Found Star Danny Pudi on His Lifelong Community Pals & More
View Comments Age: 35 (“But I play 15 to 35!”) Stage & Screen Cred: Perhaps best known as the adorably awkward Abed on NBC’s Community, Pudi has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, including Royal Pains, Gilmore Girls, Greek and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Related Shows Hometown: Chicago, IL Show Closed This production ended its run on Nov. 9, 2014 “Besides my family family, the Community cast is my family family family. They’re wonderful people. A couple of them are coming to see Found in a few weeks. We went through so much on that show—we’ll be close forever.” “My mom used to make me do Polish dance when I was a kid, but I didn’t really like it. I was better at making funny faces than executing moves. They’re making me dance in Found, and again, I think I’m better at making faces.”
“I have two-year-old twins, and we’re really getting into their Halloween costumes. James is gonna be Batman and Fiona is gonna be Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I’m gonna get [Found co-star] Betsy Morgan, who played Ariel on Broadway, to sing for Fiona. That’ll blow her mind.” Current Role: A zany off-Broadway debut as the precocious owner of Daniel’s Toy Trading Shop, a paranoid woman who thinks Tom Hanks is spying on her and more kooky characters based on real notes and flyers in the new musical Found. “In New York, I’ve been staying with my college roommate and we’ve been recreating our college experience. We call it ‘College II.’ We’ve been eating a lot of pizza, playing videos games and swearing a lot. It’s been really exciting.” Found “I’m half-Polish, half-Indian, and growing up, the first thing you did when you woke up is you talk about what’s for dinner. Food was very important. My mom would make borscht with pierogies and uszka—I miss those so much.” “When I read the script for Found, I thought it was just so cool and weird and different, and I really enjoy that. It’s exciting to try something I’m not sure I can do. That’s the biggest thing—it’s fun to put yourself in a position that’s uncomfortable.”
The Sunbelt Agricultural Expo opened its doors in Moultrie, Georgia, Tuesday, with agricultural experts, farmers, state and local leaders, and University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead in attendance.Much of the talk during the expo and Morehead’s visit focused on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Michael, which leveled buildings and destroyed untold acres of crops — including cotton, peanuts, pecans and vegetables — across much of Georgia’s most fertile farmland.Morehead spoke at length with attendees about the effects of the storm and what could be done to ease the burden on the state’s farmers, some of whom have lost everything.“I visited this area only a few weeks ago on my annual farm tour and talked with farmers who were eagerly anticipating peak harvests of pecans, peanuts and other crops. Now many farms have been wiped out and yields have been substantially impacted due to the hurricane,” said Morehead. “I want south Georgia’s farmers to know that the University of Georgia stands with them and is committed to supporting their recovery from this devastating storm.”Early estimates place agriculture and timber losses in excess of $2 billion, and that number could increase significantly as more information becomes available.UGA Cooperative Extension agents are working with individual farmers across the state to assess crop and equipment damage, and Extension facilities are being used as staging grounds for utility companies working to restore power.UGA is also extending the early admissions application deadline to Oct. 22 for high school students in areas hit hardest by the storm, including southwest Georgia and parts of the Florida panhandle.Representatives from UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) participate in the expo every year, but this year, many UGA Extension officials remained in their counties helping Georgia residents recover.Despite smaller numbers than usual, in the UGA building at the expo, students, faculty and staff greeted visitors who wanted to learn more about the land-grant mission of Georgia’s flagship university. Student ambassadors talked about why they love the college and the world-class education they are receiving. Faculty and staff discussed the college’s research and Extension programs.“UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences plays a significant role in Georgia’s agricultural sector being the No. 1 industry in the state. We do so by educating the future agricultural leaders in our academic programs, conducting world-renowned research that impacts different commodities that comprise the diverse agriculture industry of Georgia, and through our Extension programs, which serve as a bridge for specialists to bring the research information to farmers,” CAES Dean Sam Pardue said. “When you come to an event like the Sunbelt Ag Expo, you’re introduced to all three of these different components that comprise a great college like CAES.”Morehead’s visit included a tour of the UGA building, a meeting with key agricultural leaders in Georgia and a conversation with CAES student ambassadors. Morehead has visited the three-day event every year since becoming the university’s president in 2013.He also was an invited guest at the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Luncheon. This year’s winner was Kevin Yon from South Carolina.More than 1,200 exhibitors are represented at this year’s expo event, which is held on a 100-acre exhibit area.For more about CAES, go to http://caes.uga.edu.
Baker Act rewrite calls for outpatient treatment June 1, 2004 Associate Editor Regular News Baker Act rewrite calls for outpatient treatment Jan Pudlow Associate Editor As expected, a major rewrite of the Baker Act that calls for judges to order involuntary outpatient treatment passed on the session’s last day.Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger, legislative chair of the Florida Sheriffs Association, had been working on the bill (CS/SB 700) for three years and hailed it as both “a law enforcement and humanitarian issue” that will help keep the mentally ill on stabilizing medications and out of hospitals and jails.He was fired up about pushing for reform after a 1998 dramatic 13-hour standoff between a sheriffs deputy and a schizophrenic man off his medication ended both of their lives.“There were no major changes to the substance of what we wanted to accomplish,” Eslinger said. “If there is no treatment available in that jurisdiction, the petition can’t be filed.”Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, a physician and sponsor of the bill, argued the Baker Act rewrite will save money in the long run because it will keep the “revolving-door” patients out of expensive hospitals and jails. He called it a “big step.”While the goal to keep both the mentally ill and the public safe is laudable, others are concerned that the legislation came with zero funding and will overburden the courts and create confusion in underfunded mental health services.“The court is going to do what is required under the law, but there is going to be a workload cost that is yet to be determined,” said 17th Circuit Judge Mel Grossman, of the probate division in Broward County.“They gave us no money to go with this. They didn’t give us any new judges. It’s an unfunded mandate.”In three of Florida’s populous areas —the 17th, Miami-Dade’s 11th, and Pasco-Pinellas’ Sixth circuits — Grossman said judges are “anticipating two to three times the number of hearings.”Another concern, Grossman said, is that “the statute talks about entitlements to guardian advocates. In most areas of the state, there are very few people. You’re talking about people committing to multi-year supervision, because mental illness is not something that is cured overnight. I think there will be some difficulty there.”Public defenders around the state are bracing for more work, as well as keeping a vigilant eye out for potential abuses of the new law that makes it easier for the court to order treatment.“We think the new procedure will bring a lot of new cases into the system,” said Second Circuit Public Defender Nancy Daniels, president of the Florida Public Defender Association.“Even though the amended version only allows petitions to be filed when services are available, we think it will create a lot of work on the courts to address compliance issues,” Daniels said.“We anticipate a lot of people will be held in contempt, accused of non-compliance. A feature of the bill is a review every six months. That’s a lot of court activity to supervise these new types of mental health patients who are not dangerous to themselves or others,” she continued.“We think it is capable of abuse, for example, for someone in a divorce or a hotly contested child custody case. We are afraid it will be a tool that will be abused by people trying to make someone look bad by dredging up some ancient history like a past suicide attempt from college days.”In the last flurry of the session, Rep. Bruce Kyle, R-Ft. Myers, a prosecutor and chair of the House Appropriations Committee, put on an amendment that would have given state attorneys and public defenders funds to help with workload issues associated with the bill. But that amendment was stripped off before the final 100-15 vote in the House.“There are no new judges, no prosecutors, and no defenders allocated for this,” Daniels said. “We felt we needed at least one new trial lawyer in each circuit. Also, we felt we needed new appellate judges, because we anticipate a lot of litigation on constitutional issues. We anticipate a lot of appeals will percolate through,” Daniels said.Dan Hendrickson, an assistant public defender in Daniels’ office who handles Baker Act cases, was more outspoken in his disdain for the new law.“This bill is more of an election year favor than a solution to any problem,” Hendrickson said. “It will cost more than anyone has admitted. Legislators turned a deaf ear to any realistic consideration of what this bill is about. Mentally ill Floridians will continue to be arrested and Baker Acted. No one should be allowed to brag that this bill will solve any systemic problems.”But Miami attorney Joseph George, a guardian advocate for the mentally ill and substance abusers, and a private practitioner specializing in social service law, thinks court-ordered outpatient treatment is worth a try.One of his clients is in his early 20s and fits the description of the “revolving-door patient” who has been Baker Acted and Marchman Acted for dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse many, many times.“Dade County has spent thousands upon thousands of dollars each time a petition is filed on him,” George said. “In Dade County, you cannot force anybody to take drugs on an outpatient basis. The only jurisdiction is when they are in the hospital, and then when they are released, you no longer have jurisdiction and the case is closed.“This new law would allow the court to order the person to take drugs as prescribed by a physician. If they don’t take the drugs, then they can come back and be sanctioned by the court—rather than the patient stops taking medication, and you have to file another petition and prove it all over again,” George said.Until now and January 1 when the new law kicks in, 11th Circuit Judge Maria Korvick, administrative judge of the probate division, said, “We are all continuing to digest it. At first blush, it looks like more hearings and some of the hearings may be a little more complicated, and certain factors must be addressed and completed.”In the near future, Korvick said, “We are going to be meeting with representatives of the public defenders, state attorneys, and the Department of Children and Families so we can review our procedures, review our schedules, and come up with something that works for everybody.”Eslinger added that the Florida Sheriffs Association “is seeking to provide assistance to DCF in this interim period to educate and do what we can to see that this law, once the governor signs it, effective January 1, is utilized. We will heighten the awareness to law enforcement, both the sheriffs and police chiefs, about the issue of mental health and this law.”An unresolved issue in Miami-Dade, Judge Korvick agreed, is “a tremendous shortage of guardian advocates.”Another unresolved issue is that hearings for individuals coming into the community after hospitalization at the state hospital will be held in the county where they are from.“That makes sense. Then, the workload is distributed around the state of Florida and not only in the county in which the hospital is located,” Korvick said.“However, the unresolved issue is we need to schedule a manner by which the patient is brought back at the appropriate time for the hearing.”Korvick, a judge for 23 years, likened the big changes to the Baker Act law to adjusting to sentencing guidelines in criminal court in the ’80s.“We will adjust, prepare, and work hard,” she said. “I am certainly going to give it my best.”
Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York Gabriel CordellGabriel Cordell rolled up in his wheelchair to the entrance of YMCA Glen Cove a day after completing 99 days of rolling 3, 100 miles from California to his native West Hempstead.There, the 42-year-old breathed a sigh of relief and reflected upon being the first person to travel across the country in a manual wheelchair. He’s about to fly back to California to finish a documentary on the experience called, Roll With Me: A Journey Across America.“I’m happy not to have to roll for a little while,” Cordell told a young YMCA camper who asked him how it felt to complete such an arduous trip. “It was relief. It was joy. It was happiness. It was exhaustion. It was awesome.”Since he was in high school, Cordell said he wanted to do something that was inspirational. After being in a car accident that crushed his spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 22, he went to Rusk Institute of New York and spent three months in pediatrics with children ranging from new-born to 18 years old. He feels indebted to the institute and the YMCA for their help during his recovery.“It taught me and showed me that I was very lucky to have 22 years of great health,” said Cordell. “It gave me power and confidence to do whatever I wanted and to be what I can be. God has a plan for me, being with those children made me forget about my problems.”Completing 25 to 40 miles a day, Cordell averaged five miles an hour starting in Burbank, Calif. on April 1. His goal was to show the nation, by example, that there is hope and everyone can achieve anything they set their minds to. He was inspired throughout the cross-country trip by his crew members who helped him through the rough days.“Gabriel was hunched over in tears,” said Chris Yanke, a co-producer recalling how when Cordell reached Arizona, after 700 miles, his left shoulder gave out leaving him unable to lift his arm. Cordell questioned whether he was going to make it another 2,400 miles.“With a lot of prayers, after two days, my arm healed,” said Cordell.Cordell plans to take at least a year off before making his final trip to the Middle East, where he plans to roll across Israel to promote peace between Israel and Palestine.“If you really try hard and never let anyone stop you, you can accomplish incredible things,” he told the children. “Each of you have the ability to do something great in your life and the only one that can stop you is yourself.”
2SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr I have some good news and some bad news for those of you working yourself into a panic over the Federal Accounting Standards Board proposal on accounting for Current Expected Credit Loss. The bad news is that the FASB decided to go forward with the proposal and expects a final standard to be issued in June. The good news is that the FASB decided to delay by a year, until December 2020, the compliance deadline.In addition a sharply divided board also decided to scale back a requirement that financial institutions disclose credit quality indicators by year of origination. Specifically, as explained by FASB board member Hal Schroeder, “Current GAAP requires banks to disclose “credit-quality indicators” for each class of loans. The new requirement would further disaggregate those disclosed amounts by year of origination (or vintage).”Community banks and credit unions argued that such detailed break downs are not necessary for smaller thrifts that don’t have large institutional investors. They argued that members in credit unions and investors in traditional thrifts are already familiar with their institution’s finances. The Board agreed yesterday so now you won’t have to disaggregate and disclose data. This is a small narrow but important exception but it doesn’t exempt credit unions from complying with CECL. continue reading »
32SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Chris Cote Chris Cote has been with SWBC since 2011 and has more than 12 years of experience in the financial services industry. As the Compliance Officer for the SWBC Financial Institution … Web: https://www.swbc.com Details Running an in-house collections operation can be taxing on an organization. However, with the burden of delinquencies, it’s an inevitable and necessary aspect of lending. Like we say around our office: if you’re lending, you’re collecting!One of the primary burdens collection departments and leaders have to be concerned with is the impact of regulations on their day-to-day and overall operations. In addition, efficiency is, and most likely always will be, a top priority. In our vast experience as a collections service provider, my organization has learned a thing or two about running a well-oiled collection machine. Today, I’d like to share the top three things that I believe all in-house collection operations should have in place to help them stay on the right side of regulations and run a streamlined and efficient operation.A Clear and Concise Policies and Procedures Manual The first step in getting and remaining compliant with the regulations surrounding collections (i.e. TCPA, FDCPA, FCRA, UDAAP, etc.) is to ensure you have a well-documented, formalized policies and procedures manual. A well-defined manual gives your collections staff a guide and reference for the expectations and guidelines you have for them. It should be organized, repeatable, and easily accessible to all necessary personnel.Your manual can serve as your verification to regulators—in the event that your operation ever gets audited—that you’ve implemented the appropriate policies to ensure your operation is following local, state, and federal regulations.Call Monitoring SoftwareNow, admittedly, monitoring your collections calls is not something that is mandated by regulators. However, the burden is on you to ensure your agents are not violating your company procedures and policies, as well as state and federal guidelines, putting your business at risk. To this end, I strongly suggest that you make call monitoring a part of your in-house collection operation. A policies and procedures manual is only as effective as the amount of proof that you can provide that your staff is in fact following said procedures. Call monitoring gives you proof that your policies and procedures are being followed. Likewise, it allows you to recognize situations when employees are not properly following the guidelines, so that you can address and correct any issues or potential violations.Autodialing Technology Depending on the size of your loan portfolio, your member demographics, and the amount of risk your organization takes on, you could benefit tremendously from an autodialer. An auto-dialer allows your staff to make multiple call attempts to every one attempt that would be made on a traditional phone. For example, on average, our autodialer can make upwards of 100 calls per hour, compared to 40 to 50 per hour, at best, on a manual phone. Autodialing technology gives your collection operation the ability to be far more efficient and effective than you would be in a manual environment.While this is certainly not a comprehensive list of all of the logistics and bureaucracy that go into managing an efficient and compliant collection operation, hopefully it will give you some insights into some of the things you should keep on your radar. Learn even more about industry trends and actionable ways that you can improve your in-house collections process in our free ebook, Collections: To Outsource, or Not to Outsource, That is the Question.
With Thanksgiving only days away, most of us have food on the brain. Like the ingredients necessary for our favorite festive dishes, there are a few components needed for the making of a great leader.ConsistencyLeaders that are unpredictable can be interpreted as being volatile and moody. Although everyone can be temperamental from time to time, when a leader’s work style is inconsistent it can cause employee unease and office tension. A good leader demonstrates constant strength and the unwavering ability to encourage and provide direction, even when times are tough.CompassionAnother ingredient in the recipe for leadership success is true compassion for others. When a leader empathizes and cares for each employee, from a lower level staff member to a senior executive, they can better understand their points of view and relate to different perspectives. A leader with compassion for others helps improve office morale by demonstrating the importance of connecting directly with each employee.ConfidenceA leader that is confident (not arrogant) is someone others in the office can look up to. They are strong and self-assured while still being humble and likable. Confident leaders more often achieve their goals because they are able to recognize their weaknesses and make necessary adjustments without feeling insecure in their abilities. 50SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Wendy Moody Wendy Moody is a Senior Editor with CUInsight.com. Wendy works with the editorial team to help edit the content including current news, press releases, jobs and events. She keeps … Web: www.cuinsight.com Details
ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr continue reading » Imagine facing discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas—even hate crimes—simply because of who you love.The fight against these injustices was the genesis of the Pride movement, says Linda Bodie, president/CEO at $55 million asset Element Federal Credit Union in Charleston, W.V.“Our community needs affirmation and inclusion,” she says. “Pride is a celebration of our uniqueness.”Bodie addressed a virtual Pride event held by CU Pride, an organization formed this year to promote the visibility of the LGBTQ community within the credit union movement.
As a credit union, the member experience drives everything Virginia Credit Union does, and new ideas about how to better serve members and make the banking experience even more frictionless are always considered—with a careful eye on using credit union resources wisely on behalf of the membership.$4.2 billion VACU cares deeply about the safety and security of its members. Ensuring secure access to accounts is critical, and VACU determined that its agent-driven authentication processes required too much time and relied on easily found information. At the same time, members said it was difficult to remember answers to complex, knowledge-based security questions. VACU wanted to improve this process, going beyond traditional methods like passwords, PINs, and other knowledge-based factors to offer an easier, faster, yet still highly secure authentication.The credit union receives approximately 3,000 inbound member calls per day and each caller must be authenticated before accessing any account data. Any simplification of the authentication process needed to reduce the amount of time agents spent on each call and needed to be easy for the member without requiring them to learn complex new methods.VACU also wanted to demonstrate its technology leadership in member-facing systems. As a pioneering member of the credit union technology standards body, CUFX, VACU is a leader in using advanced technology to improve the member experience. ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr continue reading »
Mar 29, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – A network of clinical researchers stretching from Southeast Asia to the United States is about to begin testing whether doubling the standard dosage of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) will help patients overcome either the often-deadly H5N1 avian influenza or severe seasonal flu.Researchers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States hope to enroll up to 400 patients over the next 2 years and treat them with either the standard regimen or twice that amount for up to 10 days.The trial will be run by the Southeast Asia Influenza Clinical Research Network (SEA ICRN), a multinational partnership launched about a year and a half ago. The network has published the full study protocol on its Web site (see link below).H5N1 disease in humans is fatal about 60% of the time, and experts have been suggesting for some time that higher doses of the antiviral drug might give patients a better chance of surviving. The results of the trial could affect not only recommendations for use of the drug, but also government decisions about how much of it to stockpile for use in a flu pandemic. Oseltamivir is considered the first-line treatment for H5N1 patients.Patients will be randomly assigned to receive either the standard dosage of oseltamivir—75 mg twice a day—or 150 mg twice a day, according to the study protocol. Patients won’t know which regimen they are on; placebo capsules will be used to pad the regimen for the standard-treatment group.Elizabeth Higgs, MD, deputy of the Collaborative Clinical Research Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an associate investigator with the trial, told CIDRAP News that patients will be treated for 5 days and then assessed. “Then we’ll continue [the treatment] if the patient isn’t clinically better. We’re really trying to look at both the dose and the length of time. The hypothesis is the higher dose for a longer period of time will work better.”Higgs said Dr. Menno de Jong, a clinical researcher at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, found evidence that the virus reaches higher levels and invades more systems and organs in H5N1 disease than in seasonal flu. The hope is that a higher dose of oseltamivir will be more effective in countering the high viral load in H5N1 patients, she said.De Jong was the first author of a December 2005 report on two fatal H5N1 cases in Vietnam in which the virus showed signs of resistance to oseltamivir. One of the patients died despite receiving the drug within the recommended window of 2 days after symptom onset. De Jong and colleagues said their findings implied that some patients may need a higher dose or longer treatment regimen.In animal studies, higher doses of oseltamivir have yielded higher cure rates for H5N1, according to Tawee Chotpitayasunondh of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, who was quoted in a Reuters report published yesterday.Besides testing whether high-dose oseltamivir will better control the virus, the trial aims to uncover differences between human and avian influenza in their clinical manifestations, the relationship between viral blood concentration and viral dynamics, and pathogenesis, according to the protocol.The protocol calls for enrolling up to 100 patients with avian flu and up to 300 with severe seasonal flu. The aim is to enroll all laboratory-identified avian flu patients who seek treatment within 1 week of illness onset.The participating hospitals include five in Vietnam, two in Indonesia, four in Thailand, and one in the United States—the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. Five labs in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam will also be involved.The study is supported by the NIAID, the Wellcome Trust in London, and the University of Oxford. The World Health Organization (WHO) is also a partner in the network.Roche, the manufacturer of oseltamivir, is not participating in the study but is supplying the drug for it, according to the protocol.Amid controversy over access to H5N1 virus samples and vaccines, Higgs described the network as a remarkable example of international cooperation in flu research. Indonesia promised this week to resume sharing its H5N1 samples with the WHO, after withholding them for several months because of concern that vaccine producers would use them to make vaccines priced beyond Indonesia’s reach.”This [network] is the only group of its type that has this type of cooperation among countries,” Higgs said. “Here we are at a clinical science level cooperating very nicely. It’s significant that all of these countries want to cooperate at a scientific level and everybody has the same information.”She said the network was born about 18 months ago, after years of discussion among Southeast Asian researchers and also between the NIAID and the WHO. Since then, much work has been done to build capacity at the various sites involved, she said.”A lot of these sites had a tremendous amount of experience with research before they joined the network,” Higgs said. “Wellcome has been supporting clinical research in these countries for decades.”See also: Dec 22, 2005, CIDRAP News story “Tamiflu resistance in avian flu victims sparks concern”