Camadevi

Camadevi (also spelled Jamadevi; IPA: [tʃaːmaˈdeːʋiː]; Pali: Cāmadevī; , , ; 7th-century – 8th-century) was the first ruler of Hariphunchai (Pali: Haribhuñjaya), which was an ancient Mon kingdom in the northern part of Thailand today.
Most records of Camadevi mention her life period differently. For example: A book called "“Chinnakanmalipakon”" said that she reigned in 662 for 7 years; Manit Wallipodom’s research mentioned that she was born in 623, reigned in 632 for 17 years and died in 715 at the age of 92; and The legend of Camadevi translated and edited by Suttavari Suwannapat mentioned that she was born in 633, reigned in 659 up til 688 and died in 731.
Early life.
As written in the Legend of Cāmadevivaṃsa, it was recorded that she was a scion of the ruler of Lavo Kingdom. But according to the mythology, people believe she was a daughter of a wealthy man named Inta, who lived in Nong Duu village, which is in Pasang district of Lamphun at the present time. When she turned 3 months, she was grabbed and taken away by a giant bird. The bird flew over Doi Suthep and gave the young baby to a hermit named Suthewa Rusi. He took good care of her and named her Vi.
Vi grew up well-educated with Suthewa Rusi. As Vi turned 13 years old, he prophesied her destiny and found out that she had a chance to be the ruler of a great kingdom in the future. He built a raft and sent her away to Lavo because it was the most prosperous kingdom at that time. It took months for the raft to reach Lavo Kingdom. As the raft reached the kingdom, people were very amazed by the incident. The King and the queen were very pleased about the girl’s arrival. They kept her and gave her a new name, which was Camadevi.
Camadevi grew up and lived comfortably in the royal court of Lavo Kingdom. After the ruler and his wife were informed by the fortuneteller that this girl had glory to become the powerful ruler of a great kingdom and would also marry a great man, they raised Camadevi position to be the Princess of Lavo and arranged a coronation for her when she was 14 years old.
Marriage.
A marriage was arranged for Camadevi, as she turned 20. She was supposed to marry Ramrat, a prince from the neighboring Kingdom, Ramburi, but as she was also well-known for her beauty. Another prince from a Mon kingdom asked the King of Lavo for permission to marry her but was rejected. He felt enraged and decided to start a war with Lavo Kingdom to win Camadevi.
Camadevi chose to lead the army herself. She gained allies from neighboring kingdoms and could win the army. Her victory was admired and celebrated by the people but Camadevi was sorrowful about all the lives lost in this war, so she gave an order to build a temple on the battleground devoted to the deceased.
According to the Legend of Cāmadevivaṃsa, the war took place in 653. After the situation was settled, the marriage was arranged 2 years later.
Ruling Haripunchai.
Around 659, Suthewa Rusi came to Lavo to ask Camadevi take over the new kingdom, Haripunchai, which he and his friend had established. However, the story was recorded differently in the Legend of Cāmadevivaṃsa. It was written that Prince Ramrat was ordained at that time. Since her husband was not with her, the invitation was sent from Haripunchai, asking her to be in charge. According to the mythology, she accepted the offer because the citizens were in trouble and that the city needed a leader. She also wanted to repay Suthewa Rusi for his kindness for raising her when she was young.
It took her 7 months to reach Haripunchai by boat. After arriving, Camadevi was crowned to be the ruler of the Haripunchai. She was already pregnant before leaving Lavo and gave birth to 2 sons 7 days after the coronation. Her first son was named Mahantayot and her second son Anantayot.
Death.
Camadevi reigned until 688 before Mahantayot took over. She left her role in the government and changed to preserve Buddhism instead when she turned 60. She died in 731 when she was 89 years old.
After her death, Mahantayot arranged a funeral for her for 7 days. Her bones were collected and contained in the Suwan-Chang-Kot-Chedi at Wat Camadevi in Lamphun after the cremation.
Monument.
Camadevi’s statue is located in Naimueang Sub-district, Lamphun province. It is situated about 1 km from the city hall near the Nongdork public garden. The opening ceremony of the monument took place on October 2, 1982 and was inaugurated by Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun.


Rob Furlong

Rob Furlong (born 11 November 1976) is a Canadian former military sniper who, from March 2002 until November 2009, held the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill in combat, at . His record stood for over 7 years and was improved upon by Craig Harrison with a distance of using a L115A3 Long Range Rifle.
Early life.
Born on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, on 11 November 1976, Furlong taught himself to fire a rifle ambidextrously.
Military career.
Inspired by a VHS tape, Furlong decided to join the military in 1997. Furlong enrolled with the Canadian Army and served with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Furlong was stationed in Bosnia in 1999 as a peace keeper.
In March 2002, Furlong participated in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan's Shah-i-Kot Valley. His sniper team included Master Corporal Graham Ragsdale (Team Commander), Master Corporal Tim McMeekin, Master Corporal Arron Perry, and Corporal Dennis Eason. A group of three Al-Qaeda fighters were moving into a mountainside position when Furlong took aim with his long-range sniper weapon (LRSW), a .50-calibre McMillan Brothers Tac-50 rifle, loaded with Hornady A-MAX 750 gr very-low-drag bullets. He began firing at a fighter carrying an RPK machine gun. Furlong's first shot missed and his second shot hit the knapsack on the target's back. The third struck the target's torso, killing him. The distance was measured as . With a muzzle speed of , each shot reached the target almost three seconds after Furlong fired. This became the longest sniper kill in history at the time, surpassing the previous record set by his teammate, Master Corporal Arron Perry, by .
This feat is not typical for the effective range with a high first-hit probability of the employed rifle on non-static targets (see maximum effective range). The shot was aided by the ambient air density in the Shah-i-Kot Valley where Furlong operated, which is significantly lower than at sea level due to its mean elevation.
In December 2003, PPCLI snipers Master Corporal Graham Ragsdale, Master Corporal Tim McMeekin, Corporal Dennis Eason, Corporal Rob Furlong and Master Corporal Arron Perry were awarded the Bronze Star Medal by the United States Army for their actions in combat during Operation Anaconda from 2–11 March 2002. Furlong held the record of longest kill shot recorded in history until November 2009, when his record of was beaten by Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison, of the Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry of the British Army, who set a new record by shooting two Taliban fighters at , using a .338 Lapua L115A3 Long Range Rifle.
Later career.
After leaving the Canadian Army, Furlong moved to Edmonton, Alberta and joined the Edmonton Police Service in 2004, although he had considered joining Joint Task Force 2. In 2012, Furlong was dismissed from the police for discreditable conduct, after an episode in which he physically abused and urinated on a fellow police officer. , he operates a marksmanship academy, called Rob Furlong's Marksmanship Academy, based in Alberta.


United Nations Security Council Resolution 339

United Nations Security Council Resolution 339 was adopted on 23 October 1973 in order to bring a ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War where Resolution 338 two days before had failed.
The resolution primarily reaffirmed the terms outlined in Resolution 338 (itself based on Resolution 242), returning the forces of both sides back to the position they held when the cease fire (338) came into effect, and a request from the United Nations Secretary-General to undertake measures toward the placement of observers to supervise the cease fire.
The resolution was adopted with 14 votes to none; the People's Republic of China did not participate in the voting.


Admissibility (ECHR)

Under the European Convention on Human Rights, admissibility governs whether an individual or inter-State application will be accepted for consideration on the merits and progress to a full case. Normally, all domestic legal remedies must be exhausted before an application will be considered by the European Court of Human Rights. Inter-State cases are subject to more lenient admissibility rules than applications by individuals.


Bohemond, Duke of Apulia


Rogers Act

The Rogers Act of 1924, often referred to as the Foreign Service Act of 1924, is the legislation that merged the United States diplomatic and consular services into the United States Foreign Service. It defined a personnel system under which the United States Secretary of State is authorized to assign and rotate diplomats abroad. It merged the low-paid high prestige diplomatic service with the higher paid, middle class consul service. The act provided a merit-based career path, with guaranteed rotations and better pay.
History.
Article II, section 2 of the US Constitution authorized the President to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, "Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls." From 1789 to 1924, the diplomatic service, which staffed US legations and embassies, and the consular service, which was primarily responsible for promoting American commerce and assisting distressed American sailors, developed separately.
With small appropriations from Congress, overseas service could not be sustained based on salary alone. Diplomatic and consular service appointments fell on those with the financial means to sustain their work abroad. That and a government-wide practice of political appointments based on nomination, rather than merit, led to careers for those with relations and wealth, rather than skill and knowledge.
Reform.
Wilbur J. Carr, the chief of the consular bureau, sought to end the political turmoil that affected both the diplomatic and consular services. Working with his colleague Francois Jones, they composed a congressional bill to change the services into one based on a merit system.
Between 1895 and 1905, the bill was continually defeated. Then Secretary of State Elihu Root in 1905, a reformer himself, discovered Mr. Carr as head of the consular bureau. Taking the original ideas, Root worked with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and succeeded in passing a merit-based bill for the consular service in 1906.
Carr began his initial overseas tour in London in 1916. He noted tensions between the diplomatic and consular corps in London and was "shocked to see the staff still wearing top hats and long-tailed coats to work each day". He was further surprised when he heard some of the American diplomatic staff speaking with British accents. He discovered that some of these officers had been living in London for so long they had become almost identical to the British foreign service members with whom they often met and socialized. Carr would later comment that "I have seen some of these young secretaries, who have had exceptional social opportunities and advantages in the capitals abroad, become the most abject followers of the social regime in the foreign capital. One of the things that I hope is going to follow from this bill is to send some of these de-Americanized secretaries to Singapore as vice consul, or to force them out of the service."
With trade becoming an important foreign relations issue in the 1920s, U.S. Representative John Jacob Rogers of Massachusetts sought to complete reforms started by Carr, now Assistant Secretary of State. The bill passed May 24 as the Foreign Service Act of 1924 although it is also called the Rogers Act in honor of the principal author.
Controversy after passage.
After passage of the Rogers Act, the Executive Committee of the Foreign Service Personnel Board drafted a memorandum on avoiding appointment of blacks and women in the new competitive process. Then Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes dismissed such views. The first black candidate to pass the exam in 1925 was Clifton Reginald Wharton, Sr.. While he was allowed to serve, his initial treatment appeared to be far from ideal.


Patrick Ngugi Njoroge

Patrick Ngugi Njoroge is a Kenyan economist, banker and the 9th governor of the Central Bank of Kenya.
Background and education.
Njoroge was born in Kakuma, Kenya circa 1961. He attended Mangu High School from 1973 until 1976, for his O-Level education. From 1977 until 1978, he attended Strathmore College for his A-Level studies. He entered the University of Nairobi in 1979, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1983 and a Master of Arts in Economics in 1985. From 1987 until 1993, he studied at Yale University, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy in economics.
Career.
Following his master's degree, he worked in Nairobi as a planning officer at the Kenyan Ministry of Planning from October 1985 until August 1987. Following his PhD studies, he worked as an economist at the Kenyan Ministry of Finance from March 1993 until December 1994.
From April 1995 until October 2005, he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D. C., first as an economist and later as a senior economist. From November 2005 until December 2006, he served as the IMF mission chief for Dominica. He then served as the deputy division chief, Finance Department, at the IMF, from December 2006 until December 2012, based in Washington, D. C. from December 2012 until June 2015, he served as advisor to the deputy managing director of the IMF.
He was nominated to be the governor of the Central Bank of Kenya by Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, on 2 June 2015. After vetting by the parliamentary committee on Finance, Trade and Planning on 17 June 2015, he was approved by the parliament of Kenya on 18 June 2015. He assumed office effective 19 June 2015.
On 13 October 2015 the Central Bank of Kenya under his leadership placed Imperial Bank into receivership.
In November 2018, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres appointed Njoroge to the United Nations' Task Force on Digital Financing of Sustainable Development Goals, co-chaired by Maria Ramos and Achim Steiner.
Personal life.
Njoroge is of the Roman Catholic faith and a numerary member of Opus Dei.


Niezhin (Hasidic dynasty)

The Niezhin branch of the Chabad Hasidic movement was founded after the death of the third rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. The group was one of several groups that sought to succeed Rabbi Menachem Mendel, whose death created a dispute over his succession. The group was led by its founder, Rabbi Yisroel Noach of Niezhin, a son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel.
A branch of Chabad.
After the death of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, several of his sons independently assumed the role of rebbe. Rabbi Yisroel Noach of Niezhin assumed the role of rebbe in the town of Nizhyn, the same town his grandfather, Rabbi Dovber Schneuri (the second rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch), was buried. He died without a successor, thus ending the Niezhin dynasty. His son was Rabbi Avraham Schneerson of Kischinev, whose daughter, Nechama Dina Schneersohn, married Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch.


Herman A. Metz

Herman August Metz (October 19, 1867 – May 17, 1934) was a German-American businessman and politician who served as U.S. Representative from New York and New York City Comptroller.
Life.
Metz was born October 19, 1867 in New York City, to Edward J. and Frances K. Metz, who were immigrants from Germany. He attended private and public schools. Later in life he was honored with the degree of Sc.D. from Union College and the degree of LL.D. from Manhattan College.
Metz was married twice, first, from 1891 to 1915 to Laura A. Traudt, from whom he was divorced, and second, from 1916 onward, to the former Mrs. Alice M. Norman ("nee" Van Ronk).
Metz died May 17, 1934, in a hospital in New Rochelle, New York. He was survived by his second wife, four sons, and a brother. He was interred in Kensico Cemetery, Westchester, New York.
Business career.
Metz attended private and public schools and rose to prominence as a manufacturer and importer of dyestuffs, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. From school he entered the employ of P. Schulze-Berge as an office boy in 1881, remaining with the firm through various consolidations and changes and advancing through the ranks to become its vice-president and general manager by 1893, and its majority stockholder and president in 1899. By that time it had become Victor Koehl & Co., specializing in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and dyestuffs. In 1903 the chemical and dyestuff department was split off from the company and incorporated as H. A. Metz & Co., and the manufacture of color and chemicals as Consolidated Color and Chemical Co., with Metz as president. He also became president of H. A. Metz Laboratories, Inc., Ettrick Mills, Textileather Company, and New York and Hanseatic Corporation, a member of numerous chemical and industrial societies, and a director with a number of banks. In July 1926 his dyestuff interests were consolidated into the General Dyestuff Corporation, of which he became president. He remained chairman of its board of directors at the time of his death.
Political career.
Metz was one of the founders and president of the Kings County Democratic Club in Brooklyn. He served as member of the Board of Education of Brooklyn and the City of New York, as Comptroller of the City of New York from 1906 to 1910, as a member of the commission appointed by Governor Hughes to draft the New York City Charter in 1907 and 1908, and as a member of the charter commission appointed by Governor Miller in 1922. He also served as commissioner of the State board of charities, a director of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, president of the National Civic Club, and a governor of the Democratic and Reform Club of New York.
Metz was the nominee of Kings County for governor in 1912, but withdrew in favor of William Sulzer after the second ballot, instead running for Sulzer's congressional seat. He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress (March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915). His district was a Republican one of which he was not a resident. He served on the Committee on Claims, and the Committee on Patents. As a German-American businessman with extensive ties to German manufacturing interests, he favored American neutrality during the early years of the First World War. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1914, instead resuming his former business activities. Metz was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1904, 1908, and 1920. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Sixty-eighth Congress in 1922.
Military career.
Metz served as a first lieutenant, captain, lieutenant colonel, and brigadier general of the Fourteenth Infantry, New York National Guard. During the war he served on the home front as an ordnance officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in the Twenty-seventh Division. Afterward he served as colonel in the ordnance department of the United States Army Officers' Reserve Corps. He was elevated to the post of brigadier general on the eve of his retirement in 1931.
Commemoration.
After his death Metz was honored together with U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton in the naming of Hamilton-Metz Field, a park in the Wingate neighborhood of Brooklyn. Originally part of Alexander Hamilton High School, the field was transferred to the city Parks department in 1940 and augmented by a number of adjoining parcels donated in memory of Metz and his wife by the Metz family.


Najm-e Sani

Mir Yar-Ahmad Khuzani Isfahani (; died 1512), better known by his honorific title of Najm-e Sani ("The Second Star") was a Persian nobleman from the Khuzani family, who was the third person to serve as the "vakil" (vicegerent) of the Safavid Empire.
Biography.
Najm was born during the 15th-century in Isfahan, and belonged to a prominent family which could trace its existence in Isfahan back to the 1440s. He had a brother named Mahmud Beg Khuzani. In 1509/10, Najm succeeded Amir Najm al-Din Mas'ud Gilani in the "vakil" office, and later in 1512, he, along with the Timurid prince Babur attacked the marauding Uzbeks, who had although suffered a heavy defeat in 1510 by Shah Ismail I, kept making incursions into the eastern Safavid province of Khorasan. It is disputed whether Najm led the attack without approval from Ismail I or not. After having crossed the Oxus River, Najm seized Qarshi, and had the city sacked and its inhabitants brutally massacred, which resulted in the death of over 1,500 men, and even children and women. A small Sayyid community was also massacred by the army of Najm, the prominent poet Maulana Binai being one of them.
Najm then attacked Ghazdewan, a town near Bukhara, but was unable to capture the town. Babur then advised Najm to retreat to Qarshi in order to wait for reinforcements. Najm, however, declined, which resulted in the mutiny of several Qizilbash chieftains who had been with him during his campaign. On November, a battle ensured at Ghazdewan between the Uzbeks and what was left of the army of Najm, which resulted in his defeat and capture. He was shortly executed, and was succeeded by Abd al-Baqi Yazdi in the "vakil" office.


Jack Massey (politician)

John Norman Massey (17 November 1885 – 12 December 1964), known as Jack Massey, was a New Zealand politician of the Reform Party and then the National Party.
Political career.
He represented the Franklin electorate from 1928 to 1935, when he was defeated by Arthur Sexton of the Country Party. Labour did not run a candidate against him in 1935.
He was re-elected in 1938, as Labour stood a candidate, and the anti-government vote was split between Labour and the Country Party. He held the seat for National until he was deselected as the National candidate in 1957 in favour of Alfred E. Allen.
He farmed near Pukekohe where he drained swamp country, and had been chairman of the Franklin County Council for eighteen years, and Chairman of the Aka Aka Drainage Board for fourteen years.
He was a son of Prime Minister William Massey, who held Franklin from 1896 until his death in 1925. He was the brother of Walter William Massey who represented the Hauraki electorate from 1931 to 1935.
In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.


Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)

Slonim is a Hasidic dynasty originating in the town of Slonim, which is now in Belarus.
Today, there are two Slonimer factions. Slonim, based in Jerusalem, and the Slanim community in Bnei Brak. They are two distinct groups today, and have many differences between them.
The first Rebbe of Slonim, Rabbi Avraham Weinberg (1804–1883), was the author of "Yesod HaAvodah". In 1873, he sent a group of his grandchildren and other Hasidim to settle in Ottoman Palestine; they set up their community in Tiberias. Almost all of the Slonimer Hasidim in Europe perished at the hands of the Nazis in the Holocaust. The present-day Slonimer community was rebuilt from the Slonimer Hasidim who had settled in Israel.
Main Hasidic works of Slonim.
In addition to those works revered by all Hasidim, the Slonimer Hasidim particularly revere the following books: "Yesod HaAvodah", "Divrei Shmuel", "Beis Avraham", "Birkas Avraham". The Slonimer rebbes of Jerusalem have authored two tremendously popular Hasidic works, "Nesivos Shalom", by the previous Slonimer Rebbe of Jerusalem, and "Darchei Noam", by the present Slonimer Rebbe of Jerusalem. "Nesivos Shalom" is extremely popular even outside of Hasidic circles.
Controversy in Slonim school in Immanuel.
Currently, in Israel, there reside approximately 1,300 families that follow the Slonimer Rebbe from Jerusalem. In 2010, a dispute arose in Immanuel, a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank, over the integration of Ashkenazi Slonim girls in a school with Sephardi girls from non-religious families. Over 120,000 Torah-observant Jews, including Haredi and Dati Leumi Jews, rallied in Israel to keep the groups separate, with the fathers of 40 girls being jailed for their refusal to comply. The families insisted it was not a "racial" issue, as 30% of those in the Hasidic track are Sephardic, and three fathers jailed were Sephardic, but, rather, that the "desire to remove their daughters from the influence of those less strict in their religious observance, watching TV at home, having access to the internet, and a more lax dress code among the other track in the school have been cited".


Strashelye (Hasidic dynasty)

Strashelye was a branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism, named after the town Strashelye (Starasel'lye) in the Mohilev Province of present-day Belarus, where its leader lived. Like all Hasidism it is based on the teachings and customs of "Chasidut" as taught by the Baal Shem Tov, in turn based on the Kabbalistic works of Rabbi Isaac Luria (also known as the "Arizal").
The first Rebbe.
The first Rebbe of Strashelye was Rabbi Aharon HaLevi Horowitz, a student of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), the founder of the Chabad Chassidic school of thought.
A charismatic figure.
As Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon was said to be incredibly charismatic. Stories related by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, claimed that some Chassidim of Rabbi Dovber went to visit Rabbi Aharon and were so taken by his charisma that they stayed despite their promises to the contrary.
Rabbi Aaron and the second Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch.
While both Strashelye and Lubavitch consider Rabbi Shneur Zalman to have been the first rebbe of their respective schools, the former considered Rabbi Aharon HaLevi Horowitz to be his successor. The latter consider Rabbi Dovber Schneuri (the son of Rabbi Schneur Zalman) the second rebbe. In as much as that is the case, the Strashelye branch of Chabad Chassidus began in 1812, when Rabbi Shneur Zalman died.
Disagreement over prayer.
While both were good friends, Rabbi Dovber and Rabbi Aharon disagreed about the emphasis on, and correct method of, emotional expression in Chassidic prayer. According to Rabbi Dovber, the greatest service a Jew can perform in worship is to totally nullify himself before The Creator. Therefore, maintained Rabbi Dovber, a person's meditation can appear to be cold and emotionless on the exterior, where the prayer causes the person praying to feel oneself one with The Creator. To that end, Rabbi Dovber prayed with great D'veikus (cleaving), rather than with Hispaylus (excitement), where the one praying gets excited over the Creator but remains, in his own feeling and understanding, a separate entity and existence. Rabbi Dovber prayed while perfectly still, hardly moving. His outward countenance remained completely unaffected. It is important to note this mode of davening was something personal to him, as he was able to conceal his emotions, rather than something he recommended for everyone. When the Rebbe DovBer noticed that his chassidim (followers) thought that they should be devoid of any emotional appearance, he wrote a public letter stating that this is wrong. His disagreement with Rabbi Aharon was rather that he felt that there must be an understanding of Godliness and a cleaving, in other words that one's emotional feeling be a lasting one, not one that would evaporate after a short time.
Rabbi Aharon disagreed, maintaining that it is acceptable and even commendable for a Chassid to become outwardly excited during prayer. Rabbi Shneur Zalman himself was known to pound his fist so hard on the wall while praying that he sometimes literally bled from his hand. Rabbi Aharon displayed similar excitement and intensity during prayer. Moreover, he encouraged others to similarly express themselves openly during prayer.
Disagreement over education.
Furthermore, the two disagreed about the extent to which the deepest elements of Chassidic wisdom should be taught openly. Rabbi Dovber, in his magnum opus "Sha'ar HaYichud" (The Gate of Unity), explains the entire spiritual superstructure of creation. Rabbi Aharon, on the other hand, argued that it was dangerous to discuss certain aspects of creation because it could lead a person to inadvertently view God anthropomorphically. Therefore, it is merely enough for a person to know that God is so great that His Existence precludes the existence of any created beings, but that created beings exist, nonetheless. This very paradox is a testimony to the greatness of God. While Rabbi Aharon's teachings involve some of the deepest aspects of Kabbalistic wisdom, they nonetheless entreat the reader to use the deep intellectual wisdom of Kabbala in order to inspire simple love and fear for God. This was the foundation of Rabbi Dovber's doctrine as well, and in fact a cornerstone in Rabbi Shneur Zalman's own Tanya. The difference lay primarily in the outer (Chitzonius) emotional conduct Rabbi Aharon expected of his followers, and the intense manifestation of self-effacement Rabbi Dovber expected of his.
Succession.
At some point before Rabbi Shneur Zalman's passing, Rabbi Dovber and Rabbi Aharon had a disagreement. It is not known what the disagreement was about. What is known is that Rabbi Aharon left Liadi (where both he, Rabbi Shneur Zalman and Rabbi Dovber lived), and settled in his home town of Strashelye. After Rabbi Shneur Zalman died, Rabbi Dovber moved to the city of Lubavitch. Seeking to become the leader of the Chabad school, Rabbi Dovber became the Rebbe of the Lubavitch school of Chabad Chassidus. Rabbi Aharon, similarly seeking to be the leader of the Chabad school, became the Rebbe of the Strashelye school of Chabad Chassidus. The two competing schools held strongly to the ideological distinctions between their leaders.
Works.
Rabbi Aharon's two books were based on Rabbi Shneur Zalman's magnum opus, Tanya. Rabbi Aharon's first book, "Sha'arei HaYichud ve'Ha'emuna" (The Gates of Unity and Faith), is based on the section of Tanya of a similar name. In it, Rabbi Aharon argues that the corresponding part of Tanya was incomplete, and that it is therefore necessary to learn his book in order to understand it fully. "Sha'arei HaYichud v'HaEmuna" focuses on the creation of the universe, and the universe's relationship with God. It develops the concept of "pele" (wonder), which refers to the paradox caused by God's and the universe's simultaneous existence. It then argues that one will never "understand" God, because God is incomparable with created existence. Therefore, the closest thing man can come to "grasping" God is to meditate on the "pele ", and to constantly desire to understand God further. The book further elaborates on the relationship between the universe, God, and the Ten Sefiros.
The second of his books is called "Sha'arei HaAvoda" (The Gates of Divine Service). It is based on the first book of the Tanya, which outlines the specific divine service of the Beinoni (the "Average Man"; see the article on Tanya). It was in this book, and in Avodas HaLevi, that Rabbi Aharon systematized his approach to divine service: Rabbi Aharon emphasized the importance of heartfelt emotions as a tool of connecting with the Divine. He argued that, contrary to Rabbi Dovber Schneuri's position, cold and intellectual contemplation cannot lead to true self-nullification. Only by openly and emotionally desiring to cleave to God can one attain something approaching nullification before the Infinite (the highest goal of Chabad Chassidism). Rabbi Dovber, by contrast, called that approach a glorification of the self.
Rabbi Aharon's students compiled many of the oral discourses that Rabbi Aharon gave, and some of the discourses that he either wrote himself or transcribed from discourses given by Rabbi Shneur Zalman. That compilation is called "Avodas HaLevi".
While his books are not commonly studied within Chabad circles today, they are widely respected for their scholarly insights and broad scope. Furthermore, the Toldos Avraham Yitzchak Rebbe instructed his Chassidim to study Rabbi Aharon's books. The discourses constitute explanations of passages in the Torah, or concepts in Torah thought, in the light of his Chassidic outlook.
The second Rebbe.
After Rabbi Aharon died, his son, Rabbi Haim Raphael HaLevi ben Aaron of Staroselye (d. 1842), became rebbe in his place. However, the dynasty did not last into the next generation. Many chassidim of the Strashelye returned to Chabad-Lubavitch in the third generation, accepting Menachem Mendel Schneersohn as their Rebbe.
References.
The information in this article about Rabbi Aharon and about his leadership comes mostly from "Beis Rebbe" (by Hillman) (Hebrew).
The information about his teachings come from the books themselves, and from Naftali Lowenthal's book "Communicating The Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School, ()
On the teachings of R. Aaron HaLevi See Rachel Elior, "The Paradoxical Ascent to God," New York Suny 1992. Also see Louis Jacob's "Seeker of Unity: The Life And Works Of Aharon of Starosselje" (Vallentine Mitchell, 1966.)


William Donald Schaefer

William Donald Schaefer (November 2, 1921 – April 18, 2011) was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. A Democrat, he was the 44th mayor of Baltimore from December 1971 to January 1987, the 58th Governor of Maryland from January 21, 1987 to January 18, 1995, and the 32nd Comptroller of Maryland from January 20, 1999 to January 17, 2007. On September 12, 2006, Schaefer was defeated in his reelection bid for a third term as Comptroller by Maryland Delegate Peter Franchot in the Democratic Party primary.
Early life and career.
Schaefer was born in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Tululu Irene (née Skipper) and William Henry Schaefer, on November 2, 1921. His parents were Baptist, and he was of part German ancestry. He spent his childhood at 620 Edgewood Street in the old West Baltimore community off Edmondson Avenue, near Hilton Street and Parkway by Gwynns Falls-Leakin Park. He received early education in Baltimore's city public schools, and later graduated from The Baltimore City College (a public high school) in its centennial class of 1939. Schaefer received an LL.B. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1942 and an LL.M. in 1954.
Schaefer was a member of the Order of DeMolay in Baltimore as a youth, later inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame. He was also a Freemason and a member of the "Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Maryland". He was a member of "Mystic Circle Lodge No. 104" when he first ran for public office.
When the United States entered World War II on Monday, December 8, 1941, Schaefer joined the United States Army and later achieved officer rank, taking charge of administering hospitals in England and the rest of western Europe. He continued to remain in the U.S. Army Reserves during his academic, legal and political/public service careers until 1979, when he retired with the rank of colonel.
Schaefer resumed his legal career afterwards, practicing real estate law. He had earned his Master of Law degree in 1954 from the University of Baltimore School of Law and formed a general practice law firm with two colleagues. Except for his military service, he lived unmarried with his mother in two different very plain West Baltimore two-story, six-room "daylight-style" rowhouses on Edgewood Street (off Edmondson Avenue) all his life, until moving to the Government House (Maryland Governor's Mansion) at age 65 in 1987.
Schaefer ran for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates (lower chamber of the General Assembly of Maryland) in 1950 and again in 1954, losing both elections. He was successful in his third campaign for a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1955, when his concern for city planning and housing issues propelled him to a seat representing the 5th Councilmanic District. In 1967, Schaefer ran successfully for Baltimore City Council president and, four years later in 1971, he ran successfully for the mayor's office, when incumbent mayor Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III, brother of Nancy Pelosi, retired after one term.
Mayor of Baltimore (1971–1987).
Schaefer served four terms as mayor, being first elected in 1971, then re-elected in 1975, 1979 and 1983, each time receiving 85% or more of the vote. He was known for his attention to detail: taking notes of strewn garbage and citing other violations as he rode around for appointments/events in a plain town car with a police officer driver, and ordering them fixed immediately. A famous photograph shows him dressed in a Victorian style red and orange-striped bathing suit, with a straw boater hat, carrying an inflatable rubber duck into the outside seal pool at the then under construction National Aquarium in Baltimore at the Inner Harbor, attracting wide national media attention, to settle a wager that it would not be opened in time in August 1981. In 1984, in a move to give the majority African-American population more power in the city of Baltimore, Schaefer named Bishop L. Robinson as the Baltimore City Police Department's first African-American police commissioner, a position previously dominated by Irish American and Italian American members of the city police department. Baltimore's 1967 police headquarters were renamed for Robinson in 2007.
Throughout his tenure as mayor, Schaefer realized that the closings of large manufacturing plants like Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point (since 1887 in southeastern suburban, but blue-collar Baltimore County, near Dundalk), the largest waterfront steel mill in the world; and the 70-year-old General Motors auto/truck assembly plant on Broening Highway in the southeast city would negatively impact the quality of life in the city of Baltimore and add to the city's unemployment rate. His administration turned to tourism as a possible alternative. He pushed for and saw built a new Baltimore Convention Center along West Pratt Street between South Charles, Sharp and Howard Streets in downtown Baltimore in 1979, enlarged again in the 1990s to keep up with expanding and larger competition for the burgeoning nationwide convention business; as well as the opening of Baltimore's famed "Harborplace", festival marketplace pavilions by shopping center developer and urban visionary James Rouse along the north and west shores of the old "Basin" (Inner Harbor) at East Pratt Street along South Calvert Street, replacing the former small grassy central "Pratt and Light" triangular Samuel Smith Park with its bronze statue of the old brave "Defender of Baltimore" (from the British attack at the Battle of Baltimore crafted at the 1914 Star Spangled Banner Centennial from the War of 1812) and its surrounding "temporary" Light Street parking lots from the last waterfront "urban renewal" project of the Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro, Jr. (1903–1987, served 1947–1959) administration from the late 1940s. Dubbed "America's Best Mayor" at the time by several national magazine stories, Mayor Schaefer was hailed for transforming a deteriorating city into a hub of national tourism, although the groundwork and the original vision for the Inner Harbor project in the early 1960s to succeed the previous Charles Center downtown renewal of 1958–1970 had first been foreseen and crafted two mayoral administrations earlier under progressive/liberal Republican mayor and former governor of Maryland Theodore R. McKeldin (1900–1974, served 1943–1947 and 1963–1967), who was eventually recognized by having the redeveloped plaza facing the new "festival marketplaces" at Pratt, Light and Calvert Streets renamed for him. With new businesses, new hotels, a new National Aquarium and the new convention center, Baltimore had been revived. Harborplace had 18 million visitors its first year, 1980–81. In 1984, "Esquire" magazine named Schaefer "the best mayor in America".
Colts leave.
Schaefer constantly battled Robert Irsay, the owner of the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League. Irsay and Orioles owner Jerrold Hoffberger complained that Memorial Stadium, which the Colts and the American League's Baltimore Orioles shared, was antiquated due to a lack of quality seats and inadequate parking. Schaefer extracted a promise from Irsay that the Colts owner would call Schaefer first before moving the team. However, after one of the houses of the Maryland State Legislature passed legislation giving the city of Baltimore the right to seize ownership of the team by eminent domain  – an idea first floated in a memo written by Baltimore mayoral aide Mark Wasserman – Robert Irsay called Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut that afternoon and began serious negotiations in order to move the team before the Maryland legislature's other chamber could pass similar legislation. In the early morning hours of March 29, 1984, Mayflower moving vans began relocating the Colts from the team's Owings Mills training facility to Indianapolis. Schaefer lamented that "[Irsay] didn't call his old friend, Don" before the move.
Ravens arrive.
The Colts were not the first professional sports team to leave Baltimore on Schaefer's watch. In 1973, the Baltimore Bullets moved to Landover, Maryland and were renamed the Capital Bullets, and later, the Washington Bullets.
In his last years as mayor, and later during his two terms as governor, Schaefer led the push to build Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the Orioles and M&T Bank Stadium for a new NFL team, which came to fruition in 1996 when Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, giving credit to Schaefer for the transaction:
Governor of Maryland (1987–1995).
Schaefer, with running mate Melvin Steinberg, was overwhelmingly elected the 58th governor of Maryland in 1986, defeating Republican challenger Thomas J. Mooney with 82% of the vote, the largest percentage total ever for a contested statewide election in Maryland. He was re-elected in 1990 with almost 60% of the vote. Immediately upon taking office, Schaefer sought to take on the state's unemployment problem. After learning of a proposed closing of a major corporation in western Maryland, he personally went to Allegany County with his top advisors and the Maryland Congressional delegation and devised a plan of state and federal action to meet the needs of the faltering company. The corporation kept its headquarters in Allegany County, saving 600 jobs.
Schaefer's legacy includes the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, stricter measures taken toward preventing and solving the Chesapeake Bay pollution problem, and higher standards for public schools.
Schaefer reappointed Philip Kapneck as Maryland Trade Ambassador, originally appointed by Governor Mandel. Kapneck worked closely with the pro-business governor, bringing overseas companies to Maryland, creating many new jobs and generating revenue for the state.
Schaefer as governor also pushed for the light rail line of electric trains that run 30 miles from Hunt Valley in Baltimore County, through Baltimore, past Oriole Park at Camden Yards, to Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County, near BWI Airport. The first 22.5 miles of the light rail line was opened in April 1992 at a cost of near $400 million. Three extensions totaling 7.5 miles opened in late 1997 at a cost of $106 million.
Detractors remind the public that, in the winter of 1991, Gov. Schaefer compared Maryland's Eastern Shore to an outhouse (he referred to the region as a "shithouse"). When the remark circulated, Eastern Shore residents erupted in protest.
In the 1992 presidential election, Governor Schaefer endorsed Republican President George H.W. Bush over Democratic challenger Bill Clinton. "He was a great man. I liked him; he was a friend. I went up to Camp David with him.". He also endorsed Republican Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley in her bid to succeed him as governor in 1994.
Schaefer stepped down from his position as governor on January 18, 1995 after serving the maximum two four-year terms.
Post-gubernatorial activities.
Following his career as governor, Schaefer became Of Counsel to the law firm of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC, in Baltimore until 1999. The William Donald Schaefer Chair was established at University of Maryland, College Park's School of Public Affairs in 1995. Schaefer held the position until 1999, at which time the program was expanded to include funded internships.
Schaefer had a long-time companion in Hilda Mae Snoops, who was his "official hostess" in the Governor's mansion. She commissioned a controversial Victorian-style outdoor fountain and helped design a rose garden and walkways. The fountain is included in her First Lady-style portrait. After Snoops' death in 1999, the fountain became a source of controversy as Schaefer accused his successor, Parris Glendening, of using it to get political revenge by turning it off, supposedly to save water even though it recycles existing water. Upon becoming governor, Robert Ehrlich held a ceremony to turn the water flow back on in the fountain. Snoops is interred in the mausoleum at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, with an adjacent place reserved for Schaefer.
Comptroller of Maryland (1999–2007).
In 1998, three years after leaving the governorship, with the sudden death of longtime (forty years in office) Comptroller and Maryland political legend Louis L. Goldstein of Calvert County in southern Maryland, Schaefer ran in the special election for the position of Comptroller of Maryland against Republican Mark Epstein. He won by a substantial margin, 62% to 38%. Schaefer came into the office on January 25, 1999. In 2002, he had remained extremely popular in Maryland and received almost 68% of the vote in the general election.
Schaefer feuded frequently with Governor Parris Glendening at the bi-monthly Board of Public Works (BPW) meetings. Schaefer once called Glendening a "despot" and often chided him. Schaefer frequently referred to Glendening as "Ayatollah." Glendening endorsed and paid for advertisements on behalf of Schaefer's 2002 Democratic primary opponent, Secretary of State John T. Willis, but Schaefer defeated him easily. Glendening's degree of unpopularity was such that it was reported his support for Willis might cost Willis votes. Schaefer enjoyed considerably warmer relations with Governor Robert Ehrlich, the Republican who succeeded Glendening on January 15, 2003.
Controversies.
As Comptroller, Schaefer regularly spoke critically of immigrants who cannot communicate in English. He was particularly well known for his May 2004 comment about a non-English-speaking McDonald's cashier.
Schaefer also stirred up controversy on October 12, 2004, when he called people with AIDS "a danger". He said that those with the disease "brought it on themselves." From the 1990s, he had repeatedly called for a public registry listing HIV-positive Maryland residents. "As far as I'm concerned, people who have AIDS are a danger", Schaefer said. "People should be able to know who has AIDS."
On February 15, 2006, Schaefer made suggestive comments to Elizabeth Krum, a 24-year-old assistant to then-Governor Robert Ehrlich. Responding to Schaefer's request for tea, Krum set a thermal mug in front of him. Schaefer watched her walk away, then beckoned for her to return. When she obliged, he told her, "Walk again", staring after her as she left the conference room. Schaefer initially refused to apologize, saying, "She's a pretty little girl. She ought to be damn happy that I observed her going out the door. The day I don't look at pretty women is the day I die." (Schaefer long called the women with whom he worked "little girls.") However, within days of the leering incident, Schaefer issued a handwritten letter to Krum informing her she had handled the affair as a "trouper."
On July 5, 2006, Schaefer launched into a rambling commentary on immigration as the public works board considered a contract to provide testing services for the English as a Second Language (ESOL) program in Maryland schools. As state education officials tried to explain the contract, Schaefer demanded to know whether the program would benefit Korean students. "Korea's another one, all of a sudden they're our friends, too, shooting missiles at us", he said. Schaefer was apparently referring to North Korea's test launch earlier that week of a long-range missile, which fell into the ocean. Schaefer refused to apologize for his comments after a meeting with South Korean community leaders. Later that same day, when he was questioned by a female "Baltimore Sun" reporter about the ESOL program, Schaefer's response was to call her a "sweet little girl."
2006 re-election campaign.
Schaefer faced a competitive primary challenge for Comptroller in 2006. He was challenged by Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens and Delegate Peter Franchot (District 20). The campaign initially looked like a struggle between Schaefer and Franchot. After deciding against running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Benjamin Cardin (so that Cardin could run for the U.S. Senate), Owens decided to jump into the race for Comptroller.
In early July 2006, when asked if he would debate Owens, he said he "wouldn't debate her on how to bake a chocolate cake." Franchot campaigned strongly as the "only real Democrat in the race." On September 5, 2006, Schaefer told "Washington Post" columnist Marc Fisher that Janet Owens is a "prissy little miss" who wears "long dresses, looks like Mother Hubbardit's sort of like she was a man." He made additional comments that she was "getting fat." Later, in an on-air interview with reporter Tyler Evans of local news station News Channel 8, he further commented: "She's got these long clothes on and an old-fashioned hairdo. You know it sort of makes you real mad." On September 8, 2006, another local news station, WUSA9, showed an off-screen reporter asking him, "Did you call her an Old Mother Hubbard?" to which he responded, "Well, what does she look like? ... Old-fashioned hairdo; long dress ... If I lose or win – whatever I do – I'm gonna send her some "Style" magazines." His campaign called a press conference, but he failed to show. Owens commented that perhaps Schaefer had become too old to run, saying that running against him was like a granddaughter "taking the keys away from grandpa." In response, Schaefer and his campaign hinted that Owens was lashing out at him in an act of age discrimination. One viewer wrote in, suggesting that perhaps Schaefer was showing signs of dementia. The anchor responded that the caller had pointed out "the elephant in the room" that, until then, the media was hesitant to suggest. Schaefer refused to apologize for his comments regarding Owens' appearance, saying, "An apology? An apology for what? I can't help it how she looks." Asked about his heated exchanges with Owens, Schaefer said, "This was started not by me." He added, "There's dirty politics, and then there's filthy politics."
On September 12, during the Democratic primary election, Schaefer was pushed into third place behind Franchot and Owens, with Franchot winning the primary by 15,000 votes over Owens. The tight three-way race saw Franchot winning the Washington, D.C., suburbs (Montgomery County and Prince George's County), Owens winning in Central Maryland (Howard County and Anne Arundel County), and Schaefer holding his own in the Baltimore metro area (Baltimore City and Baltimore County). This was Schaefer's first campaign loss since 1954.
Schaefer's last day at work as Comptroller was January 19, 2007. He was succeeded on January 22 by Franchot, who won the general election, and was not present for Franchot's swearing in. After retiring, he moved into the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, Maryland. His health declined quickly and he made few public appearances in his final years.
Death.
Schaefer died at the age of 89 on April 18, 2011, at his latest home in Catonsville. He had recently been hospitalized due to pneumonia at St. Agnes Hospital in southwest Baltimore and was receiving hospice care at the time of his death. Schaefer's funeral was held at his longtime parish, Old St. Paul's Church (Episcopal) (oldest church in the city, founded 1692), at the southeast corner of North Charles and East Saratoga Streets in downtown, and was buried at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens near Towson in suburban Baltimore County.
Legacy.
In 1978, Schaefer received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.
In 2008, Schaefer moved the "Civic Fund", which he had established and used while Mayor of Baltimore to make small grants to neighborhoods for projects such as erecting flagpoles or cultivating community gardens, to the Baltimore Community Foundation, adding to it his leftover campaign funds and proceeds from the sale of his house. After its settlement, $1.4 million from the late governor's estate was added in 2012 to this fund. The William Donald Schaefer Civic Fund is a permanent endowment which continues to provide small grants for neighborhood projects.
Two years before his death, a statue of Schaefer was unveiled in Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a gift by construction magnate Willard Hackerman.
Several buildings have been dedicated in Schaefer's honor:


Illini and Saluki

The Illini and Saluki are a pair of passenger trains operated by Amtrak along a route between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. They are part of Amtrak's Illinois Service and are primarily funded by the state of Illinois. The route is coextensive with the far northern leg of the long-distance "City of New Orleans". The "Illini" has operated since 1973; a previous version operated in 1971–1972 between Chicago and Champaign. The "Saluki" debuted in 2006.
History.
The Illinois Central Railroad's main line between Chicago and New Orleans ran through Champaign–Urbana and Carbondale, along the east side of Illinois. At the formation of Amtrak in 1971, the Illinois Central still operated a number of services from its Central Station in Chicago over this route, including the "Illini" and "Shawnee" (Chicago-Carbondale), the "City of New Orleans" and the "Panama Limited" (both, Chicago–New Orleans), plus the "City of Miami" (Chicago–Birmingham).
Amtrak retained two trains on this route: the "City of New Orleans" (which it named the "Panama Limited") and the "Shawnee". Amtrak brought back the "Illini" name on November 14, 1971, as a Chicago-Champaign train, operating in conjunction with the "Campus". It was named for the Illini, from which the state of Illinois and the Fighting Illini mascot of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign get their names. Amtrak discontinued the "Campus" and "Illini" on March 5, 1972. Both trains used Central Station, which Amtrak was abandoning; Amtrak judged that the additional 35–40 minutes necessary to serve Union Station made the schedule impractical. The 1972 "Illini" made its last trip on March 3.
Amtrak revived the "Illini" on December 19, 1973, again as a Chicago–Champaign service. The restoration was part of $1.5 million expansion program which included the "Black Hawk" (Chicago–Rockford–Dubuque), the "State House" (St. Louis–Chicago), and supplemental funding for the Rock Island's two remaining Rockets (Chicago–Peoria and Chicago–Rock Island). The state desired to extend the "Illini" to Decatur, but doing so involved a switch from the Illinois Central to the Norfolk & Western at Tolono, south of Champaign. The connection between the lines was in poor condition, and no one would take responsibility for repairing it.
Amtrak finally extended the "Illini" to Decatur on July 2, 1981. Decatur had last seen service in 1971 from the Norfolk & Western's "City of Decatur" (Chicago–Decatur) and the Wabash's "Wabash Cannon Ball" (Detroit–St. Louis). Neither train had been retained by Amtrak. The new Amtrak service used the old Wabash station, which still stands and has become an antique store. Poor ridership prompted Illinois to withdraw its support for the Decatur stop, and Amtrak cut the "Illini" back to Champaign on July 10, 1983.
On January 12, 1986, Amtrak extended the "Illini" to Carbondale to replace the "Shawnee", which had been canceled because of budget cuts. Service began at Gilman on October 26, 1986 and Du Quoin on August 25, 1989. The "Illini" service was nearly canceled in 1996, but local communities along the route pledged funds to keep it running.
A second train, the "Saluki", was added on October 30, 2006, in response to increased demand on the "Illini" and other Illinois Service trains in the 2005–2006 fiscal year. The "Saluki" was named for the mascot of Southern Illinois University, which is located in the train's southern terminus of Carbondale. Its daytime schedule complements the afternoon schedule of the "Illini."
Amtrak ran an extra over the route, the Eclipse Express, for the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.
The trains have stops near three major Illinois state universities: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Southern Illinois University, and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston (near Mattoon). As a result, university students account for a significant portion of passengers.
Route.
The "Illini" and "Saluki" operates over the Canadian National Railway, successor to the Illinois Central. The route is long.
The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) is in the preliminary design phase for the Grand Crossing Project. This project will reroute the "Illini", "Saluki", and "City of New Orleans" trains from Canadian National Railway's tracks to Norfolk Southern's Chicago Line in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood in Chicago. This will eliminate a time-consuming switchback on the St. Charles Air Line into Chicago Union Station.
Equipment.
In 2010 a typical "Illini" or "Saluki" consists of:


DZ Bank

DZ Bank AG is the second largest bank in Germany by asset size and the central institution for around 800 cooperative banks and their around 8,500 branch offices. Within the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative financial network, which is one of Germany's largest private sector financial service organizations, DZ Bank functions both as a central institution and as a corporate and investment bank.
DZ Bank is an acronym for Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank (literally "German Central Cooperative Bank").
As a holding, the DZ Bank Group defines itself primarily as a service provider for local cooperative banks and their 30 million or so clients. The DZ Bank Group includes: DVB Bank, a transportation finance bank; Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, a building society; DZ HYP, a provider of commercial real estate finance; DZ Privatbank Gruppe; R+V Versicherung, an insurance company; TeamBank, a provider of consumer finance; Union Investment Group, an asset management company; VR Leasing; and various other specialized institutions.
DZ Bank, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, is a member of CIBP, EACB, the Euro Banking Association, and Unico. It maintains branches, subsidiaries and representative offices in key financial centers and economic regions worldwide. The DZ Bank building in Berlin, located at Pariser Platz 3, was designed by architect Frank Gehry.
DZ Bank also has one of the most significant collections of contemporary artistic photography which today comprises over 6,000 works by more than 550 artists.
In 2016 DZ Bank was merged with WGZ Bank, the central institute of the cooperative banks of both the Rheinland (Rhineland) and Westfalen (Westphalia).
Investments.
DZ Bank is a shareholder of Canadian oil and gas company TC Energy, which is behind the controversial Coastal GasLink Pipeline slated to be built on unceded Wet'suwet'en Nation territory in Northern British Columbia. DZ Bank increased their stake on 31 March, 2020 from 1.22 million to 4.27M shares, an increase of ~250%, seemingly in spite of the global COVID-19 pandemic including in Canada.


Security deposit

A security deposit is a sum of money held in trust either as an initial part-payment in a purchasing process (often used to prevent the seller's selling an item to someone else during an agreed period of time while the buyer verifies the suitability of the item, or arranges finance) - also known as an earnest payment, or else, in the course of a rental agreement to ensure the property owner against default by the tenant and for the cost of repair in relation to any damage explicitly specified in the lease and that did in fact occur.
In certain taxation regimes a deposit need not be declared as a part of the gross income of the receiving party (person or corporation) until either the depositing party or an arbitrator agrees the funds may be used for the intended purpose.
The United States Supreme Court ruled in "Commissioner v. Indianapolis Power & Light Co." (1990) that a deposit differs from an advance payment because the depositing party has dominion over the funds and retains the right to insist upon repayment in cash. On the other hand, the party making an advance payment retains no right to insist upon the return of the funds as long as the recipient fulfills the contractual agreement.
The rationale behind the court’s decision is that the recipient of the deposit does not enjoy “complete dominion” over the funds and is subject to an express obligation to repay so long as the customer fulfills his or her legal obligations. Additionally, both the timing and the method of refund are largely within the control of the depositing party, as he or she can choose to insist upon repayment in cash or apply the deposit to purchase services. The recipient’s right to retain the funds of the deposit is contingent upon events that are outside of his or her control.
Although the recipient may receive an economic benefit from the deposits – i.e. interest – the prospect that income will be generated provides no ground for taxing the principal. However, any income that the recipient may earn through the use of the deposit money will be taxable.
In leasing.
Security deposits are required most often by lessors of automobiles, apartments, and commercial real estate.
The security deposits required by many residential landlords of their tenants are the source of much dispute and litigation. Many states and municipalities have enacted laws that specifically regulate the landlord's ability to withhold tenant security deposits after a tenant moves out. Some states and cities require that interest be paid to the tenant as it is earned on the security deposit.
A landlord's deductions from a tenant's security deposit must be reasonable. The landlord may make deductions for missing rent payments and for damages beyond ordinary wear and tear, which is the subject matter's depreciation or deterioration in value by reasonable and ordinary use by the tenant. Examples of non-deductible wear and tear include: paint retouching, minor cleaning, small tack holes, and nicks and scratches. Examples of deductible damages include large or excessive holes in the wall, carpet stains, and broken doors and windows.
If a landlord wrongfully withholds a tenant's security deposit, the tenant may be entitled to additional damages beyond the amount of the security deposit. These may include statutory damages for violation of a local statute on consumer collection practices, damages that may be two or three times the amount of the deposit (in some states, such as California), consequential (resulting) damages, interest, and in more rare instances punitive damages.
In some legal regimes the deposit has to be placed with an independent escrow agent or licensed deposit taker such as a bank so that the risk of fraud is reduced and the funds earn interest at a fair market rate.
Often car rental and car leasing companies will require a deposit to protect themselves against possible damage to the car. Once the car is returned, it is checked for any possible damage, and if damage is found, funds are deducted from the deposit to cover the repairs and the loss of value.
In the United States of America, Washington DC, Alaska, Illinois, and Wisconsin have notably more tenant-friendly legislation than states like Indiana or Michigan, for example. The cities of Madison, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois, have substantially greater protection of tenants' security deposit rights than the surrounding areas.
Studies have shown that landlords often improperly withhold security deposits after tenants move out, and often get away with it because it's too much trouble to fight.
In metropolitan cities of India like Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai or others, there is security deposit to be given upfront to the landlord before renting/leasing an apartment. This security deposit amount can range anywhere from 3- 11 months, depending upon city's norm. With rentals soaring high in metropolitan cities, this amount becomes exorbitant. Hence, anyone shifting an apartment or moving cities in lieu to job change, finds it difficult financially. It is a dent on savings as this cost is not borne by the company that has helped the shifter's movers and packers.
The recent changes to the condominium and cooperative laws in [[New York (state)|New York]] have created limits for the regulations behind security deposits. Cooperative boards can no longer charge more than one month of prepaid maintenance and another month's maintenance as a security deposit restricting the amount to be owed before moving in.
Bibliography.
[[Category:Income taxation]]
[[Category:Renting]]
[[Category:Real property law]]


Paul Lever

Sir Paul Lever KCMG (born 31 March 1944) is a British retired senior ambassador.
Career.
Paul Lever was educated at St Paul's School, London and The Queen's College, Oxford. He joined the Diplomatic Service on leaving Oxford in 1966. After a year at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) he was sent to Finland to learn Finnish and served at the embassy in Helsinki 1967–71. He later served as "chef de cabinet" to Christopher Tugendhat, then vice-president of the EEC, and as head successively of the UN, Defence, and Security Policy departments in the FCO. He was head of the UK delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna, with the rank of Ambassador, 1990–92; assistant Under-Secretary at the FCO 1992–94; chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee 1994–96; Director for EU and Economic Affairs at the FCO 1996–97; and Ambassador to Germany 1997–2003.
Lever retired from the Diplomatic Service in 2003 and was Global Development Director, RWE Thames Water, 2003–06 and Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute 2004–09.
Honours.
Lever was appointed CMG in 1991 and knighted KCMG in the 1998 New Year Honours. He was awarded an honorary LLD degree by Birmingham University in 2001 and an honorary fellowship of his "alma mater", The Queen’s College, Oxford, in 2006.


Alonso Mercado y Villacorta

Alonso de Mercado y Villacorta, Marquis of Villacorta was a Spanish civil servant, acting in the Río de la Plata area of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Born in Catalonia, he was Governor of Tucumán from 1655 to 1660. He was conned by Pedro Bohórquez, a Spanish adventurer who promised Mercado access to the hidden location of Inca treasures and afterwards had to suppress a revolt of Indians led by Bohórquez.
Afterwards, he was nominated as Governor of the Río de la Plata, a position that he held between 1660 and 1663. He ordered the transfer of the city of Santa Fe to its present location. In 1662 he expelled the Society of Jesus from its initial location on nowadays Plaza de Mayo, as its buildings interfered with shooting practices of nearby Buenos Aires' "fortress" (the current Casa Rosada).
His request for royal authorization to commerce with two foreign ships a year was denied. Nonetheless, he allowed Dutch ships to dock in the Buenos Aires port. Because of his tolerance with the contraband of goods and slaves, he was subjected to a tribunal of grievances, but the case was dismissed. He was demoted and became again Governor of Tucumán (1664–1670). He founded San José de Metán (1665) and fortified the city of Talavera de Esteco to prevent further attacks from the Indians. He conducted a final campaign against Calchaquí Indians, and ordered the exile of 200 families of Quilmes Indians to Buenos Aires.


Toshihiko Fukui

 is a Japanese economist and central banker. He was the 29th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and a Director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Early life.
Fukui was born in Osaka.
Career.
Fukui has worked at Japan's central bank for 40 years. His positions included serving as the bank's representative in Paris, heading the research and credit management bureaus, and Executive Director. He was head of the Banking Department from September 1986 through May 1989.
In 1989, Fukui was promoted to Deputy Governor of BOJ.
In 1998, Deputy Governor Fukui resigned in connection with a bribery scandal involving leaks of financially sensitive information. He joined then-Governor Yasuo Matsushita in expressing official remorse by leaving the bank. He then became chairman of the Fujitsu Research Institute, a private policy group. He also became deputy chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.
Fukui was Deputy Governor of BOJ from 2002 through 2003; and he became the new BOJ governor at the end of the five-year term of Masaru Hayami.
Fukui served as Governor of the Bank of Japan from March 20, 2003 to March 19, 2008. He resigned in 2008.
Selected works.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Toshihiko Fukui, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 1 works in 2 publications in 1 language and 6 library holdings.


Benediction (film)

Benediction is an upcoming biographical drama film written and directed by Terence Davies. It stars Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi.
Production.
In January 2020, Jack Lowden joined the cast of the film, with Terence Davies directing from a screenplay he wrote. In March 2020, Peter Capaldi joined the cast of the film. In October 2020, Simon Russell Beale, Geraldine James, Kate Phillips, Gemma Jones, Anton Lesser, Jeremy Irvine, Ben Daniels, Lia Williams, Jude Akuwudike, Suzanne Bertish, Calam Lynch and Tom Blyth joined the cast of the film.
Principal photography began on 8 September 2020, and finished on 22 October 2020.


Michael Babington Smith

Brigadier Michael James Babington Smith (20 March 1901 – 26 October 1984), known in London as MJBS, was a British banker, sportsman and soldier from the Babington family. During the Second World War, he served under General Dwight D. Eisenhower as Director of Finance at SHAEF from 1943 to 1945. Following the war, he was a director of the Bank of England for two decades. He served as treasurer of the National Art Collections Fund and was twice High Sheriff of the County of London.
Early life and education.
Babington Smith was born in Constantinople in 1901, the son of Sir Henry Babington Smith, a British civil servant who was serving on the council of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, and later became a director of the Bank of England. His paternal grandfather was lawyer and mathematician Archibald Smith of Jordanhill and his brothers were MP James Parker Smith and curator Arthur Hamilton Smith, Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum His mother was Lady Elisabeth Bruce, daughter of the 9th Earl of Elgin, who was Viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899. Michael was the eldest of 10 children; one of his younger sisters was journalist Constance Babington Smith MBE (1911–2000). Another sister, Lucy, married Henry Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland. His brother Bernard Babington Smith OBE (1905–1993) was an academic, wartime intelligence officer and amateur athlete.
Michael attended Eton College, where he had a successful cricket career, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge. He was active in various other sports throughout his life, including shooting, stalking and fencing. He was a five-time finalist in the British foil championships and was captain of the England fencing team in 1931.
Career.
Banking career.
In 1923, Babington Smith joined Glyn, Mills & Co. He spent 50 years at the bank, becoming a partner in 1932, the managing director in 1938, and deputy chairman in 1946. In 1946, he was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England. He was appointed a director of the Bank of England in 1949, a first for a director of a clearing bank, a position he held for 20 years.
Babington Smith spent his entire career with Glyn's, but also served as a director for numerous other institutions, including the Bank for International Settlements (1965–74), the London Committee for the Ottoman Bank (from 1947; serving as chairman, 1975–82), the Royal Bank of Scotland (1938–63), (1957–74), and the holding company AEI (1949–68).
Military service.
Babington Smith was part of the Officer Training Corps at Cambridge and was commissioned into the Territorial Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Leicestershire Yeomanry, in 1925. When the Second World War began in 1939, he was called up with the Yeomanry and spent the first two years of the war with the Home Guard.
From 1941 to 1943, Babington Smith served in Africa as financial controller of the newly liberated Italian colonies in East Africa. In 1943, he was recalled to England to serve as an assistant to US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). Promoted to Brigadier, Babington Smith was Director of Finance at SHAEF until 1945, tasked with planning the financial aspects of the Allied invasion and subsequent administration of Western Europe.
Honours.
In April 1945, Babington Smith was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, military division, for his service during the Second World War.
He was also decorated as a Chevalier of the "Legion d'Honeur avec Palme" and the "Croix de Guerre".
Personal life.
In 1943, Babington Smith married Jean Mary, daughter of Admiral Hon. Sir Herbert Meade-Fetherstonhaugh and granddaughter of Admiral of the Fleet Richard Meade, 4th Earl of Clanwilliam. They had one son, Alan (born 1946); and two daughters, Louisa (born 1944), wife of James Richard Macfarlane, Coldstream Guards; and Susan (born 1950), wife of John Henry Hemming.
Babington Smith never officially retired, but in later years he suffered from crippling arthritis and was further disabled by a car accident. He died in London in 1984, aged 83.
In 1990, his widow was raised to the rank of an earl's daughter by royal warrant, entitled to be styled as Lady Jean Babington Smith. She died 22 November 2001.


Pacific Securities

The Pacific Securities Co., Ltd. is a Chinese investment bank and brokerage firm. The company is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
As on 28 November 2016, The Pacific Securities is a constituent of CSI 300 Index (and mid-cap sub-index CSI 200 Index) and SSE 180 Index.
The company controls a SPAC listed on NASDAQ. The company also owns 39% stake in Lao-China Securities, a company based in Vientiane, capital and largest city of Laos.
History.
The Pacific Securities was founded in 2004 and received the clients of bankrupted Yunnan Securities. In April 2007 it was converted to company limited by shares, with a nominal value of each.
It was reported that Xiao Jianhua was behind the operation on listing the company to Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2007. Irregularity was founded after, by-then vice-governor of China Development Bank, Wang Yi () was arrested. Wang was the vice-chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) until 1999.
In December 2007, the largest shareholder of the Pacific Securities was the consortium of Beijing Ximeng Real Estate (13.34%), Beijing Huaxin Liuhe Investment (13.20%), China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust (FOTIC, 10.00%), UOB Mainland Investment (6.67%), Yunnan State-Owned Assets Management (3.33%) and CMST Development (, 3.33%). The Pacific Securities also exchanged its shares with the shares of Unida (former code ), a company delisted in 2007. Other major shareholders were Puhua Investment (10.00%), Taishan Xiangsheng (10.00%), "China Energy Development Electricity (Group)" (6.67%) and "Heilongjiang Century Huarong Investment Management" (5.77%) Those shareholders owned 82.31% shares, with 36 months restriction to sell.
5 out of 6 companies renewed the shareholders' agreement in March 2010 (FOTIC withdrew), as well as "Yunnan State-Owned Assets Management" transferred part of its stake to another Yunnan Government-owned company: Yunnan Industrial Investment Group (). The consortium owned 39.88% shares of the company as the largest shareholder, as well as the chairman of the Pacific Securities, Zheng Yanan (), was also the chairman of UOB Mainland Investment. However, the consortium sold most of their shares since 2011 (decreased to 32.68% in December 2011, 25.38% in December 2012)
The shareholders' agreement was expired again in March 2013, which only Huaxin Liuhe increased its shares (from 10.83% to 10.89%), as well as Yunnan Industrial Investment Group retained its 3.19% shares; Beijing Ximeng Real Estate, UOB Mainland Investment and CMST Development sold their 7.62%, 2.31% and 1.42% shares to 3.79%, 0.31% and unknown level respectively. It was reported that Pacific Securities was ranked the least among the listed "securities firms" of China, in term of revenue of the first half of 2013.
In 2012 the Pacific Securities founded a joint venture in Laos.
In April 2014 the company recapitalized for ( each) by a non-public offering. Each old share also received 0.5 new share in December that year (by converting the share premium into share capital), making the share capital had increase from 1,653,644,684 to 3,530,467,026.
Shareholders.
As at 31 December 2015, the only shareholder with more than 5% shares was Beijing Huaxin Liuhe Investment for 12.75% (450,248,500). Despite 225 million of them were restricted to sell (until 21 April 2019), more than half of its shares (251,020,000) were pledged (), to China Fortune International Trust (160 million restricted shares) since December 2015, to China Merchants Securities (51.98 million free-floating shares) since March–April 2015, as well as pledged to other companies. The shares pledged to China Merchants Securities, all of them were also pledged to the same investment bank from March 2014 to February 2015 (108 million shares free-floating shares); the shares pledged to China Fortune International Trust, were also pledged to New China Fushi from April 2014 to November–December 2015 (225 million restricted shares).
The second largest shareholder (), which owned 4.25% shares (150 million), is a private company based in Dalian. The company bought 100 million number of shares from non-public offering for each (before 0.5 additional new shares to each 1 old share). However, the company also pledged 140 million shares as at 31 December 2015.


Nazir Razak

Mohamed Nazir bin Tun Abdul Razak (born 19 November 1966) is a Malaysian banking executive. He was Chairman of CIMB Group, which is one of the largest financial services providers in Malaysia and ASEAN. He served as CEO of the group from 1999 to 2014. Nazir is the youngest son of the second Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdul Razak Hussein, and brother of the sixth Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Early life and education.
Nazir was born in 1966 in Kuala Lumpur. His father died when he was 10 years old. He attended St. John's Institution and Alice Smith School and continued his secondary education at Oundle School in the United Kingdom from age 13. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol and went on to obtain a Master of Philosophy in Development Economics from the University of Cambridge. In 2009, he was the Chevening Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He is of Bugis descent.
Career.
After returning from the United Kingdom, Nazir joined the corporate advisory department of Commerce International Merchant Bankers Berhad in 1989. He rose to become managing director and Chief executive of the bank, which by then was known as CIMB, in 1999. His tenure as CEO ended in 2014 after he resigned and took over as chairman which he served until 2018.
During his tenure as the CEO, Nazir spearheaded CIMB Group's transformation from a boutique Malaysian investment bank to Malaysia's second-largest financial services group, the fifth largest universal bank in ASEAN, the largest Asia Pacific-based investment bank, and one of the world's largest Islamic banks.
In April 2016, Nazir took a one-month voluntary leave of absence from CIMB, while an independent review was being conducted into a $7 million transfer into his personal account from his brother, Najib, as part of the wider 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. After the completion of the review by CIMB Group, Razak was cleared of any wrongdoing and resumed his role as CIMB Group chairman and as a CIMB Bank director.
In addition to his role as the Chairman of CIMB, Nazir was also appointed as a Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (2014-2018) a member of the Investment Panel of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) (2002-2017) and the Chairman of the EPF's Investment Panel Risk Committee.
Nazir has been a member of the International Advisory Board at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford since 2015. In October 2016, Nazir was appointed as the inaugural chair of World Economic Forum's ASEAN Regional Business Council, which aims to champion initiatives that call for trust and co-operation between the public and private sectors in the region.
Awards & Accolades.
During his tenure as Group managing director/chief executive officer of CIMB, Nazir has been recognised as Malaysia’s top executive/CEO on several occasions. He was the youngest recipient of FinanceAsia’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in 2009 and was also awarded Euromoney’s 2012 ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ in recognition of this outstanding contribution to the Asian Financial Markets.
In October 2015, Nazir Razak was honoured with Asia House Asian Business Leaders Award by Asia House for having "underlined the benefits of cooperation and partnership across Asean through his support of learning, independent research and charitable works, as well as in his ambitious business strategy, demonstrating how a commercially successful Asean-wide initiative can bring people together for the common good."
Personal life.
Nazir is married to Dato' Azlina Aziz, who is the daughter of Tan Sri Aziz Taha, a former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. The couple have two children.


Chen Xiyu

Chen Xiyu () (July 1911 – July 2000) was the 4th governor of the People's Bank of China (1973–1978). He was born in Huozhou, Linfen, Shanxi Province. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1936.


Chalpi

Chalpi is a village in Quijos canton, Napo Province in Ecuador.
Climate.
Chalpi has a Subtropical highland climate (Cfb) with cool weather year-round and moderately heavy rainfall.


Klaus Waris

Klaus Henrik Waris (17 March 1914 – 18 December 1994) was a Finnish economist, professor and the governor of the Bank of Finland from 1957 to 1967.
Waris was born in Helsinki. He graduated in 1935 from University of Turku. Waris worked as the head of the Department of National Economy at the Ministry of Finance from 1946 to 1949. From 1949 to 1952, Waris was professor of economics at the Helsinki University of Technology, and was a member of the Executive Board of the bank Suomen Yhdyspankki from 1950 to 1951.
From 1952 to 1957, Waris was a member of the executive board of the Bank of Finland, and from 1957 to 1967 the governor of the bank. When Waris began his term as governor, his first task was to defend the value of the devalued Finnish mark in the situation after the 1956 general strike. In 1961, however, Finnish markka had to be devalued again. Waris resigned from the central bank in 1967. Devaluations facilitated exports and foreign loans were used to develop the Finnish forest industry and improve Finland's road network. Unemployment was low during the Waris period, living standards improved and Finland urbanized.
After a career in banking, Waris served as the chancellor of the Helsinki School of Economics from 1967 to 1980 and as the first executive of Sitra from 1968 to 1972.


Florea Dumitrescu

Florea Dumitrescu (April 4, 1927 – April 16, 2018) was a Romanian economist and diplomat. Dumitrescu held the positions of Minister of Finance of Romania from 1969 to 1978 and Governor of the National Bank of Romania from 1984 until 1989 under President Nicolae Ceaușescu during the country's Communist era. He served as Ambassador of Romania to China from 1978 to 1983.
In parallel, he also served as Ambassador of Romania to Myanmar from 1979 to 1987.
Dumitrescu, the son of farmers, wanted to become an economist and financier to escape the rural poverty in which he was raised. He graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in 1949.
He was appointed Governor of the National Bank of Romania from 1984 until his dismissal by Ceaușescu in March 1989.
Dumitrescu died at his home in Bucharest on April 16, 2018, at the age of 91.


J. Millard Tawes

John Millard Tawes (April 8, 1894June 25, 1979), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 54th Governor of Maryland from 1959 to 1967. He remains the only Marylander to be elected to the three positions of State Treasurer, Comptroller, and governor.
Early life and family.
Tawes was born to James and Alice (née Byrd) Tawes in Crisfield, Maryland. He received his early education in the Somerset County, Maryland public schools, and later attended Bryant and Stratton Business College where he studied banking and accounting. After college, Tawes earned a living working in lumbering and canning firms that were owned by his father, which later expanded into shipbuilding, baking, and banking. Tawes married Helen Avalynne Gibson on December 25, 1915; with her he had two children.
Maryland political career.
Tawes' political career began in 1930 when he was elected as clerk of the court for Somerset County, Maryland, narrowly defeating his opponent Harry T. Phoebus by 72 votes. After winning re-election in 1934, Tawes pursued state office. In 1938, he was elected Comptroller of Maryland, defeating Republican rival William G. Jack by 140,000 votes. Under Tawes, the state budget of Maryland nearly quadrupled in just six years. He was re-elected as Comptroller in 1942.
In 1946, Tawes ran for governor of Maryland but lost to William Preston Lane, Jr. in the Democratic primary. Tawes initially retired, but was appointed by Governor Lane to serve as a State Banking Commissioner in 1947. Tawes held that position until 1950, when he was appointed Comptroller to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James J. Lacy. He was re-elected to the office in 1950 and 1954.
Governor of Maryland.
In 1958, polling among Marylanders showed that Tawes was quite popular. This led Tawes to announce, for the second time, his candidacy for governor. He faced minor opposition in the primary, and defeated Republican James Devereux, a Congressman and veteran of World War II, by approximately 200,000 votes in the general election. On January 14, 1959, he was sworn in for his first term.
The beginning of Tawes' term as governor was benefited by the overwhelming Democratic majority present in both houses of the Maryland General Assembly. Seeking to improve the state's economy following a recession in 1958, Tawes established extensive departments and agencies that primarily regulated and assisted agriculture, industry, and the economy in general. He also established organizations to deal with the elderly, insurance, savings and loans, and justice. Seeking to improve the highway system, Tawes create the State Roads Commission that added over a thousand miles of major roads and highways to the state. Concerning environmental matters, Tawes established programs to help the oyster population within the Chesapeake Bay, established several island nature reserves, and doubled the size of the state park system. He also worked towards reducing water pollution and saving forests from destruction. Tawes also sought to phase out slot machines in Maryland, which was completed after he left office in 1968.
Regarding education, the state of Maryland saw significant strides in areas including the expansion of the University System of Maryland, the establishment of public educational television channels, and the creation of state agencies encouraging educational loans. Tawes would later remark that the educational strides under his administration should be regarded as the greatest accomplishment.
One of the major constitutional concerns during the Tawes Administration came from the reapportionment of districts within the state. When Maryland was granted an extra Congressional seat following the 1960 census, years of unsuccessful attempts to redraw the state districts resulted in a federal jury of three judges redrawing the boundaries in 1966. Regarding the General Assembly districts, Tawes oversaw the shift of power from the rural areas to the urban. Ever since the American Revolution, representation in the General Assembly was divided evenly for all counties, which meant the more numerous rural counties dominated politically. Following the series of "one man, one vote" decrees by the Supreme Court of the United States, a lower court in Maryland ruled the General Assembly districts unconstitutional. Tawes, a rural county politician himself, called the General Assembly into special session to redraw the districts, resulting in a substantial gain in representation in the State Senate and House of Delegates for the urban areas of the state for the first time.
In the election of 1962, Tawes faced substantial competition in the primary from David Hume, a critic of Tawes' conservation policies, and businessman George P. Mahoney. While both Hume and Mahoney polled impressively, Tawes managed to retain the Democratic nomination. His challenger in the general election, Congressman Frank Small, Jr., lost to Tawes by a margin of 78,000 votes, primarily due to Small's poorly managed campaign. Tawes' second administration began on January 9, 1963.
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States took place during the Tawes Administration. While Tawes was publicly neither strongly for or against discrimination, Maryland became the first state south of the Mason–Dixon line to enact a public accommodations laws under his administration, and he also directed the state government and its contractors to conduct anti-discriminatory hiring practices.
Many of the themes Tawes began in his first term were continued in his second, including educational reform. The allocation of state aid to educational institutions was recalculated by the legislature during his second term, resulting in increased funds being directed towards the most needy districts. Tawes also managed to establish an educational television network, which he had been campaigning for since his first term.
While Tawes had always maintained a platform of fiscal conservatism, spending by the state government doubled under his administration from approximately $448 million to over $1 billion. His final years in office involved the initiation of the review of the Maryland Constitution of 1867, and the establishment of commissions to remove areas of waste within the government. Both of these measures would not come to fruition until after he left office. Tawes's tenure as governor came to a close on January 25, 1967.
Later life.
When Tawes left his office as governor, he was given a 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood as a gift from his supporters. Soon after he was elected by the people of Somerset County to represent them in the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1967/68. Tawes was voted honorary president by the members of the convention, but remained silent during the proceedings as to not give the impression of a conflict of interest. After all, it was Tawes who called for the convention whilst governor.
After the signing of the Constitutional ratifications, Tawes was appointed by his successor, Governor Spiro Agnew, to serve as Chairman of the Board of Natural Resources. Agnew's successor, Marvin Mandel, appointed Tawes as Secretary of the newly created Department of Natural Resources, where he served as an advocate for the protection and nurturing of Maryland's environment. Tawes' final service to the state came as Treasurer of Maryland, where he was chosen to fill an unexpired term from 1973 to 1975.
Tawes was found unconscious at his home in Crisfield on June 25, 1979 from what appeared to be a heart attack. After spending nearly an hour attempting to revive him, ambulance personnel and doctors on the scene determined that he could not be saved. He had been admitted to the hospital a month before complaining of chest pains, and two weeks prior due to a mild heart attack.
Following his death, Tawes was reflected upon as a moderate and calm political figure. While publicly seen as weak due to his age and often indirect administration methods, Tawes was capable of pushing legislation through the General Assembly when necessary, though he was not always eager to do so. He was also capable of appealing to both sides of an issue by maintaining a moderate record. Before his death, Tawes noted his proudest accomplishments revolved around leaving a state government that was fiscally sound, and also for improving the education system and establishing community colleges. He is buried in Sunny Ridge Memorial Park in his hometown of Crisfield.