title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Together with the ACLU National Prison Project, the SPLC filed a class-action suit in November 2010 against the owner/operators of the private Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Leake County, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDC). They charged that conditions, including under-staffing and neglect of medical care, produced numerous and repeated abuses of youthful prisoners, high rates of violence and injury, and that one prisoner suffered brain damage because of inmate-on-inmate attacks. A federal civil rights investigation was undertaken by the United States Department of Justice. In settling the suit, Mississippi ended its contract with GEO Group in 2012. Additionally, under the court decree, the MDC moved the youthful offenders to state-run units. In 2012, Mississippi opened a new youthful offender unit at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. The state also agreed to not subject youthful offenders to solitary confinement and a court monitor conducted regular reviews of conditions at the facility.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Also with the ACLU Prison Project, the SPLC filed a class-action suit in May 2013 against Management and Training Corporation (MTC), the for-profit operator of the private East Mississippi Correctional Facility, and the MDC. Management and Training Corporation had been awarded a contract for this and two other facilities in Mississippi in 2012 following the removal of GEO Group. The suit charged failure of MTC to make needed improvements, and to maintain proper conditions and treatment for this special needs population of prisoners. In 2015 the court granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2012, the SPLC initiated a class action federal lawsuit against the Polk County, Florida sheriff, Grady Judd, alleging that seven juveniles confined by the sheriff were suffering in improper conditions. U.S. District Court Judge Steven D. Merryday found in favor of Judd, who said the SPLC's allegations "were not supported by the facts or court precedence ." The judge wrote that "the conditions of juvenile detention at (Central County Jail) are not consistent with (Southern Poverty's) dark, grim, and condemning portrayal." While the county sheriff's department did not recover an estimated $1 million in attorney's fees defending the case, Judge Merryday did award $103,000 in court costs to Polk County.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In April 2017, the SPLC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Tanya Gersh, accusing Andrew Anglin, publisher of the white supremacist website "The Daily Stormer", of instigating an anti-Semitic harassment campaign against Gersh, a Whitefish, Montana, real estate agent. In July 2019, a judge issued a $14 million dollar default judgment against Anglin, who is in hiding and has refused to appear in court.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In October 2014, the SPLC added Ben Carson to its extremist watch list, citing his association with groups it considers extreme, and his "linking of gays with pedophiles". Following criticism, the SPLC concluded its profile of Carson did not meet its standards, removed his listing, and apologized to him in February 2015.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In October 2016, the SPLC published its "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists", which listed the British activist Maajid Nawaz and a nonprofit group he founded, the Quilliam Foundation. Nawaz, who identifies as a "liberal, reform Muslim", denounced the listing as a "smear", saying that the SPLC listing had made him a target of jihadists. In June 2018, the SPLC issued an apology, stating:


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Along with the apology, the SPLC paid US$3.375 million to Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation in a settlement. Nawaz said about the settlement that Quilliam "will continue to combat extremists by defying Muslim stereotypes, calling out fundamentalism in our own communities, and speaking out against anti-Muslim hate." The SPLC ultimately removed the "Field Guide" from its website.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In August 2017, a defamation lawsuit was filed against the SPLC by the D. James Kennedy Ministries for describing it as an "active hate group" because of their views on LGBT rights. The SPLC lists D. James Kennedy Ministries and its predecessor, Truth in Action, as anti-LGBT hate groups because of what the SPLC describes as the group's history of spreading homophobic propaganda, including D. James Kennedy's false statement that "homosexuals prey on adolescent boys", and false claims about the transmission of AIDS. On February 21, 2018, a federal magistrate judge recommended that the suit be dismissed with prejudice, concluding that D. James Kennedy Ministries could not show that it had been libeled. On September 19, 2019, the lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Myron H. Thompson, who ruled that the "SPLC's labeling of the group as [a hate group] is protected by the First Amendment."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In March 2018, several journalists, including Max Blumenthal, were mentioned in an article by Alexander Reid Ross which the SPLC retracted after receiving complaints from those journalists that the article falsely portrayed them as "white supremacists, fascists, anti-Semites, and engaging in a conspiracy with the Putin regime to promote such views"; the Center's letter explaining its retraction of the article apologizing to Blumenthal and the other journalists who believed they had been falsely portrayed. The SPLC was criticized for taking down this article and was accused of caving in to pressure. The article argued that the dissemination of conspiracy theories around such issues as the Syrian Civil War (about the White Helmets and child refugees) were intended to co-opt leftist anti-imperialism in the service of a fascist agenda. Subsequently, the SPLC retracted two other articles written by Alexander Reid Ross on the topic of Russian campaigns to influence Western public opinion.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2019, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) sued the SPLC for designating the CIS as a hate group, claiming it constituted fraud under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The SPLC defended its decision and said the group "richly deserved" the designation. Cornell law professor William A. Jacobson, a longtime critic of the SPLC, criticized the listing of the CIS as "pos[ing] a danger of being exploited as an excuse to silence speech and to skew political debate." The lawsuit was dismissed in September 2019 for failure to state a claim; Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the CIS could not show any violations of the RICO statute.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In February 2019, several months after resigning as chairman of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes filed a defamation lawsuit against the SPLC. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Alabama over the SPLC's designation of the Proud Boys as a "general hate" group. The SPLC took the lawsuit "as a compliment" and an indication that "we're doing our job." On its website, SPLC said that "McInnes plays a duplicitous rhetorical game: rejecting white nationalism and, in particular, the term 'alt-right' while espousing some of its central tenets" and that the group's "rank-and-file [members] and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville." McInnes is represented by Ronald Coleman. In addition to defamation, McInnes claimed tortious interference with economic advantage, "false light invasion of privacy" and "aiding and abetting employment discrimination." The day after filing the suit, McInnes announced that he had been re-hired by the Canadian far-right media group The Rebel Media. The SPLC filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in July 2019.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 1990, the SPLC began to publish an "annual census of hate groups operating within the United States".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Over the years the classifications and listings of hate groups expanded to reflect current social phenomena. By the 2000s, the term "hate groups" included organizations it has assessed either "attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics". The SPLC says that hate group activities may include speeches, marches, rallies, meetings, publishing, and leafleting. While some of these activities may include criminal acts, such as violence, not all the activities tracked by the SPLC are illegal or criminal.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Groups that have been included as "hate groups" by the SPLC who reject that labelling include, for example, self-described men's rights groups A Voice for Men and Return of Kings, which the SPLC had described as "male supremacist", according to a 2018 "Washington Post" article.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: The SPLC's identification and listings of hate groups and extremists has been the subject of controversy. The authors of the 2009 book "The White Separatist Movement in the United States", sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile, who used the findings of the SPLC and other watchdog groups, said that the SPLC chose its causes with funding and donations in mind. Concerns have been raised that people and groups designated as "hate groups" by the SPLC were being targeted by protests or violence that prevent them from speaking. The SPLC stands behind the vast majority of its listings. In 2018, David A. Graham wrote in "The Atlantic" that while criticism of the SPLC had long existed, the sources of such criticism have expanded recently to include "sympathetic observers and fellow researchers on hate groups" concerned about the organization "mixing its research and activist strains."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Laird Wilcox, an analyst of political fringe movements, has said the SPLC has taken an incautious approach to assigning the labels "hate group" and "extremist". Mark Potok of Southern Poverty Law Center responded that Wilcox "had an ax to grind for a great many years" and engaged in name calling against others doing anti-racist work.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2009, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) argued that allies of America's Voice and Media Matters had used the SPLC designation of FAIR as a hate group to "engage in unsubstantiated, invidious name-calling, smearing millions of people in this movement." FAIR and its leadership have been criticized by the SPLC as being sympathetic to, or overtly supportive of, white supremacist and identitarian ideologies, as the group's late founder had stated his belief that the United States should remain a majority-white country.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2010, a group of Republican politicians and conservative organizations criticized the SPLC in full-page advertisements in two Washington, D.C., newspapers for what they described as "character assassination" because the SPLC had listed the Family Research Council (FRC) as a hate group for alleged "defaming of gays and lesbians".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In August 2012, a gunman entered the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Family Research Council with the intent to kill employees and smear Chick-fil-A sandwiches on the victims' faces. The gunman, Floyd Lee Corkins, stated that he chose FRC as a target because it was listed as an anti-gay group on the SPLC's website. A security guard was wounded but stopped Corkins from shooting anyone else. In the wake of the shooting, the SPLC was again criticized for listing FRC as an anti-gay hate group, including by liberal columnist Dana Milbank, while others defended the categorization. The SPLC defended its listing of anti-gay hate groups, stating that the groups were selected not because of their religious views, but on their "propagation of known falsehoods about LGBT people... that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: The Hatewatch blog, created in c. 2007, publishes the work of its teams, including investigative journalists who "monitor and expose" activities of the "American radical right". Initially, its precursor—the "Klanwatch" project—which was established in 1981, focused on monitoring KKK activities. The Hatewatch blog, along with the "Teaching Tolerance" program and the Intelligence Report, highlights SPLC's work.""


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: An in-depth 2018 Hatewatch report examined the roots and evolution of black-on-white crime rhetoric, from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 2010s. According to the report, "[m]isrepresented crime statistics" on "black-on-white crime" have become a "main propaganda point of America's hate movement". The report described how Dylann Roof, the perpetrator of the June 17, 2015, Charleston church shooting had written in his manifesto about his 2012 Google search for "black-on-white crime", which led him to be convinced that black men were a "physical threat to white people." One of the first sources was the Council of Conservative Citizens. The report shows that on November 22, 2015, then-Presidential Candidate Donald Trump retweeted a chart that had "originated from a neo-Nazi account" which displayed "bogus crime statistics". The SPLC report cited a November 23, 2005, "Washington Post" article that fact checked the figures in the graph. The tweet said that "81 percent of whites are killed by black people", while the FBI says that only 15 percent of white murder victims are killed by a black perpetrator; the large majority of white murder victims are killed by white perpetrators.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: SPLC's projects include the website Tolerance.org, which provides news on tolerance issues, education for children, guidebooks for activists, and resources for parents and teachers. The website received Webby Awards in 2002 and 2004 for Best Activism. Another product of Tolerance.org is the "10 Ways To Fight Hate on Campus: A Response Guide for College Activists" booklet.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: The SPLC also produces documentary films. Two have won Academy Awards for Documentary Short Subject: "A Time for Justice" (1994) and "" (2004). In 2017 the SPLC began developing a six-part series with Black Box Management to document "the normalization of far-right extremism in the age of Donald Trump."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: The SPLC cooperates with, and offers training to, law enforcement agencies, focusing "on the history, background, leaders, and activities of far-right extremists in the United States". The FBI has partnered with the SPLC and many other organizations "to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems" related to hate crimes. In a November 2018 briefing of law enforcement officials in Clark County, Washington, concerning the Proud Boys FBI agents suggested the use of various websites for more information, including that of the SPLC.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Since 1981, the SPLC's Intelligence Project has published a quarterly "Intelligence Report" that monitors what the SPLC considers radical right hate groups and extremists in the United States. The "Intelligence Report" provides information regarding organizational efforts and tactics of these groups and persons, and has been cited by scholars, including Rory M. McVeigh and David Mark Chalmers, as a reliable and comprehensive source on U.S. right-wing extremism and hate groups. In 2013 the SPLC donated the "Intelligence Project"s documentation to the library of Duke University. The SPLC also publishes "HateWatch Weekly", a newsletter that follows racism and extremism, and the "Hatewatch" blog, whose subtitle is "Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Two articles published in "Intelligence Report" have won "Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism" awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. "Communing with the Council", written by Heidi Beirich and Bob Moser, took third place for Investigative Journalism in the Magazine Division in 2004, and "Southern Gothic", by David Holthouse and Casey Sanchez, took second place for Feature Reporting in the Magazine Division in 2007.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Since 2001, the SPLC has released an annual issue of the "Intelligence Project" called "Year in Hate", later renamed "Year in Hate and Extremism", in which it presents statistics on the numbers of hate groups in America. The current format of the report covers racial hate groups, nativist hate groups, and other right-wing extremist groups such as groups within the Patriot Movement. Jesse Walker, writing in "Reason.com", criticized the 2016 report, questioning whether the count was reliable, as it focused on the number of groups rather than the number of people in those groups or the size of the groups. Walker gives the example that the 2016 report itself concedes an increase in the number of KKK groups could be due to two large groups falling apart, leading to members creating smaller local groups.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: SPLC also studies, works, and publishes on immigration issues. They characterize the H-2 visa guest worker program as "close to slavery".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In May 1988, journalist John Egerton published his article entitled "The Klan Basher" in "Foundation News". In July 1988, he published a similar article, entitled "Poverty Palace: How the Southern Poverty Law Center got rich fighting the Klan", in "The Progressive." A 1991 book entitled "Shades of Gray: Dispatches from the Modern South" included a chapter by Egerton on this theme, entitled "Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 1994, the "Montgomery Advertiser" published an eight-part critical report on the SPLC. The series was nominated as one of three finalists for a 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for "its probe of questionable management practices and self-interest at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the nation's best-endowed civil rights charity." According to the series, the SPLC had exaggerated the threat posed by the Klan and similar groups in order to raise money, discriminated against black employees, and used misleading fundraising tactics. From 1984 to 1994, the SPLC raised about $62 million in contributions and spent about $21 million on programs, according to the newspaper. SPLC's co-founder Joe Levin rejected the "Advertiser's" claims, saying that the series showed a lack of interest in the center's programs. Levin said that the newspaper had an obsessive interest in the SPLC's financial affairs and Mr. Dees' personal life, in order to smear the center and Mr. Dees."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: David Mark Chalmers, who is the author of "Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan" published in 1987, also wrote a follow up, "Backfire, Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement" in 2003, in which he described the SPLC's role in the decline of the Klan.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2006, a chapter on the SPLC by was published in the "Encyclopedia of American civil liberties" which described the history of the SPLC and its co-founder Morris Dees.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: The National Geographic Channel television series included the 2008 episode entitled "Inside American Terror", which covered the SPLC's successful lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan"."


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In their 2009 book "The White Separatist Movement in the United States: 'White Power, White Pride!", sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile said that the SPLC's "Klanwatch Intelligence Reports" sometimes portrayed the KKK as more "militant and dangerous with higher turnouts" than what they personally had observed.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In 2013, J.M. Berger wrote in "Foreign Policy" that media organizations should be more cautious when citing the SPLC and ADL, arguing that they are "not objective purveyors of data".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In their 2015 book "Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices", Roger Chapman and James Ciment cited the criticism of SPLC by journalist Ken Silverstein, who said that the SPLC's fundraising appeals and finances were deceptive.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Laurence Leamer's 2016 book, entitled "The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan", centred around the role played by Morris Dees as SPLC's co-founder, who won the case against the Klan which provided the family of the teenager Michael Donald, lynched by the Klan in 1981 in Mobile, Alabama, with restitution from the Klan.


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: Marc Thiessen, in a June 2018 opinion piece for "The Washington Post", asserted that the SPLC had lost its credibility and "become a caricature of itself".


title: Southern Poverty Law Center

text: In the wake of Morris Dees' dismissal in March 2019, former SPLC staffer Bob Moser published an article in "The New Yorker", "The Reckoning of Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center", in which he described his disappointment with what the SPLC had become.


title: Snow (musician)

text: Darrin Kenneth O'Brien (born October 30, 1969), known by his stage name Snow, is a Canadian reggae musician, rapper and singer. His 1992 single "Informer" spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: Snow (musician)

text: Snow was born and raised in the North York district of Toronto, one of four children born to an Irish-Canadian cabdriver and a homemaker. Following his parents' divorce, he was raised by his mother in the Allenbury Gardens public housing project where, he says, he was fascinated with the gangster lifestyle, fell in with a tough Irish-Canadian group and became involved in a cycle of fighting, drinking and stealing. He never learned to read properly and dropped out of school while in the 9th grade. As he was growing up, he had a strong interest in rock music but, in 1983, there was an influx of Jamaican immigrants to the neighborhood, his interest turned to reggae music and he became adept at the use of the Jamaican dialect, or Jamaican Patois. He developed his own style of music, by blending dancehall and reggae with rock and pop music.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 1987, Snow served eight months of a one-year sentence after pleading guilty to beating a person with a crowbar during a bar brawl. Upon his release in January 1988, the Jamaican-born DJ Marvin Prince saw O'Brien deejaying at a party and the two became friends. For the next few years, they practiced in Prince's basement, and played parties, with Snow providing vocals and Prince playing records. Prince, who would claim that he helped Snow refine his reggae singing and use of the Jamaican dialect, and that he came up with the name 'Snow', told the "Los Angeles Times" that they passed around a lot of tapes but could not get Snow signed because he was white.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 1988, Snow was involved in an incident at a North York pub, in which two people were stabbed. Other people in the group pointed the finger at him, and he was charged with two counts of attempted murder. Rather than tell authorities who the perpetrator was, Snow served eight months in jail before a jury acquitted him on both counts. While he was in jail, he went to school and wrote music, which he performed for fellow inmates. One song was called "Informer".


title: Snow (musician)

text: On a trip to New York, Prince was able to pitch Snow's music to rap star M.C. Shan. In 1991, Snow went to New York, where Shan introduced him to music producers David Eng and Steve Salem. Snow signed a contract to record on their Motorjam/Elektra record label, then they recorded his debut album "12 Inches of Snow". The album had to be recorded quickly, because Snow had to return to Canada and report to prison.


title: Snow (musician)

text: "12 Inches of Snow" was released in 1992, while Snow was in prison. Shan, Eng, Salem, and Prince promoted it and, by the time Snow was released, the single "Informer", was a chart-topping hit. "12 Inches of Snow" sold over 8 million copies worldwide, with the "Informer" single remaining number 1 on the American "Billboard" charts for seven consecutive weeks. "Informer" has been recorded twice in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the best-selling reggae single in US history, as well as the highest charting reggae single in history. A second single, "Girl I've Been Hurt", reached Number 19 on the Hot 100. In Japan, Snow received the Recording Industry Association of Japan's 1994 Japan Gold Disc Award for New Artist of the Year.


title: Snow (musician)

text: One of Snow's neighbouring Jamaican families, the Browns, first introduced him to reggae, Snow began borrowing and ordering reggae dub tapes to perform over. After he befriended Marvin Prince, Prince gave O'Brien the stage name Snow with a phrased backronym meaning "Super Notorious Outrageous Whiteboy". Snow never claimed the title himself and simply continued to perform with the stage name of Snow. The origin of Snow's stage name would become a central issue in the legal battle between Prince and O'Brien.


title: Snow (musician)

text: While touring as Snow's DJ in December 1994, Marvin Prince abruptly left the tour after discovering that Snow, according to court documents, "was receiving more money from management than he was." While listed as only the writer of the song "Runway" on the "12 Inches of Snow" album, Prince claimed to have co-written five songs and co-produced the album with Shan, Eng, and Salem. Prince alleged that Eng and Salem provided "a draft of a multi-album production and recording agreement" to both Snow and himself. Unable to understand the contract, Snow allegedly "sent a copy to his mother to get legal advice from her friend" and Prince "never saw the agreement again." Moreover, Prince claimed to have entered an "oral agreement" with Snow implying that the two would share profits from the album "fifty-fifty". The first agreement, Prince alleged, occurred "in 1990, when the two men began working together on songs in Prince's basement and he "allegedly suggested to" Snow, "if something comes out of this, let's be partners." The second oral agreement, according to Prince, took place in August 1991 while Snow auditioned for Shan. Snow referred to Prince as his partner in a promotional video, but claimed to have used the term "only in the slang sense." Prince "admitted that these discussions were not concrete; the parties never organized a formal business plan, nor was plaintiff in New York to advance defendant's career."


title: Snow (musician)

text: Shan, Eng, and Salem testified that they were unaware of a partnership between Snow and Prince, and Shan denied that Prince co-produced "12 Inches of Snow" and co-wrote the five songs in question. "Informer", for example, was officially written by Snow, Shan, and composer Edmond Leary. Years later, after Snow and Prince had their falling out, Prince unsuccessfully sued Snow for compensation. While Prince had initially been awarded a $1.5 million settlement by a jury, the court overturned the original ruling and dismissed Prince's suit on the grounds that he had "no viable claims" to a partnership with Snow.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In a 2019 interview, Prince recounted his history with Snow and described how he mentored, recorded demos for, scheduled showcase performances for, and ultimately, arranged for Snow to audition for MC Shan. Prince recounted how he and Snow wrote "Informer" over the phone while Snow was serving his sentence at Maplehurst Correctional Complex. Prince recalled playing Junior Reid’s "Foreign Mind" over the phone, and Snow used the track's flute melody as the basis for "Informer". Parts of the first verse and third verse of "Informer", according to Prince, were reworked from Eek-A-Mouse’s performance of "Tell Them" at Sunsplash 1981. Originally, Prince alleges, the final verse of "Informer" was written and performed by a second vocalist named “Little Red.” Prince maintains that the judge who overturned the original ruling did so illegally, and he believes race played a role in the judge’s decision.


title: Snow (musician)

text: Co-producer and co-writer Edmond Leary later claimed M.C. Shan unfairly received most of the production credits for "12 Inches of Snow". He told Vice, "So actually, if you want the truth of the matter, if we hadn’t done it equally and had to split up the money I would have gotten 70% of writer’s [royalties] off that album they probably would have split up 30, because I wrote most of that album. Most of the words were mine, and the ideas and structures and backgrounds in the vocal booth with me telling him what keys to sing the harmonies in and what have you. So I had a lot to do with that sound that became so popular and went Platinum." After struggling with a cocaine addiction and homelessness, in 2013 Leary was a street performer at Madison Square Park and Union Square.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 1994, Snow collaborated with Cyndi Lauper on Junior Vasquez's "Homegrown" and Sly and Robbie's "Pop Goes the Dancehall" remix of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", retitled "Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)".


title: Snow (musician)

text: Eng had a studio in Jamaica and, in 1994, Snow recorded his second album "Murder Love" in Jamaica, Canada, and New York. While not a commercial success in North America, the album featured Snow performing with reggae and dancehall musicians Ninjaman, Junior Reid, Half Pint, Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Dave Kelly, and Sly and Robbie. The "Anything for You" remix became a club favorite and, according to "Billboard"'s Elena Oumano, made Snow a figure of respect on the Jamaican music scene. "Anything For You" became the top-selling single in Jamaica in 1995 and "Si Wi Dem Nuh Know We" also reached the number one slot in Jamaica. "Murder Love" proved to be a popular album in Asia, with the single "Sexy Girl" remaining on Japan's Top Singles chart for 16 weeks, ultimately reaching number one.


title: Snow (musician)

text: The success of "Murder Love" allowed Snow to tour Asia and collaborate with Thai rap artist Joey Boy. In 1996, Eng established an office in Bangkok, founded Dimsum Entertainment, and included Snow in this expansion. In 1996, Eng produced Joey Boy's album "Fun, Fun, Fun". Snow performed on the chart-topping Thai single "Fun, Fun, Fun" and appeared in the music video. Joey Boy appeared on Snow's Thai single "Me and Joey". In 2008, Snow also featured Joey Boy on the track "Catch a Kick".


title: Snow (musician)

text: By the end of 1996, "Murder Love"'s "Si We Dem Nuh Know We" received a Juno nomination for Best Reggae Recording. Overall, the album produced three music videos: "Anything For You", "Anything For You (All Star Cast Remix)", and "Sexy Girl". In the 1995 film "Klash", Snow appears performing "Rivertown".


title: Snow (musician)

text: Snow followed up "Murder Love" with an album named after his daughter, "Justuss". The first single "Boom Boom Boogie" took Asia by storm, achieving gold status with the music video appearing on MTV Japan five to six times a day. Released in the United States and Canada in 1997, the single "If This World Were Mine" failed to chart but the video regularly appeared on The Box. The album reached number 12 on the U.S. reggae charts and in 1998 was nominated for Best Reggae album at the Juno Awards in Vancouver, British Columbia. In late 1997, Snow released a "Greatest Hits" compilation, called "The Greatest Hits of Snow".


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 1999, Snow reunited with M.C. Shan, producing the album "Cooler Conditions" in Japan. The only single, "The Plumb Song", spent eight weeks on the Japan Singles chart, peaking at number 27. It was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 2000, Snow signed to Virgin Music Canada. Later that year, he released the album "Mind on the Moon". The single "Everybody Wants to Be Like You" landed Snow back on the Canadian Singles chart and earned him three Juno nominations.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 2002, Snow worked with Shaggy and Blu Cantrell's producer to record "Two Hands Clapping". "Legal", the first single, reached number 13 on the Canadian Singles Chart.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 2013, after Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer complained about the company's "hold" music during a fourth-quarter earnings call, Snow and the Jingle Punks recorded a much publicized jingle for Yahoo. The lyrics went, "You're on hold / Hold on at Yahoo / Gimme a second while I patch you through," goes the first verse. "The CEO didn't like the hold music / So Daddy Snow wrote this jam for you."


title: Snow (musician)

text: In summer 2014 while in Miami, Florida, Snow signed with Bugatti Music Entertainment and teamed up with Grammy-winning producers Cool & Dre, Kent Jones and Scott Storch and began recording again.


title: Snow (musician)

text: On October 2, 2014, Snow's new single "Shame" was released, featuring Mykal Rose (Black Uhuru). On October 11, 2014, Snow announced that all proceeds from "Shame" will be donated to the fight against cancer.


title: Snow (musician)

text: On June 19, 2017, Snow was awarded the Socan Classics 100,000 Radio Performances in Canada for commemorating more than 100k times his music has played on radio.


title: Snow (musician)

text: On January 23, 2019, Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee released the reggaeton and dancehall song "Con Calma" featuring Snow, which has been described as a remake or reimagination of "Informer". The single peaked at number 22 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Snow's first entry on the chart since 1993, and reached number one on the US Hot Latin Songs list. Internationally, the track topped the charts of five Spanish-language countries and reached the top 10 in 10 others in Latin America. Across Europe, the song entered the charts of numerous countries, peaking at number 14 in Italy and number 23 in Switzerland. In the Netherlands, the song rose to number one in April 2019. "Con Calma" also became Snow's first entry on the Canadian Hot 100 chart after debuting at number 99 in February 2019. It eventually peaked at number 6.


title: Snow (musician)

text: On October 17, 2019, Snow and his wife Tara O'Brien attended the 5th Annual Latin American Music Awards in Hollywood, California at the Dolby Theatre. Snow was nominated for three awards.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In February 2020, Snow won four awards Song of the Year with Daddy Yankee for "Con Calma" at "Premio Lo Nuestro Awards."


title: Snow (musician)

text: Snow and Daddy Yankee won the Top Latin Song of the Year at the 2020 "Billboard" Music Awards, and "Con Calma" won big at the Latin "Billboard" Music Awards on October 21, 2020, with Snow taking home six awards. Snow attended the awards with Tara O'Brien in Florida.


title: Snow (musician)

text: Drew Carey, a long time Snow fan, had Snow record a reggae version of "The Drew Carey Show" theme song, "Moon Over Parma", for the series' eighth and ninth seasons.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 2001, Snow played a prison guard in the film "Prison Song". Snow appears as himself in the 2012 film "The Movie Out Here" produced by Canadian brewing company Kokanee and Alliance Films.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 2015, Snow and his then-fiancée, Tara Elizabeth, appeared on a CBC webseries called "True Dating Stories" to tell the story of one of their first dates: A walk in a ravine turned police operation.


title: Snow (musician)

text: Their episode was the most watched and the entire series won Best Web Series at the Hollywood Comedy Shorts Film Festival.


title: Snow (musician)

text: In "Ethnicity, Politics, and Public Policy: Case Studies in Canadian Diversity", Rebecca J. Haines examined Snow as a symbol of Canadian ethnic identity. Instead of hiding his "whiteness" and "Canadian-ness," Haines argues, Snow proudly boasts of his Irish heritage and pride in his family, the O'Briens, and traces his reggae roots to the diverse community of Allenbury. While other artists, such as Snoop Dogg, don a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey because of its resemblance to cannabis, "in the video for his single "Anything for You", shot on location in Jamaica, the white Canadian reggae artist Snow is seen wearing the same jersey, perhaps in an attempt to proclaim his Canadian roots among the all-black cast of this video."


title: Snow (musician)

text: Many reggae purists viewed Snow, along with Ini Kamoze, Diana King, UB40, Shaggy and Shabba Ranks, as another example of "watered down" commercial reggae that rose to international popularity in the 1990s. The sketch comedy show "In Living Color", parodied "Informer" by featuring fellow Canadian Jim Carrey as Snow in a sketch titled "Imposter".


title: Snow (musician)

text: In 1996, WBLS New York disc jockey Pat McKay observed, "purists have a problem with a non-Jamaican doing reggae. But I choose to think of it as the greatest compliment to reggae culture, and Snow is a genuine, dedicated artist. He has a fine singing voice, he's a great writer, and he very generously includes other artists in all of his work. His authenticity amplifies the realities of his generation, and his sensitivity conjures up intimacy with all of his love songs."


title: Snow (musician)

text: In November 2009, Snow's then-common law wife and the subject of many of his songs, Tamei Edberg, was diagnosed with cancer; she died three weeks later on November 27, 2009, at the age of 41. With Tamei, Snow has a daughter, Justuss born in April of 1996 and of whom he was inspired to name his third album after respectively. In 2018 Snow became a grandfather, as Justuss gave birth to a son, Lyrix Tre. Justuss was featured on the song "J Dot" when she was six years old on his sixth and most recent full-length album to date, Two Hands Clapping (2002). He also has another daughter from another relationship, who was born in January of the same year (making his two daughters just three months apart). On June 24, 2010, Snow held a fundraiser called "ClosURE For Cancer" at Alley Catz Restaurant in Toronto during which they raised $15,000. Snow also started his own non-governmental organization called "Pure Snow NGO," which assists "tenants living in non-profit housing".


title: Snow (musician)

text: In May 2016, Snow married model/actress Tara Elizabeth Singh at St. Anselm Catholic Church in Toronto. CTV covered the ceremony and local radio station KISS 92.5 interviewed the newlyweds on "The Roz and Mocha Show" on May 22, 2016.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Lawrence Harvey Brown (born September 14, 1940) is an American basketball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach of the Memphis Tigers. Brown is the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship (Kansas Jayhawks, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit Pistons, 2004). He has a 1,275–965 lifetime professional coaching record in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is the only coach in NBA history to lead eight teams (differing franchises) to the playoffs. He also won an ABA championship as a player with the Oakland Oaks in the 1968–69 season, and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1964. He is also the only person ever to coach two NBA franchises in the same season (Spurs and Clippers during the 1991–92 NBA season). Before coaching, Brown played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and professionally in the ABA.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach on September 27, 2002. On July 8, 2021, the National Basketball Coaches Association awarded Brown the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown is Jewish and was born in Brooklyn, New York. His maternal grandfather Hittelman was from Minsk, Belarus, and his mother's family immigrated to the United States in 1910 and opened a bakery in Brooklyn. His mother met his father Milton Brown, a furniture salesman, when she was 26 years old. He has an older brother, Herbert, who has been an NBA head coach. In 1947 his father died suddenly of a ruptured aneurysm. His family moved first to Brooklyn, then to Long Beach, New York, on Long Island. His mother lived until the age of 106.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: A point guard, Brown attended Long Beach High School. He won a gold medal with Team USA in basketball at the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel, on a team that included Art Heyman and Charley Rosen.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown attended University of North Carolina, where he played basketball under legendary coaches Frank McGuire and Dean Smith. Brown was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference player in 1963.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: A stellar player for the Tar Heels in the early 1960s, Brown was considered too small to play in the NBA. He began his post-college career with the NABL's Akron Wingfoots, where he played for two years (1964–65). He led the Wingfoots to the 1964 AAU National Championship. Brown was selected for Team USA's 1964 Summer Olympics team, which won the gold medal.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: After a brief stint as an assistant coach at North Carolina, Brown joined the upstart American Basketball Association, playing with the New Orleans Buccaneers (1967–68), Oakland Oaks (1968–69), Washington Caps (1969–70), Virginia Squires (1970–71), and Denver Rockets (1971–72). Brown was named MVP of the ABA's first All-Star Game in 1968, and was named to the All-ABA Second Team the same year. Brown led the ABA in assists per game during the league's first three seasons, and when he ended his playing career, Brown was the ABA's all-time assist leader. His total of 2,509 assists places him seventh on the ABA's career list, and he holds the ABA record for assists in a game with 23. He was a three-time ABA All-Star.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown's first head coaching job was at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1969. He resigned after less than two months, having never fielded a team or coached a game. He would not discuss the reasons for his resignation, saying only that "it was in the best interests of Davidson and myself".


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown moved on to the ABA and coached with the Carolina Cougars and then the Denver Nuggets, who later joined the NBA in 1976, for five and a half seasons from 1974 to 1979. He then moved on to coach for UCLA (1979–1981), leading his freshman-dominated 1979–80 team to the NCAA title game before falling to Louisville, 59–54. However, that appearance was later vacated by the NCAA after two UCLA players were found to be ineligible—one of the few times a Final Four squad has had its record vacated. Brown was the head coach for the NBA's New Jersey Nets for two years following that, from 1981 to 1983.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown began his tenure at the University of Kansas (1983–1988), replacing the fired Ted Owens, who had overseen back-to-back losing seasons in 1981–82 and 1982–83. Brown's impact was felt almost immediately, as the 1983–84 Jayhawks put together a 22–10 record, finished in second place in that year's Big 8 standings, upset Oklahoma to win the 1984 Big 8 Tournament, and advanced to the 1984 NCAA Tournament's Round of 32 before losing to Wake Forest. In the meantime Brown signed the most coveted high school player in the country, Danny Manning, to play for KU after signing his father, Ed Manning, to a position as an assistant coach.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Perhaps Brown's finest team at Kansas was the 1985–86 team. This squad put together a 35–4 record, the first 30-win season in KU history. They won the Big 8 regular season title for the first time since 1978, defeated Iowa State to win the 1986 Big 8 Tournament, and advanced to the 1986 Final Four before losing to Duke in the semifinals.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: In the 1987–88 season, Kansas got off to a mediocre 12–8 start, including 1–4 in the Big 8, and the end of the Jayhawks' 55-game homecourt winning streak in Allen Fieldhouse. Ultimately, behind the high-scoring of Danny Manning, KU rallied to win nine of their next twelve games to finish third place in the Big 8 and qualify for the 1988 NCAA tournament as a 6-seed in the Midwest Regional. Kansas then proceeded to defeat 11th-seed Xavier, 14th-seed Murray State, and 7th-seed Vanderbilt before meeting rival Kansas State, which had beaten KU twice in three meetings that year. KU upset the 4th-seeded Wildcats 71–58 in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four in Kansas City's Kemper Arena. Once there, Kansas upset the East Region's #2 seed Duke, 66–59, avenging an overtime loss at home to the Blue Devils earlier in the season. Two nights later, the Jayhawks, who became known as "Danny and the Miracles", upset the Southeast Region's #1-seed and fellow Big 8 rival Oklahoma, 83–79, to avenge a regular-season sweep by the Sooners and win the 1988 NCAA championship. Manning, who scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the final, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. Kansas concluded the year 27–11; the 11 losses remain a record for most losses by an NCAA champion to this day.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Two months later, Brown opted to return to professional coaching, departing KU for the San Antonio Spurs. In his five seasons at Kansas, Brown had one Big 8 regular season title, two Big 8 postseason titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16 appearances, two trips to the Final Four, and one national title. As a collegiate coach, he had a cumulative coaching record of 177–61 (.744) in seven seasons, including a 135–44 (.754) record at Kansas. His efforts led to him being named "Coach of the Year" for the NCAA in 1988 and "Coach of the Year" for the Big Eight Conference in 1986.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: After Brown left Kansas to return to the NBA, NCAA sanctions were levied against Kansas in the 1988–89 season as a result of recruiting violations; potential transfer Vincent Askew was provided with money to leave his campus visit to visit his ill grandmother. No players on any of Brown's teams were named in the report, and Askew did not transfer to Kansas. The Jayhawks were given three years' probation and banned from the 1989 NCAA Tournament–to date, the only time a defending champion has been barred from defending its title. They were also docked one scholarship for the 1989–90 season, and barred from paid visits during the 1989 calendar year. As harsh as these sanctions were, the infractions committee seriously considered imposing a "death penalty" on Kansas, which would have resulted in canceling the entire 1989–90 season. Indeed, enforcement director David Berst said that Kansas was "on the bubble" for a death penalty. However, the committee opted against imposing a death penalty because Askew was the only player who received impermissible benefits, and because Brown had returned to the NBA by then.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown was hired to coach the San Antonio Spurs in 1988, signing a five-year, $3.5 million contract. With Brown at the helm, the Spurs won two consecutive Midwest Division titles. In his second season, the Spurs, led by David Robinson–who finally joined the Spurs after serving his two-year naval commitment–vaulted from the worst record in franchise history to the best. Brown remained with the Spurs until he was fired on January 21, 1992.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On February 7, 1992, Brown was hired to coach the Los Angeles Clippers. He took a sub-.500 team in 1992 and guided them to their first winning season since the franchise moved to Los Angeles and their first playoff berth since they were the Buffalo Braves. He followed that up the next season with another playoff appearance in 1993. Brown resigned his position on May 21, 1993.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown was hired by the Indiana Pacers in June 1993. Under Brown, the Pacers went to two straight conference finals, their first ever. He resigned his position in 1997.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown was hired as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1997. Under his leadership, the team reached the 2001 NBA Finals. Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year following the 2000–2001 season. Brown resigned his post in 2003. Brown also served as Director of Basketball Operations in Philadelphia.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: In 2005, Allen Iverson, who frequently clashed with Brown when he played for him in Philadelphia, said that he was without a doubt "the best coach in the world."


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown won his first (and ultimately only) NBA Championship during his first year with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one in the 2004 NBA Finals. By doing so, Brown became the first, and so far only, coach to lead teams to both NCAA and NBA titles. Brown is also the only NBA coach to take two teams (76ers and Pistons) to the NBA Finals against the same opponent (Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 and 2004), lose the first time, and win the second.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: In May 2005, rumors surfaced that Brown would become the Cleveland Cavaliers' team president as soon as the Detroit Pistons finished their postseason. The rumor, which was not dispelled by Brown, became a major distraction as the Pistons lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the 2005 NBA Finals.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On July 19, 2005, the Pistons—displeased with Brown's public flirtations with other teams—bought out the remaining years of Brown's contract, allowing him to sign with another team. A week later, on July 28, 2005, Brown became the head coach of the New York Knicks, with a 5-year contract reportedly worth between US$50 million and $60 million, making him the highest-paid coach in NBA history.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On January 13, 2006, the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks to give Brown his 1,000th win in the NBA, making him only the fourth coach to do so (at the time, the other three were Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson, and Pat Riley; coincidentally, all three had coached the Knicks at various points).


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown's tenure as Knicks head coach lasted one season. The Knicks fired him on June 23, 2006, after he led the team to a 23–59 record. Brown's season with the Knicks was marred by public feuds with his own players, most notably point guard Stephon Marbury. After the firing, the Knicks declined to pay the remaining sum (more than $40 million) under Brown's contract on the grounds that he had been terminated for cause. Before the contract dispute was to be heard by NBA Commissioner David Stern, Brown reached an agreement with the Knicks wherein the team agreed to pay him $18.5 million.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: In January 2007, Brown became Executive Vice President of the Philadelphia 76ers. Brown resigned in April 2008.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On April 29, 2008, Brown signed to become the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats – his ninth NBA coaching job. He managed to keep the relatively young team in playoff contention. The following season, Brown guided the Bobcats to the franchise's first ever playoff appearance. Charlotte was the eighth team he had led to the postseason, an NBA record.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On December 22, 2010, Brown parted ways with the Bobcats after the team started the 2010–2011 season with a record of 9–19. His departure was officially characterized as a resignation, but other sources reported that Brown was fired. Assistant coach Jeff Capel II told "The Charlotte Observer" that the entire coaching staff had been fired.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: He returned to Lawrence, Kansas to coach in an exhibition match on September 24, 2011 for the "Legends of the Phog" event, opposite Ted Owens, in which various Kansas Jayhawks Basketball alumni played an exhibition game during the 2011 NBA lockout.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On April 17, 2012, ESPN reported that Brown was to be named the new head coach of the SMU Mustangs, replacing Matt Doherty, who had been fired from SMU earlier in March. Tim Jankovich, the head coach of Illinois State, was hired as the coach-in-waiting.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: After a rebuilding season in 2012–2013 (15–17), Brown brought SMU into the national conversation the following year, as the school made its first appearance in The Associated Press Top 25 rankings since 1985. SMU went on to be the overall number one seed in the National Invitational Tournament, losing in the final game of the tournament to Minnesota, and finished the year with a record of 27–10. In the following 2014–2015 season, SMU won the American Athletic Conference tournament and secured its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1993.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On September 29, 2015, Brown was suspended by the NCAA for 30% of the Mustangs' games in the upcoming 2015–2016 season, and the team was banned from 2016 post-season play, placed on probation for three years, and lost nine scholarships over a three-year period. The NCAA found that Brown failed to report violations when a former administrative assistant committed academic fraud on behalf of a student-athlete and he initially lied to enforcement staff about his knowledge of the potential violations.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: On June 12, 2018, Brown accepted the proposal of Auxilium Torino to become the new head coach of the Italian basketball club of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). On June 17, he officially became new head coach of Torino. He was fired midseason on December 27 with the team's record at just 5–19.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: In June 2021, Brown joined the coaching staff of the Memphis Tigers men's basketball program, as an assistant coach under head coach and former NBA player Penny Hardaway. Brown had most recently served as an assistant coach in 1967.


title: Larry Brown (basketball)

text: Brown was chosen as the head coach for the United States men's basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. That team won the bronze medal at the Olympics; it was the first U.S. men's basketball team to fail to win gold at a Summer Olympics since NBA players began playing on the U.S. men's team in 1992.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem had a population of 174,365 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is the principal city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that covers Marion and Polk counties and had a combined population of 390,738 at the 2010 census. A 2019 estimate placed the metropolitan population at 400,408, the state's second largest. This area is, in turn, part of the Portland-Vancouver-Salem Combined Statistical Area.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The city is home to Willamette University, Corban University, and Chemeketa Community College. The State of Oregon is the largest public employer in the city, and Salem Health is the largest private employer. Transportation includes public transit from Cherriots (legally known as Salem Area Mass Transit District), Amtrak service, and non-commercial air travel at McNary Field. Major roads include Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99E, and Oregon Route 22, which connects West Salem across the Willamette River via the Marion Street and Center Street bridges.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Native Americans who inhabited the central Willamette Valley at first European contact, the Kalapuya, called the area Chim-i-ki-ti, which means "meeting or resting place" in the Central Kalapuya language (Santiam). When the Methodist Mission moved to the area, they called the new establishment Chemeketa; although it was more widely known as the Mill, because of its situation on Mill Creek. When the Oregon Institute was established, the community became known as the institute.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: When the institute was dissolved, the trustees decided to lay out a town site on the Institute lands. Some possible sources for the name "Salem" include William H. Willson, who in 1850 and 1851 filed the plans for the main part of the city, and suggested adopting an Anglicized version of the Biblical Hebrew word "שָׁלוֹם, Shalom", meaning "peace" (as well as "hello" and "goodbye"). The Reverend David Leslie, President of the town's Trustees, also wanted a Biblical name, and suggested using the last five letters of "Jerusalem". Or, the town may be named after Salem, Massachusetts, where Leslie was educated. There were many names suggested, and even after the change to Salem, some people, such as Asahel Bush (editor of the "Oregon Statesman"), believed the name should be changed back to Chemeketa. The Vern Miller Civic Center, which houses the city offices and library, has a public space dedicated as the "Peace Plaza" in recognition of the names by which the city has been known.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The first people of European descent arrived in the area as early as 1812; they were animal trappers and food gatherers for the fur trading companies in Astoria, Oregon.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The first permanent American settlement in the area was the Jason Lee Methodist mission (1840) located in the area north of Salem known as Wheatland. In 1842, the missionaries established the Oregon Institute (the forerunner of Willamette University) in the area that was to become the site of Salem. In 1844, the mission was dissolved and the town site established.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: In 1851, Salem became the territorial capital after it was moved from Oregon City. The capital was moved briefly to Corvallis in 1855, but was moved back to Salem permanently that same year. Salem incorporated as a city in 1857, and with the coming of statehood in 1859, it became the state capital.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Oregon has had three capitol buildings in Salem. A two-story state house, which had been occupied for only two months, burned to the ground in December 1855. Oregon's second capitol building was completed in 1876 on the site of the original. The Revival-style building was based in part on the U.S. Capitol building. The building received its distinctive copper dome in 1893. On April 25, 1935, this building was also destroyed by fire. The third and current Oregon State Capitol was completed on the same site in 1938. It is recognizable by its distinctive pioneer statue atop the capitol dome that is plated with gold-leaf and officially named the "Oregon Pioneer".


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Agriculture has always been important to Salem, and the city has historically recognized and celebrated it in a number of ways. In 1861, Salem was chosen as the permanent site of the Oregon State Fair by the Oregon State Agricultural Association. Salem is nicknamed the "Cherry City", because of the past importance of the local cherry-growing industry. The first cherry festival in Salem was held in 1903 and was an annual event, with parades and the election of a cherry queen, until sometime after World War I. The event was briefly revived as the Salem Cherryland Festival for several years in the late 1940s.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is located in the north-central Willamette Valley, in Marion and Polk counties. The 45th Parallel (roughly the halfway point between the North Pole and the Equator) passes through Salem's city limits.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Although the Willamette River flows through Salem, the North Santiam River watershed is Salem's primary drinking water source. Other important streams that pass through Salem are Mill Creek, the Mill Race, Pringle Creek, and Shelton Ditch. Smaller streams in the southern and southeastern parts of the city include Clark Creek, Jory Creek, Battle Creek, Croisan Creek, and Claggett Creek, while Glen Creek and Brush Creek flow through West Salem.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Elevation within the city limits ranges from about . Salem contains the volcanic Salem Hills in the south and is sandwiched by the Eola Hills directly to the west and the Waldo Hills to the east. Northern and eastern Salem are less hilly. South and West Salem contain some canyons and are the hilliest areas. The coast range and the Cascades—including Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, and on the clearest of days, Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams in Washington—can be viewed from throughout the city.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Like most of the Willamette Valley area, Salem has a mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csb"). Rain is heaviest in late fall and throughout winter, and almost all of the annual precipitation falls between October and April, with a dry season from May through September. Light snowfall occurs in winter, but major snows are rare. Mostly cloudy skies and low cloud ceilings are commonplace during the rainy season.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem's mean annual temperature is ; its annual precipitation is , with an average of snow included. However, over a quarter of years receive no snowfall. The state capital is about south of Portland, but actually has a lower average temperature than that of Portland (), due in part to the lower daily minima.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: All-time extremes in Salem range from to . The coldest afternoon of the year usually falls to on the freezing point, whereas the coldest recorded maximum temperature was in three separate months and years. The warmest night on record was in July 2006 and the warmest annual night averages .


title: Salem, Oregon

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 154,637 people, 57,290 households, and 36,261 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 61,276 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 79.0% White, 1.5% African American, 1.5% Native American, 2.7% Asian, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 10.1% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.3% of the population.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: There were 57,290 households, of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.0% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.7% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.15.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The median age in the city was 34.5 years. 25.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.6% were from 25 to 44; 24.5% were from 45 to 64; and 12% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 136,924 people, 50,676 households, and 32,331 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,994.0 people per square mile (1,156.1/km). There were 53,817 housing units at an average density of 1,176.8 per square mile (454.4/km). The racial makeup of the city was 83.1% White, 1.3% African American, 1.5% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 7.9% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.6% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 70.7% of the population in 2010, compared to 88.6% in 1990.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: There were 50,676 households, out of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.10.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.4% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.5 males.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The median income for a household in the city was $38,881, and the median income for a family was $46,409. Males had a median income of $34,746 versus $26,789 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,141. About 10.5% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.2% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is governed using the council–manager government model. The city council consists of eight members who are elected from single member wards. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: State government is Salem's largest employer, but the city also serves as a hub for the area farming communities and is a major agricultural food processing center. It lies along the I-5 corridor and is within an hour's drive of Oregon's largest city, Portland.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is the home of Kettle Foods, Inc., a maker of potato chips since 1982. Kettle employs 700 in Salem and at a plant in Bowthorpe, England. NORPAC Foods, Inc., is a large food processor in Salem and elsewhere in Marion County. Its brands include Flav-R-Pac and West-Pac frozen fruits and vegetables, and Santiam canned vegetables. Oregon Fruit Products, Inc., has been canning blackberries, marionberries and other fruits in Salem since 1935, with "Oregon" as its brand name.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: In a bid to diversify its economic base, Salem attracted a number of computer-related manufacturing plants in the 1990s. In November 2003, the Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Group (SUMCO), one of these arrivals, announced it would be closing its two silicon wafer plants at the end of 2004, eliminating 620 jobs, and moving production to other plants.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is the headquarters of the Oregon Department of Corrections and home to four state correctional facilities, including the Oregon State Penitentiary, Oregon's only maximum-security prison.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Numerous projects are underway to increase the supply of housing in the downtown core. These projects will provide upscale, low- and high-rise condominium and office space.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem has 18 recognized neighborhood associations, which are independent groups that receive administrative support from the city.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: From May through October the Salem Saturday Market, located north of the Capitol, exhibits an emphasis on local products including crafts, baked goods, produce, meat, and other items. In addition to the Saturday Market, there is a Wednesday Farmers' Market hosted downtown in Courthouse Square during the summer, as well a Holiday Gift Market in December. The 60+ year old, indoor Saturday Public Market is open all year.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The annual World Beat Festival, held in June, is sponsored by the nonprofit Salem Multicultural Institute. The event lasts for two days and is held at the Riverfront Park. It features international crafts, music, dance, food, and folklore from every continent, and in recent years has held a Dragon Boat race similar to the ones held during the nearby Rose Festival in Portland.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Salem Art Association sponsors the annual Salem Art Fair and Festival, which takes place at Bush's Pasture Park during the summer. Its displays, interactive exhibits, food, and performances attract thousands of visitors each year.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Bite of Salem, held in July at the Riverfront Park, is an event similar to others such as the Bite of Oregon in Portland. The event consists of a weekend of local restaurants in Salem offering samples of their menus to patrons in a festival atmosphere, with live entertainment and benefiting local charities. In the summer, "Chef's Nite Out" is a wine and food benefit held for Marion-Polk Food Share. Oregon Wine & Food Festival takes place at that state's fairgrounds in January.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The largest event in Salem is the Oregon State Fair at the end of August through Labor Day. Located in the Oregon State Fairgrounds in North Salem, the fair offers exhibits, competitions and carnival rides. Other events such as concerts, horse shows and rodeos take place at the Oregon State Fair and Expo Center throughout the year.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Mid-Valley Video Festival offers local, national and international independent films in theaters throughout the city.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Salem Repertory Theatre presents shows at the Reed Opera House. The Pentacle Theatre, which features plays and musicals, is located in West Salem. The Elsinore Theatre is a historic landmark featuring recitals, concerts, films, and plays. It has the largest working pipe organ on the west coast, a remnant of its days as a showcase for silent films, in the early days of cinema. Grand Theater is newly renovated and is the home of Enlightened Theatrics, a professional theatre company and hosts the Salem Progressive Film Series on the third Tuesday nine months of the year.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Capitol Pride (Salem's yearly Gay Pride Event), hosted by Aundrea Smith (Author of: "Your Local Queer"; 2019) is held in early August.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The personal house and garden of landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, known as Gaiety Hollow, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Their firm Lord & Schryver designed the gardens of Historic Deepwood Estate.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: In addition to the Oregon State Capitol and adjacent Willson Park, Salem's downtown contains the Willamette Heritage Center, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the Elsinore Theatre, Riverfront Park, the Willamette River, some of the oldest buildings in Oregon, as well as shopping and restaurants. The A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village interactive children's museum and Prewitt-Allen Archaeological Museum are both also located in Salem.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The two leading candidates for the tallest building in Salem are Salem First United Methodist Church and the Capitol Center. A private survey commissioned by a local publication holds that the church is the tallest. The tall white spire of the 1878 church rises at the intersection of Church and State Streets across from the Capitol grounds. The Capitol Center (originally the First National Bank Building, then the Livesley Building) was built in 1927 by former Salem mayor Thomas A. Livesley, a prominent Salem-area businessman and civic leader. At that time of its completion, it was the tallest commercial building in the state.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: In 1988, Livesley's family home was purchased through private donations and was donated to the state. It now serves as the official residence of the Governor and family. Now known as Mahonia Hall, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1990.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Oregon Symphony, based in Portland, presents approximately ten classical and pops concerts each year in Salem. The Salem Chamber Orchestra includes professional area musicians as well as students. The Salem Armory Auditorium has hosted touring bands including Korn and Phish.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Salem Concert Band is a community band made up of professional and amateur musicians that performs several classical and pops concerts annually.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Because Salem is the state capital, it has a multitude of government agencies, departments, and boards housed in buildings with architectural designs ranging from the early 20th century to examples of state-of-the-art civil building design.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The historic Reed Opera House in downtown Salem has a number of local shops and dining establishments, as well as an art gallery.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem has been awarded "Tree City USA" status by the National Arbor Day Foundation for 30 consecutive years for its dedication to urban forestry. Salem was the first city in Oregon to receive the award. In keeping with the city's "Cherry City" theme, flowering cherry trees have been planted along many Salem streets as well as on the Capitol Mall across from the Capitol.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The Salem Public Library's main branch is located just south of downtown. A branch library is located in West Salem (Polk County). The Library participates in the Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service, so Salem Public Library cards are also valid in the member libraries in Yamhill, Polk, Marion, and parts of Linn County. In addition to the Salem Public Library, the Mark O. Hatfield Library at Willamette University is open to the public as well, although the hours are limited.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem has one daily newspaper, the Gannett-owned "Statesman Journal". The "Capital Press", a weekly agricultural newspaper, is published in the city and is distributed throughout the West Coast. The monthly "Salem Business Journal" covers business and government. "Salem Magazine", published quarterly, both in physical and digital (online) issues, focuses upon its people; its unique culture; and its downtown and surrounding neighborhood communities.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Northwest Television operates three television stations that have Salem transmitters: KWVT-LD, KSLM, and KPWC, which serve an area from Longview, Washington, to Eugene, Oregon. Two stations are licensed to Salem but operate out of Portland: KPXG-TV and KRCW.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: As of 2012, seven radio stations broadcast from Salem, including three commercial AM stations, three non-commercial FM stations, and a community radio station. KBZY was a popular Top 40 station from its sign-on in 1957 through the 1960s and 1970s. Today KBZY has an oldies format, and continues to use live and local personalities. KBZY is affiliated with the ABC Radio Network. KYKN carries syndicated conservative talk hosts. KZGD is a Spanish language sports talk station. KSLM features conservative talk programming. KSAI is a non-commercial station licensed to Educational Media Foundation with a Contemporary Christian format. KMUZ, established in 2012, is a non-commercial community radio station carrying locally produced content in a variety format.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is part of the Portland Arbitron survey area for radio stations, and most of the Portland stations can be received in Salem, including powerful AM stations news/talk KEX, CBS Sports Radio affiliate KXTG, and Fox Sports Radio affiliate KPOJ. Stations to the south in Corvallis and Albany are also easily heard in Salem.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: NPR programming is carried by Oregon Public Broadcasting, which can be heard on KOPB-FM from Portland, and KOAC from Corvallis.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem's Public Works Department, Parks Operations Division, is responsible for a park system encompassing with of trails, 46 parks, and another 55 open and undeveloped areas.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Bush's Pasture Park, a urban park a few blocks south of downtown Salem, features natural groves of native Oregon White Oak trees, the historic Bush House, a rose garden, and adjacent Deepwood Estates.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Other city parks include Cascade Gateway Park and Riverfront Park, which is adjacent to downtown and the Willamette River and is home to the Salem Carousel. Marion Square Park is downtown next to Marion Street Bridge and has a skatepark and basketball court. The skatepark also allows bicycles. Marion Square Park was laid out by city founder William H. Willson, and is the next oldest municipal park in Salem after Willson Park at the Oregon State Capitol.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Across the Willamette River in West Salem is the Wallace Marine Park, which includes a boat ramp and floating boat dock allowing easy access to the river for water sports. The NRHP-listed Union Street Railroad Bridge, repurposed as a bicycle and pedestrian bridge, connects Wallace Marine Park and West Salem to Riverfront Park and downtown Salem.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is also home to one of the smallest city parks in the world, Waldo Park, which consists of a single Sequoia tree.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The capitol grounds, which are maintained by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, cover three city blocks and include Willson and Capitol parks.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Other large parks located in the Salem area include the Willamette Mission State Park north of the city, and Silver Falls State Park east of Salem. Both of these parks have extensive hiking, biking, and horse trails.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem's central location provides access to a wide variety of recreational activities in a variety of climates and geographies year round. The Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean are to the west. The Santiam Canyon area, the Western Cascades and the High Cascades are to the east. Portland and its environs are to the north, while Eugene and its environs are to the south.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem also has two disc golf courses. A nine-hole course located in the woods of Woodmansee Park (located behind Judson Middle School), and a more open style 18-hole course located throughout Cascade Gateway Park. They are both free and open to the public.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem's public elementary and secondary schools are part of the Salem-Keizer School District, which includes almost all of the city limits. The Salem-Keizer district has approximately 39,000 students and is the second largest public school district in the state. A small section of Salem in Marion County is assigned to Cascade School District 5.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: The city also has many private elementary and secondary schools such as Blanchet Catholic School and Salem Academy Christian. One school, Willamette Academy, is part of an outreach program run by Willamette University that is designed to expose under-represented students to the rewards of an academic life at an early age (7th–12th grade).


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem is also home to several public boarding schools, the Chemawa Indian School (a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-affiliated Native American high school), and the Oregon School for the Deaf. Oregon School for the Blind was formerly in the city and closed in 2009.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Post secondary schools include Chemeketa Community College, Corban University, Tokyo International University of America, and Willamette University, the oldest university in the American west. Portland State University, Eastern Oregon University, Western Oregon University and Oregon State University provide classes and a handful of undergraduate degrees at Chemeketa Community College.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Cherriots, an independent government agency, provides fixed-route bus service, rideshare matching, and paratransit/lift services for the disabled, within the urban growth boundary. They also operate Cherriots Regional, previously known as Chemeketa Area Regional Transportation System (CARTS), which provides bus service that connects Salem to destinations as far north as Wilsonville, as far west as Dallas, and to the east to Silverton and up the Santiam Canyon to Mill City. Cherriots, in cooperation with Wilsonville's SMART, provides routes between downtown Salem and Wilsonville. From Wilsonville, WES Commuter Rail connects to TriMet routes in Beaverton, including MAX Light Rail.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Greyhound Lines provides north–south service and connecting carrier service to Bend, Oregon, from the Salem Amtrak station.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, leases the Salem Depot from the Oregon Department of Transportation. The "Coast Starlight" provides daily north–south service to cities between Los Angeles, California and Seattle, Washington. "Amtrak Cascades" trains, operating as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia and as far south as Eugene, Oregon, serve Salem several times daily in both directions.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: HUT Airport Shuttle provides transportation to Portland International Airport. HUT also serves Corvallis with a second stop at Oregon State University, Albany, and Woodburn. Mountain Express provides transportation between Salem and Bend.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: McNary Field (Salem Municipal Airport) is owned and operated by the City of Salem. It serves primarily general aviation and the Oregon National Guard – Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF). Delta Connection offered commercial air service with two daily flights to Salt Lake City, Utah, from July 2007. However, citing fuel costs versus a load factor of less than 85 percent, the service was discontinued in October 2008. The city plans to go forward with airport improvements that were announced when service was commenced, including a longer runway and an expanded terminal building.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: Salem Hospital Regional Health Services, one of the largest of Oregon's 57 acute care hospitals, is a 454-bed acute care medical facility. It is a not-for-profit organization, and is also the city's largest private employer.


title: Salem, Oregon

text: As of 2014, there was talk of reviving the now-stagnant Sister City project launched in 1964 with Salem in Tamil Nadu, India.


title: Teardrop tattoo

text: The teardrop tattoo or tear tattoo is a symbolic tattoo of a tear that is placed underneath the eye. The teardrop is one of the most widely recognised prison tattoos and has various meanings.


title: Teardrop tattoo

text: It can signify that the wearer has spent time in prison, or more specifically that the wearer was raped while incarcerated and tattooed by the rapist as a "property" mark and for humiliation, since facial tattoos cannot be concealed.


title: Teardrop tattoo

text: The tattoo is sometimes worn by the female companions of prisoners in solidarity with their loved ones. Amy Winehouse had a teardrop drawn on her face in eyeliner after her husband Blake entered the Pentonville prison hospital following a suspected drug overdose.


title: Teardrop tattoo

text: It can acknowledge the loss of a friend or family member: North American rappers The Game and Lil Wayne have teardrop tattoos signifying the death of friends and basketball player Amar'e Stoudemire has had a teardrop tattoo since 2012 honoring his older brother Hazell Jr., who died in a car accident.


title: Teardrop tattoo

text: In West Coast gang culture (USA), the tattoo may signify that the wearer has killed someone and in some of those circles, the tattoo's meaning can change: an empty outline meaning either the wearer attempted murder or that a fellow gang member or friend died and when filled in, the wearer sought revenge.<ref name="urlTeardrop Tattoo Meaning | herinterest.com/"></ref>


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested with the British Army in 1944–1945 as a replacement for the Sten but it did not start to replace it until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained as standard issue with the British Army until 1994, when it began to be replaced by the L85A1 assault rifle.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: In 1944, the British General Staff issued a specification for a new submachine gun to replace the Sten. It stated that the new weapon should weigh no more than six pounds (2.7 kg), should fire 9×19mm Parabellum ammunition, have a rate of fire of no more than 500 rounds per minute and be sufficiently accurate to allow five consecutive shots (fired in semi-automatic mode) to be placed inside a one-foot-square (30 cm × 30 cm) target at a distance of .


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: To meet the new requirement, George William Patchett, the chief designer at the Sterling Armaments Company of Dagenham, submitted a sample weapon of new design in early 1944. The first Patchett prototype gun was similar to the Sten insofar as its cocking handle (and the slot it moved back and forth in) was placed in line with the ejection port though it was redesigned soon afterwards and moved up to a slightly offset position. The army quickly recognised the Patchett's significantly increased accuracy and reliability compared to the Sten and ordered 120 examples for trials. Towards the end of the Second World War, some of these trial samples were used in combat by airborne troops during the battle of Arnhem and by special forces at other locations in Northern Europe where it was officially known as the Patchett Machine Carbine Mk 1. For example, a Patchett submachine gun (serial numbered 078 and now held by the Imperial War Museum), was carried in action by Colonel Robert W.P. Dawson while he was Commanding Officer of No. 4 Commando, during the attack on Walcheren as part of Operation Infatuate in November 1944. Because the Patchett/Sterling can use straight Sten magazines as well as the curved Sterling design, there were no interoperability problems.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: After the war, with large numbers of Sten guns in the inventory, there was little interest in replacing them with a superior design. However, in 1947, a competitive trial between the Patchett, an Enfield design, a new BSA design and an experimental Australian design was held, with the Sten for comparison. The trial was inconclusive but was followed by further development and more trials. Eventually, the Patchett design won and the decision was made in 1951 for the British Army to adopt it. It started to replace the Sten in 1953 as the "Sub-Machine Gun L2A1". Its last non-suppressed variation was the L2A3 but the model changes were minimal throughout its development life.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: Sterling submachine guns with minor cosmetic alterations were used in the production of the "Star Wars" films as Imperial-issue E-11 blaster rifle props; more drastically altered Sterlings were used as Rebel Alliance-issue DH-17 blasters, though this weapon was mostly depicted via resin casts and only a few live-firing weapons were modified compared to "E-11" Sterlings.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: The Sterling submachine gun is constructed entirely of steel and plastic and has a shoulder stock, which folds underneath the weapon. There is an adjustable rear sight, which can be flipped between 100 and 200 yard settings. Although of conventional blowback design firing from an open bolt, there are some unusual features: for example, the bolt has helical grooves cut into the surface to remove dirt and fouling from the inside of the receiver to increase reliability. There are two concentric recoil springs which cycle the bolt, as opposed to the single spring arrangement used by many other SMG designs. This double-spring arrangement significantly reduces "bolt-bounce" when cartridges are chambered, resulting in better obturation, smoother recoil and increased accuracy. The Sterling's 34-round curved double-column feed box magazine was designed in 1946 by George Patchett. While the Sterling was originally intended to take Sten magazines, due to a lack of reliability, a new magazine was constructed, with many changes, including the implementation of rollers to reduce friction, a stamped metal construction, and the magazine was curved, which allowed the 9×19mm round to feed more reliably. The bolt feeds ammunition alternately from the top and bottom of the magazine lips, and its fixed firing pin is designed so that it does not line up with the primer in the cartridge until the cartridge has entered the chamber. The Sterling magazine is said to be one of the best ever designed.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: The Sterling employs a degree of what is known as Advanced Primer Ignition, in that the cartridge is fired while the bolt is still moving forward, a fraction of a second before the round is fully chambered. The firing of the round thus not only sends the bullet flying down the barrel but simultaneously resists the forwards movement of the bolt. By this means it is possible to employ a lighter bolt than if the cartridge was fired after the bolt had already stopped, as in simple blowback, since the energy of the expanding gases would then only have to overcome the bolt's static inertia (plus spring resistance) to push it backwards again and cycle the weapon; whereas in this arrangement some of this energy is used up in counteracting the bolt's forwards momentum as well; and thus the bolt does not have to be so massive. The lighter bolt makes not only for a lighter gun, but a more controllable one since there is less mass moving to and fro within it as it fires.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: The suppressed version of the Sterling (L34A1/Mk.5) was developed for covert operations. This version uses a ported barrel surrounded by a cylinder with expansion chambers. The Australian and New Zealand SAS regiments used the suppressed version of the Sterling during the Vietnam War. It is notable for having been used by both Argentinian and British Special Forces during the Falklands War. A Sterling was used by Libyan agents to kill WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy in London, which sparked the 1984 siege of the building.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: The Sterling has a reputation for excellent reliability under adverse conditions and, even though it fires from an open bolt, good accuracy. With some practice, it is very accurate when fired in short bursts. While it has been reported that the weapon poses no problems for left-handed users to operate, it is not recommended without the wearing of ballistic eye protection. The path of the ejected cartridge cases is slightly down and backward, so mild burns can occasionally be incurred by left-handed shooters.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: A bayonet of a similar design as that for the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle was produced and issued in British Army service, but was rarely employed except for ceremonial duties. Both bayonets were derived from the version issued with the Rifle No. 5 Mk I "Jungle Carbine", the main difference being a smaller ring on the SLR bayonet to fit the rifle's muzzle. When mounted, the Sterling bayonet was offset to the left of the weapon's vertical line, which gave a more natural balance when used for bayonet-fighting.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: For a right-handed shooter, the correct position for the left hand while firing is on the ventilated barrel-casing, but not on the magazine, as the pressure from holding the magazine can increase the risk of stoppages, and a loose magazine can lead to dropping the weapon. The barrel-casing hold provides greater control of the weapon, so the right hand can intermittently be used for other tasks. A semi-circular protrusion on the right-hand side of the weapon, approximately two inches from the muzzle, serves to prevent the supporting hand from moving too far forward and over the muzzle.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: A total of over 400,000 were manufactured between 1953 and 1988. Sterling built them at their factory in Dagenham for the British armed forces and for overseas sales, whilst the Royal Ordnance Factories at Fazakerley near Liverpool constructed them exclusively for the British military. Production ceased in 1988 with the closing of Sterling Armaments by British Aerospace/Royal Ordnance. ROF no longer makes full weapons, but still manufactures spare parts for certified end users.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: A Chilean variant was made by FAMAE as the PAF submachine gun but was different externally as it had a shorter receiver lacking the barrel shroud.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: Canada also manufactured a variant under licence, called the Submachine Gun 9 mm C1 made by Canadian Arsenals Limited. It is made from stamped metal instead of cast metal and is capable of handling a C1 bayonet, which is only used during public exhibition events and not for combat operations.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: A similar weapon, the Sub-Machine Gun Carbine 9 mm 1A1, was manufactured under licence by the Indian Ordnance Factory at Kanpur beginning in 1963, along with a Sub-Machine Gun Carbine 9 mm 2A1, manufactured beginning in 1977. As of 2012, it has been reported that at least 5,000 of these SMGs were made in India.


title: Sterling submachine gun

text: A prototype rifle in the 7.62×51mm NATO calibre was manufactured, using some components from the SMG. The rifle used lever-delayed blowback to handle the more powerful rounds and was fed from 30-round Bren magazines. To prevent ammunition cookoff, the weapon fired from an open bolt. Only one model of the rifle was produced, possibly to test the concepts of a proposed new product. It was not put into production.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: It's Complicated is a 2009 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nancy Meyers. It stars Meryl Streep as a bakery owner and single mother of three who starts a secret affair with her ex-husband, played by Alec Baldwin, ten years after their divorce – only to find herself drawn to another man: her architect, Adam (portrayed by Steve Martin). The film also features supporting performances by Lake Bell, Hunter Parrish, Zoe Kazan, John Krasinski, Mary Kay Place, Robert Curtis Brown, and Rita Wilson, among others.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: The film was met with average reviews from critics, who praised the acting of its ensemble cast but declared its story rather predictable. It became another commercial hit for Meyers, however, upon its Christmas Day 2009 opening release in the United States and Canada. It played well through the holidays and into January 2010, ultimately closing on April 1 with $112.7 million. Worldwide, "It's Complicated" eventually grossed $219.1 million, and surpassed "The Holiday" (2006) to become Meyer's third-highest-grossing project to date.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: For their performances, the cast was awarded a National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Ensemble Cast the same year. In addition, the film was nominated at both the Critics' Choice Awards and the Satellite Awards and garnered Meyers two Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay. Streep and Baldwin each were individually recognized with Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Golden Globe and BAFTA award ceremonies, respectively.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: Jane, who owns a successful bakery in Santa Barbara, California, and Jake Adler, a successful attorney, divorced ten years earlier. They had three children together, two daughters and a son, who are grown. Jake has married the much younger Agness, the woman he cheated on Jane with.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: Jane and Jake attend their son Luke's graduation from college in New York City. After a dinner together, the two begin an affair, which continues in Santa Barbara. Jane is torn about the affair; Jake is not. While Agness has Jake scheduled for regular sessions at a fertility clinic, Jake is secretly taking medication to decrease his frequent urination, the side effects of which are decreased sperm count and dizziness. After one of his sessions, he has a lunchtime rendezvous with Jane at a hotel. Jake collapses in the hotel room and a doctor is called. The doctor speculates that the reason for Jake's distress may be the medication and says he should stop taking it. Jake and Jane's children know nothing of the affair, but Harley, who is engaged to their daughter Lauren, spots the pair and the doctor in the hotel but keeps silent.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: Adam is an architect hired to remodel Jane's home. Still healing from a divorce of his own, he begins to fall in love with Jane. On the night of Luke's graduation party in Santa Barbara, Jane invites Adam to the party. She is stoned when he picks her up because she has taken a hit from a marijuana joint that Jake had given her earlier. Before going into the party, Adam smokes some of the joint with Jane. Once inside, they are laughing and happily high, Jake becomes jealous observing them, and after pressing Jane, smokes some with her also.


title: It's Complicated (film)

text: Agness then observes Jake and Jane dancing together and senses they are having an affair. When they leave the party, Adam asks Jane if they could have something to eat. Jane takes him to her bakery and they make chocolate croissants together, ending the evening with a romantic kiss. Jake and Agness separate, although it is not clear who leaves whom. Eventually, by a webcam in Jane's bedroom, Adam sees Jake naked and realizes that the two have been having an affair. Adam tells Jane he cannot continue seeing her because it will only lead to heartbreak. Jane's kids also find out, and they are not happy about their parents getting back together because they are still recovering from the divorce. Jane tells them she is not getting back with Jake. Jane and Jake talk and end their affair on amicable terms.