WATERVILLE, MAINE--- Police investigating the disappearance of two-year-old Ayla Reynolds have indicated that the missing toddler is likely deceased.
Speaking at a press conference, detectives from the Waterville police department declared it unlikely the baby will be found alive. The announcement comes after months of exhaustive search efforts by law enforcement and community volunteers.
The blonde, blue eyed toddler's whereabouts have been unknown since the twenty-month old disappeared from her father's Waterville home nearly six months ago. The child's father, Justin DiPietro, told law enforcement that he last saw the Ayla when he put her to bed at around 8:00 pm on the evening of Dec. 16, 2011.
The toddler was reported missing the following morning after DiPietro called police to state that the child was missing from her crib.
"We think it is highly unlikely Ayla Reynolds will be found alive. Nothing points in that direction," said Steve McCausland, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
According to law enforcement, the occupants of the home that night included DiPietro, his girlfriend, and DiPietro's sister.
Although no suspects have been arrested relating to the baby's disappearance, law enforcement has indicated that DiPietro has been less than forthcoming about the disappearance of his daughter.
"She did not leave that home by herself and she was not abducted," McCausland said. "We believe he knows more than he has told us. ... We think that he or the two others inside that home may have information that they just haven't told us."
Despite the announcement, the child's mother, Trista Reynolds, says that she will continue to pray for her toddler's safe return. Baby Ayla was staying with DiPietro while Reynolds sought treatment for addiction at the time the child went missing.
Although frustrated at the lack of results in the search for baby Ayla, law enforcement is adamant that the search for the missing toddler will continue.
"This isn't 'CSI' where everything is solved in 60 minutes. Some cases require a great deal of time and effort," McCausland said . "This case will remain active until we find her. Period."
Anyone with information on the disappearance of two-year-old Ayla Reynolds is urged to contact the Waterville, Maine Police Department at (207) 680-4700.
For more information and latest developments on the case, see http://aylareynolds.com.
Source: www.examiner.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 Firm Marketing and Design Lessons Learned While Redoing My Website - jdsupra.com
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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 officials debate state, federal fair-housing laws - Delaware Wave
GEORGETOWN -- Sussex County officials reacted with skepticism to a briefing on the lengths to which landlords must go to accommodate disabled tenants under state and federal fair-housing laws.
"We're not going to like hearing what you're saying. Just tell us all these things and maybe we can keep our mouths shut," Sussex County Councilman George Cole told representatives from the Delaware State Housing Authority and the Division of Human Relations. "It makes us all madder and madder that we're living under these terms."
Ines Hungria, a Division of Human Relations investigator, walked officials from the County Council, the zoning board and the Board of Adjustment through the strictures of fair housing laws this week.
Most of the questions dealt with animals. The law is clear: Landlords who don't want pets in their rental apartments must still allow people with service or companion animals to rent from them, Hungria said. And landlords can't say no to a companion animal like a pit bull merely because people feel threatened by it, she said, invoking a hypothetical pit bull, Zeke, a companion animal to a tenant suffering from depression, and a neighbor girl, Sarah. Unless Zeke were to bite Sarah, Hungria said, the dog can't be kicked out.
"So I can't prevent someone from renting with a pit bull if their spouse says they need a pit bull to combat depression?" Sussex County Councilman Vance Phillips said. That's correct, Hungria said, although she said it's usually a doctor's note that justifies the dog. "What if Sarah's doctor certified that the dog is causing her to be depressed?" Phillips retorted.
It was one of several times officials played devil's advocate to illustrate strange conclusions fair-housing laws could lead them to draw.
"Everybody should run to the doctor, and everybody in the whole place should have a dog," Councilman Sam Wilson suggested.
Others at the meeting wondered if the law meant their zoning laws couldn't limit where group homes for the disabled could be built.
"If you deny it, have very good reasons," was Hungria's advice.
Fair and affordable housing advocates in Delaware have complained that some Sussex municipalities have discouraged poor people from renting apartments. A 2002 report from the Sussex Housing Group complained about a "tightening of code enforcement on housing occupied by minority groups, especially Latinos," in Selbyville and Georgetown.
Today, Hungria said, she and her colleagues get 50-60 complaints of housing discrimination a year, and they have formal investigations opened on about 15 of them at any one time.
Robert Wheatley, chairman of the county's Planning & Zoning Commission, said the training was important to make sure government officials and landlords knew the ins and outs of the law. He said he asked questions about the rules to make sure "there is some safeguard against people who might try to game the system."
Source: www.delmarvanow.com
Albany Law conference will explore Civil War's legal, societal impacts - Times Union
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
Kent County Cricket Club to go without second overseas star for T20 campaign - Kent Online
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By Glenn Pearson
Kent have revealed they will begin their Friends Life T20 campaign on Tuesday against Sussex Sharks at Tunbridge Wells with just one overseas player.
The county have been on the lookout for an addition to West Indies batsman Brendan Nash for the 20-over competition, but have been priced out of the market by international stars more akin to Indian Premier League wages.
With a sizeable squad to pick from this season, which has seen the likes of Mike Powell and Charlie Shreck yet to feature in one-day cricket, it’s felt there are enough resources to choose from.
Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford (pictured) said: “We have looked everywhere and trawled through the options and, like our recruitment in the winter, we were very thorough, but concluded we couldn’t see anything that caught the eye.
“There are some silly prices out there, especially for just five home games. It means they would have to bring a hell of a lot of bums on a hell of a lot of seats to justify that price.
“There is a lot of experience in that dressing room, with several players having won it, others making it to finals day, so I would expect them to have another good run this year and use the resources we have.”
How do you think Kent will cope in the Twenty20 without a second overseas player? Have your say below
Wednesday, June 06 2012
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Source: www.kentonline.co.uk
Sussex v Surrey at Horsham: Play abandoned - wscountytimes.co.uk
Sussex have struggled to 90-6 on a rain affected second day of their County Championship match against Surrey at Horsham.
Resuming on 81-2, having dismissed the away side for 124 yesterday, Sussex were soon in trouble when Mike Yardy fell to the first ball of the day, fending a short Stuart Meaker ball into the hands of Mark Ramprakash at gully.
Joe Gatting soon followed, clean bowled by Meaker in his second over of the day, the Surrey paceman uprooting Gatting’s off-stump for two. That was the final action before a 40 minute rain-break, and upon the resumption Luke Wright last five balls before he feather a catch behind to Steve Davies off Murali Kartik. Surrey wicketkeeper Davies had been called into the England squad, but rushed back to Horsham this morning after Matt Prior was passed fit to play in the Third Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston.
The last action of the day saw Ben Brown (1) trapped LBW by the lively Meaker, before the rain arrived to force the teams off before lunch. With the Cricketfield Road outfield now sodden, play has now been abandoned until tomorrow morning
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