Federal Judge Rules Health Law Violates Constitution

A second federal judge ruled on Monday that it was unconstitutional for Congress to enact a health care law that requires Americans to obtain commercial insurance, evening the score at two-to-two in the lower courts as conflicting opinions begin their path to the Supreme Court.

Clinton visits Haiti

(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returned early Monday from a one-day visit to Haiti with major concerns about the Caribbean nation's presidential elections

(Clinton met with former first lady and leading Haitian presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat on Monday.)

Two women remember their days in the schoolyard

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
Recorder Staff

GREENFIELD — About 82 years ago, two young girls, a shy brunette with straight hair that fell just below her chin and a talkative red-head with bouncy curls, met for the first time.

The two girls had attended public schools for their first three years of school, but when Holy Trinity School opened in 1929, their families decided to send them to the parochial school.

So, when the first day of fourth grade arrived, the two walked from their homes to their new school, which was located in the same brick building it is housed in today on Beacon Street.
Ninety-one-year-old Doris Powlovich, the once red-head, and 90-year-old Kay O’Hara, the once quiet brunette, now both live in Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility, and were in the first class of eighth graders to graduate from the Holy Trinity School.

The two, who both have gray hair now, sat in wheelchairs as they reminisced about their years at Holy Trinity School, after hearing the news that the school will close at the end of this year. “I think it is awful … it is too bad that it is closing,” said O-Hara. “Some children are missing a good opportunity.”

“There are a lot of good memories,” she said.

O’Hara started to chuckle when she started to share one of these memories. When she was in the eighth grade, she recalled, she was with a group of friends on the school’s second floor near the staircase. By accident, one of her friends knocked into a wooden door stop, which then went flying into the air down to the first floor.

“It landed in a nun’s habit and my friend was scared stiff,” she said with a laugh.

Back to Haiti!

I am finalizing dates now, but it looks like I am going back April 9-23! I am so, so excited. I am going with the same nonprofit, Partners in Development, and I can't wait to see all the friends that I made during my first trip.

Also, I am at my best friend's for the weekend, Amy, who has a wonderful cooking blog, Third Floor Bakes. I am here to celebrate her birthday, which involves playing video games, eating homemade bagels that her fiancé Doug made and probably some crafting at some point.

Doug and Amy

All Eyes on Egypt

Egypt Protests Continue as Military Stands ByAl Jazeera Covers Protest Despite Hurdles

A Nobelist Has an Unfamiliar Role in the Protests

Egyptians Fury Has Smoldered Beneath the Surface for Decades

Egypt's Military is Seen as Pivotal in Next Step

Another protest in the Middle East

Thousands in Yemen Protest Against the Government

Partners in Health: New Hospital In Rwanda

On a stunning, remote mountaintop in northern Rwanda, scores of government leaders, PIH staff, friends and supporters, and community health workers looked on as Butaro Hospital opened its doors to the world. This 150-bed, world-class teaching hospital features two operating theatres, an intensive care unit, a dedicated neonatal unit, and state-of-the-art medical equipment. Its innovative design employs natural ventilation techniques that reduce the transmission of dangerous diseases, such as tuberculosis and H1N1 influenza, while creating a tranquil, dignified environment.

Heard this on NPR this morning ....

Ugandan Gay Rights Activist is Beaten to Death

Contest

Help me think of a better blog name. My good friend pointed out that my blog is not really following its original intentions.

So, I challenge you to be creative and witty and help me think of a new name. I may stick with what I have now, but I'd like to hear your ideas.

Winner gets a surprise homemade gift mailed to them.

News of the Day

Budget Deficit to Hit $1.48 Trillion

Dispute With Parliament Leaves Afghan Leader Isolated

Egypt Intensifies Crackdown

Giffords Moved to Rehab Center

Romney Edges Closer to an Announcement

Report: Loughner Studied Assassins

Tunisia: Arrest Warranted Issued for Ex-President

Jude Celestin Withdrawn from Haiti Presidential Poll

Cholera Alert Reaches Venezuela via Dominican Republic

My own Overheard in the Newsroom

Me: "So are you excited about reading 80 inches on domestic violence?"

Editor, who normally works the night desk so he reads all my stuff, but is subbing in for our features editor so he isn't doing that this week: "Is that running this week, so I won't have to read it?"

Me: "No, next week, succcccccker."

Editor: "Can't you write about something happy?"

Me: "I don't do happy."

Partners in Health: A Hymn of Hope

With a giggle, Esther Balthazar bursts into song. Her head sways in time with the music, her smile grows with the melody. She’s singing one of her favorites—a hymn of hope. A cold breeze rustles through the lush grove of palm trees at her home in central Haiti, but Esther’s warm, confident voice cuts through the chill.

News updates

Loughner Pleads Not Guilty

Hezbollah Chooses Lebanon's Next Prime Minister

Top News

Deadly Blast at Moscow's Main Airport Seen as Terrorist Attack

Palestinian Leader Sees Political Motive in Release of Files

Iran Rules Out Fuel Swap Plan

Pope Weighs In On Social Networking

More Troops Lost to Suicide

Loughner to Appear in Federal Court

Tunisia Arrests TV Channel Owner for "Treason"

11 U.S. Cops Shot in 24 Hours

Notable news of the day

Climate Threatens Species At Every Altitude

Giffords Heads to Rehab Facility

South Sudanese Vote Overwhelming for Succession

Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Istanbul

FDA Sees Promise in Alzheimer's Imaging Drug

Senate Dems Plot Aggressive Strategy to Fight Health Care Repeal

Abortion Interjected into Health Care Reform Repeal

Haiti: Aristide says he is ready to return

Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) - On the heels of an exiled despot's arrival home, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said he is ready return to help his troubled homeland. He has been living in South Africa since he fled Haiti in 2004.

And, here is more Baby Doc news.

More Haiti pictures

Giffords to be released on Friday

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is expected to be released from a Tucson, Ariz., hospital Friday just less than two weeks after she suffered a gunshot wound to her head, her office said today.

My Haiti story (written after my visit there)

(From left: Isabelle, Esther, Me, Marci and Fernande)

It is Isabelle Maxi's dream to have a "beautiful village" in Haiti for her people, one with well-built houses and working toilets.
Maxi, who is in her late 20s, is the village leader of a tent city in Port-au-Prince that has been home to about 556 families since the January earthquake that left about 250,000 dead and 1.3 million homeless.
At the end of September, when I visited Haiti, with piles of rubble and rotting garbage in the streets and the thousands of people still living under tents and tarpaulins, this dream seemed nearly unattainable for a country that was the poorest in the Western Hemisphere even before the quake.
Instead of sturdy homes and clean, drinkable water, Maxi's village is a labyrinth of flimsy tents and other make-shift homes cobbled together with found objects, like tin and tarps.
These homes don't offer much protection from the elements, leaving their occupants to bake in Haiti's hot sun and then get soaked during torrential rains, including the deluge brought by Hurricane Tomas in early November, which was followed within weeks by a surge in cholera cases.
Maxi's tent city is located in Damien, a section of Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city in Haiti, which shares with the Dominican Republic an island that's southeast of Cuba. The front of the encampment lies near a moderately traveled dirt road, while the back of the camp abuts lush, green vegetation.
There used to be a pig farm here. There are still pigs in concrete pens, but others stray at will among the tents. The stench from the animals wafts through the air.
"We are living with pigs here," said Maxi. "It isn't good."
There are no toilets, showers, sinks, electricity or drinking water. In a large yellow container on the premises, there is water for cleaning and bathing but it isn't filtered for human consumption.
During the tour of the tent city, Maxi told me that I was going to see a "good house." What she led me to was just a wood frame enclosure covered with a tarp.
Scattered throughout the encampment were ditches dug in no clear pattern to keep the area from flooding. They were cluttered with accumulated trash and debris.
Providing clean water and sanitation services is an enormous task in Haiti. Before the earthquake, access to safe drinking water was among the worst in Latin American and the Caribbean, while access to sanitation was among the worst in the world, according to a report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The earthquake has made a bad situation so much worse.
The quake devastated the already fragile water and sanitation systems near the epicenter and left about 1.5 million people without access to safe drinking water or a toilet, according to the Red Cross report.
In Haiti, fields and alleyways are the bathrooms for many, and showers are nowhere to be found. Streams and other bodies of water became the places where Haitians can clean themselves. Everywhere I traveled, I saw people bathing outside -- in the streets near available faucets, in rivers and outside of their homes with a bucket of water.

Baby Doc charged with corruption

A Haitian prosecutor on Tuesday formally charged former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier with corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other alleged crimes committed during his 1971-1986 rule.

Check out the full article posted on Talking Points Memo. (another article by The Guardian)

Update on Baby Doc

Baby Doc taken away by police.

Pasta making

My brothers bought my grandmother a pasta maker, so Alex (one of my brothers) tested it out on Sunday. The end result = heaping plates of homemade pasta, eggplant parmesan and meatballs.

A chef in the making?

Baby Doc is back

Haiti's political crisis took a stunning turn on Sunday when Jean-Claude Duvalier, the dictator known as Baby Doc who was overthrown in 1986, arrived unexpectedly in the capital from exile in France.

Taking it to the Street

Artist’s downtown paintings to benefit Greenfield library; talk, reception set for Friday street

Story by Mackenzie

When night descended on Greenfield, it was time for artist Frank Gregory to get to work.

Using a loaned key, he would enter the Arts Block building and climb the stairs to the fourth floor, a cavernous, dusty and dirty open space illuminated by just a couple of naked light bulbs.

There, situated high above the hustle and bustle on Main Street, the 49-year-old artist would set up his easel near the building’s windows, where he would sit for hours, enveloped in the spooky space, creating works of art inspired by the world below.

The only bright light came from over his shoulder, from a spotlight that shined on the piece he was working on.

He created some of his paintings and pastels onsite or “en plein air,” a French expression meaning in the open air. He also snapped hundreds of pictures and did smaller renditions, which he used to as inspiration to create more works at his studio in Greenfield.

The end result: a collection of paintings, photographs, pastels and monotypes that explore visual issues revealed in the dark, such as the color and definition of objects as they light up under car headlights.

Gregory’s work will be on display and for sale at the Stoneleigh-Burnham School, 574 Bernardston Road in Greenfield, in its Geissler Gallery. His show, titled "Greenfield @ Main & Federal,"will open on Friday, Jan. 14 and will run until Feb. 22.

There will be a gallery talk at 2:40 p.m. and the opening reception at 6 p.m. Fifty percent of the sales of works from this exhibit will go directly to the Greenfield Public Library. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by appointment by calling (413) 774-2711 ext. 263.

Additionally, Gregory is donating one of his paintings to the library — a monochromatic streetscape made with oil paints, which the artist painted from a vantage point from one of the building’s northeast windows.

From that view, the building juts out into the road, over the sidewalk, which Gregory says gave him the feeling that he was flying over Main Street. “It is a really intriguing view … there are not many places that you can get that view.”

Gregory, “a big fan of the library,” decided to give the painting to the institution to display because of the challenges it has faced in these tough economic times. He raised his family about a block away from the library; it became a safe place they could allow their children to visit on their own.

Getting an updated picture for work

... so, of course, we had a little fun.

Check out this One Year Later presentation at 6 p.m. by Partners in Health. You can watch it live on a computer.

Hard at work

Today, I went with a visiting nurse to go see one of her patients. I wrote a story about how visiting nurses and home aides don't get snow days.

I had to trek through a foot of snow to get to the patient's front steps.

My story on Haiti's anniversary

By MACKENZIE ISSLER

Recorder Staff

A year ago today, the country of Haiti was turned upside down.

A massive earthquake struck the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 12, 2010, about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince the country’s capital — killing about 250,000 and leaving 1.3 million homeless.

Almost immediately, volunteers and hundreds of aid groups flowed in. One of these volunteers was Alison Childs, a registered nurse with 12 years of experience who is now employed at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield. She has traveled to Haiti three times since the
quake and is currently there, helping in a cholera center at St. Damien’s Hospital, right outside of Port-au-Prince.

A year later, about a million people remain homeless and neighborhood-sized homeless camps look like permanent shantytowns on the fields and plazas of the capital. A cholera epidemic erupted outside the earthquake zone that has killed more than 3,600 people and sickened about 155,000 people, and an electoral crisis threatens to break an increasingly fragile political stability.

“Sadly, I see that there are still a lot of problems,” said Childs, when reached by telephone in Haiti on Tuesday. “They need more support internally from their own government to start fixing some of the problems that came out of the earthquake.” (Story continues after picture)

A political standoff continues in Haiti after the disputed Nov. 28 presidential election, as international observers are waiting on Haiti’s president to accept a report suggesting his party’s candidate be eliminated from a contentious election to choose the quake-ravaged country’s next leader.

A year later: Haiti

Check out this interactive slide show of the past year in Haiti. It is heartbreaking.

I e-mailed the president of the nonprofit I traveled with and told her that I want to go back in April. She told me that she would send me dates soon.

More Arizona News

Arizona lawmakers take up funeral protest legislation

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- The Arizona legislature is expected to pass legislation Tuesday targeting a Kansas church whose members have announced they plan to picket the funerals of the victims of Saturday's shootings in Tucson.

The proposed legislation would make it a misdemeanor to protest within 300 feet of a funeral from one hour before until one hour after a funeral, a spokesman for the state House said.

A new year

Last year was tough, to put it simply. And, as a result, I often found myself bogged down in the stress of it all and not doing enough of the things I love --- like mod podging (collaging) and adding things to my bucket list and things just to do for myself.

So, this blog will be devoted to just that. A place where I can set goals, small and big; have discussions about news that interests me, including articles that I wrote; and, most likely, Haiti, where I traveled last year for nine days to volunteer, wrote a long story about my stay and Haiti in general and a place that I long to return to.

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the earthquake that killed 250,000 and left 1.3 million homeless. I had the opportunity today to write a story about a local nurse who is on her third trip to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Thanks to the i-phone, we were able to talk today and I was able to write a story for our newspaper that I am proud of and keeps me connected to a place that I miss so much.

Mwen sonje Ayiti.
(I miss Haiti)