Sandy Hook kids return to school for first time since attack

NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Hundreds of the children who escaped the harrowing attack on their elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, last month head back to classes on Thursday for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their schoolmates and six staff members.

School officials are preparing for droves of anxious parents to join the fleet of buses carting children to a disused middle school in the neighboring town of Monroe. Chalk Hill Middle School, closed about a year and half ago, has been hastily refurbished in the three weeks since the December 14 attack and renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School.

With their children's safety foremost on parents' and officials' minds in the wake of the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, the school has been outfitted with a new security system. Monroe Police Department officers will patrol the grounds, and all outside doorways and sidewalks will be under surveillance.

"I think right now we have to make this the safest school in America," Monroe Police Lieutenant Keith White said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Parents wishing to remain with their kids, ages 5 to 10 in kindergarten through grade 4, will be allowed to accompany them to their classrooms and afterwards may stay in the school's "lecture room" for as long as they like, according to a memo to parents on the school's website. Counseling will be available for students and parents at the new school, about 7 miles south of the scene of the shooting.

"I'm not sure I'm ready yet to totally let them go," Sandy Hook parent Sarah Swansiger said on CNN about her trepidation over the return to school.

When the students return around 9 a.m. Thursday, they will find all of the belongings they left behind when teachers and police evacuated them from Sandy Hook nearly three weeks ago after Adam Lanza burst through the school doors and opened fire.

They will be welcomed to a building that has been decked out as a "Winter Wonderland" with the help of thousands of kids from around the world.

"This does not look like the other elementary school," Newtown School Superintendent Janet Robinson said emphatically.

In the meantime, no new details have emerged to explain why the 20-year-old Lanza, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle, two other firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, targeted the school.

Described by family friends as having Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home about 5 miles from the school before driving to Sandy Hook and embarking on the massacre, police said. He then took his own life as police were arriving at the school, which had an enrollment of 456.

Police have offered no firm motive for the attack, and state police investigators have said it could be months before they finish their report.

The massacre in Newtown, a rural New England town of 27,000 residents about 70 miles northeast of New York City, stunned the nation, prompting President Barack Obama to call it the worst day of his presidency and reigniting an extensive debate on gun control. Obama has tasked Vice President Joe Biden with assembling a package of gun-control proposals to submit to Congress in the next several weeks.

The National Rifle Association, the most powerful gun-rights lobby in the United States, has rebuffed calls for more stringent firearms restrictions and instead called for armed guards to patrol every public school in the country.

(Writing by Dan Burns; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sandy-hook-kids-head-school-first-time-since-050335929.html

whitney houston has died blue ivy carter whitney houston death the vow the voice season 2 ron paul maine safe house

Analysis: Bumps in "cliff" talks won't deter Wall Street from rallying

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. investors celebrated New Year's Eve believing lawmakers had finally gotten together in a last-ditch effort to avert the "fiscal cliff."

For a time, it appeared Tuesday's deliberations in the House of Representatives would be the equivalent of a rough hangover.

Members of Congress uncomfortable with a deal brokered between Senate Republicans and the White House threatened to scuttle the deal, which could have hit Wall Street hard after its rally to end 2012 on Monday.

With the House looking likely to vote on the Senate bill that avoids - for now - most of the consequences of the fiscal cliff, Wall Street is well-positioned to begin 2013 with a rally, even if thorny issues remain to be ironed out in the coming months in Washington.

"It does seem that we are finally edging closer to a deal that has market-friendly broad outlines and that should be market positive," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group in Philadelphia.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index ended the year up 13 percent, its best gain since 2009, mostly shrugging off the debt-related worries that dominated headlines during the year.

Equity markets held up in the last two months of the year as well, expecting a resolution to head off $600 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes that could push the economy into recession if they stay in effect for long. While the deadline to avert the cliff was December 31, legislation can be formulated to retroactively prevent going over.

The back-and-forth in recent weeks has primarily been of concern to businesses, where confidence has eroded. Some slowing in economic growth due to the impasse is expected, but that may play into the hands of value investors if the market corrects in coming months.

"It appears as though politics will dominate for some time," said Richard Bernstein, chief executive of Richard Bernstein Advisors in New York. "That being said, equity market valuations already reflect this... the stock market is attractive from my perspective."

Stock markets around the world were closed Tuesday because of New Year's Day. One of the first key gauges of the market's reaction to headlines on the "fiscal cliff" will come when futures reopen early on Wednesday. Some Republicans in the House had expressed concern on Tuesday afternoon that a bill would not be finished before the open of U.S. markets.

The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index of stocks was up 1.6 percent.

Many traders will still be away from their desks because of the holiday, indicating trading volume will stay near its recent low levels. The anemic action, coupled with uncertainty over the cliff, resulted in a spike of volatility in December, with the CBOE Volatility index jumping 13.5 percent in the month.

The Senate bill working its way through the House of Representatives does not contain the kind of spending cuts that many conservative Republicans favor in order to bring down the high U.S. federal debt.

Even as this battle recedes, markets will look ahead to another fight in the next few months, this time over whether Congress will approve an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling.

The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. But it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

"The spending side fight looms and it will be tougher," said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida. "The Republican caucus is tighter on that side."

Markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of "no confidence" in Washington's ability to function, considering how close lawmakers came to a default.

This time around, the markets have been much less volatile, largely because the effects of the spending cuts and tax hikes will be gradual, and there was an ongoing expectation that a retroactive fix was in the offing.

On Monday, however, Wall Street ended 2012 with its best day in more than a month as it appeared lawmakers were closing in on a deal.

"When you separate the fundamentals of the economy from the headlines, the fundamentals really suggest we can support higher prices in the new year," said Bill Vaughn, equity portfolio manager at Evercore Wealth Management in San Francisco. "Resolving the cliff could be the fuse that starts a rally that wants to start."

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; additional reporting by David Gaffen, David Randall, Chuck Mikolajczak and Richard Leong; Editing by Neil Fullick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-bumps-cliff-talks-wont-deter-wall-street-033440597--sector.html

valley fever project x the lorax lorax fisker karma super tuesday states shepard fairey

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Samplify (Online Market Research ...

Samplify

Testing a new product or service before you launch is a no-brainer but usually costs a bundle in market research expenses. With Samplify, business owners can access a sample pool of respondents without the big cost or wait time. Because Samplify makes the process simple with custom templates and targeting attributes, and you can access their pool of tens of millions of consumers and business professionals, you?ll get comprehensive research quickly and efficiently.? Researchers have complete control of their research and have 24-hour access to reports on any project activity.

Google+

The views expressed here are the author's alone and not those of Network Solutions or its partners.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Marketing, Resources, Small Business, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.networksolutions.com/smallbusiness/2013/01/web-com-small-business-toolkit-samplify-online-market-research-tool/

greg mcelroy new york post kate middleton bob costas bowl projections Jovan Belcher Charlie Batch

How I Fell in Love with a Schizophrenic | MetaFilter

Kas Thomas writes about his "all-in" relationship with Sally, a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday, my true love, Sally, had a psychotic break and went into the (mental) hospital, where she'll probably be for the next two weeks. Today, I'm writing as a means of therapy. Therapy for me. I knew going into this relationship that it would entail ups and downs, and hard work...
Our meeting was the fluke of the century. I happened to be scrounging around on Craigslist one day looking for a furniture item. Sally happened to be on Craigslist looking for pet supplies. On a lark, I posted a personals ad, something I'd never done (on Craigslist). It was a short ad, maybe three or four sentences total. The heading was something goofy like "Intelligent guy looking for sharp gal." posted by winecork (49 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite

? Older New Year's Eve comes with many widespread traditio...??|??A podcast... Newer ?

Source: http://www.metafilter.com/123382/How-I-Fell-in-Love-with-a-Schizophrenic

travis barker get back on board rob lowe peyton manning what is sopa marianne gingrich ibooks author gabrielle union

The Down Side of Self Improvement

It?s that time of year. Just when you think it?s safe to re-enter your life, pack up your holiday decorations, and get back to a sense of normalcy, the New Year?s resolution messages creep in.

Lose weight?get healthy?build your business?fix your relationships?build wealth?make 2013 the BEST YEAR EVER?

I must admit I am a recovering self-help junkie. The lure is intoxicating isn?t it? If only this program, this product, this time will make me happy?It?s seductive. It?s inspiring. It?s marketing. And it may also be what?s keeping you stuck just where you are.

Think about the term self improvement. It implies there?s something wrong, something that needs fixing. If we live our lives based on that belief, then we ride the endless cycle of feeling broken and looking for repair. And most of the time looking for answers (aka things) outside ourselves: books, classes, pills, equipment, gadgets, relationships, etc.

I?m a strong believer that our feelings are a product of our choices, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. That things outside of us can?t make us feel, but rather our reaction to those things creates our experiences.

But it?s a fine line between wanting to change and feeling horrible about who we are. And this is the season for people to capitalize on that subtle distinction.

I think there are many products and services out there that can be helpful to us in our journey to change. The trick is picking ones that help rather than hurt us in the process. If messages come at you with a ?this is what?s wrong with you? tone, I?d say avoid them altogether. Look for messages that expand on something you?re already doing or wanting that support you and focus on the positive.

What would YOU like to change in 2013? Here?s some things to try as you look ahead to the year and life you want to create:

1. Make a list of what you accomplished in 2012. So many times it?s easy to focus on what we DIDN?T do. But be sure to take some time honoring the things you DID do.
2. List all the things you are grateful for. Make this a regular practice.
3. Spend some time alone in silence or listening to music that is calming. Think of what you want to create for the upcoming year in the areas of health and well being, relationships, career, finance, etc. Then write down one realistic, obtainable goal for each category that you can accomplish within a month.

Remember, wanting to make positive changes and improvements in your life is normal and healthy if it comes from a place of strength. Focus on the positive that?s already in your life and what you want to create and you?ll be off to a great start in making this a wonderful year.

Similar Posts:

Source: http://krylyn.com/the-down-side-of-self-improvement/

greg kelly cujo karen handel hangout todd haley kareem abdul jabbar miramonte elementary school

Fire The Head of Social Media And Make These 10 Wishes Come True

A joyous moment has come — the idea that you need a director of social media is beginning to lose its myth status. For me, it says that maybe in 2013 some businesses may stop obsessing about how to centralize “social,” and instead just get the work done. Companies with social media directors have a problem. Mostly, they just don’t get it. Or worse, they do get it but to decentralize the corporate, top-down structure would actually disrupt the business and force some change. So here are 10 wishes for the enterprise that thinks they still need one person to organize the company’s tweets, check-ins or whatever. This is by no means a final list. Start talking to each other – who cares how you do it. Build projects, not echo chambers: Start building new ways for everyone to participate. Don’t worry about it being social. You’ll figure it out. Reconsider the generic social network. Don’t ditch it but instead make social transparent in your product development app or whatever you use to get things done. Make blogging a core way for how the company communicates to each other and the world. You will never need a social media director if a lot of people are blogging. People who write are forced to think. That’s a good thing. It’s actually nutritious for the mind. Narrate your work. Start teaching people how to tell stories about the way they work day-to-day. Help them share it. Give developers more freedom to make things. They will do far more for the company than one social media director can ever do. Design for Failure. This is a concept popular in the DevOps movement. It can apply to the entire organization. Treat the company like it is an experiment. Expect failure and design accordingly. Teach people how to use data. How to collect it, how to use the tools to analyze it and how to act on it. Rethink what websites get blocked inside the corporate walls. Open up a bit. Finally: cloud accountability. There are lots of ways now to make sure that costs are kept in check so you can justify all those new efforts that come when you do fire that director of social media. Bonus: Have some fun next year. I mean, hell, watch more YouTube for goodness sake.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lyHnO0_l724/

2012 kids choice awards kansas ohio state wrestlemania results womens final four josh hutcherson google april fools office space

Report: State Dept. made 'grievous mistake' over Benghazi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday.

A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby CIA annex, in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died, faulted intelligence agencies for not focusing tightly enough on Libyan extremists.

It also faulted the State Department for waiting for specific warnings instead of improving security.

The committee's assessment, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," follows a scathing report by an independent State Department accountability review board that resulted in a top security official resigning and three others at the department being relieved of their duties.

Joseph Lieberman, an independent senator who chairs the committee, said that in thousands of documents it reviewed, there was no indication that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had personally denied a request for extra funding or security for the Benghazi mission. He said key decisions were made by "midlevel managers" who have since been held accountable.

Republican Senator Susan Collins said it was likely that others needed to be held accountable, but that decision was best made by the Secretary of State, who has the best understanding "of how far up the chain of command the request for additional security went."

The attacks and the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens put diplomatic security practices at posts in risky areas under scrutiny and raised questions about whether intelligence on militant activity in the region was adequate.

The Senate report said the lack of specific intelligence of an imminent threat in Benghazi "may reflect a failure" by intelligence agencies to focus closely enough on militant groups with weak or no operational ties to al Qaeda and its affiliates.

"With Osama bin Laden dead and core al Qaeda weakened, a new collection of violent Islamist extremist organizations and cells have emerged in the last two to three years," the report said. That trend has been seen in the "Arab Spring" countries undergoing political transition or military conflict, it said.

NEED FOR BETTER INTELLIGENCE

The report recommended that U.S. intelligence agencies "broaden and deepen their focus in Libya and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups."

Neither the Senate report nor the unclassified accountability review board report pinned blame for the Benghazi attack on a specific militant group. The FBI is investigating who was behind the assaults.

President Barack Obama, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, said the United States had "very good leads" about who carried out the attacks. He did not provide details.

The Senate committee said the State Department should not have waited for specific warnings before acting on improving security in Benghazi.

It also said it was widely known that the post-revolution Libyan government was "incapable of performing its duty to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel," but the State Department failed to fill the security gap.

"Despite the inability of the Libyan government to fulfill its duties to secure the facility, the increasingly dangerous threat assessments, and a particularly vulnerable facility, the Department of State officials did not conclude the facility in Benghazi should be closed or temporarily shut down," the report said. "That was a grievous mistake."

The Senate panel reviewed changing comments made by the Obama administration after the attack, which led to a political firestorm in the run-up to the November presidential election and resulted in U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice withdrawing her name from consideration to replace Clinton, who is stepping down early next year.

Rice had said her initial comments that the attack grew out of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam film were based on talking points provided by intelligence agencies.

Lieberman said it was not the job of intelligence agencies to formulate unclassified talking points and they should decline such requests in the future.

The report said the original talking points included a line saying "we know" that individuals associated with al Qaeda or its affiliates participated in the attacks. But the final version had been changed to say: "There are indications that extremists participated," and the reference to al Qaeda and its affiliates was deleted.

The report said that while James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, had offered to provide the committee with a detailed chronology of how the talking points were written and evolved, this had still not been delivered to Capitol Hill because the administration had spent weeks "debating internally" whether or not it should turn over information considered "deliberative" to Congress.

(Editing by Warren Strobel and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-report-faults-state-department-intelligence-benghazi-153036760.html

valentines day westminster dog show valentines day cards hallmark grammy winners obama budget woolly mammoth