GILMAN — There are apparently additional violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act by the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department Board in connection with its May 20 meeting.

The Paxton Record and The News-Gazette reported earlier this week that the board discussed matters in closed session that were not permitted under the exemption the board cited in the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

Since then, the Paxton Record has learned that the board also took final action on two motions following the two-hour closed session, even though neither item was listed on the meeting’s agenda.

Iroquois County State’s Attorney Jim Devine, who also serves as the health department’s legal counsel, told the Paxton Record on Thursday that he saw no issue with the legality of the action taken. He said it must be legal since there is no way to tell what action will be needed prior to a closed session occurring.

“I’m OK with everything that happened,” Devine said.

The board of health’s president, Dr. Kevin Brucker, and board member Rod Copas both said they also see no legal issue.

“If it goes to court for any reason, I don’t have any doubt we will be upheld in our action,” said Copas, who is also the chairman of the Iroquois County Board. “I don’t have any concerns about it.”

Illinois Press Association attorney Don Craven, however, said case law clearly shows that if a matter is not on the agenda, it should not be voted on. Craven referred to an Illinois appellate court case from 2002 — Rice v. Adams County — which resulted in the court voiding action the county board took because the action was not listed on the agenda for the meeting.

“The board can discuss matters that are not on the agenda, but the proper procedure is to discuss them (and) reserve final action until the next meeting when it can be properly noticed and on the agenda,” Craven said.

Following the board of health’s two-hour closed meeting, the board voted unanimously to temporarily strip Public Health Administrator Doug Corbett of his ability to hire, fire, reassign or discipline his employees. The board also voted unanimously to draft a letter to all health department employees in order to “better evaluate” their work environment, morale and goals.

Neither proposal was on the agenda.

Corbett has declined to comment on whether he will contest the action.

The Paxton Record and The News-Gazette reported earlier this week that Devine acknowledged after Monday’s meeting that the board had discussed the “discipline of specific employees” of the agency, including Corbett, during the closed session, despite not citing the applicable exemption in the Open Meetings Act.

Devine acknowledged that the closed session should have been called to discuss the discipline of employees.

“It was not only (Corbett) but other employees we were talking about,” Devine said.

Both the agenda, as well as the verbal motion to enter executive session, made by Copas, had called for a closed session to discuss “a reasonable potential danger to the safety of employees, staff, the public or public/private property.”

Copas’ motion and the agenda referred to only a portion of the full text of the applicable exemption, which says closed sessions are allowed to discuss “security procedures and the use of personnel and equipment to respond to an actual, a threatened, or a reasonably potential danger to the safety of employees, staff, the public, or public property.”

Craven said Thursday that discussions in closed session are limited to the scope of whichever exemption is cited.

“There’s an appellate court opinion out of the Second District … which stands very clearly for the proposition that once you’re in closed session, you can only talk about matters that are covered by the exemptions which were cited in the motion to close the meeting,” Craven said.

Despite Devine’s acknowledgment that disciplinary measures were discussed, Copas and Brucker said Thursday that they felt all discussions in closed session were related to the exemption that was cited.

Brucker declined to say what “potential danger” existed. He also would not say what security procedures were discussed to respond to the danger.

Brucker did say, however, that “as a result of what we found out (during the closed session), we don’t feel there was any sort of threat to the public’s interest.”

Copas and Brucker both pointed out that the agenda was drafted by Corbett, rather than the board, so many board members did not know what exactly was to be discussed in closed session.

“None of the board members, other than myself maybe, had any inkling of what this was in reference to,” Copas said.

On Thursday, Copas said, “I can understand why (Corbett) referenced that” Open Meetings Act exemption.

The board first met behind closed doors with Corbett. After Corbett exited the meeting, the board then met individually with two health department nurses.

“After we got one side of the story, we had the employees come in and give their side of the story,” Brucker said.

Brucker said that based on “what was talked about,” the board took the action it did after the meeting was reopened to the public.

“We were just trying to protect our employees,” Brucker said.

Based on the evidence of an improperly closed meeting, the Paxton Record has requested the health department release the audio tape of the closed session. Devine declined to release the tape Tuesday.

A Freedom of Information Act request was then filed later on Tuesday, but the tape has yet to be provided.

In a response to the Paxton Record’s FOIA request, health department FOIA officer Julie Clark said: “I received the following response from Mr. Corbett: ‘We did not have our recorder “on” during the closed session. Jim Devine specifically brought in his own recorder.’”

The health department’s response does not state that the request is being denied, but it does say, “By providing this documentation to you, we now consider this FOIA request closed.”

Craven said a government body is required by state law to keep a “verbatim transcript” of every closed session. Craven said the means of complying with the law “could be done by any variety of means,” most often by tape recording.

The Illinois attorney general’s office issued an opinion Wednesday, Craven said, that stated that the Springfield school district improperly took action in a closed session that was not recorded. Because the district did not have the meeting recorded, and the meeting’s minutes were not adequate, the attorney general’s office is requiring the school board to compile and release a summary of the discussions of the closed session, Craven said.

Craven would not say whether he believes the health department in this case should be required to release the tape of its closed session.

Craven did offer a general thought, though: “It would seem to me that where there is a tape and they’re improperly (meeting) in closed session, rather than compiling a summary (of the discussion), it would be more efficient and more accurate to simply release the tape.”

Article source: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-05-24/health-board-has-more-apparent-violations-open-meetings-act.html

Amanda Bynes had a run-in with the popo in the NYC on Thursday night, which resulted in her arrest AND subsequent taking to a psychiatric hospital!

Police showed up at the former child star’s midtown apartment after receiving reports of a disorderly person. And that’s when shit got crazy!

When the NYPD arrived at Bynes’ pad on West 47th, street she threw a bong out the window, who know cuz it probably had crack “incense” in it and she didn’t want law enforcement to find it.

Twitter-loving Amanda was arrested on a charge of reckless endangerment.

After her arrest, Bynes was taken to Roosevelt Hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and then transferred to a Midtown police station to be processed.

Hopefully they send her BACK to the hospital and put her on a psychiatric hold!

Read more »

Article source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-05-23-marion-cotillard-stalker-five-year-probation-mental-health-treatment

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s fiscal policies for growth and inflation — known to many now as Abenomics — are not to blame so much as financial quakes and questions from the world’s other major economies. In support of Abenomics, the Bank of Japan this past Wednesday affirmed its own policies to buy long-term debt and securities. The move would double the central bank’s monetary base over two years.

“Such conduct of monetary policy will support the positive movements in economic activity and financial markets, contribute to a rise in inflation expectations, and lead Japan’s economy to overcome deflation that has lasted for nearly 15 years,” the bank said in its policy statement.

During those years of deflation and up through Abe’s election to the premiership in December 2012, Japan had a fiscal policy of “musaku” or “no policy” — “all talk but no action,” explained JPMorgan’s Koll.

Now “the most import thing is that Japan does have a policy. With Abe there is action. That’s what has been making investors confident.”

Signs of proof can be found in the return to profit of some of Japan’s exporters, in part due to the yen’s weakening against the U.S. dollar past the 100-yen mark. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, reported net income of $9.7 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31 — more than triple its earnings from the year prior. Panasonic forecasts a net income of nearly $500 million in the 2014 fiscal year, versus a net loss of some $7 billion in 2013.

“We think they (corporate profits) are going to rise by about 50% over the next twelve months,” said Koll, who also forecasts Japan’s Topix — considered more representative of Japan’s stock markets — will climb to 1,400 by the end of 2013 — a rise of nearly 17%.

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/24/business/japans-stock-slump-sign-of-health/

The issue could create a political headache next year for Democrats facing re-election if disgruntled union members believe the Obama administration and Congress aren’t working to fix the problem.

“It makes an untruth out of what the president said, that if you like your insurance, you could keep it,” said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.”

The problem lies in the unique multiemployer health plans that cover unionized workers in retail, construction, transportation and other industries with seasonal or temporary employment. Known as Taft-Hartley plans, they are jointly administered by unions and smaller employers that pool resources to offer more than 20 million workers and family members continuous coverage, even during times of unemployment.

The union plans were already more costly to run than traditional single-employer health plans. The Affordable Care Act has added to that cost — for the unions’ and other plans — by requiring health plans to cover dependents up to age 26, eliminate annual or lifetime coverage limits and extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges,” said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the Operating Engineers union.

Workers seeking coverage in the state-based marketplaces, known as exchanges, can qualify for subsidies, determined by a sliding scale based on income. By contrast, the new law does not allow workers in the union plans to receive similar subsidies.

Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant, said the real fear among unions is that “a lot of these labor contracts are very expensive and now employers are going to have an alternative to very expensive labor health benefits.”

“If the workers can get benefits that are as good through Obamacare in the exchanges, then why do you need the union?” Laszewski said. “In my mind, what the unions are fearing is that workers for the first time can get very good health benefits for a subsidized cost someplace other than the employer.”

However, Laszewski said it was unlikely employers would drop the union plans immediately because they are subject to ongoing collective bargaining agreements.

Labor unions have been among the president’s closest allies, spending millions of dollars to help him win re-election and help Democrats keep their majority in the Senate. The wrangling over health care comes as unions have continued to see steady declines in membership and attacks on public employee unions in state legislatures around the country. The Obama administration walks a fine line between defending the president’s signature legislative achievement and not angering a powerful constituency as it looks ahead to the 2014 elections.

Article source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/health-care-overhaul-faces-backlash-from-once-supportive-labor-unions/2013/05/24/c4a7a22a-c446-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html

Underlying headline operating profit was also ahead of the same period last year. Headline operating margin improved in all divisions except Smiths Medical which invested substantially more in sales and marketing in higher growth markets and incurred additional expense from the US medical device tax. Overall, expectations for the year remain in line with the outlook given at the interim results in March, albeit with a slightly different mix by division.

John Crane delivered sustained underlying revenue growth in the first nine months, with flat revenues to first-fit OEM customers and continued growth in the aftermarket. Headline operating margin rose as a result of productivity gains and favourable price/mix, while investing in growth drivers such as new product development. The order book is ahead of last year with a positive book-to-bill ratio. As a result, the outlook has improved and we now expect second half sales to be ahead of the same period last year. Headline operating margins should benefit from on-going productivity efforts, better mix and pricing, despite investing in growth opportunities.

Smiths Medical sustained underlying revenue growth from the first half into the third quarter, driven by both single-use consumables and hardware sales. Around half of the growth came from emerging markets, reflecting increased investment in sales and marketing in these high growth regions. As expected, headline operating profit in the first nine months lags the prior year as a result of the additional investment in emerging markets made over the past year. In addition, the introduction of the US medical device tax in January also affected profitability. Looking to the full year, revenue growth is expected to continue, driven by emerging markets and new products. Operating margins will reduce compared with the prior year as a result of the device tax and increased investment. We are partially offsetting this through operational improvements.

Smiths Detection grew both underlying revenue and headline operating profit in the first nine months. We continue to make progress in restructuring the manufacturing footprint and generating operational improvements. Headline operating margin, although ahead of last year, has been affected by changes in contract mix. This was caused by a shift in the anticipated timing of certain contracts, reflecting pressures on government spend and delays to airport infrastructure programmes. These contract delays are expected to result in second half sales below the strong level achieved last year. Headline operating margins for the full year are expected to be at a similar level to last year. This reflects the shorter term impacts of contract mix and initial under-recovery of overheads at the new manufacturing sites.

Smiths Interconnect delivered underlying growth in revenue and headline operating margin against a weak comparator period. Revenue rose across all business units: Connectors, Microwave and Power, although the power markets remain relatively weak. The outlook for the final quarter remains challenging, given the strong comparator period and there continues to be uncertainty in several end markets, particularly with on-going weakness in Europe and the risk of US defence budget cuts.

Flex-Tek has made good progress growing underlying revenue through a strong performance in aerospace and US residential construction. Helped by the division’s high operational gearing, headline operating profit and margins improved as a result of the higher volumes. The outlook for the full year remains positive driven by the aerospace order book and US housing, despite the demanding comparator period.

The headline effective tax rate for the full year is expected to be slightly below the rate reported at the half year. At 4 May, net debt was £891m, up from £855m at 31 January, reflecting the interim dividend payment and adverse foreign exchange translation.

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Article source: http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4601469/Smiths-Group-revenues-to-date-in-good-health.html

“Ain’t in It for My Health,” an affectionate documentary by Jacob Hatley, examines Helm’s face and voice up close, at several points following its subject into the doctor’s office, where we’re literally shown Helm’s ravaged vocal cords, via a camera at the end of a flexible tube down the singer’s throat.

Throughout much of the film, which follows Helm as he’s working on his Grammy-winning 2007 album, “Dirt Farmer,” he continues to smoke. That addiction, it seems, was nothing in comparison to Helm’s compulsion to make music.

The film attempts to take the full measure of the man. Hatley covers the Band from its emergence as Bob Dylan’s back-up in 1965 to its 1976 “farewell” concert (immortalized in the Martin Scorsese concert film “The Last Waltz”). The film acknowledges other, standard biopic milestones such as marriage and offspring, but focuses on Helm’s enduring love of making music. Sometimes it’s painful, in ways both good and bad, to listen to him struggle through a song, his voice a hoarse whisper of its former, full-throated rawness.

Helm’s voice, however, had a beautiful, cracked majesty, even in his decline.

Don’t look for any new or deep psychological insights from Helm about his relationships with the members of his old group. Helm speaks sadly of Richard Manuel’s 1986 suicide and, glancingly, of Rick Danko’s 1999 death from heart failure at age 56. But any discussion of resentment about former bandmate Robbie Robertson — who alone got composer royalties for songs that were allegedly written collaboratively — is left to others. So, for the most part, is any mention of Helm’s legacy.

“Ain’t in It for My Health” lets the music do the talking. Despite overtones of morbidity, the tale it tells is one of life, not death. In one sense, it’s as unvarnished and sentiment-free as Helm’s songs. The larger meaning, to the extent that there is any, is not in the lyrics, but in their aching, world-weary delivery.

Unrated. At the West End Cinema. Contains obscenity and drug references. 83 minutes.

Article source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/aint-in-it-for-my-health-movie-review/2013/05/22/a52e471c-c164-11e2-bfdb-3886a561c1ff_story.html

UCLA’s Health System became the latest healthcare provider to turn to social media to invite the public into an operating room.

Since 6:24 a.m. Thursday, the @UCLAHealth Twitter account has been using Vine and Instagram to chronicle the implant of a brain pacemaker. The device counteracts Parkinson’s disease, according to UCLA Health’s Facebook page. In one Vine, Dr. Nader Pouratian said it’s the 500th time that the operation has been done at UCLA.

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The event marks yet another achievement for the 5-month-old Vine application, Twitter’s service for posting short videos to the Web. It’s quickly becoming Twitter’s answer to Facebook’s photo-sharing service Instagram. The patient is expected to awake during the surgery and play his guitar, which can be captured with sound on Vine.

Last year, Houston’s Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital was said to be the first hospital to use Twitter to live-tweet an open heart surgery. Last month, a hospital in England used Vine to video document a hip surgery.

Medical professionals have said using social media to share procedures helps raise awareness about health issues and helps patients stay a little calmer in the operating room.

[Updated 12:10 p.m.] UCLA Health spokeswoman Roxanne Yamaguchi Moster said that the system wanted to draw attention to brain pacemakers.

“Many in the public don’t know about this treatment so UCLA Health System thought this would be a good way to get the word out,” she said in an email. “And yes, this is UCLA Health System’s first live-tweet surgery.”