Aurora police are asking for the public's help in locating a brother and sister who went missing from their home on Friday.
Reported by Denver Post 14 minutes ago.
Aurora police seeks help in finding missing brother and sister
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The 20 best places to live in your 20s
Your 20s are perhaps the most transient time in your life.From graduating college and finding your first job to making your career dreams a reality and the many milestones in between, a lot of things can happen in those 10 years of young adulthood — so why not add moving to a new city to your list?
Personal finance site WalletHub recently analyzed and ranked the 150 most populous US cities based on 19 metrics that 20-somethings would likely find most helpful in picking a new city.
Metrics included the number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents, housing affordability, annual job growth rate, recreation ranking, unemployment rate, and number of leisure establishments in the area.
To read more about the study's methodology, check out the full report here.
These 20 cities rank as your best prospects for building your new life:
-20. Omaha, Nebraska-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,552
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 18
While there aren't too many entry-level jobs in Omaha, a good number of people living there already — almost 97% — have jobs. The city also makes up for its less-than-stellar professional opportunities rank of No. 27 with it's quality of life rank of No. 6, which came in part from its abundance of recreational activities and single people.
-19. Plano, Texas -
Monthly median starting salary: $2,947
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 147
At $82,129, Plano has the highest median annual income of the 150 cities analyzed. The city also has the most affordable housing.
-18. Aurora, Colorado-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,845
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 85
Virtually across the board Aurora scores above average in both quality of life and professional opportunities categories, with a respective ranking of No. 47 and No. 12. Workforce diversity, recreation ranking, and median income growth rate all contribute to the city's ranking.
-17. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma -
Monthly median starting salary: $2,538
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 16
The city's workforce diversity, housing affordability, and low unemployment rate contribute to the city's professional opportunities rank of No. 12 and quality of life rank of No. 44, making Oklahoma City an optimal choice for the young worker.
-16. Seattle, Washington -
Monthly median starting salary: $2,746
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 42
A majority of Seattle's population has at least a bachelor's degree, and about a quarter of the city's occupants are in their 20s to mid 30s, and single people abound. The home to Amazon, Expedia, and Nintendo also boasts a high median income growth rate and economic mobility. Overall the city ranks No. 7 for quality of life and No. 25 for professional opportunities.
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15. Des Moines, Iowa-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,647
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 25
Des Moines has the 15th best professional opportunities and 36th best quality of life ranking. This city is particularly great for young people in part because the city offers affordable housing and has tons of single people.
-14. Dallas, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,060
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 36
Dallas boasts the 6th best professional opportunities ranking of the 150 cities analyzed, thanks to its high monthly median starting salary, workforce diversity, and above average annual job growth rate and entrepreneurial activity ranking. The tradeoff is the city's quality of life rank of No. 36.
-13. Minneapolis, Minnesota-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,756
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 82
With a professional opportunities rank of No. 17 and quality of life rank of No. 18, Minneapolis is a great option for people in their 20s. They city's low unemployment rate and large cluster of young, educated people with access to arts, leisure, and recreation establishments especially makes this true.
-12. Salt Lake City, Utah -
Monthly median starting salary: $2,451
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 73
High economic mobility, low unemployment, and tons of young, educated people to meet make Salt Lake City a viable option for 20-somethings. It follows, then, that the city earned a professional opportunities rank of No. 16 and quality of life rank of No. 19.
-11. Arlington, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,335
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 122
With the second highest monthly median starting salary and a median annual income of $59,553, it's not surprise Arlington ranks No. 10 for professional opportunities. While there aren't a ton of young, single people to mingle with, the housing is pretty affordable, which earns the city a rank of No. 46 for overall quality of life.
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10. Tulsa, Oklahoma-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,754
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 16
Coming in at No. 10 overall is Tulsa, Oklahoma. It earned a professional opportunities rank of No. 5 and ranked No. 61 for quality of life. WalletHub also ranks the city as the second best for entrepreneurial activity.
-9. Sioux Falls, South Dakota-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,190
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 9
WalletHub ranks Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the second best city for families and the sixth best for entrepreneurial activity, which makes the city the fourth best in terms of overall quality of life and No. 18 for overall professional opportunities.
-8. Fort Worth, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,013
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 29
Affordable housing options is one of the many reasons Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the best cities for overall professional opportunities and No. 41 for quality of life.
-7. Fremont, California-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,634
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 195
The median annual income in Fremont, California, is $71,593, the third highest of the 150 cities analyzed. This contributes to the city's overall professional opportunities rank of No. 9 and fairly high quality of life score.
-6. Corpus Christi, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,733
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 9
With the second best median income growth rate and the seventh best annual job growth rate, Corpus Christi, Texas, comes in at No. 4 for overall professional opportunities and No. 82 for overall quality of life.
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5. Houston, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,671
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 19
Houston, Texas, boasts the highest monthly median starting salary of the 150 cities analyzed, earning it a rank of No. 3 for overall professional opportunities and No. 71 for overall quality of life.
-4. Denver, Colorado-
Monthly median starting salary: $2,845
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 48
Denver, Colorado, has the eighth best overall professional opportunities and an overall quality of life rank of No. 13, which stems from its relatively high median income growth rate and young people making up almost a quarter of the city's population.
-3. Austin, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,005
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 23
A rapidly growing population, a low unemployment rate of 3.4%, and tons of single people to hang out with earns Austin, Texas, the No. 11 spot in terms of professional opportunities and No. 1 for quality of life.
-2. Grand Prairie, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,190
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 270
Grand Prairie, Texas, has some of the most affordable housing and plenty of entry-level jobs that pay well, which affords it the No. 2 spot for overall professional opportunities and No. 49 for overall quality of life.
-1. Irving, Texas-
Monthly median starting salary: $3,060
Number of entry-level jobs per 10,000 residents: 233
With the second best workforce diversity levels and tons of entry-level jobs on the market, Irving, Texas, ranks No. 1 for overall professional opportunities and No. 38 for overall quality of life.
*SEE ALSO: 15 things you should do in the 15 minutes before a job interview*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: How Elon Musk can tell if job applicants are lying about their experience Reported by Business Insider 17 hours ago.
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Denver commute times slightly longer than national average
DENVER (AP) — Census data shows that driving to work in the Denver area takes slightly longer than the national average commute time. People with jobs in Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood who drive alone take 26 minutes to get to work, according to a nationwide analysis of traffic congestion by The Associated Press.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 12 hours ago.
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Victim of ATV fatal crash in NE Minnesota identified
AURORA, Minn. (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Minnesota have released the name of a 37-year-old man killed in an all-terrain vehicle crash over the weekend. The St. Louis County sheriff's office identifies the victim as Travis Ray Warren of rural Aurora. Authorities say Warren was driving an ATV that crashed south of Aurora on Saturday. The sheriff's office say the ATV veered off the road, went down a steep ditch and hit a tree before ending up in a creek. A bicyclist came upon the crash. Warren was dead at the scene.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 9 hours ago.
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Theater shooting trial leads to concerns about mental illness, stigma
The Aurora theater gunman and his attorneys are fighting for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Reported by Denver Post 23 hours ago.
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Putnam County Wine and Food Fest Gears Up for August 8-9 Event
The excitement toward the activity-infused event has continued to spread throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond.
Patterson, NY (PRWEB) June 29, 2015
Entering its fifth year, the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest is at a new location—Beaver Creek Farm on Route 311 in Patterson, NY. The event for all ages features wineries, distilleries, farm market and specialty foods, food trucks, arts and crafts, and special exhibitors. Tickets are available online at PutnamCountyWineFest.com.
The Fest will provide a wide variety of food, drinks, activities, and more. Wineries are front and center with tastings from Adirondack Winery, Casa Larga Winery, Heron Hill Winery, Kas Spirits LLC, Lakeland Winery, Montezuma Winery, Oliva Vineyards, Pazdar Winery, Robibero Winery, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, Whitecliff Vineyard, and many more. Entertainment will be provided by Jim Marrone Trio, Mike Hollis band, Sam Haiman Band, The Lone Wolf Trio, Chef Johnny Ciao and Professor Louie, and many more.
There will also be cooking demonstrations from celebrity chef to the stars, Johnny Ciao, who cooked for everyone from Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Donnie and Marie Osmond, Wayne Brady, the late Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Marlon Brando and many others. Also, Chef Vincent Tropepe, who will be using local products from the farm and food vendors on hand.
“I am so thrilled to be making an appearance at the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest as part of the RAW documentary tour,” Chef Tropepe, an award-winning chef, and host of the reality show “RAW,” exclaims. “I am looking forward to my cooking demonstration and meeting the great foodies that will be attending.”
The Putnam County Wine and Food Fest puts emphasis on “greener living” through the culinary arts. Vendors for this year’s Fest include Nectar of the Vine showcasing their wine frappes, wine salsa, and other specialty products; Soukup Farms, specializing in maple syrup; Aurora's Gypsy Cafe, specializing in farm to truck cuisine presents eclectic gypsy food; Creatively Yours, which features make-your-own ceramics, and many more to be announced.
The excitement toward the activity-infused event has continued to spread throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. Shuttle transportation from both Metro-North Southeast and Patterson train stations will be available to and from Beaver Creek Farm during both days of the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest. Visit the website for directions at putnamcountywinefest.com/travel/.
All ages are welcome on August 8th from 11-6 and August 9th from 11-5 at Beaver Creek Farm in Patterson, NY. General admission tickets are available for $25, $10 for those under 21. One day VIP passes are being sold for $100, advance sale only.
The Putnam County Wine and Food Fest is sponsored by Verizon, News 12 Westchester, Party Line Tent Rentals, and Chronogram. Visit PutnamCountyWineFest.com for additional information. Reported by PRWeb 23 hours ago.
Patterson, NY (PRWEB) June 29, 2015
Entering its fifth year, the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest is at a new location—Beaver Creek Farm on Route 311 in Patterson, NY. The event for all ages features wineries, distilleries, farm market and specialty foods, food trucks, arts and crafts, and special exhibitors. Tickets are available online at PutnamCountyWineFest.com.
The Fest will provide a wide variety of food, drinks, activities, and more. Wineries are front and center with tastings from Adirondack Winery, Casa Larga Winery, Heron Hill Winery, Kas Spirits LLC, Lakeland Winery, Montezuma Winery, Oliva Vineyards, Pazdar Winery, Robibero Winery, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, Whitecliff Vineyard, and many more. Entertainment will be provided by Jim Marrone Trio, Mike Hollis band, Sam Haiman Band, The Lone Wolf Trio, Chef Johnny Ciao and Professor Louie, and many more.
There will also be cooking demonstrations from celebrity chef to the stars, Johnny Ciao, who cooked for everyone from Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Donnie and Marie Osmond, Wayne Brady, the late Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Marlon Brando and many others. Also, Chef Vincent Tropepe, who will be using local products from the farm and food vendors on hand.
“I am so thrilled to be making an appearance at the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest as part of the RAW documentary tour,” Chef Tropepe, an award-winning chef, and host of the reality show “RAW,” exclaims. “I am looking forward to my cooking demonstration and meeting the great foodies that will be attending.”
The Putnam County Wine and Food Fest puts emphasis on “greener living” through the culinary arts. Vendors for this year’s Fest include Nectar of the Vine showcasing their wine frappes, wine salsa, and other specialty products; Soukup Farms, specializing in maple syrup; Aurora's Gypsy Cafe, specializing in farm to truck cuisine presents eclectic gypsy food; Creatively Yours, which features make-your-own ceramics, and many more to be announced.
The excitement toward the activity-infused event has continued to spread throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. Shuttle transportation from both Metro-North Southeast and Patterson train stations will be available to and from Beaver Creek Farm during both days of the Putnam County Wine and Food Fest. Visit the website for directions at putnamcountywinefest.com/travel/.
All ages are welcome on August 8th from 11-6 and August 9th from 11-5 at Beaver Creek Farm in Patterson, NY. General admission tickets are available for $25, $10 for those under 21. One day VIP passes are being sold for $100, advance sale only.
The Putnam County Wine and Food Fest is sponsored by Verizon, News 12 Westchester, Party Line Tent Rentals, and Chronogram. Visit PutnamCountyWineFest.com for additional information. Reported by PRWeb 23 hours ago.
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Judge orders Brady Center to pay ammo dealer’s legal fees after dismissing lawsuit
A federal judge has ordered that the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence pay the legal fees of an online ammunition dealer it sued for the Aurora movie theater shooting.
Reported by FOXNews.com 18 hours ago.
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Aurora police shoot armed man
Aurora police officers shot and wounded a man who refused to follow their orders to drop a gun on Sunday night.
Reported by Denver Post 17 hours ago.
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Aurora theater shooting trial, the latest from Day 39
ARAPAHOE COUNTY — — Denver Post reporter Jordan Steffen's updates from Day 39 of the Aurora theater shooting trial at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, Colorado.
Reported by Denver Post 15 hours ago.
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2 Men Found Dead in Plainfield Home
Patch Naperville, IL -- One man was an Aurora resident and the other was from Naperville.
Reported by Patch 11 hours ago.
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Aurora theater shooting gunman seemed psychotic, doctors testify
Four months after the Aurora theater shooting, the gunman was running his head into jail cell walls, refusing to eat or drink and behaving bizarrely, a psychiatrist testified Monday.
Reported by Denver Post 10 hours ago.
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HR.com Announces Nominations for the 33rd annual Leadership 500 Awards are Now Open
The 2016 Leadership 500 Awards will transparently recognize the best leadership development programs across schools and organizations, as well as extraordinary individual leaders who develop these programs for their companies.
Aurora, ON (PRWEB) June 30, 2015
HR.com is thrilled to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 Leadership 500 Awards program. For over 33 years, Leadership Excellence has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and schools for their development programs in its yearly ranking issues.
This year's program has been updated and now features 35 total categories: 2 for individuals, 19 for organizations, and 14 for education. Visit http://www.hr.com/leadership500awards for all categories and the nomination form.
Rankings are determined from ratings based on a Net Promoter-like scoring index, coupled with reviews by an expert judging committee.
The 2016 rankings will include the top 15 companies within each category. Winners will be printed in the February 2016 edition of Leadership Excellence Essentials, featured in an interview article with a photo in a future edition of Excellence Essentials, and posted to the LEAD YouTube channel. In addition to the media publicity, winners will also be eligible to attend the exclusive live site of the LEAD2016 conference, hosted February 3 & 4, 2016, in Nashville, Tennessee. Day One of LEAD2016 will see twelve world thought-leaders share their stories, broadcasted via high definition web stream to host sites around the world. Day Two is composed of Leadership and HR specific roundtables and workshops for the Nashville attendees.
"Winning the Education Award in 2014 and 2015 has helped tremendously in building the brand recognition of The Center and attracting new and exciting opportunities, as well as allowing us to capitalize on increased interest in our executive leadership programs. While we systematically continue to connect with program alumni post-programs, it was rewarding to see how very enthusiastic they were to re-engage and give us feedback through the ranking's survey process. We look forward to the revised 2016 program!" - Garth D. Headley, Associate Director of Public Affairs, FIU Center for Leadership
Nominations are open through September 30, and voting is open through October 15, 2015. Immediately after submission, nominees receive a respondent survey to send to their participants. This survey is designed to gather honest feedback about the individual or program being nominated and is the primary component of the ranking score, in addition to the review by the panel of leadership experts. Interested experts may apply to participate on the committee of judges: Apply for Judging Committee
For more information about the Leadership 500 Awards or the LEAD2016 event, please visit http://www.LEAD2016.com or call HR.com at 877-472-6648.
About HR.com
HR.com, the largest global social networking and resource site for HR Professionals is committed to providing a deeper understanding of the HR function for almost 250,000 members by offering a Global Leadership annual event, Leadership500 Awards, an innovative personal development app, certification exam prep courses, certification and re-certification credits, interactive Excellence Essentials monthly e-publications, Certification Programs, 4,500+ webcasts, 1,200+ eLearning credits, 230+ virtual conferences, blogs, community networks, and industry news. http://www.hr.com
HR.com contact:
Debbie McGrath
Chief Instigator and CEO
http://www.hr.com
dmcgrath(at)hr(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 22 hours ago.
Aurora, ON (PRWEB) June 30, 2015
HR.com is thrilled to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2016 Leadership 500 Awards program. For over 33 years, Leadership Excellence has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and schools for their development programs in its yearly ranking issues.
This year's program has been updated and now features 35 total categories: 2 for individuals, 19 for organizations, and 14 for education. Visit http://www.hr.com/leadership500awards for all categories and the nomination form.
Rankings are determined from ratings based on a Net Promoter-like scoring index, coupled with reviews by an expert judging committee.
The 2016 rankings will include the top 15 companies within each category. Winners will be printed in the February 2016 edition of Leadership Excellence Essentials, featured in an interview article with a photo in a future edition of Excellence Essentials, and posted to the LEAD YouTube channel. In addition to the media publicity, winners will also be eligible to attend the exclusive live site of the LEAD2016 conference, hosted February 3 & 4, 2016, in Nashville, Tennessee. Day One of LEAD2016 will see twelve world thought-leaders share their stories, broadcasted via high definition web stream to host sites around the world. Day Two is composed of Leadership and HR specific roundtables and workshops for the Nashville attendees.
"Winning the Education Award in 2014 and 2015 has helped tremendously in building the brand recognition of The Center and attracting new and exciting opportunities, as well as allowing us to capitalize on increased interest in our executive leadership programs. While we systematically continue to connect with program alumni post-programs, it was rewarding to see how very enthusiastic they were to re-engage and give us feedback through the ranking's survey process. We look forward to the revised 2016 program!" - Garth D. Headley, Associate Director of Public Affairs, FIU Center for Leadership
Nominations are open through September 30, and voting is open through October 15, 2015. Immediately after submission, nominees receive a respondent survey to send to their participants. This survey is designed to gather honest feedback about the individual or program being nominated and is the primary component of the ranking score, in addition to the review by the panel of leadership experts. Interested experts may apply to participate on the committee of judges: Apply for Judging Committee
For more information about the Leadership 500 Awards or the LEAD2016 event, please visit http://www.LEAD2016.com or call HR.com at 877-472-6648.
About HR.com
HR.com, the largest global social networking and resource site for HR Professionals is committed to providing a deeper understanding of the HR function for almost 250,000 members by offering a Global Leadership annual event, Leadership500 Awards, an innovative personal development app, certification exam prep courses, certification and re-certification credits, interactive Excellence Essentials monthly e-publications, Certification Programs, 4,500+ webcasts, 1,200+ eLearning credits, 230+ virtual conferences, blogs, community networks, and industry news. http://www.hr.com
HR.com contact:
Debbie McGrath
Chief Instigator and CEO
http://www.hr.com
dmcgrath(at)hr(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 22 hours ago.
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ITsavvy Makes Top 20 List of Unified Communications (UC) Solution Providers
ITsavvy was recently named to the list of the 20 Most Promising Unified Communications Solution Providers.
ADDISON, Ill. (PRWEB) June 30, 2015
ITsavvy, one of the fastest growing integrated UC solution providers in the U.S. was recently named to the list of the 20 Most Promising Unified Communications Solution Providers.
The list was developed by and published in CIOReview magazine. The June 15th issue features the entire list and a cover story on how to create an optimal UC environment. Based on an interview with ITsavvy President and CEO Mike Theriault, the story details the business value that ITsavvy brings to their clients through UC and related solutions that leverage technology as a strategic tool for optimization, growth, and competitive success.
“This opportunity came at the perfect time for us,” Theriault said. “We have been aggressively expanding our UC services and also our footprint with our new Network Operations Center in New York. Our objective is to become the top UC solution provider in the U.S. and we are closing in on that goal.”
ITsavvy’s UC solutions are strategically designed to support and promote streamlined, scalable operations for their clients. UC product solutions include: telephony, audio/video/web conferencing, messaging, mobile, collaboration, and more. Service solutions include: technology refreshes/upgrades; custom IVR development; business analysis and system design. ITsavvy integrates all of this into a single, secure, seamless UC environment and supports it into perpetuity with managed services.
To ensure successful deployment, the client’s environment is regularly recreated in ITsavvy’s Innovation Lab to beta test technologies prior to installation. ITsavvy’s team of UC experts is manufacturer-certified and available around the clock 365 days a year. The company also offers UC products and services from leading partners ShoreTel, Mitel, NEC, Cisco, and Lifesize.
ITsavvy’s Director of Unified Communications, Dennis Gorecki, will be conducting a 45-minute webinar on July 16 at 1:15 Central Time titled How to Optimize Your UC Investment. The webinar will cover: the latest trends in UC; product offerings from leading vendors; emerging technologies; the financial and strategic cases for UC in the Cloud; BYOD and mobility in the UC plan; and voice platform virtualization. Registration is free.
“ITsavvy’s UC solutions are a cut above our competitors because of the experience of our engineers and the range of services we provide before, during, and after the install,” Gorecki said. “As an integrator we provide a full solution. This streamlines and simplifies the UC system for clients.”
ITsavvy, one of the fastest growing companies of its type in the U.S., is a recognized leader in tailored end-to-end IT product and service solutions. ITsavvy built its reputation as a value-added reseller with industry-leading product availability, design and implementation, client support and delivery speed through 46 distribution centers across the U.S. ITsavvy also has data center locations in New Jersey, Illinois and New York. The company’s new, user-friendly website provides hundreds of concise, leading-edge IT decision-making resources, including an e-commerce site with real-time pricing and availability. ITsavvy is headquartered in Addison, IL, with offices in Chicago’s Loop; Hauppauge, NY; New York, NY; Warren, NJ; Aurora, IL; Davenport, IA; Hayward, CA; and Beavercreek, OH. Call 1-855-ITsavvy (1-855-487-2889), email: info@ITsavvy.com, visit: http://www.ITsavvy.com.
Full release at: http://www.itsavvy.com/itsavvy-makes-top-20-list-of-unified-communications-solution-providers/. Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.
ADDISON, Ill. (PRWEB) June 30, 2015
ITsavvy, one of the fastest growing integrated UC solution providers in the U.S. was recently named to the list of the 20 Most Promising Unified Communications Solution Providers.
The list was developed by and published in CIOReview magazine. The June 15th issue features the entire list and a cover story on how to create an optimal UC environment. Based on an interview with ITsavvy President and CEO Mike Theriault, the story details the business value that ITsavvy brings to their clients through UC and related solutions that leverage technology as a strategic tool for optimization, growth, and competitive success.
“This opportunity came at the perfect time for us,” Theriault said. “We have been aggressively expanding our UC services and also our footprint with our new Network Operations Center in New York. Our objective is to become the top UC solution provider in the U.S. and we are closing in on that goal.”
ITsavvy’s UC solutions are strategically designed to support and promote streamlined, scalable operations for their clients. UC product solutions include: telephony, audio/video/web conferencing, messaging, mobile, collaboration, and more. Service solutions include: technology refreshes/upgrades; custom IVR development; business analysis and system design. ITsavvy integrates all of this into a single, secure, seamless UC environment and supports it into perpetuity with managed services.
To ensure successful deployment, the client’s environment is regularly recreated in ITsavvy’s Innovation Lab to beta test technologies prior to installation. ITsavvy’s team of UC experts is manufacturer-certified and available around the clock 365 days a year. The company also offers UC products and services from leading partners ShoreTel, Mitel, NEC, Cisco, and Lifesize.
ITsavvy’s Director of Unified Communications, Dennis Gorecki, will be conducting a 45-minute webinar on July 16 at 1:15 Central Time titled How to Optimize Your UC Investment. The webinar will cover: the latest trends in UC; product offerings from leading vendors; emerging technologies; the financial and strategic cases for UC in the Cloud; BYOD and mobility in the UC plan; and voice platform virtualization. Registration is free.
“ITsavvy’s UC solutions are a cut above our competitors because of the experience of our engineers and the range of services we provide before, during, and after the install,” Gorecki said. “As an integrator we provide a full solution. This streamlines and simplifies the UC system for clients.”
ITsavvy, one of the fastest growing companies of its type in the U.S., is a recognized leader in tailored end-to-end IT product and service solutions. ITsavvy built its reputation as a value-added reseller with industry-leading product availability, design and implementation, client support and delivery speed through 46 distribution centers across the U.S. ITsavvy also has data center locations in New Jersey, Illinois and New York. The company’s new, user-friendly website provides hundreds of concise, leading-edge IT decision-making resources, including an e-commerce site with real-time pricing and availability. ITsavvy is headquartered in Addison, IL, with offices in Chicago’s Loop; Hauppauge, NY; New York, NY; Warren, NJ; Aurora, IL; Davenport, IA; Hayward, CA; and Beavercreek, OH. Call 1-855-ITsavvy (1-855-487-2889), email: info@ITsavvy.com, visit: http://www.ITsavvy.com.
Full release at: http://www.itsavvy.com/itsavvy-makes-top-20-list-of-unified-communications-solution-providers/. Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.
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Post-Charleston, Ferguson, Newtown: How "Advanced" Is America?
In the early aftermath of the massacre of nine African-American parishioners, including their pastor, gunned down by a white male shooter in their house of worship, Charleston's Emanuel A.M.E. Church, a sorrowful President Barack Obama posed this challenge in his White House press conference:
"At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it."
What marks a country as advanced? More than the technological achievements of working lights and running faucets, the mark of an advanced society is reflected in its adherence to high principles, its moral character, its striving for excellence, and its commitment to the general welfare. At the least, every one of its citizens should feel safe in his home, in the streets, and certainly in his place of worship.
We Americans think of ourselves as advanced, at least technologically. The images of the first man on the moon, put there by American ingenuity and organization less than 200 years after the country's founding, can still thrill.
But many of us are keenly aware that vital threads in the social fabric have come unstrung, and, unstrung, threaten to unravel the whole. Place names evoke atrocity. Ferguson and Baltimore: the killing of unarmed black men by white police. Newtown: the massacre of small schoolchildren by a deranged shooter (also here). Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Aurora: more massacre by the deranged. Along with place names, we remember the names of the dead: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner.
After each of these atrocities, the call goes out for a reckoning---but little comes of it.
Perhaps the massacre in Charleston, with its trifecta of lethal elements---guns, race hatred, and, new to the mix, white supremacy---will spur the public, heartbroken and weary over this cavalcade of death, to press for action.
*Gun control.* Really, action on this matter should be compelling by now. How much carnage must we bear? As the President put it post-Charleston, "Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."
While there's now a rush to gun stores to arm up, as occurred after other massacres, and while support for gun rights has steadily increased in recent years (also here), there is nevertheless strong public support for various safety measures to control those rights. A recent PEW poll shows 85% of those polled approve of background checks for gun sales and 80% feel people with mental illness should not be able to buy guns (though why both figures aren't 100% is a mystery). And it's nonsense to hold, as Republicans do, that mental illness is more the problem than guns. It's not either-or, but both-and: We can attend to both---gun control and mental illness.
Other countries view America as barbaric, hardly advanced, in the carnage we permit---and they are right: The carnage is barbaric. As The Washington Post wrote post-Charleston in support of the President:
"It isn't an accident that massacres like this one are extremely rare in other advanced countries that don't fetishize gun ownership the way we do. Believe it or not, there are violent people in England or Romania or Japan, but without our ready access to guns, the damage they do is limited."
While the President's challenge about advanced nations referred specifically to gun violence, the following two elements of the Charleston massacre certainly factor into a consideration of whether a nation is advanced or not.
*Race hatred.* While it is the case---a proud case---that as a nation America has made great progress in civil rights, most notably when a majority of voters elected an African-American to the White House but also, significantly, re-elected him to a second term, it also appears to be the case that certain segments of our society take vicious exception to this progress, and have become more blatant in the Obama era.
Obama-hatred, breathtaking in its virulence, has not been sufficiently combatted by Democrats; they should reform altogether. Some want Mr. Obama to be more "out there" on race, and since Charleston he has, notably in his eulogy for the murdered pastor, Clementa Pinckney. But to become perceived as "the angry black man" in the White House could risk making the race issue all about him, rather than the collective problem it properly is.
Republicans were hesitant to attribute the Charleston massacre to race hatred. But when a white man walks into a black church and murders black people, what other interpretation is there? Masters of subtle race-baiting, Republicans must, as The New York Times delicately puts it, "carefully calibrate" their words both to "appeal to minorities while also energizing white conservatives." As The New Yorker writes, Republicans, who
"rely heavily on the votes of white southerners....have sometimes been driven to cultivate support among gun groups, anti-immigrant groups, 'patriot' groups, and other inflammatory organizations that cluster around the right fringes of their party and beyond. And even when they aren't actively courting these entities, many prominent Republicans have been reluctant to say anything that could incur their wrath."
*White supremacy.* This is the new element in the mix---white supremacy: the ugliest face of race hatred (also here)---thrust to the fore by the Charleston shooter who, before killing the black parishioners, recited the white supremacist cant, "You are raping our women and taking over the country. You have to go." Photos of the shooter with the Confederate battle flag and the emblems of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia confirm the connection. Bubbling under the surface for decades and growing increasingly rancid, white supremacist "thinking" now posits that a "white genocide" is underway, waged by inferior races, not just in the U.S. but world-wide.
Dealing with this phenomenon will be difficult, as white Americans continue to lose demographic ground to faster-growing minority groups. But at the least we need to unpack the historical fact that, no matter how vigorously whites may have worked for blacks' civil rights, it is the case that, in the beginning, the white race brought the black race to this country---in chains---and thus have the duty to see those chains in all their manifestations---social, political, economic---completely broken.
Removing the Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy, from public places and putting it in a museum is a first step. Republican South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is to be commended for recognizing that a symbol of heritage embraced by many Southerners has been hijacked as an emblem of race hatred. (Of the "heritage, not hate" formulation, however, African-American writer Jelani Cobb notes, "The great sleight of hand is the notion that these things were mutually exclusive.") Notable also is Republican state representative Norman Brannon's candor in supporting the flag's removal. A friend of Pastor Clementa Pinckney, who also served in the legislature as a senator, he stated: "It took my buddy's death to get me to do this. I should feel ashamed of myself." Encouragingly, other Southern states are following suit and select retailers are removing the flag from stock.
But much more reckoning must be done, beyond a flag, and it will take more candor, more courageous leadership, and more effort from We the People. At a time when the public is retreating in disgust from gridlock politics and voter participation is dropping, all citizens must stay engaged. Weary as we are, consider how weary blacks are in insisting their lives matter. (Whites joining in solidarity with blacks at post-Charleston memorials is a stirring sight.) President Obama by himself can't get us to that vaunted place, the "post-racial society"; it is up to us. How to go about it?
One major way is to push back---emphatically---at any racist or white supremacist expression, starting with the forthcoming Fourth of July family picnic. This will be difficult---Americans prize free speech, everyone's speech, as an elemental right---but the Charleston massacre makes a powerful case: Two friends of the shooter now express regret that, hearing the shooter's wild fantasies earlier, they did not stop him. One friend, reported by The New York Times, now feels guilt: "I feel we could have done something and prevented this whole thing."
Another friend says of the shooter, "He was a racist; but I don't judge people." Americans, especially of recent generations, pride themselves on being non-judgmental. But there is a vast difference between tolerance of personal opinion and tolerance of criminal plans. Nine people are dead because judgment was suspended. This friend also said the shooter spoke of wanting "to start a civil war," but the friend didn't take him seriously. We must take white supremacy seriously.
At the national level, leaders in all walks---political, religious, business---need to work forward from this historic moment in Charleston, when guns, race hatred, and white supremacy came together in a fatal but also revealing combination. Leaders must understand the power of their words to ignite or construct, and take care.
In our cultural fare, creative minds must rethink the hip trend of "breaking bad" and pursue the much harder (and more dramatic) task of showing characters pushing back against the bad to break good. Spare us the dramatic investigation into the heart of the Charleston shooter and his ilk. Give us tales of the likes of parishioner Tywanza Sanders, the young man who during the massacre tried to dissuade the shooter and who died trying to protect his aunt (also here). Where does such moral character come from?
Advanced nations, in the tales they tell themselves, don't fetishize violence, dysfunction, or pathology, as we do at present. Instead, a nation truly advanced has a capacity and relish for moral drama: tales of characters examining the rightness and wrongness of things and taking action, as ancient Greece did at its height. Granted, many Greek dramas were tragic, but the real tragedy for America is if we continue to glorify the amoral and mock the moral. American culture offers little to stay the hand of a shooter, to connect him to the humanity of his soon-to-be victims, even as he looks into their faces, and offers too much that negates that shared humanity.
Meanwhile, other advanced countries might temper their criticism of America for its
race hatred, especially if these other advanced countries are mono-ethnic or are guilty of ostracizing members of their own societies as lesser. How one's country maintains its mono-ethnicity might bear investigation, and reform. America is a multi-ethnic melting pot working out, for all the world to see, the problems afflicting all peoples of all nations throughout history.
To point our way, we have the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was Dr. King's genius as a strategist---to hold America accountable in its stated profession to love both the Bible and the Constitution---that got us to this comparatively advanced stage in race relations and that can guide us through this reactionary time. To do unto others as we would have done unto us, and to treat each other as equal before the law: This is the formula for racial comity---and a truly advanced nation.
For other commentary on the Charleston massacre, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Carla Seaquist's latest book, "Can America Save Itself from Decline?: Politics, Culture, Morality," is now out. An earlier book is titled "Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character." Also a playwright, she published "Two Plays of Life and Death," which include "Who Cares?: The Washington-Sarajevo Talks" and "Kate and Kafka," and is at work on a play titled "Prodigal." Her early career was in civil rights.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.
"At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it."
What marks a country as advanced? More than the technological achievements of working lights and running faucets, the mark of an advanced society is reflected in its adherence to high principles, its moral character, its striving for excellence, and its commitment to the general welfare. At the least, every one of its citizens should feel safe in his home, in the streets, and certainly in his place of worship.
We Americans think of ourselves as advanced, at least technologically. The images of the first man on the moon, put there by American ingenuity and organization less than 200 years after the country's founding, can still thrill.
But many of us are keenly aware that vital threads in the social fabric have come unstrung, and, unstrung, threaten to unravel the whole. Place names evoke atrocity. Ferguson and Baltimore: the killing of unarmed black men by white police. Newtown: the massacre of small schoolchildren by a deranged shooter (also here). Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Aurora: more massacre by the deranged. Along with place names, we remember the names of the dead: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner.
After each of these atrocities, the call goes out for a reckoning---but little comes of it.
Perhaps the massacre in Charleston, with its trifecta of lethal elements---guns, race hatred, and, new to the mix, white supremacy---will spur the public, heartbroken and weary over this cavalcade of death, to press for action.
*Gun control.* Really, action on this matter should be compelling by now. How much carnage must we bear? As the President put it post-Charleston, "Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."
While there's now a rush to gun stores to arm up, as occurred after other massacres, and while support for gun rights has steadily increased in recent years (also here), there is nevertheless strong public support for various safety measures to control those rights. A recent PEW poll shows 85% of those polled approve of background checks for gun sales and 80% feel people with mental illness should not be able to buy guns (though why both figures aren't 100% is a mystery). And it's nonsense to hold, as Republicans do, that mental illness is more the problem than guns. It's not either-or, but both-and: We can attend to both---gun control and mental illness.
Other countries view America as barbaric, hardly advanced, in the carnage we permit---and they are right: The carnage is barbaric. As The Washington Post wrote post-Charleston in support of the President:
"It isn't an accident that massacres like this one are extremely rare in other advanced countries that don't fetishize gun ownership the way we do. Believe it or not, there are violent people in England or Romania or Japan, but without our ready access to guns, the damage they do is limited."
While the President's challenge about advanced nations referred specifically to gun violence, the following two elements of the Charleston massacre certainly factor into a consideration of whether a nation is advanced or not.
*Race hatred.* While it is the case---a proud case---that as a nation America has made great progress in civil rights, most notably when a majority of voters elected an African-American to the White House but also, significantly, re-elected him to a second term, it also appears to be the case that certain segments of our society take vicious exception to this progress, and have become more blatant in the Obama era.
Obama-hatred, breathtaking in its virulence, has not been sufficiently combatted by Democrats; they should reform altogether. Some want Mr. Obama to be more "out there" on race, and since Charleston he has, notably in his eulogy for the murdered pastor, Clementa Pinckney. But to become perceived as "the angry black man" in the White House could risk making the race issue all about him, rather than the collective problem it properly is.
Republicans were hesitant to attribute the Charleston massacre to race hatred. But when a white man walks into a black church and murders black people, what other interpretation is there? Masters of subtle race-baiting, Republicans must, as The New York Times delicately puts it, "carefully calibrate" their words both to "appeal to minorities while also energizing white conservatives." As The New Yorker writes, Republicans, who
"rely heavily on the votes of white southerners....have sometimes been driven to cultivate support among gun groups, anti-immigrant groups, 'patriot' groups, and other inflammatory organizations that cluster around the right fringes of their party and beyond. And even when they aren't actively courting these entities, many prominent Republicans have been reluctant to say anything that could incur their wrath."
*White supremacy.* This is the new element in the mix---white supremacy: the ugliest face of race hatred (also here)---thrust to the fore by the Charleston shooter who, before killing the black parishioners, recited the white supremacist cant, "You are raping our women and taking over the country. You have to go." Photos of the shooter with the Confederate battle flag and the emblems of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia confirm the connection. Bubbling under the surface for decades and growing increasingly rancid, white supremacist "thinking" now posits that a "white genocide" is underway, waged by inferior races, not just in the U.S. but world-wide.
Dealing with this phenomenon will be difficult, as white Americans continue to lose demographic ground to faster-growing minority groups. But at the least we need to unpack the historical fact that, no matter how vigorously whites may have worked for blacks' civil rights, it is the case that, in the beginning, the white race brought the black race to this country---in chains---and thus have the duty to see those chains in all their manifestations---social, political, economic---completely broken.
Removing the Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy, from public places and putting it in a museum is a first step. Republican South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is to be commended for recognizing that a symbol of heritage embraced by many Southerners has been hijacked as an emblem of race hatred. (Of the "heritage, not hate" formulation, however, African-American writer Jelani Cobb notes, "The great sleight of hand is the notion that these things were mutually exclusive.") Notable also is Republican state representative Norman Brannon's candor in supporting the flag's removal. A friend of Pastor Clementa Pinckney, who also served in the legislature as a senator, he stated: "It took my buddy's death to get me to do this. I should feel ashamed of myself." Encouragingly, other Southern states are following suit and select retailers are removing the flag from stock.
But much more reckoning must be done, beyond a flag, and it will take more candor, more courageous leadership, and more effort from We the People. At a time when the public is retreating in disgust from gridlock politics and voter participation is dropping, all citizens must stay engaged. Weary as we are, consider how weary blacks are in insisting their lives matter. (Whites joining in solidarity with blacks at post-Charleston memorials is a stirring sight.) President Obama by himself can't get us to that vaunted place, the "post-racial society"; it is up to us. How to go about it?
One major way is to push back---emphatically---at any racist or white supremacist expression, starting with the forthcoming Fourth of July family picnic. This will be difficult---Americans prize free speech, everyone's speech, as an elemental right---but the Charleston massacre makes a powerful case: Two friends of the shooter now express regret that, hearing the shooter's wild fantasies earlier, they did not stop him. One friend, reported by The New York Times, now feels guilt: "I feel we could have done something and prevented this whole thing."
Another friend says of the shooter, "He was a racist; but I don't judge people." Americans, especially of recent generations, pride themselves on being non-judgmental. But there is a vast difference between tolerance of personal opinion and tolerance of criminal plans. Nine people are dead because judgment was suspended. This friend also said the shooter spoke of wanting "to start a civil war," but the friend didn't take him seriously. We must take white supremacy seriously.
At the national level, leaders in all walks---political, religious, business---need to work forward from this historic moment in Charleston, when guns, race hatred, and white supremacy came together in a fatal but also revealing combination. Leaders must understand the power of their words to ignite or construct, and take care.
In our cultural fare, creative minds must rethink the hip trend of "breaking bad" and pursue the much harder (and more dramatic) task of showing characters pushing back against the bad to break good. Spare us the dramatic investigation into the heart of the Charleston shooter and his ilk. Give us tales of the likes of parishioner Tywanza Sanders, the young man who during the massacre tried to dissuade the shooter and who died trying to protect his aunt (also here). Where does such moral character come from?
Advanced nations, in the tales they tell themselves, don't fetishize violence, dysfunction, or pathology, as we do at present. Instead, a nation truly advanced has a capacity and relish for moral drama: tales of characters examining the rightness and wrongness of things and taking action, as ancient Greece did at its height. Granted, many Greek dramas were tragic, but the real tragedy for America is if we continue to glorify the amoral and mock the moral. American culture offers little to stay the hand of a shooter, to connect him to the humanity of his soon-to-be victims, even as he looks into their faces, and offers too much that negates that shared humanity.
Meanwhile, other advanced countries might temper their criticism of America for its
race hatred, especially if these other advanced countries are mono-ethnic or are guilty of ostracizing members of their own societies as lesser. How one's country maintains its mono-ethnicity might bear investigation, and reform. America is a multi-ethnic melting pot working out, for all the world to see, the problems afflicting all peoples of all nations throughout history.
To point our way, we have the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was Dr. King's genius as a strategist---to hold America accountable in its stated profession to love both the Bible and the Constitution---that got us to this comparatively advanced stage in race relations and that can guide us through this reactionary time. To do unto others as we would have done unto us, and to treat each other as equal before the law: This is the formula for racial comity---and a truly advanced nation.
For other commentary on the Charleston massacre, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Carla Seaquist's latest book, "Can America Save Itself from Decline?: Politics, Culture, Morality," is now out. An earlier book is titled "Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character." Also a playwright, she published "Two Plays of Life and Death," which include "Who Cares?: The Washington-Sarajevo Talks" and "Kate and Kafka," and is at work on a play titled "Prodigal." Her early career was in civil rights.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.
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Aurora theater shooting trial, the latest from Day 40
ARAPAHOE COUNTY —— Denver Post reporter Jordan Steffen's updates from Day 40 of the Aurora theater shooting trial at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, Colorado.
Reported by Denver Post 15 hours ago.
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Today’s Bay Area arts and entertainment picks, July 1
Today’s Bay Area arts and entertainment picks, July 1 “The Trojans”: Last chance to see Berlioz’s epic adaptation of Virgil’s “Aeneid” at the San Francisco Opera, with a first-rate cast and extravagant stage production. 6 p.m. War Memorial Opera House. www.sfopera.com. “Detroit”: Aurora presents the regional premiere of Lisa D’Amour’s Obie-winning hit about two couples, a backyard barbecue and the tatters of the American dream. 8 p.m. Aurora Theatre, Berkeley. www.auroratheatre.org.
Reported by SFGate 12 hours ago.
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Summer job seekers: The climate's best in Denver
Looking for a summer job? You're in the right place. Metro Denver tops a new list of "the top 10 towns for summer jobs" from ZipRecruiter, a Santa Monica, California-based online jobs posting website. "Summer is the ideal time to enjoy Denver’s mountain landscape and sunny weather, but a picturesque landscape isn’t all the city has to offer," ZipRecruiter notes in the report. ZipRecruiter found numerous openings for summer jobs in the Denver-Aurora area, including 578 in retail and hospitality. To…
Reported by bizjournals 9 hours ago.
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Aurora Juvenile Receives Multiple Weapons Charges
Patch Naperville, IL -- The 17-year-old male allegedly flashed a gun and yelled gang slogans at a group of people.
Reported by Patch 8 hours ago.
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JeffCo DA to take Aurora police shooting case to a grand jury
Jefferson County District Attorney Peter Weir is preparing to take Aurora police officer Paul Jerothe before a grand jury after he shot and killed an unarmed man in March, according to Jerothe's attorney.
Reported by Denver Post 8 hours ago.
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String of Vehicle Burglaries in Aurora
Patch Montgomery, IL -- Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
Reported by Patch 8 hours ago.
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