Remington, the gun manufacturer that made assault rifle used in the murder of 20 children and 6 adults in one of the worst school shootings in US history, has offered a settlement of $33m to be split by nine of the victims’ families.

I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was a Friday and I didn’t have class until Tuesday but I liked to be ahead several lectures to makes sure I was timing the semester right. It was mid-December and chilly, and I was wrapped in a beautiful Navaho blanket one of my child patients had given me at a Powwow- a private on only for family members that I’d been honored to be invited to. …

Starvox Entertainment reschedules “The Art of Banksy” exhibit twice, pushing show back twice as well with a strange explanation.

Billed as the biggest Banksy exhibit ever assembled with more than 80 original works by the elusive artist, “The Art of Banksy” will open in Chicago, Illinois on August 14th at 360 North State Street. The show opens five weeks later than it was originally scheduled to, due to a second change in venue.

The show was first scheduled to open July 1 at an exhibit space in the West Loop. That site fell through in late June as organizers blamed City Hall red tape. …

I don’t know if you’re like me but I hate asking for favors. Part of this is growing up being taught I should never ask for anything from anyone because it’s an imposition. So, I’m generally self-sufficient and will do practically anything so I don’t need to ask for help.

But like everyone, I have had times in my life when I’ve needed to ask others for a favor since there was no other way to handle the situation. Even when it’s a good friend or someone I’ve done a favor for in the past, I am always reluctant. …

Fiction Writing

I really should have learned this lesson long ago from my experiences in graduate school. I went to a school that was grounded in the radical behaviorism. The basic formula for this was observe behavior, alter consequences of behavior, change behavior, next patient. The school was one of the bastions of this model to the point that you didn’t mention other models if you knew what was good for you.

Private mental events, meaning, emotions and the like were not part of the equation, nor were the reactions of the psychologist in working with different clients. …

Danny Neal talks about how he became a storm chaser, his experiences, and the recent turbulent Illinois weather.

While tornadoes can and do happen at any time of the year, prime tornado season in Illinois falls between April and June. Based on the data from 1991 through 2020 Illinois averages 54 tornadoes a year.

This season has seemed to be a particularly active one with regard to severe thunderstorms and tornados. In June alone, it was not unusual to hear tornado warning sirens sounding, and those who were in the direct path of the tornado that started over the lake and came ashore in East Rogers Park last summer took these warnings very seriously.

Although the past several…

NewsBreak Update

A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” ~Thomas Mann.

I have been writing on Newsbreak since the beginning, and like many of you have had my ups and downs with the platform. Overall, I have appreciated the earnings opportunities which will continue through June as well as the chance to write news stories which aren’t particularly lucrative on other platforms including Medium. I was honored to have been one of the winners for their first writer’s contest and was thrilled with the monetary reward and swag they sent. In many…

How To

Writing for News Break has been a challenge for many of us. Part of this is due to the constantly changing rules, a stricter focus on local news, and altered earnings models. Initially, the contract said you were guaranteed a certain amount* per month if you published at least 12 articles, had 500 followers and averaged 500 views per article. The sign on for that contract for early adopters said that we still had to publish 12 articles, 3 each week of the month, but that we wouldn’t be held to the other criteria for the first three months.

This…

There are some truly strange laws in Georgia that will have you shaking your head in disbelief.

“What a strange world we live in,” said Alice to the Queen of Hearts.

— Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

Everywhere has some odd laws that people wonder about when they live there or visit. Sometimes there is a method to the madness and when you find out what it is the law makes sense. Other times it may be a law that made sense a long time ago but doesn’t in the modern era, but it just got left on the books. But then there are some laws that don’t seem to make sense no matter how you look…