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Chester High School freshman Jameisha Johnson is the first to admit that school was not working for her. She struggled academically, had serious behavioral issues, and was placed in an alternative-school program.
Then two Widener University professors and their cadre of student tutors stepped in with a pilot program aimed at increasing literacy for at-risk students, simultaneously providing hands-on experiences for their education majors.
"My grades went up. My behavior improved. I got into sports," said Johnson, 15, who plays point guard on both the junior varsity and varsity girls' basketball team, even though she's only a ninth grader.
She is one of six students in the Widener program from Camelot Chester's Transitional School, a Chester High program operated by a for-profit company that specializes in alternative education.
In September, Mimi Staulters, an assistant professor of special education, and Nancy Blank a professor of criminal justice at Widener, teamed up with Camelot and Diakon Youth Services to create the 10-week individualized programs for Chester students. It involves both tutors and caseworkers.
Blank is using a small amount of grant money to cover costs of the class materials. There is no cost to the students or to Camelot. Diakon is covering the costs of its caseworkers, Staulters said.
Staulters and Blank are writing a grant proposal for more funding with an eye toward expanding the program.
Each Camelot student is tutored twice a week by two of the 12 Widener education majors who are participating. The focus is on literacy. But if a student requests extra help in another area - such as social studies, as Johnson did - those lessons are added, Staulters said.
The program doesn't benefit just the high schoolers.
"What my students get from the [Chester] students is amazing," said Staulters.
The Widener students come away with a better understanding of the challenges facing their charges - some only a few years younger than they are - who live in a community dealing with issues such as poverty, violence, crime, and drug use, she said.
"You realize why academics had taken a backseat," said Jessica Dembeck, 21, a Widener tutor from Philadelphia's Mayfair section.
The Widener students also learn to better manage their time and collaborate with Diakon caseworkers and staff at Camelot, Staulters said.
"It's a win-win for me," said Dan Peticca, executive director at Camelot. The program has about 130 students, many reading on a third-grade level.
Kate Hughes, a senior tutor from Ridley Township, said she felt a bond with Johnson in their first session and even plans to attend one of her basketball games.
When working with Johnson, Hughes found the freshman put a lot of pressure on herself and would shut down if she didn't succeed instantly.
"When a student is failing and not learning, it is not a reflection of their ability to learn," Hughes said. "It is a reflection of our ability to teach and understand the needs of our students."
Hughes told Johnson that she didn't expect her to get everything right. But just to try her best. Now, the pair work through the material - and mistakes - until Johnson is comfortable with the lesson.
Johnson said she likes the change she sees in herself and her grades. She credits the one-on-one attention she has received from her tutors for boosting her self-confidence. She even has an eye on her future.
"I've been thinking about going to law school," Johnson said.
IMAGES of what the new Sherdley Park Golf clubhouse will look like have been revealed, writes Simon Mulligan.
Last summer new management Green Circle Estates Ltd took Sherdley Park golf course on a 150-year lease.
Planning permission was received last December for a wholesale transformation of the clubhouse.
Green Circle Estates have released images to give a glimpse of what the clubhouse will look like following a £1m refurbishment.
The new clubhouse will include a new restaurant, bar and terrace which will be open to all members of the public, available for park goers as well as golfers.
Operations manager at Green Circle Estates Craig Coley said: “It’s all go on site at Sherdley Park Golf Club, the building refurbishment works are progressing nicely and we have appointed our head chef who is busy working on a delicious menu ahead of the opening on Saturday, May 4.
The club is looking to recruit for positions including restaurant manager, chefs and servers. To apply please send a CV with covering letter to careers@sherdleyparkgolfclub.com.
Violinist and conductor Hugh Maguire, who has died aged 86, co-founded the Irish Youth Orchestra, was a distinguished chamber musician and orchestra leader, and an inspirational teacher.
In Paris he supported himself by busking, which led to his arrest and a night in a cell.
He joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra and worked under some of the great conductors of the day, who were picking up their international careers after the interruption of war: Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, Serge Koussevitzky, Herbert von Karajan, and the man he regarded as “the greatest of all...
He was appointed leader of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1952, of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1956, helping to stabilise that orchestra at a time of fractious dissent, and of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1962, a post he relinquished in 1968 in order to concentrate on chamber music.
He formed a piano trio with cellist Jacqueline Du Pré and pianist Fou Ts’ong, led the Cremona String Quartet (recording Boccherini and Haydn with guitarist Julian Bream), the Allegri String Quartet (recording quartets by leading British composers, and frequently bringing the quartet to play in Ireland), and later the M...
He worked regularly with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from its foundation in 1959, and in the 1980s returned to orchestral work, to lead the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He also played in the session orchestra for The Beatles’ Hey Jude, and led the London Symphony Orchestra in recordings...
He also tutored the violinists of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and in 1978 he was invited by Peter Pears to become director of string studies at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies run by Aldeburgh Music, which led him to settle in East Suffolk. His work in Aldeburgh kept him in touc...
He received overtures at various times to take up the position of leader of the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, and nearly did so in 1959, but changed his mind at the last minute. He did, however, join the Arts Council, where he served from 1975 to 1981, when he resigned because of pressure of work. With his second w...
His final public appearances in Ireland were in 1994, when he played a memorable all-Mozart chamber music programme at Strokestown Park House at the Music Festival in Great Irish Houses, in 2000, when he conducted a 30th-anniversary reunion of players from the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, and in 2004, when he g...
His mildness of manner masked a sharper side, which conductors sometimes felt in rehearsal, and which could include severe judgments on eminent colleagues when he found their playing lacking in expressiveness. His own musicianship was profoundly deep and easy, as if music flowed from him without effort, his violin tone...
He was pre-deceased by his second wife, Tricia Catchpole (née Block), who died in February, and is survived by his sister Monty and brothers Elias and Francis, his first wife, the dancer Suzanne Lewis, and their five children, Simon, Caroline, Rachael, Anna, and Philip.
Microsoft quietly announced this week that it has released version 1.5 of its Windows Live OneCare security and antivirus offering to manufacturing.
That means that the upgrade is on track to be ready just in time to be announced with the consumer release of Windows Vista and Office 2007 at the end of the month.
Not surprisingly, chief among the new features and capabilities being added with 1.5 is compatibility with -- you guessed it -- Windows Vista.
Windows Live OneCare provides a set of online services aimed at protecting users from net threats as well as at helping keep PC hard drives backed up and systems updated. It provides real-time and on-demand antivirus, antiphishing, and antispyware scanning along with a two-way managed firewall.
Version 1.5 will also deliver several international versions, including ones localized for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. Further, the update will add support for backing up to network drive...
Version 1.0 of OneCare was delivered back in June. (See "Microsoft Launches Live OneCare Security," May 31, 2006.) It costs $49.95 per year for up to three PCs.
When Christopher Cantwell learned that self-professed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. had been convicted of murder, he promised violent retribution — “complete and total destruction” by “an army of fanatics” ready to die for their cause.
Cantwell, who earned the nickname for his reaction to news of a warrant for his arrest, made the threats on Friday, the same day Fields was found guilty of first-degree murder for ramming his car through a crowd of counterprotesters at the “Unite the Right” rally last year in Charlottesville. Heather Heyer, 32, was kil...
As The Washington Post’s Joe Heim and Kristine Phillips reported, the killing “culminated a dark 24 hours in this quiet college town” — and Cantwell was mostly in the middle of it. A photographer for The Post captured him sitting on a curb, being tended to by police after being hit with tear gas.
The next “Dylann Roof, the next Robert Bowers, he’s not going to go out blasting and be out of the fight,” Cantwell wrote.
But then came his fall.
A video shot in his hotel room shortly after the rally shows Cantwell learning that there is a warrant out for his arrest over the use of illegal gas and injury by a caustic agent or explosive. He appears to be on the verge of tears.
The dismantling of his persona wasn’t over.
A short time later, his OkCupid profile was leaked online, describing him as single, 6 feet tall and interested in marriage and children.
“Ideally I’d like to talk on here briefly, move quickly to the phone, and then we can go out on a date and see what happens,” wrote the user “ItsChris603,” beneath what appears to be a gym-mirror selfie of Cantwell.
“There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love,” the company said at the time.
Cantwell entered a plea deal on the charges this summer, according to Charlottesville NBC affiliate WVIR. He was given credit for 107 days he spent in jail and ordered not to return to Virginia for five years.
One in three dairy cows in Europe suffer from disease, causing more than five billion milk servings to be discarded annually, writes Ramiro Cabral.
Ramiro Cabral is Head Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company.
Europe’s farmers face a tall order. Long tasked with providing us with safe and affordable food, they are now expected to help generate jobs and economic growth as well. This priority was at the heart of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the European Union speech earlier this month.
The reality is that Europe’s farmers don’t have it easy. They are exposed to the vagaries of weather, pests, animal disease and world markets. To take a particularly shocking example, we know that an Irish farmer working around the clock is lucky to make €10,000 a year.
Given their vital contribution to our economy, farmers’ problems are our problems. We need healthy crops and animals if we are to enjoy a healthy economy. The equation is clear. It is vital to keep livestock healthy as well as to contribute to sustainable production.
As a stark global example, World Organisation for Animal Health figures show that approximately 20% of livestock are lost to disease each year before they enter the food system. This is a waste of precious input resources. Take also the example of mastitis, a common disease which affects at least one in three dairy cow...
However, statistics are never as simple as they seem. The economy cannot be taken in isolation. Many factors are at play here, including the environment, social values and politics. Ours is not a zero-sum game. Knowledge and innovation could turn it into a win-win case. Sustainable housing, renewable energy and resourc...
In the same vein, I am confident that the president would not accept the loss of millions of litres of milk through diseases which can be tackled without side effects. On the contrary, this could be a role model of how innovation and knowledge in the agriculture sector could help Europe generate jobs and economic growt...
In these challenging times, Europe simply cannot afford to turn its back on the contribution of agriculture to the well-being of our economy and environment. Innovation and technology in the animal health sector are in turn throwing a lifeline to our farmers. Let’s make sure that nothing puts that at risk.
Mastitis is the most costly and preventable problem in the dairy industry. It has been for decades and the industry simply pretends all is well while ignoring facts and pointing to bulk SCC levels as “success” in the battle to resolve it. The simple fact is that conventional milking machines forcibly shove bacteria up ...
Fresno State-grown sweet corn -- a summertime favorite -- has arrived at the college's Gibson Farm Market.
White and yellow sweet corn will be available throughout the summer at the market on Chestnut and Barstow avenues. The first bins of yellow corn rolled in Saturday in limited quantity, but supply has steadily grown.
The price remains at 4 ears for $1.
White corn is scheduled to arrive on Thursday, said Ganesan Srinivasan, director of the University Agricultural Laboratory, which consists of 25 enterprises including the Gibson Farm Market.
UNITED NATIONS, October 3 -- Two days after 700 non-violent protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, Inner City Press on Monday asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban or the UN had anything to say about the arrests.
Nesirky said, "Obviously we are aware of the reports. I don't have anything immediately for you, nothing at the moment." Video here, from Minute 9:40.
The UN is less than 100 blocks south of the United Nations which has issued pronouncements usually following the US' about crackdowns in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.
Reports of the arrests had gone all over the world, and Ban Ki-moon was in New York over the weekend, arriving Monday morning to swear in the fourth consecutive French chief of UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous. Whereas sometimes Ban sees advantage in commenting, here he apparently saw none.
At a previously scheduled press conference at the UN George Soros was also asked about the Occupy Wall Street protests. He answered that he "understood the sentiment," then talked about small businesses having their credit card interest rates raised from eight to twenty eight percent and mentioned the Tea Party.
Inner City Press, having been at the protest on October 1 and the next day in Zuccotti Park saw fewer small businesses -- other than book sales and quilt repairs -- and little direct discussion of small business credit card rates. The critique was more fundamental, that "Predatory Lenders" -- and perhaps currency specu...
Also at Monday's UN noon briefing, Nesirky gave a long answer to Inner City Press' question from September 30, about a plan to build a new building for the UN on top of what is now a public playground. Nesirky said that the plan is by the UN Development Corporation, not the UN, and the UN has not been part of the plann...
Inner City Press asked if the UN Foundation having hired a lobbyist to counter opposition to the loss of the playground could be attributed to the UN. Apparently not. And so it goes at the UN.
Welcome back to Mediaite’s weekly rankings of the best shows on cable news, hour-by-hour. Last week, Fox News’ Outnumbered, hosted by Harris Faulkner and Melissa Francis, took the top spot as the best show on cable from noon to 1 p.m.
This week, we take on the (typically) calmer 1-2 p.m. hour of programming. Unless big news is breaking, this is where the afternoon lull begins and the networks largely focus on interviews and panel discussions reviewing the news of the day thus far.
As a reminder, we’re basing our rankings on a variety of factors, including; ratings, influence, entertainment value, the star power of hosts, the quality of guests, whether the show makes news, and its longevity.
Melvin is a great anchor and a solid interviewer – his #MeToo grilling of Bill Clinton was the most compelling interview of the Clinton book tour, and sparked headline news.
But the 1 p.m. hour does not exactly rank among the most thrilling programs on MSNBC. Melvin is a burgeoning power host at NBC News, manning the weekend edition of the Today. His ubiquity on the network’s other shows, from Today to Megyn Kelly, is always welcome. Melvin’s a strong news anchor too, and this MSNBC show d...
The concept of a cable news program being given a “spinoff” of sorts may seem a strange one (though not entirely unprecedented – see below). But it’s a decent enough formula that Fox News has successfully parlayed into an Outnumbered follow-up program.
Faulkner effortlessly pulls double-duty jumping from the roundtable to the anchor chair. At a mostly subdued hour, Faulkner brings in guests who can get heated (with the occasional guest going off the rails).
We’ll get to The Situation Room in a few weeks, but for now we’ll just say that giving the veteran newsman another hour was a smart move. There’s a reason Blitzer is considered one of the best in the business. His news-making interviews hand over the spotlight to his guests, and his panels typically show off a bevy of ...
And so when he makes comments in the vein of, say, scolding President Donald Trump for his anti-press remarks, it carries more weight from Blitzer than from anchors that frequently dabble in opinion when directing criticism at the president.
Wolf has his detractors. Yet at a time in which sensationalized news reigns supreme, and trust in media is being challenged, having an anchor with a steady hand on commentary and iron-cast career of experience to back that up makes Wolf the best show on cable news for the hour.
We should note here that Brianna Keilar will be taking over the 1 p.m. time slot this fall, and based on her stellar work as an anchor at the network, we fully expect her to keep this hour strong for CNN.
Immigration reform may be at an intractable standstill but former Washington Post Publisher Donald Graham wants to make it possible for the children of the undocumented to go to college.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Immigration reform may be at an intractable standstill but former Washington Post Publisher Donald Graham is creating an organization to do what the federal government has been unable to do: help make it possible for young, undocumented immigrants to go to college, and by extension, enter the wo...
Graham, currently CEO of Graham Holdings (GHC - Get Report), which includes the Kaplan testing empire, announced the creation of TheDream.US at a gathering in Washington on Tuesday joined by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Henry Munoz, a Democratic Party activist.
TheDream.US plans to provide college scholarships for 2,000 young people from low-income families of undocumented immigrants, a population barred from applying for federal aid to fund a college education. While immigration reform has largely been trumpeted by Deomcrats, Graham secured the support of high-profile Republ...
Republican support for the initiative, Gutierrez said, begins with the position that immigrant children should be able to go to college, though the fact that the project doesn't involve government funds is also a selling point.
"This is the part of the immigration puzzle that most people agree on," Gutierrez, who served in George W. Bush's administration from 2005 to 2009, said in a phone interview from Washington. "This is in the great American tradition of private citizens helping these kids."
At present, $25 million has been raised by Graham, who sold The Post in October to Amazon (AMZN - Get Report), along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and handful of other philanthropies and individuals, including the journalist Michael Kinsley.
Of course, the goal is to raise a lot more money. There are roughly 2 million undocumented young people looking to enter college who are ineligible because of current immigration laws to receive federal financial aid.
The name TheDream.US is a product of the 2010 DREAMer march in Washington that led to movements across the country to stop the deportation of children brought to the U.S. as minors. The Dream movements were credited with Barack Obama's strong showing among Latinos in the 2012 election, and the passage of the Deferred A...
The hope, Gutierrez said, is that TheDream.US can demonstrate the bi-partisan support for immigration reform.
"People were surprised to see Grover and people will be surprised by the names that will keep getting added to the list," Gutierrez said. "The irony is that most Republicans I speak to outside of Washington want this to happen, and it's just that Congress hasn't moved yet."
Those receiving scholarships are required to attend one of 12 college and universities that agreed to partner with Graham's TheDream US. Those schools include the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Miami Dade College in Florida; Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C.; El Paso Community College, Universi...

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