The stylista steps out with her oldest son! Plus, see more photos of celebs spending time with their loved ones.
Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 celiac disease san francisco giants Medal of Honor Warfighter Richard Mourdock
-
Larry Levy
-
/ By Yael Segev /
Chicago based Levy Restaurants has succeeded in establishing a bond between people who go to the Super Bowl and our liking for a delicious home cooked meal.
35 years ago, Brothers Larry and Mark Levy opened a deli called D.B. Kaplan?s Delicatessen in Chicago?s Water tower Place, with the help of their mother Eadie.
The Levy Restaurants brand has since become a national chain of award-winning restaurants, today employing thousands of workers in over 100 US locations and several more abroad.
Major success for Levy?s came when they combined a fine-dining experience with America?s love of sports.
The idea emerged in 1982, when they opened a restaurant at the old Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago Sox. 3 years later, Levy began supplying dinning services at Chicago Cubs? Wrigley Field. ?The company has since expanded coast to coast, opening branches in well known locations like Wolfgang Puck Grand Caf? at Walt Disney World Resort, Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the American Airlines Arena in Miami. Just a few days ago, the Portland Trail Blazers announced that Levy Restaurants had been selected as the official food and beverage provider at their Rose Garden Arena.
Levy?s cuisine has even been granted a series of distinguished awards, such as Restaurants and Institutions Magazine?s Ivy Award three times, the James Beard ?Foundation Award and a Gold Medal from the American Culinary Federation.
We asked founder Larry Levy, and Andy Lansing, of Levy Restaurants how they managed to tap into sporting culture in the first place.
?It was 1982, and the White Sox had built skyboxes at old Comisky Park in Chicago. They thought that they could sell the skyboxes more easily if a restaurant company would ?cater? the food. They approached us and we said no five times. We said, ?We?re not caterers, we are restaurateurs.? Finally, we said yes for all the wrong reasons. We love baseball and we thought we?d get good seats to the games if they were ever in the World Series.
Ultimately, our restaurateur approach completely reinvented the experience and tempted fans with something totally unexpected at that time ? delicious food at the ballpark. Right away it became clear that there was a whole new appetite ? literally ? for a great dining experience in sports and entertainment. Building on that success, we brought restaurant quality dining to sports and revolutionized the fan experience, expanding the possibilities of what teams were able to achieve for their fans.?
How did you get the idea to break the old connection between sports events and junk food and bring premium healthier dining to popular sports?
?Let?s not kid ourselves; there still is junk food if you want it! We do, however, have more options than ever before for fans to make healthier choices.
What continues to set us apart is our restaurateur-driven approach. Our menus evolve with inspiration from the community and we stay tuned in to new trends in dining, like vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free menus. So while we celebrate game day traditions, we bring out the very best flavor, like doing a perfectly grilled hot dog on freshly toasted bun. And when we create menus we also tap into what gives a particular city or region it?s unmistakable local flavour, and then do our best to provide that to the fans and guests.?
The Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, the U.S. Open Tennis Championship ? you have been catering all these giant national sport events.? Tell us how you can deliver premium dining for events of this magnitude?
?Massive events like the US Open, the Kentucky Derby and the Super Bowl require extensive planning in every aspect to bring our partner?s vision to life. We methodically go through every detail, including things like developing menus, staffing and training, concept design and promotional planning. There are a myriad of variables leading up to and during major events. It is essential to have the best team in place, not only to plan, but to adapt and react spontaneously with the smartest solutions and oversee the thousand details to ensure everything, from printing of the menu, the layout of the space, to the entr?e served, is flawless.?
The social media revolution has a crucial impact on the way business is done these days. Can you describe this effect on the restaurant industry?
?There is no doubt that the digital age has had an enormous impact on every aspect of life and how we communicate. Social media has opened up incredible opportunities for us to have a real-time dialogue with guests and fans. Today, we can reach guests in a whole new way and engage them while they are standing in line checking out their Facebook pages on their smart phones, or at home on their iPads planning a trip to the stadium. We also get immediate fan feedback through sites like Yelp, Twitter, etc. about what they liked and what wasn?t so great.?
In the past you?ve said that you hire people for two main reasons: being nice and being passionate. How do you balance these qualities?
?What I always tell people is that being nice, and being passionate and being focused on excellence are not mutually exclusive. I think a big part of our continued success and growth as a company is due to our collective passion for sharing heartfelt hospitality with our guests?.
Thank you.
Source: http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/06/04/gefilte-shmilte-levys-food-is-best-2/
Mary Leakey Side Effects bob marley weather the walking dead the walking dead Walking Dead Season 3
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ten years ago, poker shows proliferated on TV and then faded but with several states and federal legislators moving to legalize the game online, some networks are betting that TV poker is back.
"Online poker will introduce a lot of new people to the game and I think that will bring another big wave to television," said Jamie Horowitz, vice president original programming and production for Walt Disney's ESPN.
ESPN televises the popular World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament, currently taking place in Las Vegas through July 6. ESPN will air 26 segments on WSOP starting on July 23.
On Wednesday, CBS's Showtime will air for the first time on TV a 2009 documentary called "All In - The Poker Movie," about how poker has come to be part of the mainstream culture.
Hollywood agents, TV executives, poker and gaming executives have been meeting to discuss and pitch new poker programs, from reality shows about female tournament players, to shows potentially featuring new online gaming companies.
Others caution, however, that a resurgence in poker TV needs more than the three states, Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey, that have passed online gambling laws to kickstart the game on TV again.
"Although online gambling may only have momentum in three states right now, it could be a great lead-in for programming," said Alec Driscoll, director of gaming development for American Casino and Entertainment Properties LLC.
Off-shore poker websites such as PokerStars were the forces behind the poker TV boom, starting around 2003, serving as on-air sponsors and buying air time for their own shows.
But that all changed on April 15, 2011, known in the gaming industry as "Black Friday," when the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the founders of these sites on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses.
The sites were closed to U.S. online players, sending shockwaves through the poker world and the TV industry.
Networks slashed shows. But then the DOJ in late 2011 clarified its stance on the Wire Act, enabling states to legalize online gambling.
CASINOS AND NETWORKS EXPECT BIGGER MARKET
Nevada was the first state to go live in late April, while others like New Jersey and Delaware are preparing to start online poker in coming months. Several others are considering similar laws, while lawmakers in Congress are also working on legislation to allow online poker gambling across the United States, giving casinos and TV networks a bigger market.
Larry Gerbrandt, principal of Media Valuation Partners, said the last poker TV boom helped offshore online poker sites to drive viewers to their sites. Gerbrandt said it will take similar investment by fledgling online gaming companies to fuel television, although he believes poker show ratings are rising.
Comcast's NBC Universal's E! Network is developing a new reality show called "Queens are Wild" that follows four top female poker players who room together as they travel the world and compete to win millions.
Ben Spector, of Los Angeles-based Tollin Productions, said he was approached by top Hollywood agency CAA to pitch the reality show on female poker players to networks.
Taiwanese-born professional poker player Maria Ho, who has accrued more than $1 million in tournament earnings, is one of the women featured. Ho is no stranger to TV and has appeared on "The Amazing Race" and "American Idol" and is a commentator on the "Heartland Poker Tour" syndicated TV series.
"When I got into poker, I didn't see myself going down the TV path," Ho said. She gave up plans to go to graduate school to play poker. "It's been the ride of my life."
Gary Quinn, vice president, programming, NBC Sports Group, said the unit is in discussions about different poker projects. It airs the "National Heads Up Poker Championship" and brought back "Poker After Dark" in 2012 after withdrawing it a few years earlier.
New online gaming companies are mulling TV opportunities. Station Casino Inc's Ultimate Gaming, the first company to take online bets in the U.S. in Nevada last April 30, is in discussions with networks.
"We are speaking with NBC and Fox and several other networks to see what the appetite is for the category over the next 24 months," said Joe Versaci, Ultimate Gaming's chief marketing officer.
Versaci and others are watching California closely because of its size and entertainment footprint. "What happens in California in late 2014 and 2105 will be key, not only because it's the epicenter of where TV is produced, but because it's like a country itself and can support a large poker market," he said.
(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Grant McCool)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-networks-bet-comeback-tv-poker-190300858.html
eastbay Samantha Steele Dec 21 2012 doomsday Is The World Going To End Mayans camilla belle
Ty Pennington, 48, carpenter, former host of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Once when I was a kid, my dad and I decided to build a boat. We got the plywood, the glue, paint, hardware, and other parts. I learned how to use different tools and piece the boat together. But when we took it on its maiden voyage, we got maybe 20 feet from shore and began to sink. My dad just laughed. I discovered that anything you can imagine is possible, but chances are it won't work on your first try. Take what you learned on the first attempt and don't make the same mistakes again.
Jim Koch, 64, chairman, the Boston Beer Company
My father, Charles Joseph Koch Jr., was a brewmaster for years until he saw demand waning for full-flavored beers. So in 1984, when I told him I wanted to start a brewery, he thought I was crazy?even though there were five generations of German brewmasters in my family. Once Dad got over his hesitation, he took me to the attic and opened the trunk with the family beer archives. He pulled out a yellowed piece of paper with my great-great-grandfather's recipe for Louis Koch Lager. Today, that beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager.
Brad Pitt, 49, actor, film producer
My dad took my brother and me fishing all the time?seemed like we'd go every weekend. Dad taught me how to cast the rod. Mine had a simple spinning reel. Pull back the bail, hold the line against the rod with your index finger, reach back, and then let it fly. The arm motion is almost like you're throwing a baseball.
Ben Wojdyla, 32, associate auto editor, Popular Mechanics
My dad had several tricks for getting a car out of a jam, whether the tires were spinning on packed snow or stuck in mud. He taught me to toss the floor mats or bundles of long, thick branches under the drive wheels; to spread sand or kitty litter on the icy ground so the tires could gain traction; or to put a bunch of knots in a thick rope and tie it across the tread. But the most fun way we pulled out a car was with a block and tackle hooked up to a tree. So now I always keep one in the trunk.
Adam Savage, 45, MyhthBusters Co-Host
When I was 7 or so, my father made me a fiberglass race car for my teddy bear, Gus. He hand-built it with polyester resin. It was a natural thing for a kid to ask his dad: "I want a race car for my teddy bear, Gus." In retrospect, I know that my parents were struggling financially at that point. It was a huge thing for him to have done, both as wish fulfillment, but also as a demonstration that you could think a thing and make it happen.
Mason Peck, 45, NASA chief technologist
My father, Richard Peck, has been writing science-fiction novels since the late '60s. I remember him being in full writer mode in 1977 and needing a study. I helped him build a bookcase with a secret door that led to his writing room. I learned at the age of 10 that it's not too difficult to build something fanciful if you spend a weekend working hard.
Adam Underwood, 27, student
Fix a stripped screw head by hammering a thick blade into it to form a notch where the driver can take hold.
Ty Murray, 43, rodeo champion
I was 4 when Dad taught me to ride. He'd run alongside me and hold on to my belt. It was like training wheels for a cowboy.
Kevin Bell, 27, weapons specialist
An emergency fix for a car radiator leak is to crack an egg into it while the car's running. The egg will solidify, and the particles will plug the leak.
Jay Penske, 41, media entrepreneur
From tinkering with go-karts and RC cars to building hockey and lacrosse nets, my dad taught me the fun of making things from scratch. As I got older, this evolved into seeking his guidance on building businesses and IndyCar race teams from the ground up. And I always keep his career-long maxim in mind: Effort equals results.
Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, 62, airline pilot
My father, a WWII U.S. Navy officer, taught me that a leader is responsible for the welfare of people under his or her care. I relied on this when I set US Airways Flight 1549 down in the Hudson River with no casualties. But there were many more lessons from Dad. In the late 1940s, he and my mom bought a plot of land and built a small house. Every few years we would add on to it. My dad gave my sister and me each a hammer. We learned to swing those?and later to do electrical, plumbing, masonry, and roofing. The family ended up with a big ranch-style home, and I ended up with a set of building skills.
Burt Rutan, 69, aircraft designer, aerospace engineer
Pop taught me how to catch a blue jay using a box and a four-bar trip. It was a classic design, made from wood branches. I whittled notches in the branches so they would fit together right to make the mechanism. I put a rock on top of the box, so it would fall faster, and used peanut butter as bait. It worked.
Jerry Beilinson, 46, deputy editor, Popular Mechanics
My father told me to look for headlights reflected off the undersides of power lines when I was driving on winding roads at night. Then I'd know when to switch off my high beams as other cars approached.
Mario Andretti, 73, race car driver
What I got from Dad was a set of principles. For him family, patriotism, and courage were everything. When our country, now Croatia, became part of Yugoslavia in WWII, he spent time in a refugee camp. When he got out, he could have stayed and put up with the Communist way of life. But with our future in mind, he emigrated with us to the United States. When I look back at that and think of the opportunities it created for me, that's much more admirable than anything I ever accomplished as a driver.
M. Miller Davis, 27, TV production assistant
Save up your dryer lint over the course of a few loads. Take an empty paper egg carton and pack each pod with a plug of the lint. Melt cheap or half-spent candles in a pot. Pour melted wax over each pod. Allow it to dry, then cut each pod out of the carton. Throw a couple of pods beneath some kindling in your campfire and they'll start a fire nicely.
David VanEsselstyn, 34, co-founder of Robot Foundry
My dad always carried a hacksaw blade in his toolbox. Once, when I was in high school, I lost my house keys, and he taught me to trip a double-hung-window latch by sliding the saw blade along the frame. I've carried one in my toolbox ever since.
Brian Gronniger, 26, advertising account coordinator
If your car tire has a nail in it and is losing air, pull out the nail and plug the hole with a drywall screw slathered with silicone as a temporary fix.
Amy Smith, 50, founder, D-Lab at MIT
My dad, an electrical engineering professor, taught me early in life how to use all sorts of tools. I learned a healthy respect for table saws, and an appreciation for offset screwdrivers and sharp chisels. To this day I have a fondness for the coping saw. It's one of the first Christmas presents I can recall receiving from him.
Jimmie Johnson, 37, Nascar race car driver
My father taught me to treat my equipment right. When I was young I raced motorcycles. One day I laid my bike down. I got so mad I kicked it. Dad came over and told me to pick up my bike. It wasn't the bike's fault that I had had a bad day. That lesson stuck with me. I have control over my performance; the car is what it is.
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/127-things-my-dad-taught-me-15541018?src=rss
nate robinson lena horne klay thompson kate upton the great gatsby the great gatsby one world trade center
June 3, 2013 ? Eighty-three percent of cancer doctors report that they've faced oncology drug shortages, and of those, nearly all say that their patients' treatment has been impacted, according to a study from researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented today at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The results showed that shortages -- which have hit especially hard among drugs to treat pediatric, gastrointestinal and blood cancers -- have left physicians surveyed unable to prescribe standard chemotherapies for a range of cancers.
In the largest study of oncologists to quantify the toll of the cancer drug shortage to date, the research team surveyed a random sample of 500 board-certified U.S. oncologists in late 2012 and early 2013 to obtain information about the impact of drug shortages on their practice during the previous six months. Their findings, drawn from the 250 physicians who responded to the survey, will be presented by the study's senior author Keerthi Gogineni, MD, MSHP, an instructor in the division of Hematology-Oncology in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.
"Our results indicate that the vast majority of oncologists in the country are facing wrenching decisions about how to allocate lifesaving drugs when there aren't enough to go around," Gogineni says. "The potential impact of these drug shortages is vast: they're putting patients at risk and driving up costs of cancer care."
In addition to quantifying the prevalence of cancer drug shortages, the authors also identified a variety of ways in which oncologists say they've adapted when preferred or recommended drugs are scarce:
? 78 percent of oncologists reported treating patients with a different drug or drug regimen
? 77 percent substituted different drugs partway through therapy
? 43 percent had to delay their patients' treatment
? 37 percent had to choose among patients who needed a particular drug
? 29 percent omitted doses and 20 percent reduced doses
? 17 percent referred patients to another practice
So far, little is known about how these adaptations may impact clinical outcomes, but the authors say the widespread treatment delays reported underscores the urgency of the problem. The most risky types of modifications, Gogineni says, occur when physicians substitute drugs partway through patients' treatments, since there is often no established dose equivalence or known safety profile when the substitute is combined with other therapies. Clinical trials are also hampered when drugs necessary for properly testing new regimens are scarce. The team found that nearly 12 percent of the time, drug shortages prevented enrollment in studies, delayed administration of a study drug, or suspended involvement of patients on clinical trials.
The findings also illustrate the substantial cost burden imposed by drug shortages. Prices for both scarce drugs themselves as well as their common substitutions have risen in recent years. Generic drugs tend to be most difficult to obtain -- sometimes due to manufacturing problems, but often, the authors note, as a result of decisions by drug makers to deprioritize production of generics due to their slim profit margin. Consequently, the Penn team found that when confronted with a shortage, oncologists substitute more expensive branded drugs 60 percent of the time. In some cases, these swaps increase costs of care exponentially: In the case of one generic IV chemotherapy drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which forms the backbone of treatment for several gastrointestinal cancers, 22 percent of doctors reported having to substitute with capecitabine, an oral equivalent that is metabolized into 5-FU in the body. Capecitabine is a branded drug which costs approximately 140 times as much as 5-FU for one round of colon cancer treatment.
Despite the prevalence of the shortage issues, 70 percent of doctors surveyed said their cancer centers or practices had no formal guidance for making allocation decisions. The scarcities raise difficult ethical questions that force doctors to weigh the needs of different but equally vulnerable patients against one another. Should a patient on a clinical trial get priority for a drug, for instance, or should a patient receiving standard therapy take precedence? Do patients with early-stage cancer who are being treated with curative intent get drugs first, or should they go to patients with metastatic disease who need chemotherapy to keep their cancer from spreading further?
The authors, which include Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, chairman of Penn's department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, point to the necessity of creating guidelines for substitutions, priority populations for scarce drugs, and guidance on how to discuss treatment changes resulting from shortages with patients.
"This is a dynamic problem, and when we learn about new shortages on the horizon, there is usually not a lot of time to plan for how to deal with them," Gogineni says. "Guidelines must be rapidly updated and disseminated, both to large academic medical centers and smaller community hospitals and practices -- where the majority of cancer care is delivered and which often lack the bulk-buying power to keep scarce drugs in necessary supply."
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/7kZVEkAJNW8/130603090547.htm
Pumpkin Carving Ideas Hurricane Sandy path sandy Time Change 2012 news 12 world series Natina Reed
NEW YORK (AP) ? Sexual assault occurs in myriad settings and the perpetrators come from every swath of U.S. society. Yet as recent incidents and reports make clear, it's a particularly intractable problem in the military, with its enduring macho culture and unique legal system.
The most significant factor, according to advocates, is the perception by victims in the military that they lack the recourses available in the civilian world to bring assailants to justice.
"The military says they have zero tolerance, but in fact that's not true," said Dr. Katherine Scheirman, a retired Air Force colonel with more than 20 years of service in the U.S. and abroad. "Having a sexual assault case in your unit is considered something bad, so commanders have had an incredible incentive not to destroy their own careers by prosecuting someone."
Insisting it takes the problem seriously, the military has put in place numerous policies and programs to reduce the assaults, notably since the 1991 Tailhook scandal in which Navy pilots were accused of sexually abusing female officers at a Las Vegas convention.
Still the problem persists, as indicated in a recent Pentagon report estimating that 26,000 service members were sexually assaulted last year, compared with 19,000 in 2011. Victims reported 3,374 incidents in 2012; there were convictions in 238 of those cases.
"That means there are thousands of felons walking around ? free and dangerous ? in the military today," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
Boxer is co-sponsor of a bill that would remove top commanders from the process of deciding whether sexual misconduct cases go to trial. Instead, that decision would rest with officers who are trial counsels with prosecutorial experience.
To advocates for assault victims, that would be a crucial step forward, given Defense Department findings that many victims are of lower rank than their assailants and most fear retaliation if they report the incident.
The missing element is accountability, according to Nancy Parrish of Protect Our Defenders, one of the groups urging changes in the military justice system.
"When military leaders are held accountable for countenancing bad behavior, then you'll begin to see a shift in the culture," she said. "They've proved they can do this with racial integration. Anyone who countenanced racist behavior would be fired."
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has conveyed the same message, calling sexual assault "a crime that demands accountability and consequences" and describing it as "a serious problem that we must solve."
Outrage over the Pentagon's failure to stem the problem has grown following an embarrassing string of arrests and incidents of sexual misconduct. On Friday, in the latest disclosure, the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three football team members sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house last year.
Some longtime advocates for assault victims say they've grown weary of promises to do better.
"They say they are dismayed, saddened, committed to making change, but all their rhetoric really boils down to is, 'How do we not get caught?'" said Paula Coughlin, who as a Navy lieutenant in 1991 was instrumental in bringing the Tailhook scandal to light.
"There's an environment in the military that says you can get away with it ? you don't go to jail if you attack women," said Coughlin.
In the civilian world, positions of power often are exploited by sexual abusers, as evidenced by the many cases involving clergymen, coaches and teachers.
Scheirman, now a physician in Edmond, Okla., said issues of power and control are particularly pronounced in the military.
"Commanders have the power to destroy your career, to make your life a living hell," she said. "Though 99.9 percent of them don't, you can't take that chance. If it was a commander who assaulted you, you'd be delusional to think that if you reported it, any justice would be done."
While precise comparisons are difficult, the Defense Department's recent report suggests that women in the military and the civilian world face roughly the same risk of sexual assault. One crucial difference is that most civilian victims have options, such as going to the police or filing a civil suit, in the aftermath of harassment or assault that aren't available to service members.
"In civilian world, all of these recourses act as a deterrent," said Anu Bhagwati, a former Marine captain who advocates on behalf of assault victims as executive director of the Service Women's Action Network.
In the military, Bhagwati said, "there's no freedom of movement, no right to quit your job, You're forced to coexist with your perpetrator."
Cynthia Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman, says the military does offer options to assault victims, who can report incidents to a sexual assault response coordinator, a victim advocate, a health care provider or a chaplain.
The contrasts between the military and corporate America are stark to Marene Nyberg Allison, who was in the first class of women at the U.S. Military Academy, graduating in 1980. After six years in the Army, she became an FBI agent, served on a Defense Department advisory committee on women in the military, and is now a senior executive with Johnson & Johnson.
"If I go on a business trip and someone tried to sexually assault me, I could sue them, I could sue the company, I could sue just about everybody," she said. "In the military, you're not allowed to do that."
"At a corporation, no one is asking, 'Does a woman really belong here?" she said. "You see that in the military ? this whole idea of 'Do women belong here at all?'"
Steps are being taken.
Two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the military to recertify all 25,000 people involved in programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault. On Thursday the Defense Department launched a service called The Safe HelpRoom, enabling assault victims to participate in group chat sessions providing support and referrals.
Bhagwati says the biggest strides toward achieving lasting change would be to double the representation of women in the military from the current level of 15 percent and end the exclusion of women from certain units and missions. In particular, she said, more women are needed as officers, so they have the collective confidence to push for change.
"It's hard for women to go against the grain," she said. "It's not a culture that teaches moral courage, as opposed to battlefield courage."
It's also a culture that has been conducive to sexism and the degradation of women, Bhagwati contends.
"At bases overseas, there's commercial exploitation of women thriving around them, women being trafficked," she said. "You can't expect to treat women as one of your own when, in same breath, you as a young soldier are being encouraged to exploit women on the outside of that base."
"We don't condone that kind of behavior," insisted Cynthia Smith. "We work in an environment where we need to treat everyone with respect."
Jessica Kenyon, who served with the Army in South Korea, recalled a pervasive tendency to scapegoat women.
"If there are any problems in the unit ? sex, drinking and driving, anything that could possibly be tagged to women being in the unit ? it's seen as their fault," she said.
Kenyon said her Army career derailed after she was raped and impregnated by a fellow soldier in 2006. Now 32, she runs online support services for military victims of sexual assault.
"I treat my cases like they are incest survivors," she said. "You're willing to take a bullet for the guy you just met and to have that trust willfully violated makes the sense of betrayal that much higher."
One notable aspect of the Pentagon's recent sexual-assault estimates was the level of male-on-male assaults. Men were the victims in nearly 14,000 of the estimated 26,000 assaults, although women, comprising a small fraction of active-duty personnel, had a higher rate of being assaulted.
"Men need to be encouraged to come forward, so if you ask for help, it's seen a sign of strength, not of weakness," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army officer who heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Allyson Robinson of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, one of the groups which successfully campaigned to let gays serve openly in the military, said repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" has given more male soldiers the confidence to report same-sex assaults.
"Under 'don't ask,' service members who were victims of assault by their own sex could have been accused of being gay if they reported it, and thus lose their careers," she said.
She disputed suggestions from some conservatives that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is responsible for an increase in male-on-male assaults.
"Sexual assault is never about sex or sexual orientation," she said. "It's a crime of violence that's about power and domination."
Cynthia Smith said commanders will be the key to any improvements.
"No one should be at risk ? male or female," she said. "Commanders are expected to provide the necessary resources or training so that both men and women know where to turn should they have questions or need support."
Dempsey, among others, suggests that the sexual assault problem has been aggravated by the strains of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Professor David Segal, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Research on Military Organization, said such strains are a key factor in the surge of suicides, spousal abuse and other problems in addition to sexual assault.
"The military has been phenomenally stretched over the last decade ? it's been asked to do too much for too long with too few resources," he said. "The veneer of civilization is very thin, and the wars have worn it down or cracked it."
___
Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/craryap
___
Online:
Protect Our Defenders: http://www.protectourdefenders.com
Service Women's Action Network: http://servicewomen.org
The Safe HelpRoom: https://safehelpline.org/about-safe-helproom
Defense Department: http://tinyurl.com/bo95o68
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/militarys-sexual-assault-problem-deep-roots-121614939.html
the office Granbury Texas CA Lottery madonna madonna Billboard Music Awards 2013 VA Lottery
FILE ? In this Nov. 9, 2011, file photo then-Controller Danny Werfel of OMB Office of Federal Financial Management watches as President Barack Obama (not shown) signs an Executive Order to cut waste and promote efficient spending across the federal government in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. Friday May 31st, 2013, Werfel, the new acting Commissioner of the IRS, issued a statement commenting on a report by Treasury Department's Inspector General in which he criticized a $4 million IRS conference in August 2010 in Anaheim, Calif. The report will be released Tuesday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE ? In this Nov. 9, 2011, file photo then-Controller Danny Werfel of OMB Office of Federal Financial Management watches as President Barack Obama (not shown) signs an Executive Order to cut waste and promote efficient spending across the federal government in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. Friday May 31st, 2013, Werfel, the new acting Commissioner of the IRS, issued a statement commenting on a report by Treasury Department's Inspector General in which he criticized a $4 million IRS conference in August 2010 in Anaheim, Calif. The report will be released Tuesday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Internal Revenue Service, already under fire after officials disclosed that the agency targeted conservative groups, faces increased scrutiny because of an inspector general's report that it spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012.
The report by the Treasury Department's inspector general about conference spending is set to be released Tuesday. The department issued a statement Sunday saying the administration "has already taken aggressive and dramatic action to reduce conference spending."
The White House and the agency were on the defensive before the report on conference spending. Agency officials and the Obama administration have said the targeting of conservative groups was inappropriate, but the political tempest is showing no signs of ebbing.
Three congressional committees are investigating, a Justice Department criminal investigation is under way, President Barack Obama has replaced the IRS' acting commissioner and two other top officials have stepped aside.
The chairman of one of those committees, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also released excerpts of congressional investigators' interviews with employees of the IRS office in Cincinnati. Issa said the interviews indicated the employees were directed by Washington to subject tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to tough scrutiny.
The closest the excerpts came to direct evidence that Washington had ordered the screening was one employee saying that "all my direction" came from an official who the excerpt said was in Washington. The top Democrat on that panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said none of the employees interviewed have so far identified any IRS officials in Washington as ordering that targeting.
The conference spending included $4 million for an August 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., for which the agency did not negotiate lower room rates, even though that is standard government practice, according to a statement by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Instead, some of the 2,600 attendees received benefits, including baseball tickets and stays in presidential suites that normally cost $1,500 to $3,500 per night. In addition, 15 outside speakers were paid a total of $135,000 in fees, with one paid $17,000 to talk about "leadership through art," the House committee said.
IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Sunday that spending on large agency conferences with 50 or more participants fell from $37.6 million in the 2010 budget year to $4.9 million in 2012. The government's fiscal year begins Oct. 1 the previous calendar year.
On Friday, the new acting commissioner, Danny Werfel, released a statement on the forthcoming report criticizing the Anaheim meeting.
"This conference is an unfortunate vestige from a prior era," Werfel said. "While there were legitimate reasons for holding the meeting, many of the expenses associated with it were inappropriate and should not have occurred."
On the topic of targeting conservative groups, Issa's committee also released excerpts from interviews congressional investigators conducted last week with two IRS employees from the agency's Cincinnati office. The excerpts omitted the names of those interviewed and provided no specifics about individuals in Washington who may have been involved.
One of the IRS employees said in an excerpt that they were told by a supervisor that the need to collect the reports came from Washington, and said that in early 2010 the Cincinnati office had sent copies of seven of the cases to Washington.
One of the workers also expressed skepticism that the Cincinnati office originated the screening without direction from Washington, according to the excerpts.
Appearing Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Issa said this conflicted with White House comments that have referred to misconduct by IRS workers in Cincinnati.
Issa said, "This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters and we're getting to proving it."
Cummings said Issa's comments conflicted with a Treasury inspector general's report that provided no evidence that the Cincinnati office received orders on targeting from anyone else.
The interviews with IRS employees were conducted by Republican and Democratic aides on Issa's committee and also involved aides from both parties with the House Ways and Means Committee. One of the employees was a lower-level worker while the other was higher-ranked, said one congressional aide, but the committee did not release their names or titles.
The IRS Cincinnati office handles applications from around the country for tax-exempt status. A Treasury inspector general's report in May said employees there began searching for applications from tea party and conservative groups in their hunt for organizations that primarily do work related to election campaigns.
That May report blamed "ineffective management" for letting that screening occur for more than 18 months between 2010 and 2012. But that report ? and three hearings by congressional committees ? have produced no specific evidence that the Cincinnati workers were ordered by anyone in Washington to target conservatives.
The latest report on IRS conferences will be the subject of a hearing Thursday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Karen Kraushaar, spokeswoman for the inspector general's office, said public discussion of a report before it is released "serves no purpose and should generally be avoided."
Werfel is scheduled to make his first congressional appearance as acting commissioner Monday when he appears before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Associated Pressspartacus Jonathan Winters Justin Bieber Anne Frank will ferrell coachella zack greinke zack greinke
