Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 13, 2011

4


Mountain Views News Saturday, August 13, 2011


Schiff to Draft 
Legislation 
on New U.S. 
Visa Policies

Mars Rover Arrives At New 
Site on Martian Surface

Man Shot 
in Gang 
Related 
Attack


By Dean Lee

 Congressman Adam Schiff 
held a roundtable discussion 
Thursday with the brightest 
entrepreneurs, business leaders, 
Caltech faculty and students 
focused on the impacts of 
national visa policies on 
technology startups and 
economic competitiveness.

 Schiff said current immigration 
policies look at how to keep 
people out and not how to 
attract the right people to come 
in, “That’s not the frame where’re 
use to looking through. I think 
it would be very worthwhile, at 
the highest level, to put a focus 
on immigration policy along 
those lines.” 

 The takeaway from the meeting, 
Schiff said, was a broader 
understanding of what startups 
need. He said originally he was 
looking at drafting legislation 
that would give someone in 
the U.S. on a student visa that 
graduates with an advanced 
degree, starts a business, and 
hire a certain number of people, 
that person would then get a 
green card. 

 Schiff said he was fond of an 
idea from Caltech Director of 
International Scholar Services, 
Marjory Gooding, allowing 
a grace period, not unlike a 
marriage.

 “When you have a startup 
it’s like you’re married to a 
business,” Schiff said. “I think 
a lot of the comments could 
be accommodated by that 
approach.” 

 He gave examples of looking 
at what type of degrees people 
graduate with or if their startups 
have licensing agreements with 
larger companies, “you could 
look at a series of factors to see 
how serious the startup really 
is, or is it a phony incorporated 
entity just to produce green 
cards.

 Schiff said ultimately he 
was trying to develop a new 
visa category for people in 
STEM (science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics) 
fields that want to stay and create 
U.S. businesses. He also said he 
wanted to deal with the issues 
of spouses and independents of 
people with H-1B visas. 

 Schiff said he did worry that 
a whole cottage industry could 
lead to phony startups helping 
people get this new kind of visa 
something he said the grace 
period could address. 

 Overall he said, “My goal is to 
revisit some of the immigration 
policies that are economic 
suicide and trying to jettison 
those that are not working 
and counterproductive and 
developing new polices that will 
help our economy.” 

 Attendees included, Caltech 
President Emeritus, Dr. 
David Baltimore; Professor of 
Chemistry and Nobel Laureate, 
Dr. Robert Grubbs; Dr. Yaakoy 
Shevy, President and CEO of 
Orbits Lightwave; Dr. Michael 
Glardello, President and CEO of 
Materia Inc. and Tim Cadogan, 
CEO of Ad serving, consulting 
startup OpenX, among others. 

 

 Police are asked for the 
public’s help seeking the 
whereabouts of a second 
suspect after a gang related 
dispute Wednesday night 
ended in gunfire leaving 
one victim in serious 
condition with mutable 
gunshot wounds. 

 Police said shortly before 
11:00 p.m., they received 
calls of shots heard in the 
area of Lake Avenue and 
Claremont Street. Upon 
arriving, they discovered 
an adult male with gunshot 
wounds. The victim was 
transported to a local area 
hospital where he remains 
in serious condition. 
Detectives said they 
later arrested Uriel Solis, 
male-27 of Long Beach, 
in connection with the 
shooting. Detectives are 
seeking the whereabouts of 
the second suspect. 

 Reports suggest the suspects 
may have been driving a 
dark colored sedan. Police 
said two men were walking 
down the street when the 
suspects confronted them 
identifying themselves as 
gang members. Police said 
the other victim was not 
injured. Police described 
both suspects as Latinos in 
the 20s possibly wearing 
shorts. 

 Anyone with information 
regarding the incident 
is asked to contact 
the Pasadena Police 
Department at (626) 744-
4241. 

Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL

 After a journey of almost three 
years, NASA’s Mars Exploration 
Rover Opportunity has reached 
the Red Planet’s Endeavour 
crater to study rocks never seen 
before.

 On Aug. 9, the golf cart-sized 
rover relayed its arrival at a 
location named Spirit Point on 
the crater’s rim. Opportunity 
drove approximately 13 miles 
(21 kilometers) since climbing 
out of the Victoria crater.

 “NASA is continuing to write 
remarkable chapters in our 
nation’s story of exploration 
with discoveries on Mars and 
trips to an array of challenging 
new destinations,” NASA 
Administrator Charles Bolden 
said. “Opportunity’s findings 
and data from the upcoming 
Mars Science Laboratory will 
play a key role in making 
possible future human missions 
to Mars and other places where 
humans have not yet been.”

 Endeavour crater, which is 
more than 25 times wider than 
Victoria crater, is 14 miles (22 
kilometers) in diameter. At 
Endeavour, scientists expect 
to see much older rocks and 
terrains than those examined 
by Opportunity during its 
first seven years on Mars. 
Endeavour became a tantalizing 
destination after NASA’s 
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 
detected clay minerals that may 
have formed in an early warmer 
and wetter period.

 “We’re soon going to get the 
opportunity to sample a rock 
type the rovers haven’t seen 
yet,” said Matthew Golombek, 
Mars Exploration Rover science 
team member, at NASA’s Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 
Pasadena, Calif. “Clay minerals 
form in wet conditions so we 
may learn about a potentially 
habitable environment that 
appears to have been very 
different from those responsible 
for the rocks comprising the 
plains.”

City Look to 
Heavy Lifters

 Weight lifters ready to press 
200 pounds or more can 
compete for trophies and prizes 
during the seventh annual 
bench press competition 
at city of Pasadena’s Villa-
Parke Community Center 
gymnasium on Saturday, Sept. 
24.

 Applications are available for 
participants ages 18 and over. 
Last year’s bench press winner 
in the super-heavyweight 
division was Ricky Pickens, 
pressing 565 pounds. 

 This year’s competition is 
sponsored by Max Muscle, 
Juice It Up!, Triangle Sports 
and the city’s Human Services 
and Recreation Department.

 The event welcomes male 
and female competitors in 
five weight categories, with 
trophies awarded for 1st, 2nd 
and 3rd place in each weight 
classification.

Applications are available at 
the center; 363 E. Villa St. Cost 
to compete is $10 per person. 
For more information call Bill 
Davis at (626) 744-6523. 

Gaden Jangtse Monks 
to Create Sculpture


50/50 Leadership Announces 
“Leadership Circles”Program

 On the heels of the anniversary 
of California Women’s right to 
vote, a day that highlights one 
of the most prolific moments 
in women’s history, 50/50 
Leadership, a California based 
non-profit (with international 
reach) dedicated to the 
advancement of women’s roles 
in the business sector, launched 
its Leadership Circles program. 
The program is the brainchild of 
the non-profit, and is one that 
envisions a world where women 
hold fifty percent of leadership 
positions. This is a number 
slightly less than women’s 
population statistics worldwide 
and one that at present is 
severely lacking. The year-long 
program begins in Pasadena on 
Sunday, September 25th from 
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at the 
Flintridge Foundation Retreat 
Center at 236 W. Mountain, 
Pasadena, CA 91103.

City Offers 
Low-Cost 
Vaccines

 The Pasadena Public Health 
Department is offering low-
cost Tdap vaccines to raise the 
awareness of back-to-school 
immunization requirements as 
part National Immunization 
Awareness Month.

 New California laws, Senate 
Bill (SB) 354 and SB 614, now 
require students entering 7th 
– 12th grades to show proof of 
the Tdap shot for Whooping 
Cough before entering school. 
This requirement applies 
to both public and private 
schools.

 The city’s clinics will be 
providing $10 Tdap vaccines 
this summer, Monday - 
Thursday from 8:00 – 11:00 
a.m. and 1:15 – 4:30 p.m. Aug. 
22, 25, 29 and Sept. 1. Walk-ins 
are welcomed.

 Governor Jerry Brown signed 
SB 614 last week to give 
schools the option of more 
time to work with students to 
obtain their Tdap shot.

 For more information call the 
clinic at 626-744-6121.

 Pacific Asia Museum 
announces the residency of 
the Gaden Jangtse Buddhist 
monks from September 7-11. 
During the course of their 
five-day stay, the monks will 
create a sand mandala in Pacific 
Asia Museum’s Focus Gallery, 
and a butter sculpture (floral 
form) in the Courtyard from 
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. On 
Wednesday, September 7, all 
visitors may come to Pacific 
Asia Museum free of charge 
for a 10 a.m. Opening Blessing 
and a mandala lecture by Geshe 
Tenzin Sherab. Additional 
programming will occur on 
Friday and Sunday.

 The sand mandala is an 
ancient art form that is unique 
to Tibetan Buddhism. The 
artwork is made by placing fine 
sand, which is ground and dyed 
by hand, into an intricate design 
of the world in its divine form. 
It is intended to serve as a map 
by which the ordinary human 
mind is transformed into the 
enlightened mind.

 The creation of the mandala 
begins with the Opening 
Ceremony and the chanting 
of Buddhist prayers. The 
construction of the mandala 
then continues over the next 
five days. The monks work all 
day, placing the sand grain by 
grain into the delicate pattern, 
as they create these incredibly 
rare and sacred works of art.

 Upon completion of the 
mandala, the monks will hold 
a Dissolution Ceremony as the 
mandala is blessed a final time 
and the grains of sand are swept 
into a pile-- erasing the once-
beautiful work of art. Some of 
the sand is given to those who 
are present, as a small blessing 
for their home or gardens. The 
remainder is taken to the ocean 
where it is poured into the 
moving water, which according 
to Tibetan Buddhist belief 
blesses all the beings living 
there, carrying prayers and 
blessings throughout the world.

Citizen Journalism Meet-up

 

The Pasadena Community 
Network and this newspaper 
are holding a workshop on 
Citizen Journalism. 

 This group is the place where 
aspiring journalists can learn 
from trained professionals 
and support their local 
community by covering 
what’s really happening in 
their neighborhoods.

 We will put the news in your 
hands. Learn how to find 
the story, the tools needed 
to capture the story and the 
means to tell the story using 
the power of video, audio and 
print along with online social 
media The next meeting is 
Aug. 9 from 6 p.m. to 8p.m. 
at the Pasadena Community 
Network - Studio G, 2057 N. 
Los Robles Ave.

 For more info call 
626.794.8585 or visit 
pasadenan.com.

 
Learn not just how 
to blog but how to 
report the news

Alexander 
Soto Elected 
PCC Student 
Trustee

 Pasadena City College 
student Alexander Soto has 
been elected as the 2011-2012 
student trustee member for the 
Pasadena Area Community 
College District. He will 
be serving a one-year term 
retroactive to July 1.

 Soto has been an active 
participant in a variety of 
activities and projects on 
campus during his two years 
at PCC. “During my first year, 
I was involved in the creation 
of a pilot school, the School 
of History and Dramatic Arts, 
that provides a well-rounded 
education by combining social 
sciences, natural sciences, and 
the arts in an interdisciplinary 
curriculum,” explained 
Soto. “Moving forward, I 
will continue to be involved 
with the school as an in-class 
assistant.”

 This past year, he served 
as the vice president of the 
Associated Students of PCC 
where he organized the “March 
in March” event that brought 
students to Sacramento to 
rally and take a stand on 
behalf of higher education. He 
also served as a senator of the 
Student Senate for California 
Community Colleges where 
he was involved in the 
statewide shared governance 
decision making process and 
was able to work closely with 
the Chancellor’s Office.

 “I look forward to serving 
this institution and its 
students because education 
is something that I see as the 
most important component 
in our society,” Soto said. “I 
believe that in the current state 
budget crisis we must not let 
education be forgotten, and 
will do what I can to make 
sure PCC is in a good situation 
for students during these 
tumultuous times.”

 For more information, 
contact the PACCD Board of 
Trustees at (626) 585-7202.

College Adds New 
Design Tech Pathway

Pet of the 
Week

Fire Department Reminds 
Residents to Register For 
Emergency Notifications

 An innovative new program is 
beginning this fall at Pasadena 
City College that combines 
design, digital fabrication 
technology, Math 402, and 
English 100 into one integrated 
pathway. The Design Tech 
Pathway will allow PCC 
students to learn the skills 
necessary for success in the 
creative, high-tech, high-pay, 
high-demand careers of the 
globalized future.

 In a supportive, dynamic 
learning environment, students 
will solve real-world design 
problems, with the support 
of motivated instructors and 
student mentors. Students 
will learn design skills 
through hands-on experience, 
with state-of-the-art rapid 
prototyping technologies (3D 
scanning and design software, 
3D printing, laser-cutting and 
milling) along with developing 
creative problem solving, 
critical thinking, team work and 
communication skills. Math 
and English are contextualized 
for design and technology so 
all the classes are integrated 
together to achieve strong 
student success.

 Created as a broadly based 
introductory program, the 
Design Tech Pathway will 
prepare students for success 
in PCC transfer and certificate 
courses in architecture, 
engineering, fashion, graphic 
design, jewelry, photography 
and product design. The 
Design Tech Pathway will 
also assist students to develop 
education and career plans in 
new technology fields such 
as additive manufacturing, 
bio-medical engineering and 
aeronautical fabrication.

 Successful completion of 
this 12-unit block guarantees 
students continued access to 
the facilities through spring 
enrollment in the Fabrication 
Laboratory (fablab), ensuring 
students can use their new skills 
in their chosen major.

 The program is open to 
all incoming or continuing 
students who have enrolled 
and tested in at Math 402 and 
English 100 on PCC placement 
tests. Students must complete 
the application process online at 
www.pasadena.edu/designtech. 
Successful applicants will 
be promptly notified when 
application is completed. If 
you have questions, please 
email Deborah Bird or Salomon 
Davila at designtech@pasadena.
edu.

 Block registration begins on 
Wednesday, Aug. 10. The two-
week summer Design Tech 
Boot Camp begins Monday, 
Aug. 15, and the fall semester 
classes begin Monday, Aug. 29.

 For more information, contact 
(626) 585-7901.

 
In order to ensure that 
emergency messages, red-
flag parking restrictions 
and other urgent 
communications can be sent 
to community members 
within Pasadena, the City 
reminds residents and 
businesses to self-register 
on-line.

 The Pasadena Local 
Emergency Alert System, 
or PLEAS, is a technology 
solution for both text and 
voice messages. The system 
knows if the message has 
been delivered to a person, 
voicemail, or was not 
delivered due to a telephone 
system error. The system 
will continue to attempt to 
deliver its message until it 
is successfully delivered, or 
until the message expires.

 To self-register for 
emergency alerts please go to 
http://ww2.cityofpasadena.
net/disaster/ and then select 
the Emergency Notifications 
(PLEAS) link. There are 
a variety of emergency 
notification you may select. 
The system will send a 
reply e-mail to activate 
your account which also 
serves as confirmation your 
registration was successful. 
Once registered, if a call 
is received from (626) 
405-2358, it is because 
vital information will 
be disseminated and it’s 
imperative you listen to 
the message to completion. 
The Fire Department 
recommends you add 
this phone number to 
your address book so you 
recognize it. Additionally, 
if you receive an email 
from PasadenaLocalAlert@
cityofpasadena.net, 
important information will 
be included. Add it to your 
email address book so it does 
not get confused with spam.

 The City website and same 
link included to register, 
also includes disaster 
preparedness information 
regarding a myriad of 
topics. For residents without 
computer access, all City 
libraries have free internet 
service. If you have any 
questions please contact 
James Weckerle at 626-744-
4288.

 Tiny Lucky weighs about 10 
pounds and is just 1 year old. 
He has lived with kids before 
and gets along with other 
little dogs. Lucky is still very 
much a puppy and looking 
for someone who will enjoy 
training him. Come visit with 
this adorable little dog!

 The regular dog adoption fee is 
$120, which includes medical 
care prior to adoption, spaying 
or neutering, vaccinations, 
and a follow-up visit with a 
participating vet.

 Please call 626-792-7151 
and ask for A292378 or come 
to the Pasadena Humane 
Society & SPCA, 361 S. 
Raymond Ave , Pasadena 
CA , 91105 . Our adoption 
hours are 11-4 Sunday, 
9-5 Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, and Friday, and 
9-4 Saturday. Directions and 
photos of all pets updated 
hourly may be found at www.
pasadenahumane.org