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SBCC’s “2013 Campaign for Student Success” Surpasses Goal

While the Campaign goal has been exceeded, every dollar makes a difference in the life of SBCC students, so community members who have outstanding pledge cards are encouraged to submit them to the Foundation at SBCC at 721 Cliff Dr., Santa Barbara, 93109 or to donate online here.

The funding raised during the Campaign will go directly to student support: book grants, scholarships, child care, tutoring, and other essential student services. The Campaign for Student Success came about both as a way to engage and empower the community, and out of necessity in the face of funding cuts.

“What is particularly gratifying about this year’s Campaign, is that we increased the number of donors from 900 two years ago to today where over 5,000 have shown their love with a contribution,” said Neil Kreisel, Foundation for SBCC Board President. “We couldn’t be more grateful for these 5,000 community members that have generously chosen to make a tangible difference in the lives of thousands of SBCC students.”

The Campaign for Student Success also saw more than $203,722 in donations from “Friends Asking Friends,” a social networking friend and fundraising technology. Dozens of faculty, staff members, students and alumni created their own teams or joined others, as did Foundation Board Members, all Foundation staff and many dedicated donors.

“Call Nights,” a staple of the Campaign for Student Success, were successful in reaching out to over five-thousand Santa Barbara County residents. Community members, SBCC students, faculty and the Foundation staff dedicated numerous evenings volunteering at the weekly Call Night sessions.

About Foundation for Santa Barbara City College

The Foundation for Santa Barbara City College funds programs and scholarships directly benefitting students at Santa Barbara City College. Formed by a group of community leaders, the Foundation is committed to making higher education attainable for all in the Santa Barbara community. For more information, call (805) 730-4401 or visit here.

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Article source: http://www.independent.com/news/2013/may/05/sbccs-2013-campaign-student-success-surpasses-goal/

Online program completes first semester

Photo by Johnny Jackson
Impact Academy students get the opportunity to get face-to-face tutoring twice a week from teachers in math, science, social studies and English.

McDONOUGH — Jacob Tomol said he is succeeding today because he and his parents decided to take an unorthodox approach to his education.

Tomol, 16, is a high school sophomore and one of 78 students enrolled in Henry County Schools’ new virtual school program, called Impact Academy.

He enrolled at Henry County High this summer after moving from Loganville, where he attended Grayson High. He said the transition was not as smooth as he had hoped.

“Doing my classwork was the problem,” said Tomol.

Tomol said he struggled in English at his old school and found himself struggling academically at Henry County High as well.

His frustrations were eased though, when he and his mother were introduced to Impact Academy.

Sheila Malone is the program’s counselor. She hosted a luncheon for students Thursday to celebrate completing the first-ever semester of the virtual school program which is housed in the northwest wing of Henry County High.

About two dozen students are on hand for regular tutoring each Tuesday and Thursday. Students can meet voluntarily with instructors in science, social studies, math and English.

Tomol takes all but one course online. He attends weight-training class each morning at Henry County High but on Tuesdays and Thursdays he walks from the weight room down the hall for tutoring.

Photo by Johnny Jackson
Jacob Tomol, 16, is a sophomore at Henry County High School who takes all but one of his classes through the school district’s Impact Academy virtual school program.

He does his class work on a three-year-old Toshiba laptop computer, used previously as a tool for social networking and web surfing. These days, that computer is his classroom. As a result, his academic struggles are subsiding.

“It’s been fantastic,” said Tomol. “You just kind of realize what you have to do. For me, very quickly, I realized I needed to put in work.”

Malone said Impact Academy suits some students, like Tomol, better than others as about 95 percent of the program is online learning.

“He’s totally turned it around,” said Malone. “These kids are really bright. Some students are shy and some just wanted to work from home.”

The program consists of students in grades 8, 9 and 10. It is expected to expand to include sixth- through 11th-grades.

Impact Academy Administrator Steve Thompson said online learning has grown dramatically over the past few years nationally and statewide.

“There are 1.5 million students taking online classes nationwide,” said Thompson.

The Georgia Cyber Academy is the largest school in the state, with roughly 7,000 students, and Henry County claims the most enrolled students of any county in the state, he said. There were 243 residents enrolled in Georgia Cyber Academy in 2011.

“Some students thrive in this program and some students don’t,” Thompson said. “We stress that students need to be able to learn independently.”

Impact Academy offers students flexibility in time and place. While core subjects must be taken online, students may physically go to their home schools to participate in elective courses like band or physical education.

The program helps prepare students for colleges that offer online courses. He said some states, like Alabama and Michigan, already require high school students to take an online course for graduation credit.

Thompson expects Impact Academy will expand as more students look for the flexibility. He said the academy will be tied into other school programs like work-based learning and dual enrollment as it grows.

Thompson said spring semester enrollment for Impact Academy is open. To learn more about the program, visit www.henry.k12.ga.us/ia.

Article source: http://www.henryherald.com/news/2012/dec/14/online-program-completes-first-semester/

Before Japan Votes, Mum’s the Word, Twitterwise – WSJ.com

By ALEXANDER MARTIN and YOREE KOH

TOKYO—Until Dec. 3, Koei Aoto, the Internet guru for Japan’s Social Democratic Party, was busy posting information online about candidates for a coming election.

Now, with the election just days away, he is busy excising it. Mr. Aoto is making sure stump-speech schedules and other materials on the party website are scrubbed of candidates’ names and photos. On Dec. 4, he even asked party leader Mizuho Fukushima to delete a tweet in which she mentioned a candidate by name.

Enlarge Image

Nippon News/Corbis

Taro Yamamoto, left, campaigns in Tokyo before a lower-house election.

The self-censorship stems from a 1950 law that lays out—in great detail—what candidates for public office can and can’t do in the official campaign period before election day. Feeding supporters lunch is a no-no, but tea and light snacks are permitted. Leafleting is OK, but no more than two kinds of fliers and only up to 70,000 pieces per candidate.

The law, which was aimed at ensuring no candidate or party got an advantage because they were better funded or staffed, predates—and never directly addresses—things like email, social networking and SMS text messaging.

But it has been interpreted to forbid nearly all digital electioneering, making it a huge obstacle in the Internet era, when politicians like Shinzo Abe, Japan’s front-runner for prime minister, routinely post comments on Twitter, and voters look to websites for everything from policy statements to the address of party headquarters.

“It’s been said that the established parties spent ¥35 billion ($420.3 million) on advertising during the last election, yet my petty election campaign tweets are banned?” said Japan Restoration Party chief and Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto, in a Dec. 5 tweet. “What’s wrong with Japan?”

Attempts to revise the law have stalled in Parliament. That has left Japanese electoral politics in a digital backwater in contrast to countries like the U.S., where the Internet has become so important to campaigning that companies like Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc.

offer politicians tutoring on social-media strategy.

Parties and candidates have tried various ways to push the envelope. On the final day of the 2009 campaign period, the Social Democrat’s Mr. Aoto streamed video online of a speech by one of the party’s candidates—without actually showing the candidate.

Instead, he aimed the camera at the listening crowd, so visitors to the site could hear—but not see—the speaker: technically in compliance with the “no images” rule. Mr. Aoto thought about doing it this year, too, but decided it didn’t get enough viewers to be worthwhile.

Actor Taro Yamamoto, who is running for a lower-house seat against the son of former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, stopped tweeting on Dec. 3, the day before the campaign period started.

But first he urged people to follow another Twitter account called the “Yamamoto Taro bot,” which continued to churn out an automated rotation of Mr. Yamamoto’s old tweets.

“Let’s get the Ishihara family out of politics. Let them travel around at leisure, on a yacht,” read one post.

Your Party rolled out on Facebook a widget that let visitors “vote” on various questions and see the responses totaled up on a graph. They had to shut it down on Dec. 3, after the Internal Affairs Ministry warned them it was in the gray area.

Many of Japan’s biggest parties have warned candidates to stop blogging, tweeting and friending for the duration of the campaign.

A few have halted all digital communication with the public and are taking queries only by telephone and fax. Politicians have been spending the 12-day campaign period before the Dec. 16 election parsing rules written nearly a decade before the invention of the silicon chip.

“It’s really confusing,” said Mr. Aoto in his cramped basement office one day recently, leafing through a book titled “Internet Election Guidelines.”

One interpretation of the law holds that streaming audio of a candidate’s speech over the Internet is OK, even though uploading the text of that same speech is illegal.

But letting visitors to the website click a “play” button to start the audio could be illegal, too, the book warned. That was news to Mr. Aoto, who said he had stuck such a “play” button on the Social Democrats’ site during the 2009 election.

“In the end, it’s OK as long as you don’t get busted,” he says.

Breaking the law is punishable—in theory—by as much as two years in jail and a maximum fine of ¥500,000. But enforcement is spotty.

The National Police Agency says it has issued 164 warnings and made five arrests for Internet-related election violations.

Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry, the chief interpreter of the law, says online text and images depicting candidates and campaigns are out, as is updating candidate Web or Facebook pages.

Text and photos of politicians who aren’t running in the election are permissible, so long as they don’t refer to those who are. Audio is legal, since it isn’t “literature or images.”

The rules get more Byzantine deeper down in the weeds. Sending out a blank email with an audio-file attachment of a candidate speech should be OK—unless the sender’s address contains the candidate’s name.

Tagging a candidate in a photo uploaded to Facebook shouldn’t be a problem—as long as the tagger isn’t a party operative, explains Democratic Party of Japan official Haruo Semba.

Takaharu Motoyama, who ran for a seat last year in the Fukuoka city assembly in southwestern Japan, says he couldn’t get arrested even though he tried. Mr. Motoyama says he had hoped to get charged with violating the Internet ban so he could take the case to court and force a ruling that would clarify the issue.

The 30-year-old elderly care worker posted speeches on YouTube and asked for support on his blog and on Twitter.

He made daily campaign pitches on a popular online video-streaming site, and put a bar code on his campaign posters that would take people who scanned it with their cellphones to his website—another violation.

But after months of quizzing by police and prosecutors, authorities dropped the case, telling him they weren’t confident they could get a guilty verdict, Mr. Motoyama says.

The Fukuoka prosecutor’s office says it left off only after “taking things into consideration.”

As for Mr. Yamamoto, he says he doesn’t know who created the bot that tweeted on his behalf. He says he is sticking by the Internet ban himself, so there won’t be a blot on his record should he actually get elected.

Write to Alexander Martin at alexander.martin@dowjones.com and Yoree Koh at yoree.koh@wsj.com

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578177040874830524.html

Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston Introduces Youth-Focused Social Network … – Virtual

Boys Girls Clubs of Boston introduces new youth-focused social network Rocket21 to after school programs. Rocket21 enables Club members to connect safely with each other and various industry experts.

Boston, New York, San Francisco (PRWEB) July 24, 2012

Boys Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) today announced that they will introduce Rocket21, a new social network aimed towards promoting career exploration amongst youth, into their afterschool programming this school year.

Rocket21 is the only online community where kids and teens can connect with not only their peers, but also with professionals to explore their interests, passions, and career dreams in a safe and secure social network. Hundreds of experts, called R21 PROs, from numerous fields are available to answer kids’ questions and share their experiences. R21 PROs include artists, business executives, entertainers, scientists, engineers, medical professionals and educators.

“By adding Rocket21 programming in our Clubs, we are able to give members another outlet to explore their career interests,” said Boys Girls Clubs of Boston Nicholas President and CEO Josh Kraft. “The professionals that participate in the Rocket21 community can offer our Club members valuable advice and guidance as they begin to plan for their future.”

“We’re thrilled that the Boys Girls Clubs of Boston selected Rocket21 as a component of their after-school program,” said Mark Grayson, Rocket21 CEO. “Among the many issues inspiring us to create Rocket21 was our deep desire for kids to get the tools and support they need to make their dreams for the future come true.”

Rocket21 is geared towards kids ages 9-15, but anyone under 18 may enroll. In addition to social networking opportunities, Rocket21 also offers apps, games and videos.

About Rocket21

Rocket21 is a social engagement platform built on a single, powerful idea: “Connect youth with world class organizations and professionals at the top of their game”. Rocket21 is the only social networking platform designed to safely connect kids and teens with professionals and experts representing industries, professions, passions, and movements that span the globe. Rocket21 provides unprecedented access to world-class experts and organizations while protecting them with a combination of state-of-the-art, real-time filtering and human moderation, extensive safety and security precautions, and a specialized infrastructure designed to keep kids safe. The company is based in New York and California.

Like Rocket21 on Facebook and follow @Rocket21 on Twitter. For more information visit http://www.rocket21.com.

About Boys Girls Clubs of Boston

Since its founding in 1893, Boys Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) has been helping young people, especially those who need us most, build strong character and realize their full potential as responsible citizens and leaders. We do this by providing: a safe haven filled with hope and opportunity, ongoing relationships with caring adults, and life-enhancing programs in six core program areas. BGCB serves more than 14,000 young people ages 6-18 in 10 Clubs, and through Camp Harbor View and YouthConnect. BGCB is an affiliate of Boys Girls Clubs of America and The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. For more information, visit us on

the web at http://www.bgcb.org.

Media Contacts:

Quincey Williamson, Boys Girls Clubs of Boston, (617) 994-4732, qwilliamson(at)bgcb(dot)org

Jodell Seagrave, Rocket21, (650) 839-1105, jodell(at)rocket21(dot)com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebRocket21/BGCBoston/prweb9728126.htm

Article source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/07/24/boys-girls-clubs-boston-introduces-youth-focused-social-network-rocket21-after-school-pro

Interpol targets 55 suspects using social network sites for child sex abuse images

(CNN) — An Interpol investigation into social networking groups exchanging child abuse material has targeted 55 key suspects in 20 countries, including the United States, and 12 children have been identified and removed from harm, the agency said Tuesday.

An unspecified number of the suspects have been arrested, said Interpol, the world’s largest international police organization.

The international operation, which targeted child sexual abusers trading online images, identified suspects in 19 other countries: Australia, Bosnia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, England, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, and Venezuela, Interpol said.

The covert online investigation began in October 2010 in New Zealand, where authorities alerted Interpol’s crimes against children team after discovering Facebook, Socialgo and grou.ps were being used to exchange significant amounts of “abusive and exploitative pictures,” Interpol said in a statement.

Working with U.S. authorities, the Interpol inquiry found about 80 groups “engaged in the display or distribution of previously seen and unseen child sexual abuse images,” Interpol said.

Facebook officials assisted the investigation after authorities identified key targets and their associated groups, Interpol said.

Maarten Quivooy, general manager of New Zealand’s Regulatory Compliance Operations, said the Internet destroys jurisdictional boundaries and that protecting children is now a global responsibility.

“Trading in or viewing these images is … offending because it involves real children often being abused both in real time and over time, and when these images of children being sexually abused are released onto the Internet, they live on forever,” Quivooy said in a statement.

“Terms such as kiddiporn and child pornography make the physical sexual abuse of a child appear consenting. No child is capable of consenting to sexual activity — therefore all sexual depiction of children is abuse,” he said.

Mick Moran, the head of Interpol’s crimes against children unit, said the operation highlighted international cooperation.

“While disrupting these networks is a significant part of the investigation, what is more important is that innocent children and in some cases babies have been rescued from physical abuse,” Moran said in a statement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said his agency will “work tirelessly with our international law enforcement partners to protect children wherever they live and to bring justice to criminals wherever they operate.”

The 55 suspects allegedly created groups that posted images of children under age 13 being abused, Interpol said.

CNN’s Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

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Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/22/world/interpol-child-abuse/index.html

Iowa Demonstration Fund Awards Go to 5 Corridor Companies

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Iowa Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved financial assistance to back $38 million of worth of capital investment in the state Friday, including five Corridor companies.

The board awarded a $150,000 Demonstration Fund royalty agreement to Iowa City-based B’Amazing Foods.

B’Amazing Foods produces whole food snack bars made of minimally processed grains, vegetables and fruits. They include a quinoa apricot bar, cinnamon raisin bar, apple coconut bar and lemon cranberry bar.

B’Amazing will use the funds to buy equipment, ingredients and supplies and to secure production labor and a broker for the Eastern United States. It will also supplement the company’s marketing and trade show efforts.

A $150,000 Demonstration Fund award was approved for Midimar of Cedar Rapids, doing business as Halal Food Processors. Halal Food Processors is the primary further-processing facility for Midamar Corp., a pioneering United States supplier of Halal meats.

Halal Food Processors plans to use the funds to expand its raw processing operations.

MCG BioComposites of Cedar Rapids waas awarded a $41,300 Demonstration Fund grant to develop tools for a plant marker to, develop new formulations for new biocomposite marterials, sell the products through direct marketing, and exhibit at industry trade shows.

The company’s BioMarkerT is made with corn cob fiber and recycled high-density polyethylene. It is marketed to the gardening industry.

Tutor Universe of Iowa City was awarded a $150,000 from the Demonstration Fund to develop a social networking-based free market for online tutoring and connecting students and tutors around the world.

The company, founded by Hung Tran and Thomas Hornbeck in June 2011, seeks to match up subject matter experts and “instruction consumers” around the world to connect in virtual study rooms integrated with a social networking platform.

People Statements LLC of Cedar Rapids was approved for a $150,000 Demonstration Fund royalty agreement. The company’s flagship product is a organizational development assessment that uses 33 proprietary “generally accepted people metrics.”

JJ Solutions of Coralville received a $500,000 loan through the Innovation Acceleration Fund, become the first company to receive assistance from the program. The company is commercializing a device to improve the safety of preparing and administering chemotherapy. The loan will be used to hire key personnel, develop sales and marketing initiatives, and secure needed certifications.

The largest project assisted Friday was the construction of a new AgReliant Genetics LLC seed corn production, conditioning and distribution facility in Ogden. The $36 million project is expected to create 34 jobs. It received tax benefits through the High Quality Jobs program.

Article source: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Iowa-Demonstration-Fund-Awards-Go-to-5-Corridor-Companies-152147825.html

EdServ Takes Its Android Education App Synced With Social Networking To Amazon …

Chennai-based education support services company EdServ has tied-up with Amazon.com to take its 2tionPlus educational apps to Amazon app store. Through the tie up, EdServ’s education content will be available worldwide on Tablet PCs, which run on Google’s Android operating system, the company said on Monday.

EdServ’s 2tionPlus is a social networking collaborative learning application through which students will be able to avail the support of over 30,000 tutors. Through 2tionPlus, students can create study groups and undertake collaborative learning.

Digital whiteboard is available in online tutoring whereby students can attend an online class even on the move. 2tionPlus claims to have over a million embedded videos categorically arranged on subjects.

“Through this tie up with Amazon.com, we will provide the entire online education content that includes tuition, academics, skill development and test preparation services on the Amazon apps store,” said S Giridharan, EdServ’s chairman and CEO.

While downloading and installing 2tionPlus will be free, the users will have to pay a fee for the premium content available on EdServ’s lampsglow.com website, the official release said.

In the premium category, all services listed on Lampsglow.com are featured. These include solutions for K-12 students and others preparing for various entrance exams, as well as specialised skills development and courses for job seekers. Also, free-of-cost standard services include over one million embedded videos, arranged by subjects/topics. In addition, students can download the 2tionPlus app to create study groups and opt for collaborative learning.

This tie up with Amazon follows EdServ’s tie up last year with global mobile brands such as Blackberry, Nokia and Samsung to make its educational content available on smartphones. According to the company, over half of the users are from the mobile segment.

Article source: http://techcircle.vccircle.com/500/edserv-takes-its-android-education-app-synced-with-social-networking-to-amazon-app-store/

Facebook begins rebuilding K Street presence – Top lobbyist for SpaceX bolts …

By Anna Palmer and Dave Levinthal

With Abby Phillip

PI SCOOP… FACEBOOK BEGINS REBUILDING K ST PRESENCE: Facebook is bringing on some outside help, adding law firm Steptoe Johnson to its hired gun roster. Former Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), James Barnette, Elizabeth Burks and Douglas Kantor, all registered to work on “issues related to social networking,” according to a recent lobbying filing. The new talent comes on after Facebook lost several outside firms, including Fierce, Isakowitz Blalock and Glover Park Group, after clients raised conflict concerns. Anna has the scoop on Pro: http://politico.pro/zj3ACb

PI EXCLUSIVE … TOP LOBBYIST FOR SPACEX BOLTS TO FORM OWN FIRM: Lawrence Williams, formerly a top lobbyist and strategic relations vice president for Space Exploration Technologies, is opening his own business development and strategy firm called Capture 10. Williams says he’ll be joined at his new firm by a “small team” yet to be named. “There appears to be a major need in the market for longer-term strategies to identify, pursue and capture government business,” Williams said. “Whether it’s Washington or Wall Street, companies tend to be so focused on quarterly returns that they often miss more lucrative opportunities, which are increasingly being captured by more patient investors with longer-term horizons.” Capture 10 is still hunting for permanent office space, but Williams confirms that he’s so far lined up a technology media company and nongovernmental organization as clients and is in “negotiations with numerous others technology and aerospace firms.”

Since opening SpaceX’s D.C. operations in 2004, Williams witnessed the company’s federal lobbying efforts rocket from $40,000 to $860,000 in 2011, federal records show. During his 20-year career in D.C., Williams has also worked for satellite company Teledesic, satellite services firm ICO Global Communications and automaker Tesla Motors. Earlier, he was a special assistant at the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a member of the presidential transition team for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and a legislative assistant to then-Rep. Ray Thornton (D-Ark.) on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

SPEAKING OF SPACE … TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: Lockheed Martin and Boeing are doubling down on their joint space launch services endeavor, United Launch Alliance, registering to lobby with in-house personnel. The increased firepower comes after the alliance hired Kevin Bargo, a former Senate Budget Committee staffer, to lead its Washington operation in January. The alliance already had Mark Bitterman, formerly of Orbital Sciences Corporation, on board as vice president of Washington operations since September. In an email to PI, Bitterman said that ULA’s lobbying activities will “support the president’s budget request for [Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle] and the related FY13 acquisition strategy.” McKenna Long Aldridge has also been brought on board as outside counsel in addition to Adkins Strategies, which has been retained by the group for lobbying since 2007.

DEM CONVENTION PARTY PLANNING BEGINS: All the talk downtown that the party scene at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., won’t compare to Denver in 2008 isn’t stopping some of the mainstay events from getting off the ground. Shannon Finley of Capitol Counsel sent out a notice today for “Big Sky Night” — the Montana convention party. The event, slated for Sept. 4 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., is still in need of sponsors. “We have a great venue that is only two miles from the Time Warner Cable Arena. The event will have multiple Montana experiences and with a number of different bars and music areas,” the notice reads.

LAWMAKERS ‘JUMP’ FOR VAN HALEN: Rock fans aren’t the only ones flocking to a March 28 Van Halen concert in the Verizon Center. Big dollar donors are being asked to turn out for Republican Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and John Thune of South Dakota who will raise money at the concert for their reelection efforts. The ask: $1,500 for one PAC ticket, $2,500 for two. And $1,000 for an individual ticket or $1,500 for two.

GOOD MONDAY AFTERNOON! As always, keep sending us the latest and greatest in fundraising solicitations, juicy gossip and all the rest to apalmer@politico.com and dlevinthal@politico.com. If you don’t already, follow us on Twitter at @davelevinthal and @apalmerdc.

Now, back to the show.

SEEKING MONEY NOT FROM K STREET, BUT E STREET: They share a love for the New York City area. They dig Democratic politics. It’s fitting, therefore, that the reelection committee of Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York is conducting a fundraiser at Bruce Springsteen’s concert April 1 at D.C.’s Verizon Center. A single ticket will set you back $1,500. For a pair: $2,500. Springsteen himself has a history of donating to Democrats, with his most recent cash volley coming in late 2010, when he cut $2,400 checks to the campaigns of Democratic Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Patty Murray of Washington and then-Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, as well as then-Rep. John Hall of New York, himself the co-founder of the band Orleans. See Towns’s invite here: http://bit.ly/wU1sKq

GRIFFIS TO PODESTA: The Podesta Group is bringing on Kevin Griffis, the Commerce Department’s director of public affairs. Starting this week, he’ll join the firm as a principal after three years at Commerce and a stint as an Obama campaign communications director for the South Carolina primary and before that as communications director for the Democratic Party of Virginia. A former journalist, Griffis heads to Podesta with the blessing of Gary Locke, the former Commerce secretary who’s now the U.S. ambassador to China. “Kevin is a creative, battle-tested communicator who has built a roster of press contacts in news bureaus around the world,” Locke said in a statement. “His unflagging and thoughtful work helped shape everything from the launch of the president’s National Export Initiative to the administration’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.”

WILL THEY DONATE IN EUROS? With the House on recess this week, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) is using the time to fundraise back home tonight in Paterson, N.J., with Democratic Pennsylvania Reps. Robert Brady and Mike Doyle and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a little early. Donation levels are $300, $500 and $1,000 at the Irish-themed event. See the invite here: http://bit.ly/ACz1rC

RETIRING MEMBERS OPENLY EYE K ST: Retiring lawmakers still have nearly 10 months left to serve in Congress, but that’s not stopping them from beginning to look at post-public service employment. Anna and Jake Sherman caught up with several eyeing plum spots on boards, trade associations and law firms. Click here for the full report: http://politi.co/AnXzVI

SUPER PACS NEXT FRONTIER: CONGRESS: Looking to get a member in line for a leadership position? Start a super PAC. That’s the future Jonathan Allen and Anna report on today. Click here for the full story: http://politi.co/w4LZyN

**A message from ASAE: America works best when we work together. Associations are a diverse, vibrant sector and a powerful contributor to the United States economy. Learn more at www.thepowerofa.org/associations-matter. ***

REWARD OFFERED FOR CORPORATE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION LEAKS: Americans United for Change is offering a $25,000 reward to the first employee that leaks evidence of corporate political contributions to a nonprofit 501(c)(4) or trade organization, the group announced at a press conference this morning. The reward is part of a campaign by a coalition of organizations to raise the public profile of corporations to engage in political giving and encourage people to reveal the source of anonymous political funds.

“We will use every tool, whether it’s actions among consumers, up to boycotts, whether it’s shareholder actions, whether it’s work form pension funds to use the power of pension funds to direct corporate America to change its way,” said Bill de Blasio, a New York City public advocate. “You name it, it’s on the table.” Speaking at the event were representatives from Common Cause, Health Care for America Now, Public Citizen, Corporate Reform Coalition, the Coalition for Accountability in Public Spending and Occupy Wall Street.

Though much of the focus was on Republican groups like the Karl Rove-linked Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said that Democratic groups that solicit corporate funds should beware as well. “We don’t want corporate money in the election process period, full stop,” Weissman said. “If you donate to Republican-leaning independent organization or trade association, we’re coming after you; if you give to a Democratic-leaning one, same to you.”

UPDATE … LEADER EXPLAINS FORMATION OF SUPER PAC JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE: On Friday, PI reported that pro-Barack Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action is teaming up with super PACs Majority PAC (supports Senate Democrats) and House Majority PAC (supports House Democrats) to form Unity 2012, a joint fundraising committee. That afternoon, Priorities USA Action leader Bill Burton emailed us the reasoning behind the move: “This joint effort is basically a convenience for donors who are looking to participate in more than one progressive organization.” The decision makes good on a prediction, first noted in December (http://politi.co/tAwjTQ) by our own Maggie Haberman, that Democratic super PACs would attempt to join forces.

NEW JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRATIC SENATORS: Simply dubbed the Stabenow/McCaskill Victory Fund, Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Claire McCaskill of Missouri have formed a joint fundraising committee. The committee may distribute funds raised to the two senators at its discretion, as long as the contributions stay within federal campaign finance limits. Judith Zamore is the treasurer.

MONDAY MUST-READS:

- The ultra-wealthy have “insufficient influence,” billionaire political financier Ken Griffin tells the Chicago Tribune’s Melissa Harris: http://trib.in/xOVKkw

- Overall federal lobbying expenditures may have slipped in 2011, but there’s no such issue in New Jersey, writes Matt Friedman of Newark, N.J.’s Star-Ledger: http://bit.ly/wIlQri

- BP’s lobbying is bearing fruit two years after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, reports Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: http://huff.to/zSMPx6

- When it comes to funding super PACs and other outside political groups, it’s a man’s world, reports Viveca Novak of OpenSecrets.org: http://bit.ly/xaTwQN

- Politically active nonprofit corporations, not super PACs, may be the bigger story of the 2012 election, write Daniel Stone of Newsweek and Michael Beckel of the Center for Public Integrity: http://bit.ly/z7HGDN

- A federal election that costs nearly $10 billion? Cotton Delo of Ad Age explains: http://bit.ly/w3NK0C

VIDEO … PI ON TV: Dave and Keith Olbermann recently had a little chat about super PACs on “Countdown.” Watch and learn: http://bit.ly/wJuWG8

NEW POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE FILINGS:

No Dirty Money Elections of Palo Alto, Calif. — Treasurer: Kip Husty

National Tax Sheltered Accounts Association PAC of Arlington, Va. — Treasurer: Brian H. Graff

Youth Empowerment Community Action Corporation of Jacksonville, Fla. — Treasurer: Lakateria Whitted

Citizens for Middle East Policy of Oak Park, Ill. — Treasurer: Farah Ali

Independence Virginia PAC of Reston, Va. — Treasurer: Paul Bennecke (super PAC)

Young Democrats of America Political Action Committee of Washington, D.C. — Treasurer: Jonathan Padilla (super PAC)

Grassroots for Liberty of San Francisco — Treasurer: Valerie Lasam (super PAC)

Citizens for Good Government of Rye, N.Y. — Treasurer: Patricia O’Callaghan (super PAC)

Veterans for Liberty Super PAC of Bethesda, Md. — Treasurer: Zakery Andrew Carter

Restoring America Inc. of Gahanna, Ohio — Treasurer: Mike Blankenbecler (super PAC)

NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS: (Firm: Client)

Active Policy Solutions: After-School All-Stars

Active Policy Solutions: United States Tennis Association

AUX Initiatives: Coastal Point Energy

C2 Group: Native American Fair Commerce Coalition

Clark Lytle Geduldig Cranford: National Women’s History Museum

GovBiz Advantage Inc.: Public Timber Purchaser Group (PTPG)

KL Gates: AeroFarms

Martin Strange: Rural School and Community Trust

Steptoe Johnson: Facebook Inc.

Steptoe Johnson: Fluor Corporation

Wheland Consulting: Laxess Corp

**A message from ASAE: Associations are a diverse, vibrant sector and a powerful contributor to the United States economy. Did you know that associations employed more than 1.2 million people in 2009 and generated a payroll of nearly $47 billion in 2010? And of the 63 million people who volunteered in the United States between September 2009 and September 2010, more than18 million volunteered through a membership organization? According to a new study, Associations Matter (http://bit.ly/yn0mfe), associations have a sizable impact on the quality of our lives. The new research provides an overview of the size and scope of all association activity in the United States and illustrates the collective industry’s importance to society. Learn more at www.thepowerofa.org/associations-matter. **

Article source: http://www.politico.com/politicoinfluence/0312/politicoinfluence216.html

New online forum helps students, tutors connect

A new Internet forum created by a USF student puts a high-tech spin on face-to-face tutoring.

Sherief Hussein, a senior majoring in biomedical sciences, created “iTutor USF” this semester to marry social networking and traditional tutoring services. The site allows students to create profiles detailing the classes they would like help with and other students who have taken those courses to offer assistance.

“If a student pays that much money for a class, why not get an A plus in it, even if it’s you spending a couple of extra bucks on a private tutor?” he said. “Because if you get help, you get an A plus, but if you don’t, and your struggling with the class, you still spend the same amount for the class and you end up with A, B or C.”

Hussein came up with the idea for iTutor while studying for his Dental Admissions Test in the middle of the night about six weeks ago. He said at first he considered taking a Kaplan class or getting a private tutor to help him prepare for the exam.

“I know they have private tutoring at school, but I was thinking more of a student and tutor meeting on their own,” he said. “Here in the Library, you don’t really choose your tutor. And the places in the Library — maybe some students don’t like to get tutored or stay in the Library for too long.”

At 4 a.m. that night, Hussein said he looked at a free online web builder called webs.comfor different layouts and templates and started designing iTutor. He stayed up through the night to work on the site and went to sleep at 11 a.m. the next morning.

Hussein worked on iTutor for four weeks before launching the site on Jan. 30, which at time of print had 24 users and 400 visits.

Student tutors can put in their personal data and their subjects of expertise under the “I am a tutor, I can help” tab, where they can be found by USF students needing help with a particular subject under the “I am a student, I need help” tab.

Right now, iTutor is only intended for USF students, but if it takes off Hussein said he wants to create additional iTutor websites for other Florida universities. He primarily promotes the site on Facebook, he said.

Two of his Facebook friends, biomedical sciences seniors Jacob Berger and Radhika Patel, forged a mutually beneficial working relationship after hearing about the site.

When Patel wrote that she needed help with animal physiology on iTutor, Berger, who had taken the same course two semesters ago, offered his services the same day. Within two days of Patel’s initial post, Berger and Patel had their first private tutoring session in the USF Library.

Patel got a 92 percent on the first exam and said she wants to continue her tutoring sessions with Berger.

“This was the first exam, so I wasn’t really understanding the concept until I met with the tutor,” Patel said. “He helped me learn the notes better. He had short ways of memorizing things.”

Berger said he set the pay rate at $12 an hour after he did a Google search to find out what tutors usually charge for college subjects — a range between $15 to $20 an hour.

Mahmoud Dweik, a senior majoring in chemistry, plans to tutor two USF students in organic chemistry this week, also at $12 an hour. He said using iTutor to seek out student clients was better than his former job at his apartment complex, where he worked a fixed schedule and earned minimum wage.

“This is a nice, flexible thing where I feel like it’s easy for me because I already know the material,” he said, “I can share my knowledge with other people and get paid for it.”

Article source: http://www.usforacle.com/news/new-online-forum-helps-students-tutors-connect-1.2700913

Dunedin school volunteer charged after paying girl, 12, to pose for pictures

DUNEDIN — In a 2008 MySpace blog, Steven J. Andrews listed 20 facts about himself, including several that humorously strived to explain why he and others described him as “weird.”

Andrews wrote about his hobby of drumming and bagpiping. Describing himself as a one-time kindergarten teacher, he said he loved working with children and wanted a few of his own someday.

Then there was No. 14 on the list. It and other postings on the social networking profile detailed Andrews’ “weakness” for females in spandex.

On Tuesday, Andrews was arrested after authorities discovered he had taken sexually explicit photos of a 12-year-old girl — some of them showing her dressed in full-body spandex or bound and gagged, according to reports.

Police say Andrews, a volunteer at Dunedin Highland Middle and Dunedin High schools who also worked briefly at a Tampa day care center, paid the girl to pose in various costumes, including Hello Kitty and a butterfly.

Detectives said they believe Andrews also volunteered at Berkeley Preparatory, a Tampa private school for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. School officials didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Andrews, 29, of 426 Roanoke St. in Dunedin, was arrested at his home Tuesday night on three counts of sexual performance by a child.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Thane Covert set Andrews’ bond Wednesday morning at $75,000.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies say their investigation revealed that Andrews paid the child $100 to “model” various outfits at a North Pinellas home at least three times between August and February. He then bound and gagged the girl and took pictures of her, which police said he kept for his personal use.

After Andrews’ arrest, authorities recovered from his shorts pocket a thumb drive containing about 100 photos of the girl, including 20 in which she was bound. Deputies said Andrews admitted he looked at the photos while masturbating.

“The photos themselves with the various costumes by themselves would not have constituted a crime,” said Pinellas sheriff’s spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda. “What made it to the level of a crime was that she was posed in a position where she was bound and gagged.”

Detectives said the incident came to light Sunday, after the girl complained to her mother that she had not been paid for a recent photo session. The mother contacted authorities.

Andrews was introduced to the girl through his girlfriend. The alleged crime, Barreda said, “was not directed in any way toward anyone at the schools. It wasn’t connected to the schools, other than he was a volunteer there.”

However, detectives fear there may be other victims because of Andrews’ access to minors.

In addition to his volunteer role at the two Dunedin schools and perhaps at Berkeley Prep, he had recently gotten a job as a part-time after-school teacher at Children’s Nest Day School in Tampa. Officials at the day care center, which takes children ages 1 to 11, said Andrews had only been employed there for 17 days and had missed several days of work before his arrest.

Andrews and a second teacher assisted each other in the center’s elementary-age latchkey program, said area director Tripp Crouch. He said the school found out about the arrest Wednesday morning and immediately terminated Andrews’ employment.

“No one has contacted us … so we’re — knock on wood — confident that there’s no issue,” Crouch said.

Pinellas County Schools officials say Andrews has volunteered since September with the bands at Dunedin Highland Middle and Dunedin High. Andrews passed the district’s formal volunteer screening process, which included a check of his criminal history, said district spokeswoman Melanie Marquez.

“Upon his arrest, his privileges as a volunteer have been immediately suspended,” Marquez said.

Andrews has no prior arrests in Florida.

His Facebook page also claims he worked as a kindergarten teacher and assistant principal for Highland Christian School between August 2003 and August 2006.

Anyone with information is asked to call Cpl. Dennis Garvey of the Pinellas Crimes Against Children Unit, (727) 582-6200.

Times staff writer Curtis Krueger contributed to this report. Keyonna Summers can be reached at (727) 445-4153 or ksummers@tampabay.com.

Article source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/dunedin-school-volunteer-charged-after-paying-girl-12-to-pose-for-pictures/1214484

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