Editor's note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong date for William McKinley's graduation from Albany Law School. He was a member of the class of 1867.
ALBANY — The Civil War remains America's master narrative 151 years after it began. It continues to reverberate across the nation's legal affairs and a broad range of societal issues that will be explored in a three-day conference at Albany Law School.
More than 100 historians, lawyers and retired jurists will gather beginning Thursday to explore how the war between the states affects Americans today at "The Civil War On Trial: Legal Issues that Divided a Nation."
Panel discussions will focus on states' rights, civil liberties, a free press, recruitment of black troops and military justice.
The scholarly program will culminate with a dramatic multimedia concert Saturday titled "John Brown's Body," presented by Albany Pro Musica at EMPAC on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus in Troy.
The theme of the conference sets it apart from scores of events around the country marking the Civil War's sesquicentennial.
"We didn't see other historians talking about the legal crisis of secession and how fighting a civil war raises important constitutional and legal questions because it was not a declared war," said Paul Finkelman, a Civil War scholar and author of articles and books on the subject. He is also the President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy at Albany Law School. McKinley, who served four years in the Union Army during the Civil War, was a member of Albany Law's Class of 1867.
The long shadow of the Civil War can be seen in many aspects of American law and culture. Those ramifications were brought into sharp focus following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
"Much of what happened in post-9/11 America is a reflection of the Civil War," Finkelman said. "Whether the Lincoln administration should have suspended habeas corpus and arrested John Merryman during the Civil War because they thought he was a terrorist is still being argued today. The ways we treat people we consider dangerous citizens are based on constitutional and legal questions raised by the Civil War."
Finkelman is co-chair of the conference with Harold Holzer, a prominent Lincoln scholar and author of dozens of books on the Great Emancipator. Holzer is also a board member of the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, the main sponsor of the event, with assistance from the History Channel and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
"We wanted to find a way to tap into the strengths in this region in terms of history and the law," said Robert Bullock, president of the Archives Partnership Trust.
David Griggs-Janower, Albany Pro Musica's artistic director and conductor, called the "John Brown's Body" performance among the most challenging the 45-member orchestra and 120 singers have yet undertaken.
A large projection screen will show archival images of the Civil War and guest readers — WNYT Channel 13 health reporter Benita Zahn, Times Union Editor Rex Smith, Albany Common Council member Barbara Smith, Albany County District Attorney David Soares and Bullock — will read passages from Civil War letters, Walt Whitman poems and other written work from the period.
The concert will include Ralph Vaughan Williams' haunting Dona Nobis Pacem, or "Grant Us Peace."
The audience will be invited to join in sing-alongs to "America the Beautiful" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
"I expect the audience to be deeply moved. We're digging deep for this," Griggs-Janower said.
pgrondahl@timesunion.com • 518-454-5623 • @PaulGrondahl
If you go
For information on attending the three-day conference at Albany Law School, call the Archives Partnership Trust at 474-1228. The cost is $85.
What: Albany Pro Musica's Civil War multimedia concert "John Brown's Body."
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: EMPAC, RPI campus, 110 8th St., Troy.
Info.: Tickets are $35, $25 and $10 for students. Call 346-6204 or order online at http://www.albanypromusica.org.
If you go
For information on attending the three-day conference at Albany Law School, call the Archives Partnership Trust at 474-1228. The cost is $85.
What: Albany Pro Musica's Civil War multimedia concert "John Brown's Body."
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: EMPAC, RPI campus, 110 8th St., Troy.
Info.: Tickets are $35, $25 and $10 for students. Call 346-6204 or order online at http://www.albanypromusica.org.
Source: www.timesunion.com
Sussex are handed thrashing at the home of cricket - thisissussex.co.uk
IT HAS been a week of frustration for Sussex after they lost at Lord's against Middlesex in the LV> County Championship, before seeing their CB40 clash with Unicorns washed out due to the weather.
Sussex fell to a crushing 10-wicket defeat at the home of cricket last week, with Middlesex requiring only 18 runs in their second innings to win the match.
Batting first, Sussex were bowled out for 283, with Ed Joyce (77) and Ben Brown (70) the only two of the top seven batsmen to score more than 15 runs.
Contributions from Sussex's lower order helped push them to a respectable first innings score, but in reply, Middlesex amassed a huge 491 in their first innings.
Five batsmen scored half-centuries, with opener Chris Rogers falling just two short of his century.
Chris Nash claimed three wickets for Sussex (3-45), while James Anyon and Steve Magoffin picked up two wickets each, with Luke Wright, Monty Panesar and Naveed Arif Gondal each taking one.
Sussex were then bowled out for 225 in their second innings, with Brown (53) the only Sussex batsman to register a half-century.
That left Middlesex with the relatively simple task of scoring 18 runs to win, which they did in just 3.5 overs.
The result left Sussex in sixth place in Division One, while Middlesex cemented their position in fourth.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Sussex were left frustrated after rain saw their CB40 clash with Unicorns at Southend abandoned without a ball being bowled.
This ruined Sussex's 100 per cent record in the competition, and the Sharks were knocked off top spot on Monday, when Warwickshire thrashed Derbyshire.
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Source: www.thisissussex.co.uk
Law School Should Remain Accessible to All - Huffington Post
The legal profession and, in roughly the last 110 years or so, law schools, have always been a route to advancement in America. At the presidential level, lawyers include, among others, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Lincoln, Cleveland, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nixon, Clinton and Obama. The numbers of state and federal legislators who have been lawyers are legion. The same for governors. Many high corporate officials have been lawyers. And none of this is even to mention that lawyers are prominent at professional and civic levels ranging from Wall Street to small towns.
So it is important that law schools and the law remain open to -- remain a route of advancement for -- the middle and lower economic classes. But such access is increasingly difficult to come by. The reasons have to do with elitism, failure to teach students what they need to know in order to practice, and costs. The elitism has been with us for scores of years. The failure to teach the skills of practice have been with us almost as long. The staggering costs (tuition) are a more recent phenomenon. All of this, and much more, is discussed in a new book by Brian Tamanaha, formerly a dean of the St. John's Law School and now a law professor at Washington University of St. Louis. Many of Tamanaha's criticism and suggestions mirror the views and practices of the Massachusetts School of Law since its inception in 1988.
The criticisms made of law schools include the following: law professors' salaries are very high (sometimes ranging into the mid three hundred thousand dollar range or averaging over $250,000). They are far higher than in any other academic field except medicine. In part due to very high salaries, law school tuition is very high -- often being between $35,000 and more than $50,000 per year. Law professors teach few hours of class, making it necessary to have more professors in each school, which again pushes up tuition. Law professors are entirely research oriented (although their research is of little or no benefit to students); they have very little experience in practice, lack knowledge of the arts and skills of practice, and cannot teach such skills to students though most students wish to become practicing lawyers. In pursuit of higher U.S. News and World Report rankings, law schools seek students with, and give available financial assistance to, students with high LSAT scores. This forces other, "lower ranked" students, who pay full tuition, to in effect pay the way of the students with high LSATs. Again in pursuit of high U.S. News rankings, some law schools have told falsehoods about their students' LSAT scores, undergraduate grade point averages, chances of employment after graduation or starting salaries after graduation. Law schools have failed to prepare students for bar examinations. By increasing tuition to astronomical levels, law schools have made it necessary for students to take on very high amounts of debt, often ranging between $100,000 and $135,000. These amounts of debt play hob with students' lives after they graduate.
A way to cure these problems, and to make legal education and its associated social and economic mobility available to middle class and lower class students, is to reverse the current practices (as our school has done). Professors should have extensive, and often continuing, experience in practice, so that they can teach the arts and skills of practice to students. Professors should teach reasonable numbers of hours, not low numbers of hours. They should focus on good teaching, rather than on research of little or no value to students. They should earn good but not astonishingly huge salaries. Schools should eschew the elitist LSAT. They should prepare students for the bar examination. And, by use of these and similar techniques, tuition should and can be kept low -- it can be kept to between $15,000 and $20,000 per year, instead of being 35 or 40 or 45 or $50,000 per year.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Sussex rocked in the rain (From The Argus) - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex rocked in the rain
3:41pm Thursday 7th June 2012
Sussex slumped from 81-2 to 90-6 in the six overs that were possible before it began to rain at Horsham today.
The county had begun the day in a strong position as they replied to Surrey's total of 124 but got off to the worst possible start when skipper Mike Yardy was out first ball to Stuart Meaker.
Joe Gatting followed 13 balls later when he was bowled by Meaker before play was held up by brief shower.
Luke Wright was caught behind off Murali Kartik five balls after the resumption and a miserable period was concluded when Ben Brown was trapped lbw by Meaker before the heavens opened and washed out the rest of the day.
Including Chris Nash's dismissal late yesterday it meant Sussex had lost five wickets for seven runs in the space of 28 balls.
Meaker's figures this morning were 3-3 from three overs.
Luke Wells remains unbeaten on 38 after watching the carnage this morning from the other end.
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
Law shocked by cash bonanza - derbyshiretimes.co.uk
Alfreton Town manager Nicky Law has expressed his shock and disbelief at some of the big money deals which are flying around this summer.
The Reds chief is working tirelessly to bring new faces to the Impact Arena for the 2012/13 campaign, Alfreton’s second in the Blue Square Bet Premier Division.
And, despite the demise of both Darlington and Kettering Town due to financial problems from last season, Law feels it is going to be even tougher to survive second time around.
He said: “The game has got bigger this year. There are lots of clubs chucking massive money at players .
“Some of the wages being offered are staggering.
“I am hearing of players picking up huge signing-on fees as well as appearance money and other add-ons, but that is an avenue we can’t go down.
“It is definitely going to be harder to survive in the Conference Premier Division this season.”
Law is hopeful of making some progress from his ongoing negotiations with several targets.
It may be summer time but football is never far away and the Football Conference have confirmed that, barring any unforeseen issues, the fixtures for 2012/13 will be released on Monday, July 2.
Meanwhile, Reds supporters have just three weeks left to take advantage of the ‘early bird’ season ticket prices, the deadline for which is June 30.
Season tickets purchased up to and including that date are: adults (persons aged 16 and over) £289; concessions (senior citizens and children aged 15 and under) £194.
Ten Match Tickets Adult £150, Concessions £100.
Prices after June 30 rise to: adults (persons aged 16 and over) £310; concessions (senior citizens and children aged 15 and under) £206.
Ten Match Tickets: adult £160, concessions 110.
Orders can be made by contacting Lisa Towerzey on 01159 392090 extension 107.
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Print this pageSource: www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk
Site for new Sussex fire and rescue control centre confirmed - littlehamptongazette.co.uk
A SITE has been confirmed for the new fire and rescue control centre for East and West Sussex.
The Haywards Heath Fire Station was announced as the new site today (June 7), after both services agreed last December to merge their existing control rooms into one centre that would start taking 999 calls by September, 2013.
The move follows a successful bid for £3.6 million funding from the department of Communities and Local Government.
Haywards Heath fire station was recommended by both services last month as the most suitable location for the new Sussex control centre, and East Sussex Fire Authority (ESFA) and West Sussex County Council (WSCC) today confirmed the decision.
For the full story, see next week’s Herald (Thursday, June 14).
Source: www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk
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