Celebrating The Past

The beribboned boxes in the world can't hold a candle to Passover, the most celebrated Jewish holiday, which begins this year at sundown on Monday.

Ask most Jewish children, "What's your favorite holiday?" and "Hanukkah!" would be the expected response. Eight days of presents, spinning dreidels, crunchy potato latkes, how do you compete with that?

When I was growing up, my large, boisterous family would gather in my grandparents' tiny apartment in Belle Harbor, N.Y., for the Seder, the festive ceremonial meal. Papa Harry, who had emigrated from Russia in 1906 as a carpenter, would extend the dining table with boards reaching practically to the walls.

Over at the children's table, a gaggle of cousins raised practically as siblings, chattered, spilled soup, shouted, squabbled, hiccupped with laughter, fought over drumsticks, dropped crumbs, clamored for seconds and ran around, as far as one could run in such tight quarters, until a withering look from one of the aunties brought a temporary attitude adjustment, and then it was back to the merriment.

Or so I'm told.

We were never there!

My parents were singers, and as I recall the Passovers of my childhood, no idyllic scene of family gatherings comes to mind. Dad was also a part-time cantor, and we spent the entire week of Passover at hotels in the "Borscht Belt," the Catskill Mountains of New York, where Dad conducted his magnificent Seders, complete with choir (including my mom's glorious contralto) for 800 or so enthusiastic vacationers.

With my Dad's death in 1971, it became our turn Mom's and mine to create the traditions that would become the childhood memories of my coming grandchildren.

Our annual cooking, chopping, searing and sautéing frenzy was part culinary challenge, part giggle/gab fest and part bonding experience. And year after year, as Mom's hands became shaky and her memory faded, my role as first assistant morphed into chef de cuisine, and she became my sous-chef.

Now she has gone; she joined Dad in September at age 93. This will be my first Passover without her. So this year more than ever, I yearn for all the old favorites.

Her legendary chicken soup is de rigueur for holidays (as well as assorted sniffles). In 2002, the recipe graced these pages as food editor Cathy Thomas waxed poetic about this elixir of the gods.

Traditionally, we begin the meal with a hard-boiled egg, because Passover also celebrates spring and rebirth. But let's face it: With all that glorious food awaiting us, do we really want to start the meal filling up on a hard-boiled egg? My mother's brilliant suggestion solves that problem neatly: We use tiny quail eggs. (Find them at Asian markets. And yes, they're kosher. If the bird is kosher, the eggs are kosher.)

Mom loved gefilte fish – and no, there is no fish named gefilte swimming anywhere. So commonly served is this ground and poached whitefish and pike patty that it is almost a cliché. Regrettably, the kids never acquired a taste for it, so we rarely made it. That is, until we discovered Marlene Sorosky's Salmon Gefilte Fish in her "Fast and Festive Meals for the Jewish Holidays" (William Morrow).

Although Marlene combines salmon and whitefish, Mom suggested using all salmon and baking the mixture in a cupcake pan for pretty pink individual servings. Now everyone loves it. (It also helps that I call them Salmon Timbales instead of the G-word, but don't tell my kids, please!)

You don't have to be Jewish to love brisket – nor do you have to be a Texan! but somehow, if you're thinking traditional for a Jewish holiday, then you're thinking brisket. Some people – even great cooks – spend their entire lives with the same old recipe. But Mom and I would flit merrily from brisket to brisket as the mood hit.

For the past few years our favorite has been one inspired by a recipe from one of my favorite chefs, Sara Moulton.

"Inspired" is the operative word, as I wonder whether Sara would even recognize it!

We decided to roast the garlic and add the onion mix and duck sauce. The blender method was Mom's idea you get a thicker gravy while still leaving plenty of onion bits for that homemade look and feel.

Slicing the meat before it is completely cooked is a little tip I picked up from my mother-in-law. It's less likely to fall apart that way, and think of how cut slices pick up all the succulent flavor from the gravy as they finish cooking.

Sara evaporates the wine; I don't do this. I get a ton of gravy, just the ticket, because no matter what brisket recipe I'm making, I'd better do my Mom's potatoes or face that close-but-no-cigar look on my husband's face. And here's how:

Peel and cube potatoes and simmer them in gravy until soft and crusty brown and achingly tender. Then add the sliced meat, heat through and serve. Bow from the waist as you soak in the compliments. You can say, "It was nothing," but I wouldn't.

At most Seders, a bounty of desserts takes center stage. Oh, yes, poor us. No bread or flour for a week! Jewish cooks must love a challenge, because no Passover restrictions have stopped us from creating a veritable groaning board of tempting treats. No matter what else I'll serve this year, I'm including Mom's favorite, Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot.

These twice baked cookies think Jewish biscotti are crunchy, dunkable dippers, and for Mom, no dinner was complete without one or two with tea. Far from a sloppy second, this Passover matzo cake meal version from Aunt Estelle trumps its floured cousin in crispness and flavor.

CELEBRATE WITH COOKING

Recipe: Salmon Gefilte Fish

Recipe: My New Favorite Brisket Recipe

Recipe: Passover Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot

HUD chief's Detroit housing project

Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros is expected to come to Detroit today to headline a conference on saving struggling cities by shrinking them.

Six years ago, he came to Detroit promising growth: a $258 million project to build about 3,000 houses on 1,200 acres on the city's border with Grosse Pointe Park. Detroit spent millions of dollars acquiring land, razing houses and rebuilding roads in anticipation of what was touted as a landmark redevelopment.

No houses were built. The land is dumping ground for trash. Court judgments are piling up. And the project has become what some call a lesson for city leaders.

"It was billed as one of the largest housing development projects, to see it not come to pass is frustrating," said Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr. "We need to scrutinize these deals very, very closely. We should probably look before we leap."

Cisneros is the keynote speaker in American Assembly's three-day conference at the Westin Book Cadillac to strategize ways to save declining cities. The nonprofit public policy group based in New York, founded by Dwight Eisenhower, conducts research on everything from race to urban renewal.

Cisneros said he's not advocating any prescriptions for Detroit, and blamed an "unfortunate convergence of events" for the project's demise. The real estate market collapsed, a partner died and his company went bankrupt, and then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration imploded.

"I never like to see something I am invested in not succeed," said Cisneros, the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, who invested through his company, AmericanCity Detroit. "I have spent a lot of time personally on the project. I was in Detroit almost every month for two years.

"The project didn't fail. The project never got started. … Everyone really broke their backs to do the right thing for Detroit."

Area now a ghost town

Today, what remains of the New Far East Side Development project is vacant land surrounded by a smattering of houses and frustrated neighbors.

"I never believed it was going to happen," said John Myers, who lives nearby. "I think it's just been quietly forgotten."

Cecil Williams, 53, who lives on Philip near Jefferson, still believed the development was proceeding until he spoke with a Detroit News reporter Wednesday. But he wasn't surprised.

"Let's put it this way: It's hard to be disappointed over something you never had a chance to get," said Williams, whose home is surrounded by lots filled with broken concrete and tires. "I didn't have much faith in it to begin with."

Detroit's investment is unclear, but it spent at least $4 million rebuilding roads and sidewalks and installing street lights in an eight-block area known as Fox Creek. Developers were supposed to build 700 homes in the first phase of the larger project that was bounded by East Jefferson, Alter, Warren and Conner.

The Far East Side Development still owns 580 parcels, but its development agreement with the city is set to expire in November. Cisneros partnered with Detroit developer Melvin Washington, Chicago home builder Kimball Hill and nonprofit U-SNAP-BAC, but he said he hasn't worked on the project for 21/2 years and isn't sure if he's technically still part of the company.

"I don't even know it exists," said Cisneros, who added he made no money from it.

Court records indicate the New Far East Side Development Co. LLC has two judgments worth about $180,000 against it for unpaid bills.

"It would certainly be nice if they came and cleaned up their act," said Andrew Broder, a lawyer for a civil engineering firm that claims it is owed $135,000. "That is no way to do business."

Mayor Dave Bing's staff didn't return calls for comment. U-SNAP-BAC Director Linda Smith declined comment.

Washington and others haven't given up. They want to pitch a new proposal to the city to build rentals rather than single-family homes, said Denise Lewis, an attorney for the company.

Kimball Hill's president, David Hill, died in 2008, the same year the company went bankrupt. The market collapse also delayed progress, but Washington wants to keep the project afloat, Lewis said.

Washington told a jury last year he gave former City Council President Monica Conyers thousands of dollars for travel, shopping and tuition because she served on the pension board and he wanted it to invest in one of his other developments.

Some see an opportunity

Others hope something good can come from the project.

Josh Elling, executive director of the Jefferson East Business Association, said his group is in talks with Bing's staff about the land. He said he's been told the property will revert to city ownership and wants to ensure the land isn't sold before a development agreement expires.

He said it is one of the largest areas of vacant land in the city and believes it could be a key area in Bing's Detroit Works Project to reshape the city in part by consolidating residents in vibrant neighborhoods.

Cisneros said the city's infrastructure investment of new roads and sewers isn't wasted.

"There is no reason in the world that area can't still be redeveloped," said Cisneros, who founded a California investment firm called City View in 2000 that claims on its website to have generated $2 billion in urban investment nationwide. "Detroit needs to be thinking about steady progress and a long-term plan."

Japan Raises Nuclear Crisis to Same Level

Japan put its nuclear calamity on par with the world’s worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, on Tuesday after new data showed that more radiation had leaked from its earthquake-halting power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought.

Officials said it had taken time to measure radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi facility after it was smashed by March 11′s monumental quake and tsunami, and the upgrade in its severity rating to the highest level on a globally recognised scale did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical.

“Our preparations for how to measure (the radiation leakage) when such a tsunami and earthquake occurred were insufficient and, as a result, we were late in disseminating information internationally,” said a senior official in Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s office.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said the decision to raise the severity of the incident from level 5 to 7 the same as the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 was based on cumulative quantities of radiation released.

“Even before this, we had considered this a very serious incident so, in that sense, there will be no big change in the way we deal with it just because it has been designated level 7,” an agency official said.

As another major aftershock rattled the earthquake-ravaged east of the country, a fire broke out at the plant, but engineers later extinguished the blaze.

However, the operator of the stricken facility appears to be no closer to restoring cooling systems at the reactors, critical to lowering the temperature of overheated nuclear fuel rods.

The official in Kan’s official said that, at a news conference expected later on Tuesday, the prime minister would instruct plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to set target dates for when it would halt the radiation leakage as well as restore the cooling systems.

No radiation linked deaths have been reported since the earthquake struck, and only 21 plant workers have been affected by minor radiation sickness, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

“Nowhere near Chernobyl”

A level 7 incident means a major release of radiation with a widespread health and environmental impact, while a 5 level is a limited release of radioactive material, with several deaths, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Several experts said the new rating exaggerated the severity of the crisis, and that the Chernobyl disaster was far worse.

“It’s nowhere near that level. Chernobyl was terrible it blew and they had no containment, and they were stuck,” said nuclear industry specialist Murray Jennex, an associate professor at San Diego State University in California.

“Their (Japan’s) containment has been holding, the only thing that hasn’t is the fuel pool that caught fire.”

The blast at Chernobyl blew the roof off a reactor and sent large amounts of radiation wafting across Europe. The accident contaminated vast areas, particularly in Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus, led to the evacuation of well over 100,000 and affected livestock as far away as Scandinavia and Britain.

Nevertheless, the increase in the severity level heightens the risk of diplomatic tension with Japan’s neighbours over radioactive fallout. China and South Korea have already been critical of the operator’s decision to pump radioactive water into the sea, a process it has now stopped.

“Raising the level to a 7 has serious diplomatic implications. It is telling people that the accident has the potential to cause trouble to our neighbours,” said Kenji Sumita, a nuclear expert at Osaka University.

Huge economic damage

The March earthquake and tsunami killed up to 28,000 lives and the estimated cost stands at $300 billion, making it the world’s most expensive disaster.

Japan’s economics minister warned the economic damage was likely to be worse than first thought as power shortages will cut factory output and disrupt supply chains.

The Bank of Japan governor said the economy was in a “severe state”, while central bankers were uncertain when efforts to rebuild the northeast would boost growth, according to minutes from a meeting held three days after the earthquake struck.

NISA said the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere from the plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was around 10 per cent that of Chernobyl.

“Radiation released into the atmosphere peaked from March 15 to 16. Radiation is still being released, but the amount now has fallen considerably,” said NISA’s Nishiyama.

Smartphones and Social Networks Targeted by Malware

Malware attacks are now more frequently focused on social networks and mobile devices. In Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report, the company noted that the number of malware attacks delivered through the Web practically doubled from 2009, with 65% of malicious links on Facebook arriving in the form of shortened URLs. The company also took special care to highlight the growing field of smartphone based attacks, in particular those targeting Android. Many of the pieces of Facebook and Android malware rely on the laziness of users. Apps must specifically request permissions, but many people simply click through the notifications without reading them carefully. And as time passes, the attacks will only become more sophisticated.

For now, attacks seem focused on harvesting personal data from profiles and sending text messages to premium services, which earn a commission for the scammer. But as users start turning to their cell phones for mobile banking and shopping more frequently, they're likely to become a much bigger target for digital crooks.

Anna Nicole Smith Untimely Death

Lily was a cute princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child. She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled. She'd come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs, with men in every walk of life who took her everywhere, but she'd never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts "Bob Dylan."

True Crime with Aphrodite Jones on the Investigation Discovery Channel featured the life and career of Anna Nicole Smith last Thursday, and did a good job in answering the sticky questions about her troubling death on February 8, 2007. Specifically, Aphrodite addressed the controversy of whether Anna was responsible for her own destruction or was she enabled to death? In order to answer this question, a biographical sketch of Anna Nicole`s life was provided, while not comprehensive, was necessary to show the forces at play in her life that may have contributed to her untimely demise. From what I could tell, the negative exceeded the positive, if the events of her life were placed on a balancing scale of the good, bad or, at times ugly.

First there's Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, then Wal-Mart, then GiGi's Men's Club, where she had the misfortune of meeting billionaire J. Howard Marshall. Anna's pursuit of her desired inheritance in multiple courts of law, after the oil tycoon died (they had married in June of 1994), turned out to be the equivalent of the Greek myth of Tantalus grasping for grapes, but forever just out of reach.

I suspect this may have contributed to Anna's spiraling out of control prescription drug usage. The stress of making all these court appearances and being promised the money several times, only to have it taken away, must have had a catastrophic effect on Anna's already vulnerable psychic makeup.

Nicole's career as a show biz diva with a trashy shiek moniker pasted to it, must have contributed greatly to her dicey self-esteem. In turn, this may have fueled her abuse of prescription drugs, that were used as anodynes to cushion her disappointment at not making a smooth transition from Playboy Centerfold to legitimate Hollywood actress. And her erratic behavior, a very addictive behavior, was further manifested in her wild weight fluctuations and shopping spree rampages.

In this way of thinking, addiction to drugs is just one aspect of addiction, which comes in many colors. Anna must have had eating disorders and problems with managing money also. These bad habits should have been warning signs to those closest to her, that Anna was hooked on everything under the sun, that wasn`t nailed to the floor!

But given these obvious, very deep problems that Anna had with her marriages and her rise and fall career, the fact that she was a drug addict is a factual slap-in-the-face for me. Aphrodite Jones addresses the ambiguous stance that Anna's doctor, Sandeep Kamoor takes, with his rationalization of diagnosis given to Anna.

The most revealing part of the show was when Sandeep Kamoor talks with Aphrodite Jones and tells her he doesn`t believe Anna Nicole was an addict. Jones makes the comment these handlers just give their star clients what they want in order to stay on the payroll.

I was shocked by Kamoor's attitude towards Anna, as if he was just giving her medication to treat a whole host of ailments. The doctor is in denial, but has gotten off in the courts, so he continues to spin this thread of fabrication, where toxic narcotics are given the euphemism of medication. This was the spin for Elvis as well.

This telling special clearly answers the question of whether the handlers of Nicole enabled her on an inevitable path of destruction. They saw a chronic drug addict, but averted their professional eyes, and proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it.

This includes Howard K. Stern and Anna's psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevitz, who actually wrote many of the prescriptions for drugs the pathologist found in Anna's system during the autopsy.

Anna Nicole Smith's life and death were as tragic as they come. If you carefully examine the sequence of events, that comprise her life, each one reduces her more and more, whittles her away, until you are left with nothing.

Noone could equal her as a coroneted Queen of the Tabloids, except perhaps Jayne Mansfield, who spookily mirrors Anna in so many ways. By the time she splits for the Bahamas, the deal is already done. The overdose in Room 607 of the Hard Rock is practically an afterthought.

Roswell UFO investigation

Was it a UFO coverup? This has been debated for years about UFOs and aliens that might have been found in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The FBI has a public online Vault of documents and newly released documents have stirred new interest for Roswell UFO investigators. One document that was dated March 22, 1950, was written by Guy Hottel which was a government memo addressed to the Director talking about the Roswell UFO incident.

The FBI said on their Vault website that Guy Hottel was a Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Was there aliens that crashed landed the UFOs in Roswell, New Mexico? Here is what Guy Hottel wrote in the Roswell UFO document:

“An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.

According to informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers.

Craigslist Killer

Police in Nassau County, where eight bodies have been found, have widened their search as they believe the 'Craigslist Killer's' killing spree could have been spread over four years.

The four bodies recovered most recently appear to be older. It is believed that the first murder could have taken place in 2007. The police are now looking at old missing person reports in an attempt to identify the bodies and determine how long this killer has been on a rampage.

The police have been trawling over the area of Gilgo and Oak beaches, an area of seven and a half miles on Long Island's coast, New York. Their search will continue into next week.

The search began back in December 2101 when they police started searching for Shannan Gilbert. Although they have discovered eight other bodies none of them appear to be Gilbert.

Gilbert and the first four victims of the 'Craigslist Killer' were all prostitutes who advertised their services on the classifieds website Craigslist.com.

Suffolk Chief of Detective Dominick Varrone said that the first four bodies found in December were buried in a quarter mile area, just 50 feet from the side of the Ocean Parkway and 500 feet apart. The latest four bodies were buried some distance away, much deeper and in thorny bushes.

It is believed that the first of the victims went missing in July 2007 while the latest was September 2010.

The first four women, found in December, were all Craigslist escorts in their 20s. Each body was wrapped in burlap (a type of sack cloth). The professions and the manner in which they were buried prompted Irish-born Police Commissioner Richard Dormer to begin a hunt for a serial killer back in December.

OPM: Government Shutdown Threat

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a statement addressing what a government shutdown would mean for federal employees should lawmakers fail to reach a budget agreement ahead of a Friday deadline.

"The President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the Administration is willing and ready to work day and night to find a solution that all sides can agree with," the statement said. "That said, given the realities of the calendar, prudent management requires we plan for an orderly shutdown should the negotiations not be completed by the end of the current continuing resolution."

OPM explains that if a shutdown does occur, departments and agencies on the federal level would be required to comply with contingency plans distinguishing operations that must be stopped from those which would be allowed to continue.

A government shutdown occurs when a government discontinues providing services that are not considered "essential." Typically, essential services include police, fire fighting, armed forces, utilities and corrections. Interestingly, Congress and the President are exempt from the furlough and continue to receive compensation despite the fact that other services are suspended.

In the last shutdown, when the government closed down some functions for 21 days at the end of 1995, workers were paid retroactively for the period. The Office of Personnel Management wrote in a Tuesday guidance that federal employees asked to work will receive pay when Congress passes a new continuing resolution and the government reopens.

More 5 killed in Karachi

At least five people were killed in firing incidents on Monday in different parts of the Karachi.Unknown armed men gunned down two persons Abu al Hasham and Zubair at the near of Liquat abad under pass.

One person was killed in firing incident at Bangali para Korangi. 30-year old Romi was killed at Ranchor line in another firing incident.

1st Reardon Trial Begins In Waterbury

A police captain who investigated years old pornographic images found in the former home of Dr. George Reardon, and a man identified as one of the boys depicted in those old photos, testified Tuesday in the opening day of a civil case against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.

The case is the first of 93 lawsuits filed against the hospital by men and women who say that Reardon, who died in 1998, used the pretext of a child growth study to horribly abuse them decades ago. The hospital is accused of failing to protect children in the doctor's care.

This first lawsuit was brought by a middle aged man who lives and works in Greater Hartford, known in court records as John Doe 2.

West Hartford Police Capt. Donald Melanson, the opening witness, supervised the investigation into the discovery of a cache of photographs at Reardon's former home at 155 Griswold Road.

A new homeowner doing basement renovations found 50,000 to 60,000 slides in a wall. The slides generally depicted underage children in sexually suggestive positions with exposed genitalia, Melanson said.

He said there seemed to be a pattern that the photographs were taken in series. They would begin with the subjects fully clothed, then in various stages of undress, then completely naked. The children would be posed in sexual positions.

Melanson said some slides had notations that identified the subjects. Others had notations that seemed to indicate that Reardon may have been trading images with other pedophiles. He said those notations included the phrases "out for rotation" and "ready for a trade."

He said West Hartford police were able to positively identify about 90 of the children depicted in Reardon's slides. In some cases, he said, the identifications were made after the adults depicted as children in the slides gave police childhood photographs.

One child photographed by Reardon testified Tuesday. He was identified only by the pseudonym William Roe, a 54-year-old man with three brothers and a sister who grew up in suburban West Hartford with his parents.

Roe testified that his mother agreed to have him and his three brothers participate in Reardon's purported growth study after the doctor approached one of the brothers who was recovering from a tonsillectomy at St. Francis Hospital.

He said that after his mother dropped the boys off for their first visit at the hospital, Reardon spoke to all the boys to tell them that they were being asked to participate in a growth study and what would be expected of them. Reardon then returned the boys to his office waiting room and called them in individually for supposed study sessions that lasted from 30 to 45 minutes, Roe said.

when it was his turn, Reardon instructed him to undress and then measured his genitalia, Roe said. He also said the doctor then stimulated him to orgasm and took additional measurements. He said Reardon photographed the entire session.

Roe said he thought Reardon took between 50 and 100 photographs. He said he and his brothers never returned for a second session.

"We all agreed that it was a very strange experience and that we did not want to go back," Roe said. After the boys told their mother of their experience, she agreed that they did not have to return, Roe said.

In his half hour opening statement, Doe's attorney, Michael Stratton, a New Haven trial lawyer from a firm handling dozens of the cases, said St. Francis decided to become a leader in medical research in 1960 with an accompanying commitment to protect participants. He said the hospital failed to conduct even a minimal review of Reardon.

"Dr. Reardon was allowed to use St. Francis as a playground, and he used the study to get children in," Stratton said.

Paul D. Williams, attorney for the hospital, said St. Francis was not in court to defend Reardon, whom Williams called "a master manipulator who fooled and deceived everyone."

"If there is any anger in this case it should be directed at Dr. Reardon," Williams said. "We are all angry at what he did."

Williams asked the jury not to Monday-morning quarterback what St. Francis knew or should have known. The case is being heard by a jury of four men and two women. The presiding judge is Dan Shaban.

Reardon was chief of endocrinology at St. Francis from 1963 until he was forced to retire in 1993, when a brother and sister from upstate New York tracked him to Hartford and complained to the state Department of Health that he had abused them when he was a medical student in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

According to court records, doe's case is similar to most of the pending cases Reardon approached his mother and persuaded her to allow him to enroll Doe and his brother in the so-called study. The brother, John Doe 3, also is suing.

Doe claims in his suit, filed by the New Haven law firm Stratton Faxon, that he was abused from 1977 to 1985, when he was aged 9 to 17. In some cases, he says Reardon picked him up at his home and drove him to the hospital for examinations. In other cases, he stayed overnight at Reardon's home and the doctor drove him from there to the hospital. He said he was seen by Reardon about 100 times.

In a deposition, Doe's mother said she asked to be present when Reardon saw her sons, but the doctor refused. The mother said she wanted to witness her sons' examinations because the two, now-grown men, "were my sons and I really wanted to know what he was doing." St. Francis is represented by the law firm Day Pitney.

Those suing St. Francis claim on a variety of grounds that the hospital, as Reardon's employer, had an obligation to supervise him and protect them. Judge Shaban has dismissed most of the grounds but is allowing the first suit to proceed on two that the hospital negligently failed to supervise Reardon and that it failed in a special duty it had to protect children.

The victims want damages from St. Francis for the trauma they say was inflicted by Reardon and the lingering effects they say they still endure. Efforts to settle the suits, including an 11th hour mediation session last week failed.

Outsiders Spend Millions

The candidates are not the only ones campaigning in Wisconsin's state supreme court election.

Tuesday, voters will choose between Justice David Prosser and Assistant Attorney Jeneral Joanne Kloppenburg, but activists from outside their campaigns have spent millions trying to sway that vote.

The candidates say that is because the controversial state budget and bargaining laws are expected to end up before the bench.

"I've intentionally kept a distance from what's in the bill," said Kloppenberg. "I do believe that the energy is in favor of a candidate like me."

"To take out somebody's anger against one person or one policy and attribute it to someone who really is an innocent bystander, that's like a driveby shooting," said Prosser. "It's not fair."

The candidates can only spend $300,000 campaigning but outsiders have already spent more than $2 million on television advertising alone. That includes one group that has spent almost $1 million on Kloppenburg, and three conservative groups placing more than $1 million on Prosser.

Watchdog groups have rated some of the ads 'barely true' and others 'ridiculously false.'

Government Shutdown is the Wrong Move

Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer argued against a government shutdown as members of Congress try to reach agreement on a federal budget for the final six months of the fiscal year.

The 87 new members of the House Republican caucus are split on whether to accept a budget measure that cuts government spending by less than the $61 billion that the Republicans approved in February. Some who are aligned with the tea party movement are calling for a partial government shutdown rather than agree to something closer to the $33 billion in budget cuts being offered by Democrats.

At a Monitor sponsored breakfast for reporters on Tuesday, Ms. Kremer said a shutdown is not the right path. “I don’t think it is a good thing to shut down our government. But I do think they need to do what they said they were going to do. They [Republican members of Congress] said they were going to cut $100 billion” in federal spending, she said. The $100 billion reduction target was for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

Later in her comments, Kremer added another cautionary note about a shutdown saying, “But shutting down our government, defaulting on our debt interest rates will go up, that sort of thing. I don’t think that is the right thing to do.”

OGRA Raised Petrol Price

Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has raised the prices of petroleum products by 9 % to 13% be applicable from Monday midnight of March 1st, 2011.

According to Finance Ministry, petrol price has been increased and new rates are:

Petrol: 83.85/Lit (increase Rs 6.98/Lit)

HBOC: 98.12/Lit (increase Rs 7.16/Lit)

HS Diesel: 92.89/Lit (increase Rs 10.67/Lit)

LH Diesel: Rs 79.98/Lit (increase Rs 9.07/Lit)

Kerosene Oil Rs 84.10/Lit (increase Rs 9.65/Lit)

The Government of Pakistan had kept the price of petroleum products unchanged for the past one month as a result of pressure from all the mainstream political parties.

QuiBids Consumers Opportunity

QuiBids is giving consumers the opportunity to win more auctions on its site by raising its monthly win limit from 8 to 12. This allows users of the site the ability to win more products at great deals.

Over the past year, QuiBids has continued to add more features to its site in an effort to add more entertainment to create a better overall experience for the user. “We believe our customers will see more value to the site by raising the monthly win limits,” said QuiBids’ CFO, Jeff Geurts. “We’ve had a lot of customer feedback to raise the limits, so we’re giving our customers exactly what they want.” Many of QuiBids’ customers hit their daily and monthly win limits early on during the first week or two of the month, which then disable them from participating on the site until their 30-day period is up. This win limit increase will give customers more opportunities to win additional products over a month’s time, yet still keep the site fair and exciting.

QuiBids currently has around 15,000 plus auctions a day and is the largest auction site of its kind. Daily and monthly win limits are set in place to “spread the auction love” and to give every user a fair chance at winning. The daily win limit of three is still in place.

“We listen to our customers, so when they suggest a way to improve our site, we take it seriously,” said Jill Farrand, QuiBids’ Director of Public Relations. “We review our policies and procedures on a regular basis and improve upon those procedures when we see fit. The increase in the monthly win limits was an item we felt our customers would appreciate and will provide them with additional ways to win.”

How to Succeed at Business

When we recognize our sister’s successes, we rarely ask “how exactly did you do that? I mean, step by step.” We congratulate them and walk away thinking sure, they could do it.

What we don’t see is the persistent dogged and optimistic determination success requires. Belief in ourselves and our service or product. And perhaps most importantly, our willingness to fail.

Today I’m using as an example of those characteristics, two sisters I’ve written about before sisters who not only managed to convince Neiman Marcus to launch their book, but who changed the way financial literacy is taught in the Texas private and public school systems.

Finding Our “Natural” Market

When we last left Mandy Williams and Tina Pennington, the Red and Black sisters who launched their book on financial literacy with the support of Neiman Marcus, they were poised to find their “natural” market.

Marketing gurus tell us that our “natural market” is a group of people or industry or collection of businesses that share one of more of the unique personal characteristics that define us. Had Mandy written a memoir about her work life in the oil and gas industry, her natural market might include petroleum giants like Exxon, Texaco and Shell.

Still, Mandy and Tina thought their natural market was women at least women living in the United States all 155 million of them.

The sisters did what any smart entrepreneurs would do, they started connecting with their market by, among other things, speaking about financial literacy at women’s groups. At the same time, they began reaching out to women’s publications, which is what eventually brought them to my attention.

The Work

No one is an over night success and no one knows that better than residents of my town, Los Angeles, where PR machines continue to sell the dream of instantaneous celebrity and wealth to American and foreign markets.
This is work ladies. And here’s how Mandy and Tina did it.

In September of 2009, Brad Segal, the founding music teacher at KIPP’s Houston High School, brought Red and Black’s book to the attention of KIPP’s Executive director, Bryan Contreras. Though initially apprehensive that his students might not relate to a the sisters’ experience, he agreed to meet with the duo. As Mandy explained, Contreras was completely up front with the women about what he believed their real market to be cookie baking stay at home suburban moms and bored rich women who raced cars.

Mandy and Tina were not deterred. They explained to Contreras why they believed the book’s “real life” approach would appeal to KIPP students. They stressed that KIPP’s low income pupils in particular needed to be financially literate to make hay with the first rate education they were receiving.
The Beauty of the Charter

Though Texas exercises a greater degree of control over what school books our children read than any other state in the union, Tina and Mandy learned that Charter Schools can use any text they want. There’s no need for School Board approval because School Boards do not control Charter Schools.

At the end of their first 12 week high school financial literacy course, the two sisters had accomplished their primary goal. Their students reported that finances no longer frightened them and their exit survey showed that their students understood how their values and priorities drive their financial decisions.

Getting Financial Literacy into the Public Schools

Mandy then met with the Texas Education Agency and with representatives of the Lieutenant Governor’s office as they were curious how in less than a year Mandy and Tina had turned an unedited manuscript into a published book, launched by Neiman Marcus and used as a textbook for personal financial literacy program..

“At first, the bureaucracy was just too much of an effort,” said Mandy. “The system set up more roadblocks than it opened paths to completion. I finally said to a TEA representative that if I was ever asked why our book was not in the Texas public school system, I’d just refer those people to her.”

In doing so, Mandy was using one of the oldest negotiation power tools in the book promising to hold people publicly accountable for their decisions. It worked. Two months later they emailed her to advise that the State had posted a call for Personal Financial Literacy materials. What she initially thought would be 12-15 page submission, ultimately topped 125 pages. Less than thirty days later, without any further effort by Mandy, the proposal was approved.

HUD Report

The DuPage Housing Authority had another federal audit come back this week, this one possibly the most unflattering picture yet of the beleaguered low-income assistance agency.

The latest U.S. Housing and Urban Development assessment of the authority’s books proves no less damning than the two that recently came to light, triggering a call for increased oversight muscle at the county level.

The last of three audits completed by the federal agency, issued Wednesday, found continued mishandling by the DHA of the federal Section 8 voucher program through fiscal 2010.

Early last month, federal authoriites notified Page County officials who oversee the housing assistance organization of two reviews done in the past two years that uncovered numerous instances of poor bookkeeping and insufficient documention that, at that point, had accrued some $10.7 million in undue payments to a variety of entities that allocate the funds.

The third audit similarly concluded that the agency neglected to keep up records demonstrating the its projects were eligible to participate in the housing-subsidy program, charged the program’s patrons improper sums, and misspent some of the program money on purchases that are not permitted, including cocktails and holiday gifts and laptop computers for DHA board members.

Myanmar Earthquake: Dead Climb to 60

Two earthquakes hit the southeast Asian country of Myanmar, also known as Burma, on March 24, 2011. The Myanmar earthquakes occurred less than a minute apart and could be felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand.

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Myanmar on Thursday has killed 50 people and injured 40, with the death toll expected to rise slightly, a local administration official said on Friday.

“Total death toll has now reached nearly 60 and several people injured while over 100 buildings were destroyed,” a Civil Administration official based the Myanmar town of Tachilek, close to the epicentre of the quake, told Reuters by telephone.

The quake was centred 111 km north of the Thai town of Chiang Rai. One person was confirmed dead in Thailand.

Anderson Attending Funeral

Likely delaying the immediate clarification of Mizzou coach Mike Anderson's job status, Anderson on Tuesday afternoon was believed on his way to Tulsa, Okla., for a visitation and funeral service for a longtime friend.

Jim Pharr, whom Anderson has known since his days playing and assisting at Tulsa in the early 1980s, died Saturday - just two days after being with Mizzou for its NCAA Tournament game in Washington, D.C.

An obituary in the Tulsa World did not state the cause of Pharr's death. He was described as a longtime supporter of Tulsa athletics and lauded in the World by Anderson mentor and former Tulsa and Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson:

"There are people everywhere who treat you well because you're the coach. Jim wasn't like that. He was a genuine friend to me and my whole family. We watched many games and shared many laughs and tears. They just don't make Jim Pharrs any more."

Pharr's family was to visit with friends from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, and the funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m.

MU has been working to extend Anderson's contract for weeks. Anderson is believed to be a potential target of Arkansas, where he worked for 17 years with Richardson and which has had an opening for nine days.

Wyclef Jean: Hand Shot

Rapper Wyclef Jean is "undeterred" with his "commitment" to his native Haiti after he was shot in the hand in the country on Saturday night, March 19. The former The Fugees star's car reportedly came under attack and was peppered with bullets as he was being driven through the city of Port-au-Prince with hip-hop pal Busta Rhymes and record executive Jimmy Rosemond.

Jean's hand was injured in the incident and he was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was subsequently discharged from the facility and his spokeswoman Cindy Tanenbaum insists the star is still fully committed to his charity work in the country.

She tells E! Online, "I have confirmed from Wyclef that he was immediately taken to the hospital, treated for a minor graze to his hand and released. He is fine. Wyclef's commitment to his native country and to his people is unparalleled. He is therefore undeterred by this incident."

Jean, who lives in the U.S., was in the country to lend his support to presidential candidate Michel Martelly as he prepared for the final round of elections against former First Lady Mirlande Manigat on Sunday, March 20. The star was himself a presidential hopeful, but was ruled ineligible to run for office in 2010.

World Expensive Car Wash

A car enthusiast is offering the world’s most expensive car wash service charging up to £7,200 per vehicle.

Gurcharn Sahota, 30, takes up to 250 hours to clean each vehicle with an array of 100 cleaning fluids and wax that costs £8,200 per tub.

His premier wash includes polishing and buffing every inch of the car inside and out five times.

He even uses a computerised microscope normally used by forensic scientists to examine the bodywork for the minutest scratch not even visible to the naked eye.

Mr Sahota, who drives a clapped-out VW Golf himself, started the business five years ago by washing his neighbour’s cars with a bucket and sponge.

But he has since cleaned hundreds of supercars and now boasts a string of celebrity clients.

He said: ”When I was younger I washed neighbours’ cars and my dad’s car whenever I could.

”They never paid me, I loved it so much I did it for free.

”Things have built up from there and now I’m cleaning some of the fastest, most powerful sports cars in the world.

”People come to me and they want the best treatment going for their car.

”If you’ve got a £500,000 car then a few grand for cleaning is worth it.

”Sometimes I’ll work through the night to get a car looking absolutely pristine.

”They’re world class motors that deserve a world class wash.”

Mr Sahota, who lives with his parents in Derbyshire, has converted their double garage into a hi-tech workshop.

He built a Formula 1-style pit for scrubbing the underneath of cars and layered the entire workshop floor and walls with specialist tiles imported from Italy which help reflect flecks of dirt on the cars.

He begins every clean in the same way – washing it with a lambwool mitten and soapy water.

He said: ”I treat every car like an individual project, I want them to leave my workshop looking better than they have ever done.

”I have my processes which I go through and I am meticulous about each one.

”If you’re paying £150,000 for a car then you’re going to want it to be perfect.

”The first time I cleaned a Ferrari Enzo it took a week and when I tried to sleep all I could see was Ferrari red.

”The car has to be free from all contaminants like dust and dirt before you start otherwise it’s going to get scratched.

”I just want perfection. Finishing is the best part because you know what it was like when you started. That gives me great satisfaction.”

After spending hundreds of hours cleaning by hand he uses a £5,000 computerised microscope which examines the car for blotches and scratches.

A buffer is linked to a highly sensitive paint gauge which scans the car to prevent patching on the bodywork.

Finally, he uses a specialist clay which he rubs over the bodywork to remove any imperfections.

Mr Sahota, who works alone, started cleaning cars while he studied for a degree in accountancy at Birmingham University.

After graduating, he begged a local Aston Martin dealer to let him clean a DB9 for free.

The dealer, who reluctantly agreed, was so impressed with the results he passed on his details to clients and began using him on a regular basis.

He then established his own firm – Elite Detailing – and has opened a second workshop in Worcester.

He said: ”The work just started flying in. My reputation was great and word just spread.”

His parents Gurbinder, 55, and Amarjit, 53, were so impressed with their son’s work they converted their double garage into a hi-tech workshop for his business.

Since then he has washed hundreds of supercars including Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches.

His proudest moment cleaning the world’s most expensive car – the McLaren F1 GTR worth up to £3 million.

He said: ”The McLaren F1 GTR is without doubt my favourite car. It is so exclusive you hardly see any of them on the roads.

”They are a very attractive car and every inch of them is perfect – they are a work of art.”

He does not disclose the identities of his celebrity clients identities but one of his customers is the lawyer Nick Freeman – known as Mr Loophole – who regularly sends his Aston Martin DBS Volante to him for a clean.

His other customers include Premiership footballers, rock stars, actors and stockbrokers.