Green Lives Matter' college course title has some critics seeing red

Black Lives Matter has taken offense at police saying “Blue Lives Matter” and others who say “All Lives Matter,” but now a Wisconsin school is risking ire by branding a class on environmentalism “Green Lives Matter.”

The course at University of Wisconsin at Green Bay will encourage students to support the “environmental justice movement” by “the merging of civil rights and environmental concerns.” But even Scott Furlong, the dean of social sciences at the school, acknowledged that the class name plays on what has become a loaded term.

 “Timing is everything,” he told FoxNews.com in an email. “When developed…politicizing the name of the class was not front and center for us.”

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Recent UWGB graduate Nathan Fiene organized an anti-Donald Trump rally last semester that was heavily attended by Black Lives Matter protesters

Furlong said the university’s diversity director and course professor, Elizabeth Wheat, chose the title earlier this year, as the Black Lives Matter movement built strength and members began to take umbrage at variations on the phrase.

Although Furlong admitted the “world landscape since that time has changed,” the university will stand by the title, but remain open to an adjustment if pressed by offended students.

“The name doesn’t come across as very sensitive to me due to the BLM movement and the controversy,” said recent UWGB graduate Nathan Fiene, who organized an anti-Donald Trump rally last semester that was heavily attended by Black Lives Matter protesters.

However, Chrissy Bartelme, former environmental affairs chair of the UWGB Student Government Association, said the school should politicize what it calls the “green lives movement.”

“The name ‘Green Lives Matter’ should not push away students, but rather encourage them to learn about those impacted by environmental hazards,” she told FoxNews.com in an email. “The class name should have no effect on what the students will learn.”

Taught mostly by instructors “of color, women, and blue collar sectors of society,” the course fulfills a general education requirement for incoming freshmen, who will learn about topics like “migrant farm worker pesticide exposure” and “urban environmental harms.”

Although he disagrees with the “highly questionable” title, Fiene applauded the content of the course material for shedding light on perceived racism within environmental policies.

Environmental consultant Tracy Thomas agreed, adding that “green” causes support the very goals of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“’Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Green Lives Matter’ share one common thread-contiguity,” she told FoxNews.com, pointing to a historical tendency for blacks to live in worn and neglected environments.

‘Green Lives Matter’ isn’t the only eccentrically named course offered at the school-university administrators encourage faculty to develop creative titles for mandatory freshmen seminars, according to Furlong.

Freshmen can also choose to enroll in “Food Politics,” “The Science and History of Monsters” and “From Disney’s Pocahontas to the NFL: Stereotypes and the Realities of the First Nations People.”

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Weigh 3 Factors When Making a Law School Budget

s a student at the Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University in North Carolina, Christopher Brown must study topics that are a core part of most J.D. programs, such as criminal law and constitutional law.

Less formally, he's also learning about budgeting, financial planning and low-cost living.

The 24-year-old rising third-year student has an unpaid internship for this summer, just as he did last year. He's financing his school years and the time in between with student loans and scholarships and carefully tracking his spending with a spreadsheet.

In his budget, there are line items for gas ($100 per month), groceries and miscellaneous ($500 per month) and more. He credits his mother for his budgeting skills.

"She had my back," says Brown. His mother, he says, is a certified public accountant.

[Find out how ready you are to pay for law school.]

Law school costs many students $30,000 or more per year, and the American Bar Association strongly discourages first-year students from working. Prospective and current students should think about how they'll manage their money while pursuing a J.D., experts and students say.

Here are three factors law school applicants should weigh when preparing to spend for their degree.

1. Books: Many classes for first-year students come with case books, says Tom Williams, assistant dean for academic affairs and the institution at Arizona State University'sO'Connor College of Law. And these books typically aren't cheap – he says new ones can run students between $200 and $400.

Williams encourages students to consider short-term borrowing for textbooks. "A rental of that book might be $100," he says.

Students can usually rent books from a school store or other organizations.

"Most student bar associations will also have a used book sale at the beginning of school," says Michelle Rahman, associate dean for admissions at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Because many law schools have similar first-year curriculums, students may go outside of their own school to find discounted text books, but the books may not necessarily be the right version, says Rahman. "Make sure it's the right edition."

She also encourages students to look online for cheaper books at sites such asBookFinder.com and lawbooksforless.com.

If buying or renting all the books they'll need for a semester isn't an option, students can also share.

"Jane buys the torts book. You buy the civil procedure book. And you can share those books with each other," she says.

2. Clothes: It's common for law students to dress in suits or other professional attire. There are law firm mixers, bar association events or even orientation activities that require more formalwear.

Aspiring J.D.s should plan on buying a suit and look to discount stores for deals.

"I looked for a nice blazer at a secondhand store," says Jeremy Rosenberg, a soon-to-be third-year student at CUNY School of Law.

[Pick a cost-efficient law school.]

Rahman, from the University of Richmond, recommends one suit in a neutral color, such as navy or gray, that allows students to interchange their shirts or their ties.

"I think a reasonable budget is $200 to $400 for an inexpensive suit," says Williams, from the O'Connor College of Law, when discussing men's professional wear. "As you go through law school, eventually you're going to need more than one but at least at the beginning you can probably get by with one."

Prospective students may also find that the school they plan to attend will help them keep clothing costs low.

In October, Arizona State will have a fashion show to help students learn how to dress, and participating clothing companies will offer discounts to the law students, says Ray English, assistant dean for the office of career and employment services at O'Connor.

"If you don't look the part, it's going to be hard to get the part," he says.

3. Bar exam preparation: To become a licensed attorney, law graduates must pass a bar exam. Students often take a preparation course for the exam and the test the summer after they graduate. It's not advised, experts say, for law graduates to work while studying, which means more time without a paycheck.

"We really talk to students early about planning for how they're going to survive that period between graduation and the bar exam, and pay for their bar prep," says Williams. "The bar prep courses are expensive."

Online options may cost a few hundred dollars, but a popular bar preparation company such as BARBRI Law Review can cost students significantly more, he says. In the District of Columbia, for example, a BARBRI prep course can cost $3,495.

"It's really something they should plan for as soon as they can and start figuring out how they're going to afford it and set aside money," says Williams.

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Southern Health NHS Trust 'paid millions' to Katrina Percy's associates

A troubled NHS trust has paid millions of pounds to companies owned by previous associates of its embattled chief executive, BBC News has learned.

One firm received more than £5m despite winning a contract valued at less than £300,000, while another was paid more than £500,000 without bidding at all.

Both are owned by former acquaintances of Southern Health NHS Trust's chief executive Katrina Percy.

The trust said it took its financial responsibilities "very seriously".

'Failure of leadership'

The BBC has also learned Southern Health has access to the services of former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, after it hired Portland Communications to help with its ongoing problems.

Mental health trust Southern Health has been under intense scrutiny since an NHS England-commissioned report in December found it failed to investigate the unexpected deaths of hundreds of patients.

A failure of leadership and governance at the trust was blamed for the problems, a conclusion a subsequent CQC report in April agreed with.

In light of the criticisms, Katrina Percy, the only chief executive the trust has ever had, has faced widespread calls to resign but has refused to do so.

2006 - Management consultant Chris Martin and Katrina Percy start working together during her capacity as chief operating officer at Surrey and Sussex Hospitals

2009 - Ms Percy becomes chief executive of Hampshire Community Health Care and Mr Martin follows her, providing coaching and leadership support

2010 - Mr Martin starts a firm of organisational psychologists called Talent Works Ltd, whose website says they are "experts in culture and behaviour change"

2010 - In December, Southern Health advertises for management development support. The tender has a value of £288,000, and the contract is to last three years, with an option for a one year extension

2011 - Ms Percy joins Southern Health as chief executive and the work is awarded to Talent Works Ltd

2014 - The initial three year contract ends and the firm is paid £5.365m - an over-spend approaching 2,000%. The trust chooses to exercise its option for a one-year extension

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Now she is facing fresh questions about two former associates, Chris Martin and Paul Gray, whose companies were paid by Southern Health.

Roy Lilley, former chairman of an NHS trust and now a health policy expert, said the overspend on Mr Martin's company was "extraordinary".

He said: "It really doesn't look good, and it casts a deep shadow over the people involved and the way in which the trust has been run by the board."

A former governor at Southern Health, John Green, who has a background in running quality management programmes, said he queried the work that Talent Works was doing at the trust.

"I was fobbed off," Mr Green said.

"I didn't get any information for well over a year. I believe the spending of public money in the NHS is nothing as accountable to the public as it should be."

Paul Gray worked with Ms Percy as director of strategy at Hampshire Community Health Care and his firms made money from the trust without having to bid for a contract.

In July 2009, he set up consultancy firm Consilium Strategy Consulting Ltd and in 2014 he formed a second company, Consilium Partners Ltd. Together they have been paid at least £602,000 by Southern Health since 2011.

In a statement, Southern Health said it had "tested the market to ensure value for money in 2011. There has been no increase in rates since this benchmarking exercise took place".

'Not unusual'

Regarding Talent Works, the trust said: "We fully accept that the original contract for Talent Works was for a sum far less than the eventual spend, however it was made clear in the tender documentation that there would be scope for additional work to be provided.

"The trust's audit committee were aware of the contract overspend but were satisfied that the market rates had been tested and that for a number of reasons, it was in the best interests of the trust for their work to continue."

It added that it was "not unusual" both men had worked with Ms Percy "given the specialist services they provide to the NHS".

Regulator NHS Improvement said it had no concerns about how the trust awarded the contracts.

It said: "All NHS organisations have a responsibility to manage their finances and procurement in a way which provides good value for money for patients and for taxpayers.

"The trust has clearly stated that it has fully market tested its contract with Consilium to ensure it delivers value for money.

"We expect all trusts to follow NHS procurement policy and at all times to do what is in the best interests of their patients."

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Over 100 malicious campaigns tracked by Kaspersky Lab

 Russia-based software security companyKaspersky Lab on Thursday announced that its global research and analysis team has tracked 100-plus sophisticated malicious operations targeting commercial and government organisations in 85 countries.

"The growing numbers show that sophisticated threat actors are actively improving and extending their arsenal, and a lot of new actors are coming to the stage, significantly raising the overall levels of danger," the company said in a statement.

The targeted attacks are not an elite activity anymore as this kind of operation would require a lot of specialists with specific skills and a lot of funding.

Kaspersky Lab researchers have observed the emergence of smaller yet efficientcyber espionage campaigns in recent years.

These groups are hunting for sensitive information, which can be used to gain geopolitical advantages or even sold to anyone willing to pay.

According to Kaspersky , government and diplomatic organisations, financial institutions, energy companies top the list of firms which are at maximum risk of becoming a cyber espionage target.

"We've been tracking sophisticated targeted attacks for more than six years now and we have seen this kind of activity become a widely used tool for espionage and money theft," added Costin Raiu, director of Global Research and Analysis Team atKaspersky Lab.

"Intelligence-based services that make it possible for enterprise security teams to access data about the latest sophisticated threats is a must nowadays," Raiu noted.

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7 Ways to Ease Muscle Soreness

As runners, endurance athletes, cross-fitters or whatever your sport, many times we push the limits, and find ourselves doing the penguin walk the day after a tough workout. If you’re training for a race or competition, you don’t always have the luxury of giving your body lengthy recovery time between workouts.

In order to stick to your training plan, you have to be back at it with perhaps only one recovery day under your belt. Muscle soreness is part of training. Many times, I’ve inched my way out of bed, wondering how I will ever get through the next workout. If I can barely lift my legs before I even start, how will I manage to get through a challenging tempo or long run?

Have you ever wondered, “how can I speed up muscle recovery?” Or at least ease muscle pain between workouts? Here are a few tips to aid with muscle soreness:

TIPS FOR EASING MUSCLE SORENESS

1. Stagger your key workouts out – In running, we generally do three key workouts: speed, tempo, and long run. If you stagger your difficult workouts throughout the week, this gives your body a day or two to recover in between.

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Doping: Retests uncover 45 new failures from London and Beijing Games

A further 45 athletes have tested positive for banned substances after a second set of samples were re-analysed from the London and Beijing Olympics.

Of these, 23 were medallists from the 2008 Beijing Games, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

On Friday Turkish weightlifter Sibel Ozkan was stripped of the silver medal he won in Beijing for doping.

IOC president Thomas Bach added that his organisation was committed to the "fight against doping".

All athletes found to have infringed anti-doping rules will be banned from competing at the Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August.

The latest results bring the total number of athletes who have tested positive from 2008 and 2012 to 98.

Two more sets of retesting are due to take place as the crackdown continues.

Key details from second wave of retesting:

• 386 samples selected from 2008;
• 30 athletes tested positive;
• From four sports and eight countries;
• 138 samples selected from 2012;
• 15 athletes tested positive;
• From two sports and nine countries.

First wave of retesting:

• 454 samples selected from 2008;
• 30 athletes tested positive;
• From six sports and 12 countries;
• 265 samples selected from 2012;
• 23 athletes tested positive;
• From five sports and six countries.

The athletes, relevant national Olympic committees and international federations are in the process of being informed about the latest test results.

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Vitamin D supplements 'advised for everyone'

Everyone should consider taking vitamin D supplements in autumn and winter, public health advice for the UK recommends.

It comes as a government-commissioned report sets the recommended levels at 10 micrograms of the vitamin a day.

But officials are concerned this may not be achievable through diet alone, particularly when sunlight, which helps in vitamin D production, is scarce.

Low vitamin D levels can lead to brittle bones and rickets in children.

Top-ups

Limited amounts of the vitamin are found in foods such as oily fish, eggs and fortified cereals.

But, for most people, the bulk of their vitamin D is made from the action of sunlight on their skin.

And official estimates suggest one in five adults and one in six children in England may have low levels.

Now, an extensive review of the evidence, carried out by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), suggests everyone over the age of one needs to consume 10 micrograms of vitamin D each day in order to protect bone and muscle health.

And public health officials say, in winter months, people should consider getting this from 10 microgram supplements, if their diet is unlikely to provide it.

Its main function is to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are vital for the growth and maintenance of healthy bones, teeth and muscles.

In extreme cases, low levels can lead to rickets in children - where the bones become soft and weak and misshapen as they continue to grow.

In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia - causing severe bone pain and muscle aches.

But there is a balance - too much vitamin D can lead to high levels of calcium in the blood which can cause heart and kidney problems.

Anyone with a chronic condition or taking medication should seek advice from their doctor.

Vitamin D: Q&A - Why do we all need to take a pill a day?

Meanwhile, children aged up to four should take supplements each day all year round, as should babies under one year - unless they already consume this in infant formula.

Prof Peter Selby, at the University of Manchester, welcomed the advice.

He said: "In particular, it dispels any doubt of the place of vitamin D in the maintenance of bone health and should ensure that all people will now be encouraged to receive vitamin D to reduce their risk of bone disease and fracture."

Previous advice that recommended top-up daily supplements for a few at-risk groups, including pregnant or breastfeeding women, and over-65s, still stands.

For example, people whose skin has little exposure to the sun, or who always cover their skin to go outside, should take the supplements throughout the year.

Black and Asian people should also consider the supplements all year round.Dr Louis Levy, head of nutrition science at Public Health England, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is a change in advice, previously we have said that babies from six months to five years should have a supplement and only those people at risk of deficiency should take a supplement.

"Previously we felt that everybody would get enough from the sunlight.

"This is new advice based on evidence looked at over the last five years."

He said those who apply sunscreen in the way the manufacturer recommended would not make enough vitamin D.

"When you go out, you do need to have short bursts without sunscreen and make sure that you don't get sunburnt," he said.

NHS England says vitamin D supplements are available free of charge for low-income families, through the Healthy Start scheme.

Separately, health officials in Scotland and Northern Ireland say they have updated their guidance in line with the new recommendations, but only for people aged over six months.

They are currently considering whether to extend the advice to babies from birth.

SACN reviewed a growing body of evidence linking vitamin D to bone and muscle health.

It also looked at studies suggesting Vitamin D levels might have an impact on cancers, cardiovascular disease and multiple sclerosis but found there was insufficient evidence to draw any firm conclusions.

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Wild birds 'come when called' to help hunt honey

New findings suggest that the famous cooperation between honeyguide birds and human honey hunters in sub-Saharan Africa is a two-way conversation.

Honeyguides fly ahead of hunters and point out beehives which the hunters raid, leaving wax for the birds to eat.

The birds were already known to chirp at potential human hunting partners.

Now, a study in the journal Science reports that they are also listening out for a specific call made by their human collaborators.

Experiments conducted in the savannah of Mozambique showed that a successful bird-assisted hunt was much more likely in the presence of a distinctive, trilling shout that the Yao hunters of this region learn from their fathers.

"They told us is that the reason they make this 'brrrr-hm' sound, when they're walking through the bush looking for bees' nests, is that it's the best way of attracting a honeyguide - and of maintaining a honeyguide's attention once it starts guiding you," said Dr Claire Spottiswoode, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK, and the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who led the study.

She and her colleagues wanted to test what contribution this sound actually made.

"In particular, we wanted to distinguish whether honeyguides responded to the specific information content of the 'brrr-hm' call - which, from a honeyguide's point of view, effectively signals 'I'm looking for bees' nests' - or whether the call simply alerts honeyguides to the presence of humans in the environment."

It seems to be a two-way conversation between our own species and a wild animal

Dr Claire Spottiswoode, University of Cambridge and University of Cape Town

To make that distinction, the team made recordings of the "brrrr-hm" call, as well as of general human vocal sounds such as the hunters shouting their own names, or the Yao word for "honey".

Then, Dr Spottiswoode accompanied two Yao honey hunters on 72 separate 15-minute walks through the Niassa National Reserve - a protected area the size of Denmark - playing these recordings on a speaker.

"This was great fun," she told BBC News. "We walked hundreds of kilometres through beautiful landscapes and occasionally bumped into elephants and buffalo and lions and so on. It's a really remarkable wilderness where humans and wildlife still coexist."

Sure enough, walks accompanied by the "brrrr-hm" recordings were much more likely to recruit a honeyguide (66% of the time, compared to 25% for the other vocal sounds).

The special call also trebled the overall chance of finding a beehive (a 54% success rate, up from 17% for the other sounds).

"What this suggests is that honeyguides are attaching meaning, and responding appropriately, to the signal that advertises people's willingness to cooperate.

"We already knew very well... that honeyguides communicate with humans, using special calls and behaviour to lead honey hunters to bees' nests. What our work has done is to complement those findings, by showing that humans communicate back to honeyguides too.

"It seems to be a two-way conversation between our own species and a wild animal, from which both partners benefit." 

He said a previous explanation, that the teamwork originated with another species - such as honey badgers or baboons - and was then co-opted by humans, had fallen from favour because the birds had never been witnessed guiding these animals.

"[This study] shows just how tightly attuned they are to human sounds," Prof Wrangham told the BBC. "They're not just generally interested in weird noises - anything loud or unusual or whatever. They have been trained, as it were, to look for humans.

"That really supports the notion that this is an evolved, co-evolutionary relationship."

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Facebook's drones - made in Britain

In a warehouse in Somerset, the latest phase in Facebook's bid for world domination has been taking shape.

Or, to put it less dramatically, the social network's plan to connect millions in developing countries is proceeding.

It is called Project Aquila and involves building solar-powered aircraft which will fly for months at a time above remote places, beaming down an internet connection.

Two years ago Facebook bought small British business Ascenta, which specialises in solar-powered drones, and its owner Andy Cox is now the engineer running Project Aquila.

At the end of June, the first aircraft produced in that warehouse on an industrial estate in Bridgwater was dismantled and taken in pieces to Arizona. There, it was reassembled for its first flight.

The unmanned aircraft, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 but is only a third the weight of a typical family car, stayed airborne for 90 minutes and performed well. The fragile structure did suffer some damage when it landed in a stony field some way short of the runway.

When it finally goes into service the idea is that it will come to rest on grassland.

Back in Bridgwater after the flight, Mr Cox told me there was still a long way to go.

"Eventually we will fly at 60,000-90,000 feet, above conventional air traffic, where it's very cold, and for periods of up to three months," he said.

"That means we can loiter around a given waypoint providing the internet without interfering with other traffic."

Right now the record for continuous flight by a solar-powered aircraft is two weeks, so getting to the point where the Facebook drone can stay airborne for three months will involve a lot more work.

Solar cells must be embedded all over the upper surface of the aircraft, while keeping it as aerodynamic and light as possible.

He lifted up one section to show just how light the structure was. "It needs to be light. Every kilo of extra weight means we need more power to fly it."During the day, the plane will fly on solar power, replenishing the batteries that keep it powered at night. They account for about half of the weight of the aircraft.

This might sound like just the kind of fringe project that a hugely wealthy technology business can afford to tinker with, but Facebook seems to be taking it seriously at the highest level. Mark Zuckerberg was in Arizona to see the first flight, and the global head of engineering, Jay Parikh, has been making frequent trips to Somerset to oversee progress.

"Our mission is to connect everyone on the planet," Mr Parikh told me, explaining that Project Aquila was just one of a number of technologies Facebook is developing to bring connectivity to remote places.

He ducked my question about what was the return for Facebook shareholders, insisting that the aim was just to help the telecoms industry bring down the cost of connectivity. Facebook, which has 1.6 billion active users, reckons there are another 1.6 billion people out there in need of an internet connection.

Of course, it is not alone in its mission to get these people online. Google's Project Loon involves using high altitude balloons to connect people to the internet in the same remote places that Facebook aims to serve. Both of these internet giants would like to be seen as benevolent forces advancing the global good of connectivity, so we can expect the race to be pretty fierce.

And these kind of initiatives are not without controversy. India rejected the Facebook Free Basics project, which was to give citizens limited, free web access via their mobile phones, amid suspicions that it was all about making the company more powerful.

This time, Facebook is treading carefully with Project Aquila, emphasising that it will just provide the connection, leaving local companies responsible for any services.

Mr Zuckerberg seems to have a genuine desire to bring people the connectivity that could transform their lives. But you cannot help feeling that he will also be hoping that Facebook's drones will be flying above sub-Saharan Africa before Google's balloons.

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