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Before music videos became the industry's 24-hour marketing machine, there were a handful of television shows that mixed music, dance, and live performance. And few held the attention of generations of teens like "Soul Train." Creator and host Don Cornelius packaged fashion, fros, and funk with the top soul and
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Rochester Interim Superintendent Bolgen Vargas will hold three public meetings this week to let parents and community groups discuss their priorities for the 2012-2013 budget prior to its development. More public meetings will be held after the budget has been created. Vargas is facing a $40 million budget gap. He hopes
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Some Democrats are giddy about Newt Gingrich as the possible Republican nominee for president. I'm wary of him. It's beginning to look like Gingrich's trouncing of Mitt Romney in South Carolina will lead to a victory for him in Florida - so I hope President Obama's advisors learn something from
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I've been waiting anxiously for someone to write this article, and Newsweek columnist Andrew Sullivan has finally done it. Obama, Sullivan argues, could be a transformational president on par with former President Ronald Reagan if he is re-elected to serve a second term. But an unenthusiastic left and a bitter
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Is America in decline? That was the question posed to callers of C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" on Saturday morning. Most of the people who called into the show were convinced that America's glory days were over. I would have disagreed if it weren't for some discouraging business news: Hostess filed for
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There are protests, and then there are protests. From a war fluid with horrid images, I can't remember anything about the Vietnam conflict that matched seeing Buddhist monks set themselves on fire. For a moment, the world seemed to stop and shudder. Buddhist monk Thich Quang
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Another education funding showdown is unfolding between New York and the federal government, the New York Times is reporting. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday that despite significant progress, New York has hit a "roadblock" that could jeopardize the $700 million the state won in Race to the Top grants.
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Are students' test scores a reliable way to measure a teacher's performance? That question has divided teachers, administrators, parents, and politicians over the last decade. But a new study out of Harvard University, reported by PBS, may have a dramatic impact on how we view teachers in our public schools,
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Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan was among the gaggle of conservative media types fawning over Rick Santorum's speech about his grandfather earlier this week. Santorum, thanking supporters in Iowa, described his grandfather's funeral. He talked about how the 72-year-old coal miner worked until he died, and how his grandfather's
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Governor Andrew Cuomo, unhappy with progress that school districts have made on developing new teacher evaluations, will create an education reform commission. The commission will be charged with coming up with recommendations to hold administrators and teachers more accountable. Cuomo has not yet appointed the commission. He’s expected to announce the
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Sears' announcement that it will close about 120 stores next year had some people I know asking, what's the big deal? While businesses come and go, the slow and steady decline of Sears is significant. But the closings are probably more relevant to older consumers who remember when the Sears brand
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It didn't take long for RCSD Interim Superintendent Bolgen Vargas to see that one of the district's worst public relations problems in recent memory was the divisive battle over last year's budget. Vargas said shortly after taking office that he would not let a repeat situation happen. The city school
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There often isn't enough time to look up from the job of news writing and reflect. Deadlines shouldn't drive the business, but they're an ever-present reality. Here are some thoughts I had, in the wee hours after too many holiday treats, about some of the people and stories I
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There are some signs that the national housing market may be coming out of its slump. And that would be terrific news for the US economy, if it turns out to be true. At the very least, things have stopped getting worse. Existing home sales reached a 10-month high in November, up
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Santa delivered an early Christmas gift to President Obama by way of the GOP-controlled Congress yesterday. Republicans have made it their mission to do almost anything possible to deny Obama a second term. But this week they may have boosted the president's odds for re-election. A bipartisan compromise bill passed by
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Earlier this year, advertising promoting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began appearing on television and billboards in major US markets. The ads are the latest phase of a campaign that began in 2008. The "I'm a Mormon" commercials feature people from all walks of life giving what sounds
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In covering MCC's long-awaited decision about a downtown campus, one thing became eerily apparent. Looking into MCC's future meant looking into Rochester's past. Shortly before MCC's announcement, the folks at Kodak gave a media a tour of the buildings they hoped to sell. There were the prerequisite details of any real
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Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina used to be a bit more moderate than many of his Republican colleagues. But lately he been lobbing fireballs like the one Politico refers to from his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. Graham slammed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling it "something
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The ads being produced for the GOP presidential contest are turning out to be more interesting than the candidates. When a friend of mine saw this ad by Texas Governor Rick Perry, he said, "Here we go again." When all else fails, and apparently it has for Perry, Republicans can't resist trotting
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We've measured student performance from almost every angle imaginable, writes Rod Watson, in a column for the Buffalo News. He cites some familiar turf: student test scores, absenteeism, graduation rates, and administration staff size. Add to that list New York's plans for more rigorous evaluations of teachers and principals. "But one thing
