del socialismo, eso significa utilizar nuestras potencialidades, dessarrollar la cadena de valor dentro del país y por supuesto que eso genere beneficios desde el punto de vista de la organización del sistema productivo … Bolívar no solamente es la visión que históricamente se tuvo de exponer las riquezas, sino que son las empresas, las empresas básicas que tenemos, ese nivel de nuestros trabajadores de la empresas básicas y adicionalmente el desarrollo del potencial que tenemos en el estado}.

For the construction of the plant, supplied by 23 quarries, the government of Bolívar provided about 30 million bolívares (US$4.7 million) and the national government €2.3 million (US$3 million). Bolívar reportedly has reserves of about 40,000 million tons of red, black, pink and white granite, sufficient for domestic demand for 200 years.

Monday, November 28, 2005

U.S. Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R–CA) pled guilty today to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence as a member of the House Appropriations Committee to help a defense contractor get business. In total he pled guilty to one count of income tax evasion and four counts of conspiracy, namely mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery of public official and accepting bribes. U.S. District judge Larry A. Burns scheduled Cunnigham to be sentenced on February 27. He is facing up to 10 years in prison and nearly $500,000 in fines, as well as forfeiture of unspecified amounts of cash and property.

In the court hearing, Cunningham admitted to accepting “bribes in exchange for performance of official duties” between “the year 2000 and June of 2005”, taking “both cash payments and payments in kind” and following up by “trying to influence the Defense Department”.

The federal investigation against Cunningham was triggered by his sale of his California residence to defense contractor Mitchell Wade in late 2003. However, Wade never moved in and sold the house at a $700,000 loss three quarters of a year later. At the same time Wade’s company MZM won tens of millions of dollars in defense contracts. Subsequent investigations discovered more questionable business transactions, including interactions with the defense contractor ADCS. In his plea agreement he testified that, among other charges, he “demanded, sought and received at least $2.4 million in illicit payments and benefits from his co-conspirators in various forms, including cash, checks, meals, travel, lodging, furnishings, antiques, rugs, yacht club fees, boat repairs and improvements, moving expenses, cars and boats.”

Cunningham announced his resignation after the hearing. In a written statement released by his law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP he declared “The truth is — I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my high office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, and most importantly, the trust of my friends and family.”