| County opposes Sutter closing plan
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has hired counsel to arm itself for a legal battle to stop Sutter Santa Rosa from transferring its contractual commitments to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Sutter announced Jan. 8 its intention to close the Chanate Road facility that has served thousands of Santa Rosa and county residents for decades. "From our perspective, the contract is solid and binding," First District Supervisor and board Chairwoman Valerie Brown said this week. "Sutter can't just say 'We've decided to transfer services.'" In 1996, Sutter took over running the county hospital by signing a Health Care Access Agreement promising to provide certain medical services for a period of 20 years. Citing financial instability, Sutter announced its intention to cancel the contract with the county by transferring its obligations to Memorial.
Jupiter, Palm Beach school board agree to mediation
JUPITER Jupiter Town Council and Palm Beach County School Board members agreed Thursday to meet in private mediation May 14 to hammer out differences on school boundaries in the Jupiter area. The meeting will include representatives of both sides working with mediator R. William Rutter Jr. to come to some agreement, then taking this agreement back to their respective boards for further action. The council already has said litigation is a possibility if consensus isn't reached. .
Sticks, sticks everywhere
Who could have thought that sticks would enter Pakistan's political scene with such a bang? The daring ones among clerics, seminary students, political workers, and even lawyers -- all are now brandishing "dandas" in their hands and using them with impunity to dictate terms, punish rivals and terrorise the helpless populace of this Islamic Republic. Here, let us not forget our police officials, who have an unwavering faith in the magic and power of their steel-tipped sticks.
However, the credit of bringing this one of the most basic and archaic weapons back to the centre-stage of Pakistani society and politics goes to the veiled female students of Jamia Hafsa and their brothers--in-arms -- holed-up in the Lal Mosque of Islamabad.
Both these institutions now need no introduction even at the international level.
SC expands role of judges as conciliators
In line with the Justice Reform Initiatives Support (JURIS) Project, the Supreme Court on Friday pushed for expanding the role of judges as conciliators in promoting access to justice by court litigants. In a statement, the High Court said it held a Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR) Showcase at the Baguio City Hall of Justice to promote the implementation of JDR as an institutionalized alternative dispute mechanism (ADR) in the judicial system. Through JDR, the Court aims to move the process of mediation and conciliation to the level of the judge in order to decongest court dockets, contribute significantly to the fair resolution of mediatable cases, increase satisfaction of litigants in the court process, as well as bring greater access to justice, especially by the poor. Proceedings in CAM and JDR are covered by the confidentiality rule.
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