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Friday, February 8, 2013

Signing Day: Ole Miss muscles in on power programs

Alabama. Ohio State. Michigan. Florida. Notre Dame. Mississippi?

Ole Miss muscled in on the powerhouses that usually dominate national signing day, landing some of the most sought-after prospects in the country on college football's annual first-Wednesday-in-February frenzy.

The Rebels, coming off a promising 7-6 season in their first season under coach Hugh Freeze, had the experts swooning by signing three of the bluest chips still on the board and building a well-rounded class otherwise.

"I do think (this class) has the possibility of being a program changer," Freeze said. "But it's all on paper right now.

The day started with defensive end Robert Nkemdiche from Loganville, Ga., rated the No. 1 recruit in the country by just about everyone who ranks them, deciding to join his brother, Denzel, in Oxford, Miss.

"I feel like it's the right place for me," Nkemdiche said after slipping on a red Ole Miss cap. "I feel like they can do special things and they're on the rise. I feel like going to play with my brother, we can do something special."

Nkemdiche originally committed to Clemson last year, then backed off that and narrowed his picks down to LSU, Florida and Mississippi ? and the Rebels beat the big boys.

They weren't done. Coaches in the Ole Miss war room were exchanging hugs and high-fives again a couple hours later when Laremy Tunsil, a top-rated offensive tackle from Lake City, Fla., picked the Rebels over Florida State and Georgia.

"Tunsil to Ole Miss I think was the biggest surprise of the whole (recruiting season)," said JC Shurburtt, national recruiting director for 247Sports.com.

And, as if the Ole Miss needed more good news, highly touted defensive back Antonio Conner from nearby Batesville, Miss., chose the Rebels over national champion Alabama.

Ole Miss also landed Laquon Treadwell from Crete, Ill., one of the best receiver prospects in the country. He made a verbal commitment to the Rebels back in December, and sealed the deal Wednesday, the first day high school players can sign binding letters of intent.

The end result was a class good enough to even catch the attention of LeBron James.

"Ole Miss ain't messing around today! Big time recruits coming in. SEC is crazy," the NBA MVP posted on his Twitter account.

Crazy good. While the Rebels racked up, it's important to remember they still have plenty of ground to gain on the rest of their conference.

Nick Saban reloaded the Crimson Tide with a class that Rivals.com ranked No. 1 in the country.

SEC powers Florida, LSU and Georgia pulled in typically impressive classes. SEC newcomer Texas A&M cracked the top 10 of several rankings. Even Vanderbilt, coming off a nine-win season, broke into the top 25.

It's the cycle of life in the SEC, which has won seven straight BCS championships. Stock up on signing day and scoop up those crystal footballs at season's end.

___

SLIPPING AWAY FROM USC

Signing day didn't do much to soothe the scars left from a difficult season for Southern California.

NCAA sanctions limited the number of scholarships coach Lane Kiffin and the Trojans could hand out this year, and then as signing day approached USC had several players who had given verbal commitments change their minds.

The most notable defection on signing day was five-star defensive back Jalen Ramsey of Brentwood, Tenn., who flipped to Florida State. Defensive end Jason Hatcher from Louisville, Ky., bailed on USC and signed with Kentucky, and defensive end Torrodney Prevot from Houston not only reneged on his USC commitment, but he landed at Pac-12-rival Oregon.

"People expected (Prevot) to flip from USC, but they thought it would be to Texas A&M," Shurburtt said.

USC's class won't be lacking blue chippers. Quarterback Max Browne from Washington is considered the next in a long line of topflight Trojans quarterbacks, and Kenny Bigelow from Maryland is rated among the best defensive linemen in the nation.

Kiffin will be banking on quality to make up for the lack of quantity, but that's a precarious way to play a game as uncertain as recruiting.

____

IF MOMMA'S NOT HAPPY ...

Alex Collins, a top running back prospect out of Plantation, Fla., announced on Monday night that he was going to Arkansas instead of Miami.

It was considered a huge victory for new Razorbacks coach Bret Bielema.

But on Wednesday morning, when it was time to make it official, Collins' letter of intent didn't come spinning through the fax machine in Fayetteville, Ark.

There were some odd reports about Collins' mother not being happy with her son's decision to go so far from home.

College coaches aren't allowed to talk about specific players before they sign, but Bielema did acknowledge during his signing day news conference that Arkansas' class of 22 players could "grow by one."

___

THE BIG TWO

Ohio State and Michigan received two thumbs up from experts on their signing day classes. They all had the Buckeyes and Wolverines around top five in the country.

After that, there was a drop off. Nebraska received solid grades and Penn State, despite NCAA sanctions that limited its class to 17 signees, held up pretty well.

"That's a tribute to the job (Penn State coach) Bill O'Brien and the staff did," Shurburtt said.

But signing day 2013 signaled that Urban Meyer's Buckeyes and Brady Hoke's Wolverines are primed to pull away from most of the Big Ten, and maybe ? just maybe ? give the league a team or two that can challenge those SEC teams for a national title.

___

BUILT TO LAST

Notre Dame followed up its best season in more than two decades with a recruiting class that coach Brian Kelly hopes can keep the Fighting Irish contending for more national titles.

The class includes a famous name in Torii Hunter Jr., the son of the All-Star outfielder. Hunter Jr. is a top-notch receiver prospect, though he broke his leg during an All-Star game and it could be a while before he's back on the football field.

Linebacker Jaylon Smith from Fort Wayne, Ind., is generally regarded as the jewel of a class that experts have ranked among the best in the country.

"I love agreeing with experts," Kelly said.

___

BASEBALL OR FOOTBALL?

Oklahoma hopes it has found the next Sam Bradford in Cody Thomas, a pocket passer from Colleyville, Texas.

One small problem. Thomas is also a big-time baseball player who could draw interest in the major league draft this summer.

"We wouldn't have pursued him if we didn't feel there was a great chance he'd be playing football," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.

___

QUOTABLE

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said recruiting classes "don't always pan out. Of course, they always seem to pan out at Alabama."

___

AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Oxford, Miss., and Associated Press Writer Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind., contributed.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphdrussoap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/signing-day-ole-miss-muscles-power-programs-231004456--spt.html

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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Web-holding firm IAC promises continued search growth

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IAC/InteractiveCorp's said that growth in its search business would slow from the "meteor ride" of the past two years, but it was confident of double-digit growth for the "foreseeable future."

Shares of IAC were unchanged at about $43 in after hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported a 28 percent increase in fourth-quarter revenue, slightly exceeding Wall Street targets.

Executives at the Web holding company sought to dispel concerns that industry changes were taking a toll on its search business, which includes the Ask.com website and accounts for roughly half of IAC's revenue.

"The growth rates will slow from the meteor ride we were on in 2011 and 2012, but we've been saying that would happen since the ride started," said IAC Chief Executive Greg Blatt on a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. "We're confident this segment should yield double-digit growth for the foreseeable future."

Shares of IAC have been under pressure, falling roughly 20 percent since October, on concerns that recent policy changes at Google Inc and consumers adoption of mobile devices would erode revenue in its search business.

Executives said the impact of changes to Google's search algorithm had not hurt traffic and monetization of IAC's online proprieties as drastically as some investors feared. And executives said the company saw significant opportunities to grow its business among users of smartphones and tablet PCs.

"They went to pains to clear up that confusion," said Jefferies & Co analyst Brian Fitzgerald. "The takeaway was Q1 is going to feel some impact from search changes but long-term the business is not going away."

The company for the first time provided a financial forecast, projecting that consolidated revenue and operating income before amortization in the first quarter would grow in the "strong double digits, high-teens range."

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for Q1 revenue of $775.1 million, which would represent a roughly 21 percent increase from the year before.

IAC has amassed a wide variety of online properties in the online search, dating and media markets. In September, IAC spent $300 million to acquire the About Group from the New York Times Co.

IAC incurred $11.5 million in charges in the fourth quarter, with $7 million of the charges related to IAC's decision to cease print publication of Newsweek Daily Beast and to make it an online-only publication.

Net income for the quarter ended December 31 was $40.7 million, or 43 cents per share, versus $48.8 million, or 53 cents per share in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, IAC said it had EPS of 70 cents.

IAC Chairman Barry Diller said in response to a question during the conference call that spinning off any of the company's assets was always a possibility, but that there were no such plans at this time.

"We think the best configuration is a consolidated number of businesses that we think relate to each other," Diller said.

He said the company would continue to buy back stock opportunistically and to pay a dividend.

IAC's search business increased sales by 30 percent in the fourth-quarter to $403.6 million. Revenue in IAC's online dating segment rose 16 percent to $182.6 million.

Overall, IAC's revenue in the fourth quarter was $765.3 million, compared with $596.9 million in the year-ago period and above the $758.1 million expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Gunna Dickson and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/holding-firm-iac-promises-continued-search-growth-010658227--sector.html

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Clashes hit Syrian capital for a second day

This image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows smoke and fire billowing from an explosion in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. Heavy fighting erupted in Damascus Wednesday as government forces tried to hold back a new rebel effort to push the civil war into the heart of the Syrian capital, activists said.(AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian troops and rebels clashed again Thursday in the capital Damascus, a day after what activists described as the heaviest fighting in months in President Bashar Assad's seat of power.

The clashes were inching closer to the heart of the city, but still were focused in outlying neighborhoods such as Qaboun, Jobar and Zamalka in the northeast and the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in the south, according to the activist groups Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Authorities.

The Observatory, based in Britain, said five people, three of them women, were killed in Yarmouk overnight.

On Wednesday, Damascus witnessed the worst fighting since July, when rebels stormed several neighborhoods in the city and seized control of them for days until they were crushed in a government counteroffensive.

Damascus residents said Thursday was quieter, but they were still hearing sporadic explosions.

State-run television said rebels fired two mortar rounds at a bus station in the Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus, killing six people including three children and a woman. The TV, quoting an unnamed Interior Ministry official, said others were wounded in the attack.

The Observatory reported clashes and shelling between troops and rebels near Qaboun, saying several shells hit the neighborhood. It said the fighting occurred near the highway that links Damascus with the central city of Homs, Syria's third-largest.

In other areas, the Observatory reported heavy clashes between troops and rebels near the northern town of al-Safira, where there have been heavy clashes over the past weeks.

Al-Safira, south of the northern city of Aleppo, is home to military production facilities. The rebels have failed to advance in the area after weeks of intense clashes.

The LCC and Observatory reported violence elsewhere in Syrian including the suburbs of the capital, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour and the southern region of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad began 22 months ago.

Syria's opposition chief, who recently offered a dialogue with the government, demanded that the regime release all female political prisoners or he would scrap his offer.

Mouaz al-Khatib of the Syrian National Alliance said in an interview with the BBC Arabic service aired late Wednesday that the women must be released by Sunday.

Al-Khatib said the release of the women should be the beginning of the release of all political prisoners. He claimed there are 160,000 people, but it is not clear how many of them are women.

Al-Khatib made the offer as the crisis reached a stalemate, with neither side making significant battlefield gains likely to bring about a military victory any time soon.

The fighting, which began in March 2011, has left more than 60,000 dead, according to the U.N.

"The regime has until Sunday to begin releasing detainees, especially women. This should be the introduction of prisoners' release," al-Khatib said. "I warn anyone not to harm any of our women."

"If the women are not released by Sunday I consider that the regime wants to break the initiative," he said.

Al-Khatib's offer, which came last week, sparked criticism from opposition activists who say the regime has killed too many people to play a role in the conflict's solution.

He explained his position further on Monday, preconditioning the talks on Assad's departure and saying they could spare Syrians more suffering.

Al-Khatib's offer followed meetings he had held separately with Russian, U.S. and Iranian officials on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich over the weekend. Russia and Iran are Syria's two closest allies.

The government has ignored al-Khatib's offer for talks.

Prominent Syrian legislator Fayez Sayegh said this week that any dialogue must begin without preconditions. He also called Khatib's number of opposition supporters in custody "exaggerated," although he did not give an alternate number.

Human rights organizations say tens of thousands of opposition members, protesters and their families are being held by state security services.

Washington hailed al-Khatib's willingness for dialogue, but said the offer should not include immunity for those responsible for killing civilians.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-07-Syria/id-79bd1894567348b6bee6b91de6a638ac

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10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, shakes hands with Grand Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's premier Islamic institution during their meeting at Al Azhar headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. Once close, Egypt and Iran severed their relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution when Cairo offered exile to Iran's deposed shah. Relations further deteriorated after Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, file photo, Michael Dell, foreground, sits in the dorm room at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, where he launched his enterprise as a college freshman. Michael Dell was the Mark Zuckerberg of his time. Hailed as a young genius, he created the inexpensive, made-to-order personal computer in his dorm room and peddled it to the masses. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File)

This undated publicity photo provided by William Braden shows the cat, Henri, le Chat Noir, in a scene from the video, "Henri 2, Paw de Deux," by William Braden. The cat video won the Golden Kitty Award at the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Festival on August 30, 2012, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/William Braden)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. UNLIKELY ALLIES ZERO IN ON IMMIGRATION

Business, union leaders are hoping to create a guest-worker program to ensure future immigrants come to the U.S. legally.

2. WHO'S LEADING AN ATTACK ON DRONES

Democrats in Congress want to limit Obama's use of the unmanned spacecraft to kill suspected terrorists.

3. MORSI ROLLS OUT WELCOME MAT FOR AHMADINEJAD

A visit to Egypt by an Iranian leader would have been unthinkable under Mubarak, who shared Washington's deep suspicion of Tehran.

4. SIX SPANISH TOURISTS RAPED IN MEXICAN RESORT

For years, Acapulco has been battered by drug gang killings ? but violence has rarely touched visitors.

5. WHAT WAS IN AN UNDERGROUND BUNKER IN ALABAMA

The FBI found two bombs, one inside and one in a pipe used to communicate, on the property where a 5-year-old had been held hostage.

6. WHY TURNAROUND TRY IS PERSONAL FOR DELL FOUNDER

A $24.4B stock buyout could give Michael Dell ? the Zuckerberg of his day ? a chance to prove himself again.

7. OBAMA TO MAKE FIRST VISIT TO ISRAEL AS PRESIDENT

The trip also includes Jordan and the West Bank as the U.S. seeks to invigorate peace talks.

8. HOW THE CAT INTERNET INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS GROWING

Furry online stars are making their meows heard offline, with book deals, film festivals and corporate sponsors.

9. BEST BET FOR THE GRAMMYS

AP Music Writers Mesfin Fekadu and Chris Talbott predict Frank Ocean will win Best New Artist on Sunday.

10. A PAINFUL END TO LINDSEY VONN'S SEASON

She tears two ligaments in her knee and breaks her lower leg on a hard landing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-05-10%20Things%20to%20Know-Wednesday/id-146fb733699b4731ada8630ef218edd9

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

THE RESET: Gov't slowing economic and job growth

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 photo, Fernando Rames answers questions on a job application at the job fair in Sunrise, Fla. U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring was much stronger at the end of 2012 than previously thought, providing reassurance that the job market held steady even as economic growth stalled, according to Labor Department reports, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

White House press secretary Jay Carney briefs reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama declared last June that "the private sector is doing fine." And President Ronald Reagan liked to tell audiences, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Two major economic reports this week seem to lend some new weight to both provocative assertions.

The government continued to shed jobs in the first month of 2013, while the private sector again posted solid ? if not robust ? gains, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Employers added 157,000 jobs overall. There would have been more if governments hadn't shed 9,000 jobs in January, extending a recent trend.

The Commerce Department reported two days earlier that the economy contracted in the final three months of 2012, with the Gross Domestic Product slipping at a 0.1 percent annual rate.

A 6.6 percent drop in government spending, most of it at the national level, was the big culprit, subtracting about 1.3 percentage points from the GDP and dragging it into negative territory for the first time in over three years.

Yet the report also showed that the main drivers of the private economy ? housing, consumer spending and business investment ? had strengthened.

Obama was widely ridiculed for saying the private sector was "doing fine" compared to the government, and he backtracked a bit. But it turns out he wasn't totally wrong ? just about six months premature.

And present-day Reagan disciples continue to insist a smaller government is a better government ? even if it stokes job losses.

Reagan also declared, "It's morning in America again."

But that's a sentiment Obama is unlikely to be uttering anytime soon, with the jobless rate inching up in January to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December.

"We still have work to do," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at Friday's daily briefing.

___

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-01-US-The-Reset/id-08e7f21d6ca1461b92960d1495ca6621

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Lego Artist, Nathan Sawaya, Heads To Utah's Kimball Art Center ...

SALT LAKE CITY -- A world-renowned Lego brick artist is bringing his fun, yet thought-provoking work to Park City.

Nathan Sawaya, 39, started playing with Lego bricks as a child, but unlike most of us, never stopped. His sculptures are life-size and made out of hundreds of thousands of tiny Lego bricks.

His work will be on display at the Kimball Art Center in a free show that runs from Feb. 9 to April 21. Sawaya will be at a members-only opening event Feb. 8 that people can attend by buying a yearlong membership that is $25 for kids and educators and $50 for adults.

This will be his second show at the center, said Robin Marrouche Executive Director of the Kimball Art Center. Sawaya attracted some of the largest crowds the facility has ever had in 2009 with art that appeals to both young children and adults, she said.

"On one hand, it's fun and playful with these humungous statutes made out of these toys we all played with," Marrouche said. "But there is also this really interesting subtext."

In a piece named "Yellow," Sawaya has created a sculpture of a man opening his chest, with tiny Lego bricks falling out. In another, called "Think," tiny Lego men are climbing out the top of a man's head.

Other pieces, however, are just playful and fun, such as a life-size bumble bee and yellow bear.

The show features 29 sculptures and six wall hangings, ranging in size from 18 inches to nearly 7 feet. Children are amazed when they see the massive sculptures, which typically are made of 15,000 to 25,000 Lego bricks, Marrouche said. They often want to grab the bricks.

"They turn into the main gallery, and they can't believe what they are seeing," she said. "I've got staff tackling children."

Sawaya told The Salt Lake Tribune that he began making the Lego brick sculptures as a stress reliever during his off time when he was a corporate attorney in New York. He created a website ? brickartist.com ? and did his first show in 2007. Since then, he's displayed his work around the world and been featured on The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman and the Colbert Report.

He spends more than $100,000 yearly buying Lego bricks and has more than 1.5 million pieces in his New York studio, Marrouche said. He sometimes spends weeks on a sculpture.

"It's very therapeutic to just sit and work hours at a time," Sawaya told the Tribune. "I just put on music, and to me, it's part of the process. I go into it knowing that it's going to take time."

The exhibit is certainly unique in its broad appeal, Marrouche said. Since his last show in Park City, children and adults have been asking when he's coming back.

"It's pretty universal, our love of Legos," Marrouche said. "For him to have converted that into an art medium is pretty special."

This undated image provided by brickartist.com shows a sculpture made from LEGO pieces by artist, Nathan Sawaya. Beginning Feb. 9, 2013, the Kimball Art Center, in Park City, Utah, will host The Art of the Brick? , an exhibition featuring more than 30 large-scale sculptures created out of iconic LEGO? bricks by New York-based artist, Sawaya. (AP Photo/brickartist.com)
A photographer props himself next to a "brick painting" from The Art of the Brick exhibition by New York-based brick artist Nathan Sawaya showcased at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Visitors look around exhibits from The Art of the Brick exhibition by New York-based brick artist Nathan Sawaya showcased at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
People are silhouetted against an exhibit of the skeleton of a dinosaur from The Art of the Brick exhibition by New York-based brick artist Nathan Sawaya showcased at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
A man is silhouetted against an exhibit from The Art of the Brick exhibition by New York-based brick artist Nathan Sawaya showcased at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Visitors watch an exhibit from The Art of the Brick exhibition by New York-based brick artist Nathan Sawaya showcased at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
A man is silhouetted against an exhibit from "The Art of the Brick" exhibition by New York-based Brick artist Nathan Sawaya at the ArtScience Museum at the Marina Bay Sands on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
This undated image provided by brickartist.com shows a sculpture made from LEGO pieces by artist, Nathan Sawaya. Beginning Feb. 9, 2013, the Kimball Art Center, in Park City, Utah, will host The Art of the Brick? , an exhibition featuring more than 30 large-scale sculptures created out of iconic LEGO? bricks by New York-based artist, Sawaya. (AP Photo/brickartist.com)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/lego-artist-nathan-sawaya-heads-to-utah-kimball-art-center_n_2615451.html

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Governor Malloy puts children and families first, establishes Office of ...

This afternoon, Governor Malloy announced a proposal that will change the face of early childhood care and education in Connecticut.? The proposal calls for the creation of an Office of Early Childhood (OEC), a new agency focused on providing a comprehensive network of services to families with children ages zero to five.? The OEC will bring together early childhood services currently housed in five different state agencies ? the Department of Education, Department of Social Services, Department of Public Health, Department of Developmental Services and the Board of Regents. This proposal will be included in Governor Malloy?s legislative package, to be announced on February 6.

Said Governor Malloy:

?We are transforming how we address early childhood care and development in Connecticut? Engaging in a comprehensive approach for the delivery of services to children and their parents means better, more focused programming, and is an important addition to the education reforms that are already underway.?? When we improve early childhood education, we set a foundation for our young people that they will build on their entire lives.?

Dr. Myra Jones-Taylor, Director of the Office of Early Childhood Planning, echoed this sentiment:

?The Governor has brought a cohesive and unified vision to programs and services for young children and families ? it is bold policy that puts children and families first.? Through the Office of Early Childhood, Connecticut is positioning itself as a policy leader in child development, teacher training, and education.?

We are extremely excited by this announcement, which affirms Connecticut?s commitment to improving outcomes and opportunities for children through more efficient, coordinated, and meaningful programs and services for our state?s youngest children and their parents. All Our Kin?s executive director Jessica Sager was thrilled by today?s announcement, remarking that ?At All Our Kin, we see first-hand that supporting early care and education is a ?triple win? that benefits children, child care providers, and families- as well as communities.? Through the creation of the Office of Early Childhood, Connecticut can at last realize its promise of truly giving children the foundation they need to succeed in school and in life.?

To read the full press release from Governor Malloy?s office, click here.

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Source: http://allourkin.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/governor-malloy-puts-children-and-families-first-establishes-office-of-early-childhood/

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