From wire reports

Article source: http://newsok.com/union-says-500-layoffs-have-been-averted-at-american-airlines/article/3651336

WOONSOCKET, R.I. –

The Woonsocket school committee voted 3-2 on Wednesday to send layoff notices to every teacher and teacher’s aide in the district.

Teachers and some parents filled the middle school cafeteria before the vote, hoping to make an impression on the school committee.

The school committee chairwoman told NBC 10 earlier that with big financial problems, the school district needs flexibility and must let any teacher know by March 1 if they could lose their job.

Teachers said the school committee went overboard and that it should have figured out first who they were planning to let go.

“I do understand that with the deficit and with Rhode Island state law saying this had to be done by March 1. I think it could have been handled far better than it has been. I don’t think I should have received a generic group email that said, ‘Dear teacher, we recommend that we are dismissing you from your position,’” school librarian Deb Rossi said.

Most expect that the majority of the teachers will keep their jobs in the end.

Article source: http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2012/feb/22/3/woonsocket-school-committee-vote-layoff-notices-ar-941551/

Jonathan Brown suffers another injury against Geelong last year. Photo: Getty Images

Brisbane captain Jonathan Brown will return from his injury layoff in the club’s Saturday night NAB Cup opener on the Gold Coast.

Brown needed facial surgery for the second time last year when he suffered a nasty collision in round 17.

But the Lions have left out Daniel Merrett with hamstring soreness and Andrew Raines had minor knee surgery on the weekend.

Brisbane will play Gold Coast and Melbourne in the round-robin fixture.

The Demons have left out new co-captain Jack Trengove with a leg injury, meaning Jack Grimes will lead the side by himself.

Former Brisbane ruck-forward Mitch Clark, who was the story of last year’s trade week, will make his Demons debut against his old side.

The same applies for Gold Coast defender Matthew Warnock, who was traded from the Demons.

Star St Kilda midfielder Leigh Montagna is a late withdrawal from the team to play Geelong and Sydney in Friday night’s games at Etihad Stadium, with Tom Curren taking his place.

AAP

Article source: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/brown-returns-for-lions-after-injury-layoff-20120223-1tpx0.html

Defensively, Durango’s 1-3-1 and man defenses, coupled with some poor shooting luck, helped hold the Colts’ leading scorer, Dominick Bregar, 11 points below his 19 points-per-game average at eight. Taylor Voss led the way for Pueblo South with 10 points, and Makloski had seven.

Article source: http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120222/SPORTS03/702229922/DHS-gallops-past-the-Colts-Interior-offense-sparks-late-surge-in-the-Demons’-playoff-victory

After a two and a half-year layoff, Justin McCully is back and will be making his second trip back into the cage for Resurrection Fighting Alliance. The drive to compete and to test himself is what drew him back to fighting, after going just 2-2 in the UFC.  The recently turned 36-year-old didn’t know what to expect when he got back in that cage, on December 16th, to face Justin Grizzard.  What he got was a TKO win, a date to fight Derrick Lewis at RFA 2 and the confidence in knowing that he can still perform at a high level in MMA.

Having fought in the UFC with the heavyweight landscape was completely different; it only made sense to get Justin’s thoughts on the current crop of UFC heavyweights. “Well, I think any of us can beat any of us, I really do, but I think at the end of the day the UFC roster, the heavyweight division especially, needs some attention.”, said McCully.  Justin feels like the UFC is focusing more on the lower weight classes and not really working to improve the Heavyweight division.

A specific improvement he would like to see implemented is a Cruiserweight Division that would split the Heavyweight roster in half.  To Justin’s point, the weight range for Heavyweights goes from 206 to 265 which is the broadest range of any weight class.  Successes from the likes of lesser weight Heavyweights like Dos Santos and Velasquez show that lighter weight guys can excel in the land of giants, but they may be the exception instead of the rule.

Speaking of giants, former UFC Heavyweight Champ, Tim Sylvia recent comments that he could beat 80% of the current UFC Heavyweight roster has stoked some flames within the MMA community.  McCully doesn’t completely disagree with Sylvia but he though 100% sure of one thing. “Do I agree with Tim that he could beat most of those guys out there?  Maybe, but he can’t beat me, I know that.  I think the Heavyweight division in the UFC needs some controversy and needs to be shaken up a bit.”  Justin mentioned that he wouldn’t mind facing Sylvia down the road, but for now, his focus is on Derrick Lewis.

The final chapter hasn’t been written on Justin McCully.  The energy he has for the sport and for life definitely shown through during the interview.  The next page in the story of Justin McCully will be written on March 30th, in Kearney, Nebraska, when he goes toe to toe with a man, in Derrick Lewis, that has never been finished.

Where does a win over Lewis propel The Insane One?  Does he fight for a belt in RFA?  Does he get a super fight with Sylvia?  Does he get that call back to the “Big Dance” as he calls the UFC?  Without the crystal ball handy I can’t see into the future, but my gut tells me we’ll probably be seeing Justin McCully in a few more cages. To listen to the full interview with Justin McCully on Pure Adrenaline Radio, check out the archive on MMAValor.com.

Pure Adrenaline Radio airs every Thursday at 3:30pm PT / 6:30pm ET on BlogTalkRadio, with the archive appearing on MMA Valor Radio page.

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Get more great MMA news and analysis over at MMA Valor.

Article source: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/justin-mccully-doesn%E2%80%99t-think-tim-sylvia-could-beat-him

Dwane Casey doesn’t really know what the
Raptors will give him Wednesday
night – it’s an unprecedented point in an odd NBA season with a
team that’s not known for its consistency.

The coach knows he’s had three practices over four days to drill
some forgotten lessons back into his team and that’s all well and
good.

But it’s also been four days since they played an actual game
and fear that they come out sluggish against the Detroit Pistons in
the final game before a five-day all-star break is real.

And that’s what’s going to be so interesting to see at the Air
Canada Centre.

“That’s why (Tuesday) we tried to do more game-like situations,
controlled scrimmaging situations to try to simulate that,” Casey
said after a two-hour practice session. “It’s hard to simulate an
NBA game after you’ve been off for a few days.

“Whether that takes or not, we’ll find out but we also needed to
do some drills to get back our attention to detail, especially on
the defensive end and timing issues on the offensive side.”

That’s the double-edged sword the coach is dealing with,
although drilling lessons for longer-term growth would seem to be
more important in the grand scheme of things than one measly
regular-season game.

Yes, victory is the desired result any time they step on the
court but making sure the players don’t lose sight of the “system”
changes or “culture change” the staff has been trying to instill
since training camp is probably more important.

And if those lessons take, the
Raptors may finally find some of the
consistency that’s eluded them all season. If there was one glaring
problem over the first 32 games of the 66-game season, it was a
fluctuating level of play.

“We can play with anybody in this league, especially when we go
out there and put our minds to it,” said DeMar DeRozan.

“Once we start to do that on a consistent basis, and start
beating the teams we should beat, I think we’ll be fine.”

Saying it and doing it, however, are two vastly different
things. The
Raptors have been talking about a
need for better starts to games, better finishes to close ones and
the need for consistency all season; they have yet to do it.

And it comes as not much of a surprise to the head coach.

“There’s no question I expected it,” said Casey. “Am I
disappointed when it happens? Yes, but it’s something that I
expected from a young team, Jekyll and Hyde. I saw that early in
practice, in training camp and our couple exhibition games.

“(So) not totally surprised but still trying to push to get to
that level of consistency that we’ve got to have and need to have
to be a playoff team.”

One thing that’s pleased Casey so far is the way his team has
grasped many of the defensive principles he wanted to put in place.
Even with some slippage in the last couple of weeks, Casey remains
impressed.

“Defensively, they picked up the zone quicker than I thought,”
he said. “There are some nuances in it that we haven’t grasped but,
again, (Monday and Tuesday) have been two great days for us to work
on stuff.”

And the second half of the season will be time to fine-tune
what’s already in. Next fall is the time to expand it.

“The worst thing we can do now is add more defensive schemes
until we are near perfect on what we’re trying to do now, and Lord
knows we’re nowhere near perfect,” said Casey.

Article source: http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/Layoff-could-be-liability-for-RapsPractice-time-welcome-but-coach-Casey-fears-sluggish-start-vs-Pistons-31083682

WOONSOCKET, R.I. –

The Woonsocket school committee voted 3-2 on Wednesday to send layoff notices to every teacher and teacher’s aide in the district.

Teachers and some parents filled the middle school cafeteria before the vote, hoping to make an impression on the school committee.

The school committee chairwoman told NBC 10 earlier that with big financial problems, the school district needs flexibility and must let any teacher know by March 1 if they could lose their job.

Teachers said the school committee went overboard and that it should have figured out first who they were planning to let go.

“I do understand that with the deficit and with Rhode Island state law saying this had to be done by March 1. I think it could have been handled far better than it has been. I don’t think I should have received a generic group email that said, ‘Dear teacher, we recommend that we are dismissing you from your position,’” school librarian Deb Rossi said.

Most expect that the majority of the teachers will keep their jobs in the end.

Article source: http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2012/feb/22/3/woonsocket-school-committee-vote-layoff-notices-ar-941551/

The Willits school board has unanimously agreed to impose a five-day layoff on teachers and on classified employees for the 2012/13 school year, pending legal review.

If the layoffs for both kinds of district employees are implemented, the school year will be shortened by another four or five days, saving $237,000, and equaling a 2.5 percent cut in pay.

Even if the district’s legal counsel approves, the layoffs are still an “if,” because they may not be required if Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative passes in November.

The district is required, however, to present a budget including the potential cuts to the county Office of Education in March.

Superintendent Debra Kubin told board members she was sure the district could impose the five-day layoff on teachers (certificated employees), but that she’d need to check with district counsel to see if the district could impose such a layoff on classified employees.

Kubin said a layoff imposed by the district would have “huge implications for our teaching staff,” as it would mean teachers wouldn’t work enough days to earn their service credit for retirement for the year. If teachers agreed to voluntarily give up five days, however, WHS Principal Gordon Oslund confirmed, “that will not mean the loss of a year’s service credit.”

“You’re trying to force us to give up five days,” Brian Bowles, head of the Willits Teachers Association and earth science teacher at Willits High School, told the board.

“It’s almost

expected that employee groups give up five days, but we will still be expected to keep our workload and increase test scores.”

On Monday, Bowles told The Willits News that WTA lawyers say such a forced layoff of the entire teaching staff in the district would not be legal. “Our lawyers say it won’t fly,” Bowles said.

“We are interested in making a fair deal,” Bowles said. “We’re all community members. We all live here together. We need to come to an agreement that works for all of us. Right now, it’s a great climate to slam the teachers against the wall.”

WTA is still negotiating with the district on the contract for the 2011/12 school year.

At last Thursday’s meeting, trustees agreed on a total of $950,550 of reductions to the budget for 2012/13, down from the $1.2 million originally discussed, due to continuing changes in the budget picture. The changes include a further $45,000 reduction in special education funding on the negative side, and the hope the state Legislature will “fix” the 100 percent elimination of home-to-school transportation for 2012/13 as it has for 2011/12.

At Kubin’s suggestion, the board voted to take cuts in athletic programs eliminating middle school sports, assistant coaches and coaches’ stipends off the table, earning a big round of applause from the nearly 100 people in the room.

Trustees agreed to use some one-time federal jobs monies and Medical Administrative Activities monies to balance next year’s budget, as well as voluntary five-day reduction offered by administrative employees and classified confidential employees in the district office, which saves $33,000.

Rebates from the solar panels being installed on district buildings, $60,000 that the board had earmarked for maintenance, will now be used as general funds.

Trustees voted to eliminate the director of student services, who also functions as the director of the district’s special education programs, requiring the small schools principal to serve as special ed director, saving $110,642.

Other cuts include elimination of extra duty/extra pay monies (saving $34,000), eliminating a professional development day (saving $32.226), reducing discretionary budgets for each school site (saving $3,482), eliminating the reserve in the budget meant to hire two extra teachers if enrollment increases unexpectedly next year (saving $103,200), and eliminating a currently empty health tech position (saving $25,000).

One option board members put on the table, but did not choose, included closing the district office entirely for the month of July, saving $17,788. Another option the board finally discarded was moving Sanhedrin High School to the high school, then moving the Secondary Community Day School and the district office to the Sanhedrin facility on West Commercial Street. This would mean savings in rent and personnel (one administrator, two secretaries and custodial expenses) of $156,000.

Superintendent Kubin called the process of creating the original list of potential budget cuts “grueling and brutal and awful.”

“I don’t think anything on this list is acceptable,” Kubin said, “to me as a superintendent or as a mother of students in our schools.”

The cuts trustees made last week for the 2012/13 school year don’t fix the problem of future deficits in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

After making $2.8 million in cuts already in the last five years, Kubin said, if the tax initiative fails in November, “public education could not continue as it exists now.”

Article source: http://www.willitsnews.com/news/ci_20020680?source=rss

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Article source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/manufacturing/video-emd-layoff-compounds-cancer-patients-stress/article2346736/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2346736

Eastman Kodak Co. will lay off 66 employees by April 19, the company has told Ohio government.

According to ONN’s Affiliate WHIO-tv a letter dated Monday sent to Ohio’s Department of Job Family Services outlines what will be permanent layoffs, with more to come.

“Over the next few weeks, smaller layoffs are expected from other departments in Dayton, and we will keep you updated as they occur,” Marva Cosby, Kodak human resources director for digital printing solutions, said in the letter.

The layoffs will affect five manufacturing technicians, four mechanical engineers, three engineering designers and other positions.

Last month, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company — once one of the most respected names in American business — began the process of seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors. The company and industry observers have said commercial inkjet operations at Kettering’s Miami Valley Research Park are crucial to the firm’s future.

Employees and contractors in Kettering develop and build commercial inkjet printers, large systems capable of producing 4,000 digital-format, photo-quality pages a minute at a cost of less than one cent a page, Kodak has said. About 500 people work at the Kettering site.

Earlier this month, in response to questions from the Dayton Daily News, a Kodak spokesman acknowledged that 80 or more of the company’s approximately 500 Kettering employees will be laid off. The layoffs represent about 16 percent of Kodak’s local work force and were the first local job cuts Kodak confirmed since it filed for reorganization.

Asked about the company’s plans, Christopher Veronda, a Kodak spokesman, said recently there are no plans to shift manufacturing away from Kettering.

“We have been investing significantly in our commercial inkjet (facility), and we plan to continue investing in the business,” Veronda said. “Most of that investment is focused on Dayton, since it’s home to the business.”
 

Article source: http://www.onntv.com/content/stories/2012/02/22/story-kodak-jobs.html