ROCHESTER, N.Y. (PRWEB) September 22, 2020

CHESS Health, the leading provider of comprehensive addiction management technology, announced today that Next Step Community has chosen to implement CHESSs eRecovery solution, a comprehensive care management platform for substance use disorder which includes the evidence-based Connections App.

Next Step Community will use the Connections App to offer valuable functionality for the entire treatment and recovery journey, including:

The stress and forced isolation created by COVID-19 has had a huge impact on those struggling with Substance Use Disorder in the state of Indiana, said Dana Simons, executive director of Next Step Community. When we found the CHESS Connections App, we knew it was the perfect solution to enable our clients and alumni to achieve long-lasting recovery by offering support in the palm of their hands. The App offers a safe, supportive online community to those in rural areas where there are no services available.

Everyone at CHESS Health is excited to work with Next Step Community to address substance use disorder in the Wabash Valley community, said Hans Morefield, chief executive officer of CHESS Health. We love working with innovative, outcome-focused programs like Next Step that share our belief in the importance of creating and maintaining connections for recovery.

About CHESS Health CHESS Health is the developer of the leading, evidence-based telehealth platform supporting the entire addiction management life cycle. The platform facilitates digital handoffs for getting more patients into treatment (eIntervention); improves outcomes through digital CBT (eTherapy) and reduces relapse and supports long term recovery (eRecovery). For providers, the CHESS platform grows patient volume through more successful referrals, improves treatment delivery, and improves treatment outcomes, including reduced relapse. Health plans and governments also benefit from more individuals in treatment and better outcomes; with the CHESS platform, they also gain analytic insights into provider performance. CHESS Health has received recognition from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), the Journal of Substance Abuse and the Surgeon General. For more information, visit http://www.chess.health.

About Next Step Next Step is a faith-based program in Terre Haute, Indiana for those who are serious about overcoming their addiction to drugs and alcohol. Next Step provides both residential programs and outpatient services such as substance abuse groups, AA meetings, peer coaching, case management, life skills training and mental health services. Our goal is to help those who are serious about managing their substance use disorder regain an independent, substance-free lifestyle. Learn more at http://www.nextsteptoday.org.

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CHESS Health Selected by Next Step Community, an Addiction Recovery Program Located in Terre Haute, Indiana - PR Web

The movie Critical Thinking was more than two decades in the making by the time the cast and crew began filming in Miami in 2018. After reading a 1997 article about the Miami Jackson High School chess team in the Miami Herald's now-extinct Tropic magazine,producer Carla Berkowitz bought the rights to the story and spent years trying to make a movie about the unlikely pack of high school students who became one of the winningest teams in the nation.

Berkowitz ultimately linked up with actor and director JohnLeguizamo and co-producer Scott Rosenfelt to make the film a reality. But by time Critical Thinking was ready for release, COVID-19 had changed life in Hollywood and beyond. Movie theaters shuttered, and film festivals were canceled or closed to U.S. residents. So Critical Thinking wound up being quietly released to select theaters on September 4 andmade available for direct download on platforms including Amazon Video, Apple TV, and iTunes.

The film's release won't be completely devoid of fanfare, however.Tonight, Berkowitz and actor Corwin Tuggles, part of the ensemble cast of chess players, will appear at the New York Latino Film Festival for a sold-out, socially distanced screening of Critical Thinking followed by a Q&A.

"It's at a drive-in in the Bronx behind Yankee Stadium," Berkowitz tells New Times. "That is the only festival we're actually able to attend."

So far, the film has garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, and it has a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many have noted the diverse cast of Black and Latino actors, some of whom are more established and some who are making their big-screen debuts. Tuggles, who has appeared in episodes of Broad City and Orange Is the New Black, stars alongside Bumblebee's Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Spanish-language film actor Jeffry Batista, TV actor William Hochman, and Pose star Angel Bismark Curiel.

The characters in the movie are based on former students at Miami Jackson who took a chess classcalled Critical Thinking that wastaught bycoach Mario Martinez. The real-life chess players have stayed in touch with Berkowitz for the past 23 years and consulted on the film.

"It's avery inclusive movie and that has always been my goal. The lives of these boys and the coach were represented in an elegant and accurate way that they deserve," Berkowitz says.

Producer Carla Berkowitz with the five real-life Miami Jackson chess players.

Photo courtesy of Carla Berkowitz

The movie's release came just days before theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced new diversity rules for the Oscars, requiring films to include actors in underrepresented groups. Berkowitz says she applauds the change, noting that an Oscar nomination is a privilege, not a right.

"It's like a shakedown, but in a good way," she says. "I feel like it's a very good start in just waking the world up that no one's gonna watch your movie if you're not going to start including people of every race, color, gender, and ability."

Although some reviewers found the characters in Critical Thinkingto be clichs of low-income people of color, Berkowitz points out that the movie is almost entirely based on actual people and events, right down to the chess matches. The real-life players helped reconstruct their old games move by move so that moviegoers particularly those who play chess would see an accurate depiction of tournament play.

"It was very important to me that no one said, 'Oh, that doesn't happen in chess,' 'That's fake,' 'That's movie magic,'" Berkowitz says.

The real-life chess players saw a screener of the movie at Berkowitz's home months ago, pre-COVID, but Berkowitz says she wanted to experience Critical Thinking on the big screen. Because movie theaters in Broward reopened in August, she drove up to Tamarac two weeks ago and watched the film as she'd always planned to.

"Iwas crying," she says. "To hear thesound design that I was a part of, and to actually be able to hear it in surround sound."

Nevertheless, she says, those watching at home are "enjoying it a lot, but not seeing it with popcorn."

Besides, her true audience was always the Jackson chess players themselves Oelmy "Ito" Paniagua, Gil Luna, Rodelay Medina, Sedrick Roundtree, and Marcel Martinez.

"I'mvery happy for them and for me, in the sense that I was able to follow through on a promise to them that was really kind of a crazy promise," Berkowitz says. "Watching them watch other people play them was, I think, the highlight of my life."

Jessica Lipscomb is news editor of Miami New Times and an enthusiastic Florida Woman. Born and raised in Orlando, she has been a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.

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The True Story Behind Critical Thinking, Movie Based in Miami - Miami New Times

There's no evidence of an afterlife. But there's also no proof that our medical death needs to be the end of our subjective experience. There's no proof that death is irreversible, or immortality impossible.

In fact, some researchers believe immortality isn't just possible, but inevitable.

Alexey Turchin, an author, life extensionist, and transhumanist researcher from Moscow, believes artificial intelligence will eventually become so powerful that humans will be able to "download" themselves or, the quantifiable information contained in their brains into computers and live forever.

It'll take a long time to develop that technology anywhere from 100 to 600 years, according to Turchin.

"The development of AI is going rather fast, but we are still far away from being able to 'download' a human into a computer," Turchin told Russia Beyond. "If we want to do it with a good probability of success, then count on [the year] 2600, to be sure."

That might be out of reach for modern humans. But downloading yourself onto a computer is just one potential route to immortality. In 2018, Turchin and Maxim Chernyakov, of the Russian Transhumanist Movement, wrote a paper outlining the main ways technology might someday make resurrection and, therefore, immortality possible.

The paper defines life as a "continued stream of subjective experiences" and death as the permanent end of that stream. Immortality, to them, is a "life stream without end," and resurrection is the "continuation of that same stream of experiences after an arbitrarily long gap."

Another key clarification is the identity problem: How would you know that a downloaded copy of yourself really was going to be you? Couldn't it just be a convincing yet incomplete and fundamentally distinct representation of your brain?

If you believe that your copy is not you, that implies you believe there's something more to your identity than the (currently) quantifiable information contained within your brain and body, according to the researchers. In other words, your "informational identity" does not constitute your true identity.

In this scenario, there must exist what the researchers call a "non-informational identity carrier" (NIIC). This could be something like a "soul." It could be "qualia," which are the unmeasurable "subjective experiences which could be unique to every person." Or maybe it doesn't exist at all.

It's no matter: The researchers say resurrection, in some form, should be possible in either scenario.

"If no 'soul' exist[s], resurrection is possible via information preservation; if soul[s] exist, resurrection is possible via returning of the "soul" into the new body. But some forms of NIIC are also very fragile and mortal, like continuity," the researchers noted.

"The problem of the nature of human identity could be solved by future superintelligent AI, but for now it cannot be definitively solved. This means that we should try to preserve as much identity as possible and not refuse any approaches to life extension and resurrection even if they contradict our intuitions about identity, as our notions of identity could change later."

Turchin and Chernyakov outline seven broad categories of potential resurrection methods, ranked from the most plausible to most speculative.

The first category includes methods practiced while the person is alive, like cryonics, plastination, and preserving brain tissue through processes like chemical fixation. The researchers noted that there have been "suggestions that the claustrum, hypothalamus, or even a single neuron is the neural correlate of consciousness," so it may be possible to preserve just that part of a person, and later implant it into another organism.

Other methods get far stranger. For example, one method includes super-intelligent AI that uses a Dyson sphere to harness the power of the sun to "power enormous calculation engines" that would "reconstruct" people who collected a sufficient amount of data on their identities.

Turchin

"The main idea of a resurrection-simulation is that if one takes the DNA of a past person and subjects it to the same developmental condition, as well as correcting the development based on some known outcomes, it is possible to create a model of a past person which is very close to the original," the researchers wrote.

"DNA samples of most people who lived in past 1 to 2 centuries could be extracted via global archeology. After the moment of death, the simulated person is moved into some form of the afterlife, perhaps similar to his religious expectations, where he meets his relatives."

Delving further into sci-fi territory, another resurrection method would use time-travel technology.

"If there will at some point be technology that allows travel to the past, then our future descendants will be able to directly save people dying in the past by collecting their brains at the moment of death and replacing them with replicas," the paper states.

How? Sending tiny robots back in time.

"A nanorobot could be sent several billion years before now, where it could secretly replicate and sow nanotech within all living being[s] without affecting the course of history. At the moment of death, such nanorobots could be activated to collect data about the brain and preserve it somewhere until its future resurrection; thus, there would be no need for forward time travel."

Pixabay

The paper goes on to outline some more resurrection methods, including ones that involve parallel worlds, aliens, and clones, along with a good, old-fashioned possibility: God exists and one day he resurrects us.

In short, it's all extremely speculative.

But the aim of the paper was to catalogue known potential ways humans might be able to cheat death. For Turchin, that's not some far-off project: In addition to studying global risks and transhumanism, the Russian researcher heads the Immortality Roadmap, which, similar to the 2018 paper, outlines various ways in which we might someday achieve immortality.

Although it may take centuries before humans come close to "digital immortality," Turchin believes that life-extension technology could allow some modern people to survive long enough to see it happen.

Want a shot at being among them? Beyond the obvious, like staying healthy, the Immortality Roadmap suggests you start collecting extensive data on yourself: diaries, video recordings, DNA information, EEGs, complex creative objects all of which could someday be used to digitally "reconstruct" your identity.

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Can we resurrect the dead? Researchers catalogue potential future methods - Big Think

Naming your game after a well-established genre is a gutsy move, but CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is shaping up to be one of the biggest cyberpunk stories in gaming history.

Taking into account everything we know about Cyberpunk 2077, the open-world RPG looks like it's crawling with seedy criminals, shady corporations, cybernetic limbs, and neon streets, as well as tackling all those spectacularly dense themes of transhumanism, AI, and the dismantling of corporate and governmental hierarchiesyou know, the usual.

With CD Projekt Red taking on one of the biggest sci-fi genres, what other 'punk' derivatives are left for the taking? A lot, apparently. Over the past few days, I've fallen down a rabbit hole of cyberpunk derivatives. But before we dive into real-world body hacking, frills from 18th century France, and Buck Rogers, here are some punk genres that games have explored.

Steampunk is one of the big cyberpunk sub-genres and games like BioShock Infinite, Dishonored, and Sunless Sea have taken major inspiration from it's Victorian-era industrial steam-powered world. Wolfenstein and games like Iron Harvest take on the gritty and dirty industrial aesthetics of Dieselpunk. The Fallout series is famous for its retro-futuristic imagining of Atompunk, and then there's 11-bit Studio's own genre, FrostpunkVictorian industrialisation meets frozen ecological crisis.

Whether they are fully-fledged worlds or have more of a focus on aesthetics, here are some more punk genres that deserve a gaming spotlight.

Many derivatives of cyberpunk are retrofuturistic in their worldbuilding, pulling on ideas and aesthetics from the past (looking directly at you, Victorian era). But what makes Solarpunk special is that it is firmly set in the future.

Solarpunk envisions an optimistic future that directly tackles environmental concerns with renewable and sustainable energy sources. Instead of a bleak wasteland, Solarpunk is bright and hopeful. Butjust because climate change and pollution have been solved doesn't mean that everything is a utopia. This is what could make Solarpunk an interesting backdrop for games. Instead of bashing you over the head with how awful everything is, Solarpunk is about worlds that are so close to being perfect but fall just short. I can totally see this making a great backdrop for a sprawling RPG.

For whatever reason, a core feature of many punk genres is what resource is used to power technology, but Clockpunk is less focused on steam, diesel, or electric-run mechanics and more on basic technology. Clockpunk is all about intricate mechanismslike the interlocking gears of a pocket watch, the intricacies of automatons, or the detailed sketches of Da Vinci. There's also just a general focus on beautiful, delicate machinery, and Dimitriy Khristenko's mechanical bugs are an amazing example of something that would fit perfectly into the clockpunk aesthetic.

There's not much in terms of world-building to Clockpunk, but the genre makes a great foundation for worlds that have light fantasy elements, such as magic or alchemy, which can act as the world's main power resources.It's emphasis on visual design also makes it perfect for puzzle games like Magnum Opus.

More of a visual aesthetic than a loosely defined alternate reality, Rococo Punk takes inspiration from the whimsical visual style of the Rococo period. It's used in a similar way to Decopunk (think the glossy interiors of BioShock) in that it's purely just a look rather than a philosophy. Visually, the genre involves theatrical outfits with lots of dramatic frills with building interiors having lots of grand, sweeping curves and gold trimming. There's not a pair of greasy goggles in sight.

It sounds super classy, but I'm not sure what makes it particularly 'punk'. Then again, there were lots of brutal beheadings in 18th century France at the height of Rococo's popularity, and having your head chopped off for wanting to dismantle the French monarchy is pretty punk.

Biopunk is all about the wonderful world of biohacking which involves modifying the human body through biological means. This form of human experimentation involves 'hacking' your own body in hopes of improving your physical or mental state. The genre also includes themes of corporate and governmental control over body modification and genetic engineering.

BioShock totally has the Biopunk corner covered, but then after reading this totally bonkers Vox article about real-world biohackers there's so much more that writers can draw from. There's a wealth of source material for Biopunk in the real world too, like Silicon Valley's $8,000 young blood transfusions where an older person pays for a young person's blood to be pumped into their body as some sort of 'elixir of life' because why not?I don't think I'll ever get over reading that anytime soon.

Taking inspiration from Atompunk, Raypunk is one of the more outlandish punk genres and focuses on far-future science fiction with a distinct retro twist. Its aesthetic is close to mid-20th century pulp science fiction like the original Star Trek series or the Jetsonsanything featuring brightly colored rayguns, flying cars, and clunky talking robots.

It's not all Buck Rogers, though. Raypunk (known also as Raygun Gothic) can be surreal and dark, which sounds far more interesting honestly. Rick Remender's comic book Low is the closest piece of media I know of that captures the genre's "world of tomorrow" aesthetic while still being pretty bleak and serious.

I honestly don't really understand this one, but this Wikipedia page cites The Flintstones as part of the Stonepunk genre so that makes it legit, apparently.

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CD Projekt Red have nabbed Cyberpunk, but here are 5 other punks that deserve games - PC Gamer

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Apart from looking after Chinmaya, Sheela was now spendingmost of her time travelling around India and abroad. Bhagwan [Osho], who had outgrown his space only a few short years after moving to Poona, had instructed Laxmi early on to search for a new pieceof land where his ever-growing commune could swell and stretch ceaselessly.

For the last two years, Laxmi had been searching in Gujarat, its surrounding areas and other parts of India and Sheela had accompanied her on several occasions for official meetings, land hunting, etc. Obtaining land permits in India to expand Bhagwans work now seemed like an insurmountable task since the Guru had offended many politicians with his polemical words, and a brooding negative sentiment regarding Bhagwan and his work now permeated through the bureaucratic arenas of thecountry.

Sheela had once accompanied Laxmi on a trip to Delhi, to pay a brief visit to the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi. Even though Indira Gandhi had never visited the Ashram in Poona, she was highly intrigued by the New Age Gurus philosophy and had invariably accepted his books with a nod of gratitude. By the tail end of the 1970s, Bhagwans notoriety had assumed gigantic proportions nationwide, and Indira Gandhi, who was a highly circumspect politician, was too intimidated to actively promote or encourage the growth of his work in his home country.

One hot summer day, Laxmi and Sheela stood upright in a semi-circle in the Prime Ministers drawing room, patiently waiting for her arrival. Although distinct from afar, the two orange-robed women were amongst a dozen other visitors who had come with their individual requests. Indira Gandhi strode into the room and then slowly shuffled past the guests, addressing each visitor individually before moving on to the next one. As she approached the two sannyasin women and stood in front of them, Laxmi craned her neck, briefly narrated her land-woes in the Prime Ministers ear and then handed her a letter that lucidly stated all their requests. After the Prime Minister had nodded, Sheela proffered her a few of Bhagwans latest books, to which the Prime Minister genially smiled and bowed, expressing her gratitude.

Also read: I was part of Oshos spiritual whorehouse cult & flushed his mala in disgust: Mahesh Bhatt

Apart from meeting the Prime Minister, Sheela had also been entertaining numerous dignitaries and state officials in the luxurious restaurants and swanky bars of various five-star hotels of India. The famous Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Bombay was one of Sheelas regular haunts, where she would dine with several bigwigs and schmooze with the top guns in order to secure lucrative deals for the expansion of the Ashram. Unfortunately though, the hotel would soon close its doors on all orange-robed sannyasin women, after a number of them were repeatedly caught in a prostitution racket, bringing defamation into the fancy foyer of this prestigious five-star hotel. But the top-cat Sheela was exempted of course.

Bhagwans promulgation of a promiscuous lifestyle and his relentless provocative speeches had turned him into a dartboard for the prudes. Many conventional bitter-enders were itching to teach the god-man a lesson. The meek ones would do it subtly by cutting the Guru with razor-blades under the guise of touching his feet, while the fuming swashbucklers would be equipped with daggers to throw at the Guru at any given time.

It had happened once in Bombay, in Bhagwans Woodland apartment days during his evening discourse, when an infuriated man in an inebriated state had attempted to enter Bhagwans flat with a knife in his hand. And the second time was at the Ashram.

On the slothful morning of 22 May 1980, Bhagwan, who was majestically seated on the podium, flanked by kneeling bodyguards, was delivering his discourse in the Buddha Hall. The crowd sat still, silent and stupefied. Sheela had as usual, positioned herself uncompromisingly, in the direct vision of her Bhagwan in the front row, and was sitting in silent ruptures as she ogled at her beloved unblinkingly.

Fifteen minutes into Bhagwans lecture, a young Indian man stood up, about twenty yards from Bhagwan. All the startled heads turned in the direction of the man as he ferociously yelled from afar, You are ridiculing our religion and then stormed towards the Guru with bloodshot eyes and a savagely contorted face. A few bodyguards pounced upon the man and grabbed him in a vice-like grip. Another accomplice leapt up from behind, to the rescue of his ally; and amidst all the scuffle and tussle, an arm flailed above the grappling bodies and a sharp knife flew towards Bhagwan, but fortunately missed its target. Bhagwan had continued lecturing calmly until the people in the hall had erupted in an uproar, whimpering and screaming frantically.

After Bhagwans bodyguards had carried the men out of the hall, Bhagwan raised his hands and placidly called out, Shanti! Shanti and then resumed his morning discourse.

Also read: India needs to talk about stress because now even gurus are killing themselves

It was later brought to light that the man with the knife, Bitthal Vilas Tupe, belonged to a Hindu fundamentalist group and had allegedly co-conspired this attack along with five of his allies. Though, in the subsequent court case, the attackers were not proven guilty. In the light of this attack, security measures in the Ashram were made more stringent. The number of security guards was doubled and several metal detectors were ordered from the US to be deployed on doors and various entrances. The atmosphere was now tense and not as lax as before.

One of Bhagwans bodyguards who had jumped up to the Gurus rescue during the attack was named Kirti, aka Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover, the cousin of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. Kirti had been living in the Ashram for quite some time along with his wife and a young daughter, serenely tending to Bhagwans garden before he was transformed into a samurai. During the same year, Prince Charles had visited India and Kirti had gone to Bombay to briefly visit his cousin, dressed in his flamboyant orange garb.

A month later, Kirti collapsed during a morning karate practice session in the Ashram and became paralyzed. He died of cerebral haemorrhage on 10 January 1981, at the age of thirty-three. Kirtis body was cremated in the traditional Hindu ritual on a funeral pyre while his devastated parents and brother watched over the glowing flames. Their grief had been strangely aggravated by the queerness and unfamiliarity of the foreign custom.

After the death of the prince, his young daughter and wife stayed back in the Ashram. The wife worked as an assistant to Teertha in his encounter groups. The daughter later became the bridesmaid at Princes Charles wedding to Lady Diana, in July 1981. While the daughter was still in England, the BBC broadcast a programme about the Ashram, which showed the Princess of Hanover in an encounter group, wearing inappropriate clothing and vehemently smacking another participant. Because of the shocking behaviour, the Princes parents fought and gained custody of their granddaughter. The Princess stayed put in the Ashram as a disciple of Bhagwan, whereas her alienated daughter moved on to live with her extended family in Europe.

This excerpt from Nothing To Lose: The Authorised Biography of Ma Anand Sheela by Manbeena Sandhu has been published with permission from HarperCollins India.

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When Ma Anand Sheela met Indira Gandhi to talk of land woes and Oshos ashram - ThePrint

2. The wealthy can take on more risk

People who have millions upon millions of dollars to their name are apt to have an easier time dealing with significant losses than the average investor. As such, they can take on more risk in their portfolios -- risk you may not be in a strong enough position to bear. Imagine you were to lose $10,000 on a bum stock. For you, that might be catastrophic. For someone with millions of dollars, it's probably a non-event. As such, if you're an average investor, you're better off buying stocks with a proven performance history, strong earnings, and a clear competitive advantage. Let the wealthy invest in speculative stocks that could deliver strong returns, but could also crash and burn.

Investing in real estate or art can be a great way to grow wealth. And the ultra-rich may have the means to tie up $1 million in an income property or $500,000 in a painting, both of which aren't as easy to sell as a stock or index fund. You, on the other hand, like the typical average investor, may not have the ability to tie up even a much smaller amount of money in an investment you can't unload quickly, which is why you probably can't afford to broaden your horizons the way the wealthy do.

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4 Reasons You Can't Afford to Invest Like the Wealthy - Mooresville Tribune

"In these days of COVID, the creative team and I are breaking new ground to deliver a high-quality theater experience using streaming technology, director Matthew Mazuroski said.

YOUNGSTOWN University Theatre at Youngstown State University will open its fall season with an online performance of The Glass Menagerie at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25.

Additional performances of the Tennessee Williams play, directed by Matthew Mazuroski, are at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26, Sept. 27, Oct. 3 and Oct. 4; and at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2.

The production will be available here, where tickets also can be purchased. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission single viewer; $25 for general admission group viewing/watch party; and free for YSU students and YSU faculty and staff with inclusion of Banner ID.

The Glass Menagerie is the story of a family desperate to break free of the burdens of their past and their present. The semi-autobiographical account of Williams early days in 1930s St. Louis is a heartbreaking yet often funny "memory play" told from the perspective of Tom Wingfield. Tom's mother, Amanda has been abandoned by her husband and now lives only for her children; his unmarried sister, Laura, who is a fragile and painfully shy, retreats into a world of glass animals; and Tom is torn between his poetic inclinations and the responsibility of supporting his mother and sister. Each escapes into their own personal "glass menagerie" as a means of eluding the pain of their own and each other's existence.

"In these days of COVID, the creative team and I are breaking new ground to deliver a high-quality theater experience using streaming technology, Mazuroski said in a news release. By adapting this traditional theater experience into a more filmic experience, we are recording the work of the actors, designers and crew that allows us to continue our educational mission in a robust and rewarding way one I strongly believe that our audiences will thoroughly enjoy."

The cast includes Nate Montgomery, Elise Vargo and Mitchell Sharp. Guest artist Molly Galano, a veteran regional community theater actor, will perform the role of Amanda Wingfield.

For more information, call the Office of Community Engagement and Events at 330-727-7514.

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University Theatre to open season with virtual performance of Glass Menagerie - Mahoning Matters

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Municipal bonds have historically low default rates, which means that if you choose to invest in them, you're likely to get all of your interest payments on schedule, especially if you choose bonds with a high credit rating. But here's where municipal bonds have a major advantage over corporate bonds: You'll get a huge tax break for putting them in your portfolio.

The interest you earn from corporate bonds is subject to taxes -- there's no getting around it. On the other hand, municipal bond interest is always exempt from taxes at the federal level. Furthermore, if you buy municipal bonds that are issued by the state you reside in, you'll avoid state and local taxes on that interest as well. That's a good thing if taxes are a concern for you, whether because you're already in a high bracket or you're worried about paying them during retirement.

Now one thing to keep in mind is that while municipal bond interest may be tax-free, capital gains on the sale of those bonds -- which will apply if you buy municipal bonds and then sell them at a price that's higher than what you paid for them -- will still be subject to taxes, the same way you'd pay taxes for selling a stock at a price that's higher than what it cost you to buy. But that interest income won't generate a federal tax bill, which makes it a nice source of incoming cash for you. You'll have the option to reinvest that interest as you see fit, or collect it and use it to supplement your income (retirement or otherwise).

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Here's Why Municipal Bonds Belong in Every Investor's Portfolio - Mooresville Tribune

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Donald Trump, ironically, are on the same page regarding schooling in buildings. In advocating for in-person instruction, they are both wrong. In-school sessions bring every thoughtful student fear ear that she or he is about to give a deadly virus to grandma that evening at home or later that month. That alone means that until there is a successful vaccine, in-school learning cannot be as effective as online learning.

Mark Stewart Greenstein

In-school sessions are not as good as online sessions. Masked teachers cant be heard as well as unmasked teachers teaching online. Masked teachers lose half of their face to students. And masked students fail to give teachers feedback about how their teaching is going over.

My firm helps middle schoolers and high schoolers. We have individually tutored academics and SAT prep since 2007, and we have conducted online classes for six years. When we teach online we can react to our students expressions. We also have the ability to segment students into groups; one group can move faster and grapple with higher level materials, while the other group can move slower and not feel intimidated.

The inequities of some students not owning laptops or having high-speed internet access can be ended in an instant. The money a district saves by closing (in custodial costs, insurance costs, heating costs, and maintenance costs) can pay for laptops and high-speed internet in every one of its low-income households.

In case there is an inequity in tutors, that gap is lessened because tutors are far more affordable online. My firm has tutors available online at half the rates than it would cost them to travel and work in person. (Kristof cannot responsibly speak about ending education inequities without first demanding vouchers for urban families; the biggest rich-poor education inequity ENDS within months of a state adopting a meaningful voucher program.)

What Kristof doesnt raise is the deadly inequity: Black and Latino families have grandparents at home far more frequently than white families. There will be true counseling needed in abundance when any child, of any race, carries the thought that I just put grandma on a ventilator.

Kristof writes: We need to try harder to get kids back in school. The better mantra is: We need to get school back to kids. A school BUILDING is the least important aspect of a school. And now, these monuments are impeding learning and possibly becoming the cauldron of disease.

Online learning is good and getting better. This is a GOOD opportunity to reduce inequities. Small classes are more easily done online than in person. And neat enrichment classes that are often unavailable, especially in rural areas, can be held economically online because they are not limited by geography. The mineralogist in North Dakota can teach east coast, southern, and western kids from her home computer simultaneously. The rhetoric class that got cancelled years ago can be resurrected using an accomplished law student. The environmental science class can be taught by a collaborationof teachers who might at different times be on display from a perch beside a redwood forest, above an eroded shoreline, or even at a site damaged by a storm.

In sum, this is the time for educators to support micro schools. Whether they are done by established school districts alone, or by firms specializing in online schooling that can work with school districts, or with voucher support for online schools to teach the way they know best, kids will benefit and their families will stay safe.

We are at a beautiful crossroads of school safety and school choice. Amazingly, Trump is on the wrong side of what conservatives have asked for for decades; and the New York Times columnist is on the wrong side of what protective progressives have asked for in COVID-era safety. Both are showing their establishment cards here. NOT so amazingly, parents who dont want to imperil their households are allied with teachers who by and large prefer to teach online. They now have a common enemy intransigent government administrators.

The bureaucrats have chosen to modify their in-building procedures when they should be choosing to end them and put all their efforts into wholesome online education.

Mark Stewart Greenstein of Newington is director of Ivy Bound Test Prep, a Micro School for grades K 12.

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Online education has the advantages of school safety and school choice - The CT Mirror

Director Sharon Fogle was on hand the first day of school as Los Alamos Online Learning Academy students drove by to greet teachers and pick up materials. Photo Courtesy LAPS

LAPS NEWS

While many parents and students have chosen to learn remotely this fall until schools can transition to a hybrid model and potentially, to five days a week in person learning, some families opted for a new school opportunity this year: the Los Alamos Online Learning Academy (LAOLA).

These families will continue online learning throughout the school year. The new school, headed by Dr. Sharon Fogle, has approximately 350 students enrolled in kindergarten through 8th grade. There are currently two teachers per grade for K 6, one 7th grade teacher and one 8th grade teacher. The school also offers a full range of support services for special education and guidance. For grades 9-12, LAPS has an online option called Topper Virtual Academy headed by Ms. Renee Dunwoody. TVA is designed to provide a solid path to high school graduation.

In a letter to families, Dr. Fogle said, Whether your decision was based on safety, convenience, flexibility or consistency, we want you to know that we are committed to your childs physical, social, emotional and academic well-being.

Dr. Fogle recently shared more details about the new school and the differences between remote learning and the goals of the Online Academy.

What drew you to accepting the position of Director of the Online Learning Academy?

Albert Einstein said, In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. I believe that statement sets the vision for the Online Learning Academy. As schools began to adjust their programs to deal with the current health crisis, I saw an opportunity to work alongside the district leadership to create a unique educational experience for the students and families in our school community that would offer both quality and consistency. Our goal at the Academy is for our students to learn and thrive. We are committed to accomplishing this goal by remaining focused and keeping it simple.

What isthe difference between the current remote learning and the Online Learning Academy?

Right now, all students in the district are being taught remotely. The biggest difference between the two types of schools will become more apparent when the traditional schools reopen for in-person attendance. The Academy will follow the same instructional model every day throughout the school year. This gives our teachers and studentsthe ability to focus on developing highly effective strategies for teaching and learning in the online environment.

How does the Online Learning Academy work?

Students attending the Academy participate in two types of learning experiences. We referto them as synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous learning occurs at the same time, but not in the same place. During synchronous instruction, students learn from their teacher or peers in real-time. For the Academy, teachers and students use Google Meets for conducting face-to face learning experiences. Aside from Morning Announcements, this type of instruction is generally delivered in 15-20 minute segments with small groups of students. Synchronous instruction is scheduled in the mornings and averages between 1-2 hours depending on the grade-level.

The other type of instruction, asynchronous, is learning that occurs not only in different locations but also at different times. During asynchronous instruction, students learn by watching pre-recorded video lessons, email/chat exchanges between teachers and students, online discussion boards, completion of independent practice assignments, etc. Academy teachers use SeeSaw (K-1) and Google Classroom (2-8) to organize and manage asynchronous learning. Asynchronous learning is designed to take place in the afternoons or evenings depending on family schedules. Students may spend an additional one to three hours completing independent learning activities each day.

The Academy has three different schedules based on grade-level but they all have the same daily beginning, ending, and break times. To further help families, our schedule is the same every day of the week, Monday through Friday.

What experience do you bring to your new position?

This is my 35th year as a K-12 educator. Throughout my career, I have taught in a variety of grade levels, subjects, and settings. In my most recent role as an instructional coach for Los Alamos Public Schools, I have worked with teachers to focus on improving instruction through the design and implementation of learning targets. Learning targets help teachers break content into small chunks so that they can create activities that engage students in learning targeted skills that are assessed at the end of the lesson. Even though online learning is a new format for many teachers and students, the principles of effective teaching and learning remain the same. I look forward to working with our teachers as we implement these principles into our online classrooms.

How are things going so far?

Every day, I receive messages from our families like this one expressing gratitude thatLAPS is providing this option for their students.

My kids are enrolled in LAOLA. Things are going so much better this year than I could have possibly expected. The teachers are organized, they keep the kids engaged, and the technology is working well, it is great!

We appreciate the support and encouragement that we are receiving from our students and families. It is a privilege to partner with the families in our community as we work and grow together to help our students learn and thrive.

Do you see the Online Learning Academy as part of the future of LAPS or just something for this year as we deal with the pandemic?

In many aspects our story closely resembles the story of our community. The community of Los Alamos was created by individuals who came together to work on a project to address a specific national security crisis. Because of their collective expertise and pioneering spirit, they were successful in eliminating that threat. However, the innovations and discoveries that have continued to take place at Los Alamos National Lab over the past seven decades have long surpassed the goals of that initial mission.

The pandemic may have brought us together, but our goal of providing every student with an opportunity to learn and thrive is the foundation of our purpose for the Los Alamos Online Learning Academy. After the current health crisis is over, we believe that the Academy will continue to provide the students and families of LAPS with another choice for receiving a high quality education.

What makes the Los Alamos Online Learning Academy stand out from other online education options?

The things that make Los Alamos Online Learning Academy stand out from other online education options is our teachers and students. The daily learning program for each student attending the Academy is designed and delivered by a highly qualified teacher wholives and works in our community. These teachers have access to the same resources, training, and support that are available to every Los Alamos Public School teacher. Along with the strong relationships that students are able to have with their teachers, the Academy also provides an opportunity for students to connect and form friendships with their peers who live and share many of the same experiences and values found within our community.

The roadrunner was chosen for the Los Alamos Online Learning Academymascot because it is an animal unique to New Mexico just as our school is unique to LAPS. Furthermore, the roadrunner symbolizes intelligence, courage, and the ability to face dangers and difficulties with a positive attitude.

The original artwork for our logo with the phrase defying expectations was created for our school in memory of an individual who exemplified the spirit and passion of the roadrunner and the fulfillment of our school mission.

Our goal remains the same: to ensure that all of our students are learning and have the same opportunity to thrive, Dr. Fogle said.

Supt. Kurt Steinhaus said: I am pleased that we can offer this high-quality option for LAPS students and parents. This is one more example of our goal to provide flexibility for parents and student-centered options for children. Lets all say thank you to Dr. Fogle for leaning in and taking this new and exciting challenge.

For more information, check out the Los Alamos Online Learning Academy website: https://sites.google.com/laschools.net/los-alamos-online-learning-aca/home?authuser=0

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Los Alamos Online Learning Academy Goal Is To Ensure All Students Are Learning And Have Same Opportunity To Thrive - Los Alamos Reporter