title: Dejan Savićević

text: Three years later, on 6 May 2009, the FK Zeta versus Sutjeska Montenegrin First League fixture at Zeta's home ground in Golubovci got abandoned before kickoff due to the match referee Jovan Kaluđerović's claims of receiving verbal death threats from Zeta owner Rajo Božović. As stated in the match delegate Hazbo Mustajbašić's report based on Kaluđerović's claims, Božović verbally threatened Kaluđerović, allegedly saying "we have to win today" and "I'll take your head off" upon entering the referee's dressing room, all of which Božović denied while announcing intention of pressing charges against Kaluđerović for slander. Within weeks, based on the match delegate report, the Savićević-led FSCG's disciplinary commission punished Božović with a lifetime ban on performing football-related functions in competitions administered by the FSCG in addition to docking one point from FK Zeta.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Over the following decade, save for two prominent instances of Božović's ban being enforced by the Savićević-led FSCG—both occurring during the 2016–17 Montenegrin First League, the antagonism between two men seemingly simmered down, with Božović even publicly praising Savićević as "brave, honourable, proud, and dignified" in a 2017 interview and later revealing that the two have supposedly settled their differences "in the manner of old Montenegrins" during an encounter at a party in Nikšić organized by Brano Mićunović and attended by Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović and other "very important people from the system".


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Also in 2006, simultaneous to publicly feuding with his own FSCG vice-president Božović, Savićević began rowing with Podgorica's "Dan" daily newspaper, a protracted issue that continued off-and-on throughout the following five years.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Irritated by the paper's criticism of his work as FSCG's boss, his pro-independence political engagement during the 2006 referendum campaign, as well as his ties with the regime of Milo Đukanović, Savićević verbally abused, shouted at, and generally menaced "Dan" journalists during FSCG press conferences. He especially went after the "Dan" sports editor Veselin Drljević (former referee and former FSCG member) with whom he has a long-standing personal feud.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: In March 2007, as the Montenegro national team was set to begin playing official matches, Savićević raised even more controversy when, in an unprecedented move, he personally banned "Dan" journalists from attending the national team's debut match, a home friendly versus Hungary. Savićević's ban on "Dan" journalists continued for the rest of 2007 and into 2008 as the paper's editor-in-chief Mladen Milutinović wrote appeals to various international bodies about the situation, including the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). During late April and early May 2009, the issue was discussed at the AIPS congress in Milan. Under pressure from AIPS, two-and-a-half years after initially issuing the ban, Savićević relented, allowing matchday accreditation for "Dan" journalists ahead of Montenegro's home friendly versus Wales in August 2009.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: The antagonism reignited two years later during the Euro 2012 qualifying cycle. All throughout 2011, Savićević publicly expressed anger with "Dan"'s criticism of the national team head coach Zlatko Kranjčar, calling the publication a "Serbian-oriented paper that never has and never will accept Montenegro as an independent state". Savićević even returned to his old ways on 7 October 2011, for the Montenegro vs. England Euro 2012 qualifier, refusing to issue accreditation for "Dan". Because of this, a protest against Savićević was published in their pages.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Then, a month later in November 2011, for the deciding 2nd leg playoff qualifier at home against Czech Republic, Savićević again did the same thing, which led to more critical coverage by the paper. On 17 November 2011, in the wake of the playoff loss to the Czechs, Savićević appeared on TV Vijesti's talk show "Načisto" where he was asked by the host Petar Komnenić about his problems with "Dan". Savićević's response was that "Dan" is an "unimportant media outlet" and that he prefers giving accreditation to "objective outlets". "Dan" responded with more pointed criticism of Savićević through sarcasm and ridicule, which led to Savićević scheduling a press conference on Saturday, 19 November 2011 at which he delivered more verbal vitriol towards the paper including a bizarre offer of subjecting himself to a drug test and paying out €2 million to "Dan" if the test results come in positive while asking for €500,000 from the paper if the test result is negative. "Dan" responded in the paper's next day issue with more veiled ridicule of Savićević.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: In the late 1980s, Savićević married Valentina "Vanja" Brajović. The couple had met and began dating a few years earlier in Titograd while Savićević played for FK Budućnost and teenage Vanja attended the local streamlined touristic high school. Their first child, son Vladimir, was born in November 1989 in Belgrade while Savićević played for Red Star. While living in Belgrade, Savićević and Brajović reportedly resided in an apartment they leased from Serbian professional handballer Svetlana Kitić who had been playing abroad in Italy during that time. Their second child, daughter Tamara, was born in 1992.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Following a night out in Trebinje on Saturday, 18 September 2004, Savićević was involved in an incident with Podgorica police several hours later, at around 2:30 am Sunday morning. After driving his Audi TT at a high speed through Podgorica streets and running a red light, he was stopped by a police patrol. According to the police, when stopped, Savićević insulted the policeman with a series of obscenities, including a statement: "I'm God, laws don't apply to me".


title: Dejan Savićević

text: A misdemeanor investigation request ("prekršajna prijava") was filed against Savićević by the police.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: On Thursday, 29 September 2005 at around 5:30pm, Savićević was severely injured in a traffic accident on Stanko Dragojević Boulevard in Podgorica in front of the Montenegrin National Theatre (CNP). The thirty-nine-year-old FSCG president fractured both arms and a pelvic bone after crashing his Yamaha motorcycle into the rear end of a moving Volkswagen Golf Mk4 vehicle driven by thirty-four-year-old Ljubiša Golubović, becoming airborne, and landing hard on the pavement.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: The same night, Savićević underwent a two-and-a-half-hour surgery at Podgorica's Kliničko-bolnički centar to contain the effects of his three fractures before being placed in intensive care. Some ten days later, the retired footballer arranged to be transported to a specialized orthopedic medical facility in Hanover, Germany where he had three more surgeries within a span of a week—one on each arm and one on his pelvic bone. His rehabilitation period was about six months long.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Since the mid-2010s, FSCG president Savićević has been in a relationship with Jelena Babić from Podgorica.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: His son Vladimir Savićević started his football career at FK Mladost Podgorica youth teams, and was capped for the Montenegrin U19 team. In November 2019, Savićević's daughter Tamara married professional footballer Aleksandar Kapisoda, three months after giving birth to their daughter, Savićević's grandchild.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: In 1998, Serbian comedy rock band The Kuguars recorded the song "Dejo" (a cover of Harry Belafonte song "Day-O"), dedicating it to Savićević.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Savićević is the protagonist of a widely circulated viral video from the 2000 Dutch documentary "Het laatste Joegoslavische elftal" (The Last Yugoslav Football Team) by Vuk Janić about the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship winning SFR Yugoslavia under-20 team.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Conceptualized as a "what might've been" sentimental homage of sorts, ostensibly to SFR Yugoslavia's up-and-coming late 1980s football generation that never got a chance to play together on the sport's biggest stage but also to the disintegrated country, the documentary interviews different members of the 1987 youth side—such as Robert Prosinečki, Predrag Mijatović, and Zvonimir Boban—who were by 1999 split between the senior national teams of FR Yugoslavia and Croatia. Other individuals—including Savićević, who was winding down his playing career at Rapid Vienna and thirty-year-old S.S. Lazio star Siniša Mihajlović as well as fifty-eight-year-old coach Ivica Osim coaching Sturm Graz at the time—are featured prominently in the documentary film despite not being members of the 1987 youth team. In Savićević's case, the filmmaking crew had behind-the-scenes access to him at his home in Vienna as well as his club side's Austrian Bundesliga matches and FR Yugoslavia national team qualifying fixtures.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Some of the film's footage was shot in October 1999 against the backdrop of the FR Yugoslavia and Croatia national teams playing the deciding Euro 2000 qualifier in Zagreb. The particular part of the film that went viral shows thirty-three-year-old Savićević being interviewed the day before Croatia versus Yugoslavia match in front of the hotel where the Yugoslav team was staying. He is wearing Yugoslavia training gear and as such is easily spotted and recognized by people strolling by. As Dejan is answering a question, a man on the street, presumably a Croatian fan, is heard shouting off-camera: "You're a piece of shit!".


title: Dejan Savićević

text: Savićević looks to the side and responds to the heckler by berating him with an obscenity-laced tirade of his own. After insulting him sufficiently, Savićević returns his attention to the interview and continues answering the question right where he left off without missing a beat.


title: Dejan Savićević

text: In subsequent interviews after the video went viral, Savićević has claimed that the film's director Janić broke their verbal agreement that the swearing part would not be included in the final version of the film.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos (born March 31, 1972) is a Spanish-Chilean film director, screenwriter and composer. He has won nine Goyas—including a Goya Award for Best Director for his 2001 film "The Others"— two European Film Awards and one Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for "The Sea Inside" among other honors. He has written (or co-written) the screenplays to all seven of his films and composed almost all of their soundtracks.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile, to a Chilean father, Hugo Ricardo Amenábar and a Spanish mother, Josefina Cantos. He has both Chilean and Spanish citizenship. His father worked as a technician at General Electric, while his mother decided to stay at home and take care of the children. Alejandro is the younger of two brothers; his older brother, Ricardo, was born in 1969.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Josefina's older sister had moved to the capital of Chile, Santiago, and she invited Josefina to join her there. In Santiago, Josefina met Hugo. Alejandro was born there in 1972.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: In August 1973, his family moved to Spain. The family settled in Madrid, living in a camping caravan. When Alejandro was six years old, they moved to a complex on the outskirts of the town of Paracuellos de Jarama (Madrid).


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Alejandro and his brother did not watch much television. From the age of 15, Alejandro would dedicate his time to going to the cinema to watch movies. Other than theater, his passions were writing stories and reading books. According to Alejandro's mother, Alejandro had the capacity to absorb everything he read. As a child, he also composed melodies with the keyboard and guitar with the same ease as when he wrote his stories.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Alejandro started his studies at the Padres Escolapios de Getafe school. In his second year of high school, he transferred to the Alameda de Osuna institute, in the north-east of Madrid. The school was not close to where Alejandro was living; however, his parents, who were very concerned about his education, decided to enroll him in that institute because it was known as one of the best schools in Madrid.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Before he became a director, Alejandro worked as a stock boy in a warehouse and as a gardener, until he had enough money to buy his own home camera. He did not want to start his university studies in cinema before ever having touched a camera. Amenábar entered the Information Sciences Faculty at Madrid's Complutense University, where after numerous scholastic failures he decided to give up studying cinema and he began directing. The advantage from having attended university was that he met people who later in life would become very important throughout his career (that was the case for Sergio Rozas and Carlos Montero, through whom he met Eduardo Noriega). At university, he also met Mateo Gil, a friend and companion, and the pair made a pact to always support each other's projects.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Between 1991 and 1994, Amenábar made three short films which in a very significant way influenced his first full-length films: "La Cabeza", "Himenóptero", and "Luna".


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Knowing José Luis Cuerda helped Alejandro greatly in his career. A friend of José Luis Cuerda gave him the script of "Himenóptero" so he would give his opinion. Thereafter, Cuerda was interested in Amenábar's work. This led to him becoming the producer of "Thesis" (1996), which is one of Amenábar's most recognized films, putting his name on the map. "Thesis" was a thriller set in the School of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. Through this film, he gained the attention of critics in the Berlin Film Festival and won seven Goyas, including Best Picture and Best New Director.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: In 1997 he made "Abre Los Ojos", a science fiction movie that had notable success at international festivals such as Berlin and Tokyo. Impressed by the movie, Tom Cruise bought the rights to adapt and produce the film, starring in a remake, "Vanilla Sky".


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: His third full length film was "The Others", a ghost story starring Nicole Kidman. It was very successful at an international level, especially in Spain, where it was the most viewed film that year. "The Others" was also very popular in the United States, where it was at the top of the box office for several weeks. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2001, won eight Goyas, including the Best Picture and Best Director, and was nominated for best European Film Movie.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: In 2004 Amenábar released "The Sea Inside", a real life-story about a quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro (played by Javier Bardem), which addressed issues such as euthanasia, abortion, or “the right to a dignified life.” The movie won 14 Goyas, including best movie and best director, and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: In 2008 Amenábar released his next film, called "Mists of Time"; however he later changed the name to "Agora". The film starred big-name actors including Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella. Agora premiered on October 9, 2009, and with a budget of 50 million euros, it is the most expensive Spanish film in history.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: After a hiatus of almost seven years, Amenábar returned in 2015 with the thriller "Regression", starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson. The film had its world premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in September 2015, where reviews were lukewarm.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: Amenábar is also the composer of the soundtrack of his films, as well as others, such as "Butterfly's Tongue" directed by José Luis Cuerda and "Nobody Knows Anybody" directed by Mateo Gil.


title: Alejandro Amenábar

text: In 2004, Amenábar came out as gay. On 18 July 2015, he married David Blanco. Their divorce was finalised in 2019. Amenábar was raised Catholic, but later became agnostic and is now atheist.


title: Antti Rinne

text: Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020.


title: Antti Rinne

text: A lawyer by profession, Rinne holds a Candidate of Law degree from the University of Helsinki. He served as chair of the Union of Private Sector Professionals (ERTO) from 2002 to 2005, the Union of Salaried Employees from 2005 to 2010, and Trade Union Pro from 2010 to 2014.


title: Antti Rinne

text: Rinne was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) on 9 May 2014, defeating Jutta Urpilainen.


title: Antti Rinne

text: He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Finland between 2014 and 2015 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2015. In the 2019 parliamentary election, Rinne led the Social Democrats to victory and served as Speaker of Parliament before being appointed as Prime Minister on 6 June 2019.


title: Antti Rinne

text: Rinne and his cabinet resigned on 3 December 2019, when the Centre Party withdrew its support due to controversies on the handling of a postal strike. President Sauli Niinistö asked him to continue with a caretaker government until a new government was appointed. On 10 December 2019, Sanna Marin was appointed as Prime Minister.


title: Antti Rinne

text: On 11 December 2019, Rinne was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, replacing Tuula Haatainen, who had been named as the Minister of Employment in the Marin Cabinet.


title: Antti Rinne

text: Antti Rinne was convicted of organizing an illegal strike with Ammattiliitto Pro against the forestry industry. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeals (Hovioikeus in Finnish) with a decision in the end of 2018 which also ordered Rinne to pay fines and legal costs to the other party.


title: Antti Rinne

text: Rinne had to resign from an ACP lawyer position (Automotive, Cargo and Ports worker's union, AKT in Finnish). He was charging twice for the same work-related commute. According to him, it had been negligence and amounted to about FIM 1,000 (€200). In 2005, the President of the ACP stated in an interview with the "Suomen Kuvalehti" that it was FIM 10,000 (€2,000).


title: Antti Rinne

text: In a second case, Rinne was the manager of a housing company in Lohja in Finland. The "Suomen Kuvalehti" reported that he failed to return the receipts for the year and paid for his own telephone bill from the housing company's cashier. FIM 25,000 (€5,000) of damages were claimed from him by the housing company.


title: Antti Rinne

text: In 2022, Rinne applied for Mayor of Lohja. Rinne's socialist party has a long history of leading Lohja, but last year election results shifted the town council to right. The town council is expected to decide on the mayor in May 2022. The mayor's selection working group is led by Joona Räsänen, but he has recused himself, as Rinne is Räsänen's godfather.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Local government in the United States refers to governmental jurisdictions below the level of the state. Most states and territories have at least two tiers of local government: counties and municipalities. Louisiana uses the term parish and Alaska uses the term borough for what the U.S. Census Bureau terms county equivalents in those states. Civil townships or towns are used as subdivisions of a county in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Population centers may be organized into incorporated municipalities of several types, including the city, town, borough, and village. The types and nature of these municipal entities vary from state to state. In addition to these general-purpose local governments, states may also create special-purpose local governments. Depending on the state, local governments may operate under their own charters or under general law, or a state may have a mix of chartered and general-law local governments. Generally, in a state having both chartered and general-law local governments, the chartered local governments have more local autonomy and home rule. Municipalities are typically subordinate to a county government, with some exceptions. Certain cities, for example, have consolidated with their county government as consolidated city-counties. In Virginia, cities are completely independent from the county in which they would otherwise be a part. In some states, particularly in New England, towns form the primary unit of local government below the state level, in some cases eliminating the need for county government entirely. Many rural areas and even some suburban areas of many states have no municipal government below the county level.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In addition to counties and municipalities, states often create special purpose authorities, such as school districts and districts for fire protection, sanitary sewer service, public transportation, public libraries, public parks or forests, water resource management, and conservation districts. Such special purpose districts may encompass areas in multiple municipalities or counties. According to the US Census Bureau's data collected in 2012, there were 89,004 local government units in the United States. This data shows a decline from 89,476 units since the last census of local governments performed in 2007.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Each of the five permanently inhabited U.S. territories is also subdivided into smaller entities. Puerto Rico has 78 municipalities, and the Northern Mariana Islands has four municipalities. Guam has villages, the U.S. Virgin Islands has districts, and American Samoa has districts and unorganized atolls.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Each Indian Reservation is subdivided in various ways. For example, the Navajo Nation is subdivided into agencies and Chapter houses, while the Blackfeet Nation is subdivided into Communities.


title: Local government in the United States

text: When North America was colonized by Europeans from the 17th century onward, there was initially little control from governments back in Europe. Many settlements began as shareholder or stockholder business enterprises, and while the king of Britain had technical sovereignty, in most instances "full governmental authority was vested in the company itself." Settlers had to fend for themselves; compact towns sprung up based as legal corporations in what has been described as "pure democracy":


title: Local government in the United States

text: Propertied men voted; in no colonies was there universal suffrage. The founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 by a group of Puritans led by John Winthrop came with the understanding that the enterprise was to be "based in the new world rather than in London." The notion of "self-government" became accepted in the colonies, although it wasn't totally free from challenges; in the 1670s, the Lords of Trade and Plantations (a royal committee regulating mercantile trade in the colonies) tried to annul the Massachusetts Bay charter, but by 1691, the New England colonies had reinstalled their previous governments.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Voting was established as a precedent early on; in fact, one of the first things that Jamestown settlers did was conduct an election. Typically, voters were white males described as "property owners" aged twenty-one and older, but sometimes the restrictions were greater, and in practice, persons able to participate in elections were few. Women were prevented from voting (although there were a few exceptions) and African-Americans were excluded. The colonists never thought of themselves as subservient but rather as having a loose association with authorities in London. Representative government sprung up spontaneously in various colonies, and during the colonial years, it was recognized and ratified by later charters. But the colonial assemblies passed few bills and did not conduct much business, but dealt with a narrow range of issues, and legislative sessions lasted weeks (occasionally longer), and most legislators could not afford to neglect work for extended periods; so wealthier people tended to predominate in local legislatures. Office holders tended to serve from a sense of duty and prestige, and not for financial benefit.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Taxes were generally based on real estate since it was fixed in place and plainly visible, its value was generally well known, and revenue could be allocated to the government unit where the property was located.


title: Local government in the United States

text: After the American Revolution, the electorate chose the governing councils in almost every American municipality, and state governments began issuing municipal charters. During the 19th century, many municipalities were granted charters by the state governments and became technically municipal corporations. Townships and county governments and city councils shared much of the responsibility for decision-making which varied from state to state. As the United States grew in size and complexity, decision-making authority for issues such as business regulation, taxation, environmental regulation moved to state governments and the national government, while local governments retained control over such matters as zoning issues, property taxes, and public parks. The concept of "zoning" originated in the U.S. during the 1920s, according to one source, in which state law gave certain townships or other local governing bodies authority to decide how land was used; a typical zoning ordinance has a map of a parcel of land attached with a statement specifying how that land can be used, how buildings can be laid out, and so forth. Zoning legitimacy was upheld by the Supreme Court in its "Euclid v. Ambler" decision.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes local government a matter of state rather than federal law, with special cases for territories and the District of Columbia. As a result, the states have adopted a wide variety of systems of local government. The United States Census Bureau conducts the Census of Governments every five years to compile statistics on government organization, public employment, and government finances. The categories of local government established in this Census of Governments is a convenient basis for understanding local government in the United States. The categories are as follows:


title: Local government in the United States

text: County governments are organized local governments authorized in state constitutions and statutes. Counties and county-equivalents form the first-tier administrative division of the states. The county equivalents in Louisiana are called parishes, while those in Alaska are called boroughs.


title: Local government in the United States

text: All the states are divided into counties or county-equivalents for administrative purposes, although not all counties or county-equivalents have an organized county government. County government has been eliminated throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as in parts of Massachusetts. The Unorganized Borough in Alaska also does not operate under a county level government.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. In some states, mainly in New England, they are primarily used as judicial districts. In other states, counties have broad powers in housing, education, transportation and recreation. In areas lacking a county government, services are provided either by lower level townships or municipalities, or the state.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Counties may contain a number of cities, towns, villages, or hamlets. Some cities including Philadelphia, Honolulu, San Francisco, Nashville, and Denver are consolidated city-counties, where the municipality and the county have been merged into a unified, coterminous jurisdiction—that is to say, these counties consist in their entirety of a single municipality whose city government also operates as the county government. Some counties, such as Arlington County, Virginia, do not have any additional subdivisions. Some states contain independent cities that are not part of any county; although it may still function as if it was a consolidated city-county, an independent city was legally separated from any county. Some municipalities are in multiple counties; New York City is uniquely partitioned into five boroughs that are each coterminous with a county.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In many states, most or all of the land area of counties is divided into townships, which may or may not be incorporated. In New York, Wisconsin and New England, county subdivisions are called towns. The U.S. Census divides counties in states not having such subdivisions into other minor civil divisions, sometimes using electoral districts.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The terms "township" and "town" are closely related (in many historical documents the terms are used interchangeably). However, the powers granted to townships or towns vary considerably from state to state. Many states grant townships some governmental powers (making them civil townships, either independently or as a part of the county government. In others, survey townships are non-governmental. Towns in the six New England states and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are included in this category by the Census Bureau, despite the fact that they are legally municipal corporations, since their structure has no necessary relation to concentration of population, which is typical of municipalities elsewhere in the United States. In particular, towns in New England have considerably more power than most townships elsewhere and often function as legally equivalent to cities, typically exercising the full range of powers that are divided between counties, townships, and cities in other states. In New England, towns are a principal form of local municipal government, providing many of the functions of counties in other states. In California, by contrast, the pertinent statutes of the Government Code clarify that "town" is simply another word for "city", especially a general law city as distinct from a charter city. In some states, large areas have no general-purpose local government below the county level.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Town or township governments are organized local governments authorized in the state constitutions and statutes of 20 Northeastern and Midwestern states, established to provide general government for a defined area, generally based on the geographic subdivision of a county.


title: Local government in the United States

text: An additional dimension that distinguishes township governments from municipalities is the historical circumstance surrounding their formation. For example, towns in New England are also defined by a tradition of local government presided over by town meetings — assemblies open to all voters to express their opinions on public policy.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The term "town" is also used for a local level of government in New York and Wisconsin. The terms "town" and "township" are used interchangeably in Minnesota.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Some townships or other incorporated areas like villages, boroughs, plantations, and hamlets have governments and political power; others are simply geographic designations. Townships in many states are generally the product of the Public Land Survey System.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Municipal governments are organized local governments authorized in state constitutions and statutes, established to provide general government for a defined area, generally corresponding to a population center rather than one of a set of areas into which a county is divided. The category includes those governments designated as cities, boroughs (except in Alaska), towns (except in Minnesota and Wisconsin), and villages. This concept corresponds roughly to the "incorporated places" that are recognized in Census Bureau reporting of population and housing statistics, although the Census Bureau excludes New England towns from their statistics for this category, and the count of municipal governments excludes places that are governmentally inactive.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Municipalities range in size from the very small (e.g., the village of Monowi, Nebraska, with only 1 resident), to the very large (e.g., New York City, with about 8.5 million people), and this is reflected in the range of types of municipal governments that exist in different areas. There are approximately 30,000 incorporated cities in the United States, with varying degrees of self-rule.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In most states, county and municipal governments exist side by side. There are exceptions to this, however. In some states, a city can, either by separating from its county or counties or by merging with one or more counties, become independent of any separately functioning county government and function both as a county and as a city. Depending on the state, such a city is known as either an independent city or a consolidated city-county. A consolidated city-county differs from an independent city in that in a consolidated city-county, the city and county both nominally exist, although they have a consolidated government, whereas in an independent city, the county does not even nominally exist. Such a jurisdiction constitutes a county-equivalent and is analogous to a unitary authority in other countries. In Connecticut, Rhode Island, and parts of Massachusetts, counties exist only to designate boundaries for such state-level functions as park districts or judicial offices (Massachusetts). In Puerto Rico, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands, there are municipalities (villages in Guam) and no counties. (Municipalities in PR and the NMI are used as county equivalents by the U.S. Census, but Guam is treated as a single county.) There are no municipal governments in the District of Columbia and the United States Virgin Islands; only the district-wide and territory-wide governments under federal jurisdiction.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In addition to general-purpose government entities legislating at the state, county, and city level, special-purpose areas may exist as well. Conservation districts are one such type of special purpose area, created for the purpose of conserving land, natural scenery, flora, and fauna.


title: Local government in the United States

text: There are also numerous "special district governments" in existence throughout the various states. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, such governments are:


title: Local government in the United States

text: Additionally, U.S. courts have ruled that there are smaller areas which are to be considered as fulfilling government functions, and should therefore be bound by the same restrictions placed on "traditional" local government bodies. These include homeowners associations (determined in "Shelley v. Kraemer", "Loren v. Sasser", "Committee for a Better Twin Rivers v. Twin Rivers Homeowners' Association"), and company-owned towns (both for employees and for consumers, decided in the USSC case "Marsh v. Alabama" in 1946). Many homeowners' and neighborhood associations are considered non-profit organizations, but have the ability to raise taxes or fees, fine members for infractions against association-rules, and initiate lawsuits. The question of civil rights in such communities has not yet been conclusively determined, and varies from state to state.


title: Local government in the United States

text: School districts are organized local entities providing public elementary and secondary education which, under state law, have sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments. The category excludes dependent public school systems of county, municipal, township, or state governments (e.g., school divisions).


title: Local government in the United States

text: Special districts are all organized local entities other than the four categories listed above, authorized by state law to provide designated functions as established in the district's charter or other founding document, and with sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy to qualify as separate governments; known by a variety of titles, including districts, authorities, boards, commissions, etc., as specified in the enabling state legislation. A special district may serve areas of multiple states if established by an interstate compact. Special districts are widely popular, have enjoyed "phenomenal growth" and "nearly tripled in number" from 1957 to 2007.


title: Local government in the United States

text: It is common for residents of major U.S. metropolitan areas to live under six or more layers of special districts as well as a town or city, and a county or township. In turn, a typical metro area often consists of several counties, several dozen towns or cities, and a hundred (or more) special districts. In one state, California, the fragmentation problem became so bad that in 1963 the California Legislature created Local Agency Formation Commissions in 57 of the state's 58 counties; that is, government agencies to supervise the orderly formation and development of other government agencies. One effect of all this complexity is that victims of government negligence occasionally sue the wrong entity and do not realize their error until the statute of limitations has run against them.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Because efforts at direct consolidation have proven futile, U.S. local government entities often form "councils of governments", "metropolitan regional councils", or "associations of governments". These organizations serve as regional planning agencies and as forums for debating issues of regional importance, but are generally powerless relative to their individual members. Since the late 1990s, "a movement, frequently called 'New Regionalism', accepts the futility of seeking consolidated regional governments and aims instead for regional structures that do not supplant local governments."


title: Local government in the United States

text: Unlike the relationship of federalism that exists between the U.S. government and the states (in which power is shared), municipal governments have no power except what is granted to them by their states. This legal doctrine, called Dillon's Rule, was established by Judge John Forrest Dillon in 1872 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in "Hunter v. Pittsburgh", 207 U.S. 161 (1907), which upheld the power of Pennsylvania to consolidate the city of Allegheny into the city of Pittsburgh, despite the wishes of the majority of Allegheny residents.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In effect, state governments can place whatever restrictions they choose on their municipalities (including merging municipalities, controlling them directly, or abolishing them outright), as long as such rules don't violate the state's constitution. However, Dillon's Rule does not apply in all states of the United States, because some state constitutions provide specific rights for municipalities and counties.


title: Local government in the United States

text: State constitutions which allow counties or municipalities to enact ordinances without the legislature's permission are said to provide home rule authority. New Jersey, for example, provides for home rule.


title: Local government in the United States

text: A state which is a Dillon's Rule state, but which also allows for home rule in specified circumstances, applies Dillon's Rule to matters or governmental units where home rule is not specifically authorized.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The nature of both county and municipal government varies not only between states, but also between different counties and municipalities within them. Local voters are generally free to choose the basic framework of government from a selection established by state law.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In most cases both counties and municipalities have a governing council, governing in conjunction with a mayor or president. Alternatively, the institution may be of the council–manager government form, run by a city manager under direction of the city council. In the past the municipal commission was also common. Across the US, local governments employ more than ten million people.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The ICMA has classified local governments into five common forms: mayor–council, council–manager, commission, town meeting, and representative town meeting.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In addition to elections for a council or mayor, elections are often also held for positions such as local judges, the sheriff, prosecutors, and other offices. Local governments across the US consist of hundreds of thousands of elected officials. Local elections are often marked by "abysmally low" voter turnout, as these elections are de-synchronized from state and federal elections. A 2009 study found that less than 40% of registered voters participate in local elections for mayor and city council. Turnout is highest among homeowners, the elderly, and the wealthy.


title: Local government in the United States

text: While their territory nominally falls within the boundaries of individual states, Indian reservations actually function outside of state control. The reservation is usually controlled by an elected tribal council which provides local services, and some reservations have their own determined subdivisions.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Navajo Nation is divided into five agencies. The most local form of government in the Navajo Nation is the Chapter, which deals with local responsibilities expected of a municipal government.


title: Local government in the United States

text: A census of all local governments in the country is performed every 5 years by the United States Census Bureau, in accordance with 13 USC 161.


title: Local government in the United States

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> "note:" Municipalities are any incorporated places, such as cities, towns, villages, boroughs, etc.


title: Local government in the United States

text: <nowiki>**</nowiki> "note:" New England towns and towns in New York and Wisconsin are classified as civil townships for census purposes.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The following sections provide details of the operation of local government in a selection of states, by way of example of the variety that exists across the country.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Alaska calls its county equivalents "boroughs", functioning similarly to counties in the Lower 48; however, unlike any other state, not all of Alaska is subdivided into county-equivalent boroughs. Owing to the state's low population density, most of the land is contained in what the state terms the Unorganized Borough which, as the name implies, has no intermediate borough government of its own, but is administered directly by the state government. Many of Alaska's boroughs are consolidated city-borough governments; other cities exist both within organized boroughs and the Unorganized Borough.


title: Local government in the United States

text: California has several different and overlapping forms of local government. Cities, counties, and the one consolidated city-county can make ordinances (local laws), including the establishment and enforcement of civil and criminal penalties.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The entire state is subdivided into 58 counties. The only type of municipal entity is the city, although cities may either operate under "general law" or a custom-drafted charter. California has never had villages or townships. Some cities call themselves "towns", but the name "town" is purely cosmetic with no legal effect. As a result, California has several towns with large populations in the tens of thousands and several cities that are home to only a few hundred people.


title: Local government in the United States

text: California cities are granted broad plenary powers under the California Constitution. For example, Los Angeles runs its own water and power utilities and its own elevator inspection department, while many other cities rely upon private utilities and the state elevator inspectors. San Francisco is the only consolidated city-county in the state.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The city of Lakewood pioneered the Lakewood Plan, a plan under which the city reimburses a county for performing services which are more efficiently performed on a countywide basis. Such contracts have become more widespread throughout California, as they enable city governments to concentrate on particular local concerns. A city that contracts out most of its services is known as a contract city.


title: Local government in the United States

text: There are also "special districts", which are areas with a defined territory in which a specific service is provided, such as port or fire districts. These districts lack plenary power to enact laws, but do have the power to promulgate administrative regulations that often carry the force of law within land directly regulated by such districts. Many special districts, particularly those created to provide public transportation or education, have their own police departments.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The District of Columbia is unique within the United States in that it is under the direct authority of the U.S. Congress, rather than forming part of any state. Actual government has been delegated under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to a city council which effectively also has the powers given to county or state governments in other areas. Under the act, the Council of the District of Columbia has the power to write laws, as a state's legislature would, moving the bill to the mayor to sign into law. Following this, the United States Congress has the power to overturn the law.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The state of Georgia is divided into 159 counties (the largest number of any state other than Texas), each of which has had home rule since at least 1980. This means that Georgia's counties not only act as units of state government, but also in much the same way as municipalities.


title: Local government in the United States

text: All municipalities are classed as a "city", regardless of population size. For an area to be incorporated as a city, special legislation has to be passed by the General Assembly (state legislature); typically the legislation requires a referendum amongst local voters to approve incorporation, to be passed by a simple majority. This most recently happened in 2005 and 2006 in several communities near Atlanta. Sandy Springs, a city of 85,000 bordering the north side of Atlanta, incorporated in December 2005. One year later, Johns Creek (62,000) and Milton (20,000) incorporated, which meant that the entirety of north Fulton County was now municipalized. The General Assembly also approved a plan that would potentially establish two new cities in the remaining unincorporated portions of Fulton County south of Atlanta: South Fulton and Chattahoochee Hills. Chattahoochee Hills voted to incorporate in December 2007; South Fulton voted against incorporation, and was the only remaining unincorporated portion of Fulton County until 2017.


title: Local government in the United States

text: City charters may be revoked either by the legislature or by a simple majority referendum of the city's residents; the latter last happened in 2004, in Lithia Springs. Revocation by the legislature last occurred in 1995, when dozens of cities were eliminated "en masse" for not having active governments, or even for not offering at least three municipal services required of all cities.


title: Local government in the United States

text: New cities may not incorporate land less than from an existing city without approval from the General Assembly. The body approved all of the recent and upcoming creations of new cities in Fulton County.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Four areas have a "consolidated city-county" government: Columbus, since 1971; Athens, since 1991; Augusta, since 1996; and Macon, which was approved by voters in 2012.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Hawaii is the only U.S. state that has no incorporated municipalities. Instead it has five counties, generally coextensive with one or more of the islands. Most of the state's population resides in the "consolidated city-county" of Honolulu, on Oahu. All communities are considered to be census-designated places, with the exact boundaries being decided upon by co-operative agreement between the Governor's office and the U.S. Census Bureau.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Kalawao County, formed exclusively as a leper colony, is the second smallest county in the United States by population, lacks most government powers, and is often considered part of adjoining Maui County.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In Louisiana, counties are called parishes; likewise, the county seat is known as the parish seat. The difference in nomenclature does not reflect a fundamental difference in the nature of government, but is rather a reflection of the state's unique status as a former French and Spanish colony (although a small number of other states once had parishes too).


title: Local government in the United States

text: Maryland has 23 counties. The State Constitution charters the City of Baltimore as an independent city, which is the functional equivalent of a county, and is separate from any county — e.g., there is also a Baltimore County, but its county seat is in Towson, not in the City of Baltimore. Other than Baltimore, all cities are the same, and there is no difference between a municipality called a city or a town. Cities and towns are chartered by the legislature.


title: Local government in the United States

text: The North Carolina Councils of Government (or the Regional Councils of Government) are voluntary associations of county and municipal governments, established by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1972 that serve as an avenue for local governments across North Carolina to discuss issues that are particular to their region. In banding together at the regional level, the voice of one community becomes the voice of many, thus providing a better opportunity for those issues to be addressed. Today the majority of citizens and local governments in North Carolina are represented by regional councils, making them an increasingly important facet of local government operations.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Today North Carolina calls itself home to 16 regional councils of government. Regional councils in North Carolina are committed to working together. In 2010 the seventeen regional councils existing at that time signed an inter-regional cooperative agreement that established a policy to enhance their value by sharing member resources and capacity to deliver services to the state of North Carolina. This agreement also endorses regional councils, to carry out activities in regions outside their boundaries with consent when those services are to benefit the region and the state. Regional boundaries correspond to county borders, with each council being made up of both county and municipal governments. Although the number of regional councils in North Carolina has decreased over the years, the number of citizens served by the councils continues to rise. As of 2007, it is reported that the number of local governments served by regional councils in North Carolina has increased by 16% since 1994. Throughout this same time period the number of citizens served by regional councils has increased by 35% or approximately 2.3 million. This equates to 92% of local governments and 97% of all North Carolina citizens being represented by regional councils as of July 1, 2007.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Pennsylvania has 67 counties. With the exception of Philadelphia and Allegheny County, counties are governed by three to seven county commissioners who are elected every four years; the district attorney, county treasurer, sheriff, and certain classes of judge ("judges of election") are also elected separately. Philadelphia has been a consolidated city-county since 1854 and has had a consolidated city-county government since 1952. Allegheny County has had a council/chief executive government since 2001, while still retaining its townships, boroughs and cities.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Each county is divided into municipal corporations, which can be one of four types: cities, boroughs, townships, and incorporated towns. The Commonwealth does not contain any unincorporated land that is not served by a local government. However, the US Postal Service has given names to places within townships that are not incorporated separately. For instance King of Prussia is a census-designated place, having no local government of its own. It is rather contained within Upper Merion Township, governed by Upper Merion's supervisors, and considered to be a part of the township.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Townships are divided into two classes, depending on their population size and density. Townships of the "First Class" have a board made up of five to fifteen commissioners who are elected either at-large or for a particular ward to four-year terms, while those of the "Second Class" have a board of three to five supervisors who are elected at-large to six-year terms. Some townships have adopted a home rule charter which allows them to choose their form of government. One example is Upper Darby Township, in Delaware County, which has chosen to have a "mayor-council" system similar to that of a borough.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Boroughs in Pennsylvania are governed by a "mayor-council" system in which the mayor has only a few powers (usually that of overseeing the municipal police department, if the borough has one), while the borough council has very broad appointment and oversight. The council president, who is elected by the majority party every two years, is equivalent to the leader of a council in the United Kingdom; his or her powers operate within boundaries set by the state constitution and the borough's charter. A small minority of the boroughs have dropped the mayor-council system in favor of the council-manager system, in which the council appoints a borough manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the borough. As in the case of townships, a number of boroughs have adopted home rule charters; one example is State College, which retains the mayor-council system that it had as a borough.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Bloomsburg is the Commonwealth's only incorporated town; McCandless Township in Allegheny County calls itself a town, but it officially remains a township with a home rule charter.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Cities in Pennsylvania are divided into four classes: Class 1, Class 2, Class 2A, and Class 3. Class 3 cities, which are the smallest, have either a mayor-council system or a council-manager system like that of a borough, although the mayor or city manager has more oversight and duties compared to their borough counterparts. Pittsburgh and Scranton are the state's only Class 2 and Class 2A cities respectively, and have mayors with some veto power, but are otherwise still governed mostly by their city councils.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Philadelphia is the Commonwealth's only Class 1 city. It has a government similar to that of the Commonwealth itself, with a mayor with strong appointment and veto powers and a 17-member city council that has both law-making and confirmation powers. Certain types of legislation that can be passed by the city government require state legislation before coming into force. Unlike the other cities in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia city government also has oversight of county government, and as such controls the budget for the district attorney, sheriff, and other county offices that have been retained from the county's one-time separate existence; these offices are elected for separately than those for the city government proper.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Each county is governed by a five-member Commissioners Court, which consists of a county judge (elected at-large) and four commissioners (elected from single-member precincts). The county judge has no veto authority over the decisions of the court; s/he has one vote along with the other commissioners. In smaller counties, the county judge also performs judicial functions, while in larger counties his/her role is limited to the court. Elections are held on a partisan basis.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Counties have no home rule authority; their authority is strictly limited by the State. They operate in areas which are considered "unincorporated" (those parts not within the territory of a city; Texas does not have townships) unless the city has contracted with the county for essential services. In plain English, Texas counties merely exist to deliver specific types of services at the local level as prescribed by state law, but cannot enact or enforce local ordinances.


title: Local government in the United States

text: As one textbook produced for use in Texas schools has openly acknowledged, Texas counties are prone to inefficient operations and are vulnerable to corruption, for several reasons. First, most of them do not have a merit system but operate on a spoils system, so that many county employees obtain their positions through loyalty to a particular political party and commissioner rather than whether they actually have the skills and experience appropriate to their positions. Second, most counties have not centralized purchasing into a single procurement department which would be able to seek quantity discounts and carefully scrutinize bids and contract awards for unusual patterns. Third, in 90 percent of Texas counties, each commissioner is individually responsible for planning and executing their own road construction and maintenance program for their own precinct, which results in poor coordination and duplicate construction machinery.


title: Local government in the United States

text: All incorporated municipalities are technically considered cities, even though the municipality may refer to itself as a town or village. Cities may be either general law or home rule. Once a city reaches 5,000 in population, it may submit a ballot petition to create a "city charter" and operate under home rule status (they will maintain that status even if the population falls under 5,000) and may choose its own form of government (weak or strong mayor-council, commission, council-manager). Otherwise the city operates under general law; those cities have only those powers authorized by the State. Annexation policies are highly dependent on whether the city is general law (annexation can only occur with the consent of the landowners) or home rule (no consent is required, but if the city fails to provide essential services, the landowners can petition for de-annexation), and city boundaries can cross county ones. The city council can be elected either at-large or from single-member districts (Houston uses a two-layer single-member district structure), or a mixture of the two. Ballots are on a nonpartisan basis (though, generally, the political affiliation of the candidates is commonly known).


title: Local government in the United States

text: With the exception of the Stafford Municipal School District, all 1,000+ school districts in Texas are "independent" school districts. State law requires seven trustees, which can be elected either at-large or from single-member districts. Ballots are non-partisan. Although Texas law allows for home rule school districts, no district has applied to become such. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has state authority to order closure and consolidation of school districts, generally for repeated failing performance; the former Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District was an example of a failing district closed by TEA.


title: Local government in the United States

text: In addition, state law allows the creation of special districts, such as hospital districts or water supply districts. All of these districts are governed by state law; there is no home rule option.


title: Local government in the United States

text: Texas does not provide for independent cities nor for consolidated city-county governments. However, local governments are free to enter into "interlocal agreements" with other ones, primarily for efficiency purposes. (A common example is for cities and school districts in a county to contract with the county for property tax collection; thus, each resident receives only one property bill.)


title: Local government in the United States

text: Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 38 cities. All cities are "independent cities", which mean that they are separate from, and independent of, any county they may be near or within. Cities in Virginia thus are the equivalent of counties, as they have no higher local government intervening between them and the state government. The equivalent in Virginia to what would normally be an incorporated city in any other state, e.g. a municipality subordinate to a county, is a "town". For example, there is a County of Fairfax as well as a totally independent City of Fairfax, which technically is not part of Fairfax County even though the City of Fairfax is the county seat of Fairfax County. Within Fairfax County, however, is the incorporated town of Vienna, which "is" part of Fairfax County. Similar names do not necessarily reflect relationships; Franklin County is far from the city of Franklin, while Charles City is an unincorporated community in Charles City County, and there is no city of Charles.


title: Tom Papa

text: Thomas Papa Jr. (born November 10, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and radio host. He hosts the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show "Come to Papa" and, in July 2019, he and Fortune Feimster started hosting the Sirius XM show "What a Joke with Papa and Fortune". Papa hosted the show "Baked" on the Food Network and was the head writer and a performer on the radio variety show "Live from Here", hosted by Chris Thile, where he delivered the "Out In America" segment.


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey, and later Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, where he graduated from Pascack Hills High School in 1986. He is a graduate of Rider College. He has two daughters, and a sister who works at the non-profit organization, City Green. Papa is noted to have played football and track while younger.


title: Tom Papa

text: He began in New York City in 1993 playing open mics and hosting at the Stand Up New York comedy club. He toured with Jerry Seinfeld after meeting him at the Comedy Cellar in New York. In 2005 he released his debut comedy album "Calm, Cool, & Collected". His successful one-man show "Only Human" opened at the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.


title: Tom Papa

text: He has recorded five stand-up specials. "Live in New York City" and "Freaked Out" were directed by Rob Zombie. His fourth special, "Human Mule", aired December 2016. All of his specials stream on Hulu, Amazon and Netflix. Papa has appeared multiple times on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Late Show with David Letterman", and "The Joe Rogan Experience".


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa hosts the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show "Come to Papa", with other comedians occasionally serving as guest hosts. In July 2019, Papa and Fortune Feimster started hosting "What a Joke with Papa and Fortune", interviewing comedians and other celebrities, the first live programming on the Sirius XM station Netflix is a Joke.


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa writes and performs the monthly "Come to Papa Live", a version of a classic radio play combined with standup, music, and sketches. "Come to Papa Live" is alternately hosted between The Village Underground in New York and Largo in Los Angeles. Guests on "Come to Papa Live" have included Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman, Joel McHale, Andy Richter, and Jim Gaffigan. Tom first appeared as a panelist on NPR's "Wait, Wait...Don't tell Me" on June 30, 2018. He appeared as the guest for "The Official Podcast" on YouTube on August 30, 2018. After Chris Thile took over "A Prairie Home Companion" from Garrison Keillor, Papa was a key contributor to the show, now re-named "Live From Here", that included the regular segment "Out in America with Tom Papa". He worked behind the scenes as head writer.


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa had a recurring role as Luff in the HBO and Cinemax series "The Knick," starring Clive Owen. He appeared in Chris Rock's movie "Top Five", and starred as Ray Arnett alongside Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in "Behind the Candelabra", which aired on HBO on May 26, 2013. That was his second film with director Steven Soderbergh.


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa played opposite Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's 2009 film "The Informant!". He also played the title character of El Superbeasto and starred opposite Paul Giamatti in the Rob Zombie animated feature "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto". He played himself in "Comedian", and lent his voice to the animated feature "Bee Movie".


title: Tom Papa

text: Papa's other TV appearances include "Inside Amy Schumer", "The Jim Gaffigan Show", a recurring role on "The New Adventures of Old Christine", hosting the FOX show "Boom!" which aired in summer 2015, VH1's "I Love the '70s", "I Love the '80s", and "I Love the '90s" series, National Geographic Channel's US version of the British game show "Duck Quacks Don't Echo".


title: Tom Papa

text: In 2020, Papa appeared in an hour long comedy special for Netflix entitled "You're Doing Great!" and published a book of the same name.


title: SAMO

text: SAMO is a graffiti tag originally used on the streets of New York City from 1978 to 1980. The tag, written with a copyright symbol as "SAMO©", and pronounced Same-Oh is primarily associated with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, but was originally developed as a collaboration between Basquiat and Al Diaz.


title: SAMO

text: The SAMO tag accompanied short phrases, which were poetic and satirical advertising slogans, mainly spray painted on the streets of downtown Manhattan. Basquiat eventually used the tag himself, creating some non-graffiti work on paper and canvas using that tag, after killing off the SAMO graffiti by painting "SAMO© IS DEAD" around the streets of downtown. Decades later, Diaz resurrected the SAMO tag.


title: SAMO

text: In 1976, New York-born artists Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) and Al Diaz (b. 1959) met at City-As-School High School, an alternative high school in Manhattan. They bonded, partly because of similar academic problems and a shared Puerto Rican heritage. Diaz had been a young member of the New York graffiti scene of the early 1970s. His tag "Bomb I" was included in Norman Mailer's famous book The "Faith of Graffiti" in 1974.


title: SAMO

text: Basquiat and Diaz created the phrase "SAMO" during a stoned conversation, calling the marijuana they smoked "the same old crap," then shortening the phrase to "Same Old" and eventually "SAMO". "It started ... as a private joke and then grew" Basquiat recalled. Basquiat took the lead in creating a character called SAMO for the Spring 1977 issue of their school newspaper, the "Basement Blues Press", which focused on philosophy and alternative regions.


title: SAMO

text: Basquiat, Diaz, Shannon Dawson and Matt Kelly worked on a comic style endorsement of the false religion, photocopied as a pamphlet "Based on an original concept by Jean Basquiat and Al Diaz." The concept was further developed in a theatre-as-therapy course in Upper Manhattan (called "Family Life") that was used by the trio as part of the City-As-School program. "Jean started elaborating on the idea and I began putting my thoughts into it," said Diaz. The City-As-School 1977/78 Yearbook includes a photo of the SAMO graffiti: "SAMO© AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC FOOD STANDS."


title: SAMO

text: In May 1978, Basquiat and Diaz started to put up the first SAMO© graffiti in Manhattan. They wrote phrases with marker pens and often with an ironic copyright symbol attached. SAMO was primarily written on buildings, but they also did it in elevators, public toilets, and on the D train in the New York City Subway. On December 11, 1978, "The Village Voice" published an article about the SAMO graffiti. According to Henry Flynt, Shannon Dawson (later of the band Konk) played a major part in the trio of writers in the first wave SAMO graffiti writers, but most accounts, including those of Basquiat, say the writing was done by the duo of Basquiat and Diaz. When asked about other people, Basquiat said "No, No, it was me and Al Diaz."


title: SAMO

text: Diaz graduated from City As School in 1978, and Basquiat dropped out of school and left his father's home in Brooklyn to spend time homeless and living with friends in Manhattan in June 1978. From that point the SAMO graffiti took off in SoHo, parts of the East Village, and the area immediately around the School of Visual Arts were prime targets for the graffiti.


title: SAMO

text: The "SoHo News" noticed the graffiti, and published a few pictures of the idiomatic phrases with a query about who had done them. According to Henry Flynt, who photographed much of the graffiti, "The collective graffiti employed anonymity to seem corporate and engulfing. The tone was utterly different from the morose and abject tone of Basquiat's solo work. The implication was that SAMO© was a drug that could solve all problems. SOHO, the art world, and Yuppies were satirized with Olympian wit."


title: SAMO

text: By late 1978, the two were using spray paint to quickly get up larger phrases. One biographer noted that "while some of the phrases might seem political, none of them were simple propaganda slogans. Some were outright surrealist, or looked like fragments of poetry." "We would take turns coming up with the sayings" said Al Diaz. Many of these retained the same ideas as the comic strip SAMO of high school:


title: SAMO

text: But they also used it to make critical comments towards the art scene in SoHo and college students comfortably studying in art schools:


title: SAMO

text: People began to notice the graffiti appearing on walls all over downtown, recognizing the strange phrases, but no one knew who did them. Basquiat said he could sometimes do thirty on a busy day. Sometimes the SAMO© graffiti would refer to its own spread, as in a large, mural sized, multiple choice graffiti:


title: SAMO

text: Art critic Jeffrey Deitch called it "disjointed street poetry" and remembered that "Back in the late seventies, you couldn't go anywhere interesting in Lower Manhattan without noticing that someone named SAMO had been there first." Later Basquiat would look back on this as just "Teenage stuff. We'd just drink Ballantine Ale all the time and write stuff and throw bottles ... just teenage stuff" he told an interviews asking about SAMO. "Samo was sophomoric. Same old shit." he explained to Anthony Haden-Guest. "It was supposed to be a logo, like Pepsi." However, Diaz recognized the original intelligence in this work. "The stuff you see on the subways now is inane. Scribbled. SAMO was like a refresher course because there's some kind of statement being made. It's not just ego graffiti."


title: SAMO

text: In 1979, Henry Flynt began taking photos of the SAMO graffiti, not knowing who had done them. After first exhibiting the photos he got to know Al Diaz, and Shannon Dawson who helped him uncover who did which tag. He has published many of the SAMO graffiti photos on the internet.


title: SAMO

text: By 1979, Basquiat had started to do graffiti on his own and became immersed in the Mudd Club scene. Artist Keith Haring had been following the SAMO graffiti and befriended Basquiat that year. Haring recalled:I still hadn't met Jean-Michel—I had only heard about him. Well, one day a kid came up to me just as I was going into SVA, and he asked if I could walk him through, past the security guard. He wanted to get inside the school. I said, “Sure” and we walked through. I disappeared into a class. When I came out an hour later, I noticed there were all these fresh SAMO poems and tags in places they hadn’t been an hour ago. I put two and two together and realized that the person I had walked through was Basquiat.Basquiat then started hanging around with Haring and other School of Visual Arts students Kenny Scharf and John Sex. Scharf said that in 1979 he would go out on forays doing wall drawings with Basquiat. "I would do Jetson and Flintstone heads and have them speaking in some foreign tongue," Scharf said.


title: SAMO

text: Although Basquiat was to say there was "no ambition" in the work at all, it is striking to see the places the SAMO graffiti were targeted: around the SoHo galleries, and even up at the School of Visual Arts. Glenn O'Brien notes that "Ninety percent of SAMO graffiti was executed in the heart of the art neighborhood. He kind of stuck to SoHo ... So that it was sort of advertising for himself."


title: SAMO

text: In April 1979, Basquiat attended the Canal Zone Party hosted by Michael Holman and he revealed himself as SAMO.


title: SAMO

text: In 1979, Basquiat began appearing on Glenn O'Brien's underground cable TV talk show "TV Party", where he was introduced as the person behind SAMO.


title: SAMO

text: In early 1980, Basquiat had a falling out with Diaz and soon began to focus on his painting career. Basquiat said, "I wrote SAMO IS DEAD all over the place. And I started painting." Keith Haring held a mock wake for SAMO at Club 57.


title: SAMO

text: For the movie "Downtown 81" (2000), Basquiat was filmed in streets of the Lower East Side recreating much of his SAMO graffiti. These include:


title: SAMO

text: These "Downtown 81" images are the most common illustrations of Jean-Michel Basquiat's graffiti, but were not signed "SAMO."


title: SAMO

text: As well known and omnipresent as the graffiti were, they gradually disappeared from the street, either being painted over as common vandalism, or carefully taken down for resale when Basquiat's paintings began to command high prices. Henry Flynt, Peter Moore, Martha Cooper, and Glenn O'Brien, are responsible for the few documented photos the original SAMO graffiti. The SAMO graffiti is still being cited by contemporary street artists.


title: SAMO

text: After Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election victory, Diaz felt compelled to resurrect the SAMO tag. "My current work deals mostly with present-day life on this massively screwed up planet of ours," he told artnet News. In 2017, Diaz partnered with Massachusetts-based creative agency House of Roulx for a series of collaborations.


title: SAMO

text: Basquiat continued to use the SAMO moniker after he stopped writing graffiti in 1980. Some of his early drawings and paintings on canvas were signed SAMO. In June 1980, Basquiat took part in "The Times Square show", his first as SAMO and as a painter. In February 1981, he participated in the group show "New York/New Wave" billed as SAMO. His first one-person gallery show from May 23 to June 20, 1981 in Modena, Italy was named "SAMO".


title: SAMO

text: Many of Basquiat's paintings and drawings from 1980/81 include phrases originally used in the SAMO collaboration, along with others (like MILK©) in the same style. Such phrases cropped up occasionally for the rest of his career. His painting "Cadillac Moon" (1981) has the inscription in the lower left "SAMO©" crossed out, and the names "AARON" (for Henry Aaron), and "JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT" written instead.


title: SAMO

text: To mark the 30th anniversary of Basquiat’s death on August 12, 2018, Adrian Wilson conceived a commemorative tribute, to which Diaz added a SAMO tag on the front gates of his former home and studio at 57 Great Jones Street in NoHo, Manhattan. Andy Warhol had rented the space to Basquiat, who lived there from August 1983 until his death in August 1988. Wilson spent the next month negotiating with the leaseholders to donate the use of 57 Great Jones Street for a one off art gallery combining the art of Diaz, SAMO, and early graffiti tags and historical items from when Diaz and Basquiat were school friends in the 1970's.


title: SAMO

text: In partnership with gallery owner Brian Shevlin, leaseholder representative Lisa Tobari and referencing the etymology of SAMO, the Same Old Gallery opened on September 21, 2018. The exhibition was notable for its oversized Same Old Visitors book in which graffiti artists, former Basquiat friends, and the general public added messages and created art of their own. Wilson kept the gallery open until October 21, 2018 but lack of sales meant it was not economical viable to invest in the space going forward and it became a housewares store.


title: Mía Maestro

text: Mía Maestro (born 19 June 1978) is an Argentine actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Nora Martinez in "The Strain", Nadia Santos in the television drama "Alias", as Christina Kahlo in "Frida", as Carmen in "The Twilight Saga", and as Marianela in "".


title: Mía Maestro

text: Maestro was born in Buenos Aires on 19 June 1978. She made her screen debut in Carlos Saura’s "Tango", which received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Film. Initially trained in Argentina, Maestro traveled to Berlin to develop a vocal repertoire of the works of Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Her first proper acting turn was in the play "The Summer Trilogy" by Carlo Goldoni, and by 1998, she secured the coveted role of Lulu in Frank Wedekind’s "Pandora's Box" at the San Martin Theater in her hometown of Buenos Aires. For this she garnered an "Ace" Award for Best New Artist of the Year.


title: Mía Maestro

text: In 2004, she joined the cast of ABC's critically acclaimed series "Alias" for two seasons. In the same year, Maestro also appeared in the Argentine film "La Niña Santa" (aka "The Holy Girl"), directed by Lucrecia Martel, as well as the Focus Features film "The Motorcycle Diaries", (Golden Globe nominee in 2005 for Best Foreign Film) based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. The film was directed by Walter Salles ("Central Station"), and stars Gael García Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna. Maestro has starred as a victim of a kidnapping in Venezuela in Jonathan Jakubowicz’s thriller "Secuestro Express", released by Miramax. In December 2005, she starred in Prince's music video for "Te Amo Corazón", which was directed by their mutual friend Salma Hayek.


title: Mía Maestro

text: In 2006, she co-starred in Wolfgang Petersen's film "Poseidon", a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. She played Elena Gonzalaz, a stowaway girl going to meet her sick brother in the hospital with friend and waiter Valentine. Maestro starred in the off-Broadway musical play, "", inspired by the life and works of author Hans Christian Andersen and singing the music of Stephin Merritt from The Magnetic Fields. She also starred in "1st Night", based on the opera "Così fan tutte" by Mozart, the comedy "Meant to Be", and the American indie film "The Music Never Stopped" based on an Oliver Sacks story.


title: Mía Maestro

text: Maestro has been cast as the lead character in "Cutthroat", an ABC television pilot for the 2010–2011 season. As of 30 September 2010, she has been cast as Carmen of the Denali Coven in "" and "". Maestro guest-starred in "White Collar" as Maya, a restaurant owner with whom Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) has a fling while on the run.


title: Mía Maestro

text: She played Dr. Nora Martinez in the vampire horror series "The Strain", created by Guillermo del Toro. She also guest starred in the NBC television series "Hannibal" in 2015, playing the role of Allegra Pazzi, the wife of an Italian inspector. In 2017, she returned to theater and played the role of Diana Salazar in Ferdinand von Schirach's "Terror". The play was produced in multiple countries, an adapted version of the play had its United States premiere in a production by Miami New Drama at Miami Beach's Colony Theatre.


title: Mía Maestro

text: In 2019, she starred as Sonia in the critically-acclaimed indie drama "End of the Century". Her longtime friend Lucio Castro directed it and the film has been awarded various accolades in different film festivals. Continuing her success in independent film circuits, Maestro starred in the lead role of Magdalena in the magical realist film The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future (2022), directed by Francisca Alegria. The film premiered and competed for Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and garnered rave reviews. In August 2022, it has been announced that Maestro is cast as the lead role opposite James Franco in the upcoming biopic "Alina of Cuba", about Fidel Castro and his daughter Alina Fernández. Maestro is set to portray Natalia Revuelta Clews, Castro's lover and the mother of Alina.


title: Mía Maestro

text: She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Aside from her native Spanish, Maestro speaks English and Italian.


title: Mía Maestro

text: As a singer-songwriter, Maestro has been performing in Los Angeles, New York City, and Buenos Aires, and is in preparation to start recording her EP followed by an album. In 2010, she performed in Iceland where she opened for Emiliana Torrini during several shows at the Háskólabíó theater in Reykjavík. She has collaborated with the UK band Faithless, singing on the song "Love is My Condition" on their album "The Dance", released in May 2010.


title: Mía Maestro

text: Maestro's version of "Lloverá" appeared on the "Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1" soundtrack, also as part of an EP titled "Blue Eyed Sailor", released in November 2012. The EP features three songs: "Blue Eyed Sailor", "Time to Go" (featuring Damien Rice) and "Lloverá". It also features a music video of "Blue Eyed Sailor", directed by Juan Azulay and Guillermo Navarro, inspired by the art of Cecilia Paredes.


title: Mía Maestro

text: On 7 October 2014, Mia Maestro's debut album "Si Agua" was released by Arts & Crafts. It was recorded in Iceland. NPR's Alt.Latino referred to her voice as one of Alt.Latino's favorites of 2014.


title: Mía Maestro

text: She won an ACE Award for her performance in the stage production of "Pandora's Box". For her work in "Alias", she won the Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress in Television. In 2019, she has been awarded an honorable mention Grand Jury Award by Outfest for her performance in "End of the Century", shared with her co-stars Juan Barberini and Ramon Pujol.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Genetic linkage is the tendency of DNA sequences that are close together on a chromosome to be inherited together during the meiosis phase of sexual reproduction. Two genetic markers that are physically near to each other are unlikely to be separated onto different chromatids during chromosomal crossover, and are therefore said to be more "linked" than markers that are far apart. In other words, the nearer two genes are on a chromosome, the lower the chance of recombination between them, and the more likely they are to be inherited together. Markers on different chromosomes are perfectly "unlinked", although the penetrance of potentially deleterious alleles may be influenced by the presence of other alleles, and these other alleles may be located on other chromosomes than that on which a particular potentially deleterious allele is located.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Genetic linkage is the most prominent exception to Gregor Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment. The first experiment to demonstrate linkage was carried out in 1905. At the time, the reason why certain traits tend to be inherited together was unknown. Later work revealed that genes are physical structures related by physical distance.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The typical unit of genetic linkage is the centimorgan (cM). A distance of 1 cM between two markers means that the markers are separated to different chromosomes on average once per 100 meiotic product, thus once per 50 meioses.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Gregor Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment states that every trait is inherited independently of every other trait. But shortly after Mendel's work was rediscovered, exceptions to this rule were found. In 1905, the British geneticists William Bateson, Edith Rebecca Saunders and Reginald Punnett cross-bred pea plants in experiments similar to Mendel's. They were interested in trait inheritance in the sweet pea and were studying two genes—the gene for flower colour ("P", purple, and "p", red) and the gene affecting the shape of pollen grains ("L", long, and "l", round). They crossed the pure lines "PPLL" and "ppll" and then self-crossed the resulting "PpLl" lines.


title: Genetic linkage

text: According to Mendelian genetics, the expected phenotypes would occur in a 9:3:3:1 ratio of PL:Pl:pL:pl. To their surprise, they observed an increased frequency of PL and pl and a decreased frequency of Pl and pL:


title: Genetic linkage

text: Their experiment revealed linkage between the "P" and "L" alleles and the "p" and "l" alleles. The frequency of "P" occurring together with "L" and "p" occurring together with "l" is greater than that of the recombinant "Pl" and "pL". The recombination frequency is more difficult to compute in an F2 cross than a backcross, but the lack of fit between observed and expected numbers of progeny in the above table indicate it is less than 50%. This indicated that two factors interacted in some way to create this difference by masking the appearance of the other two phenotypes. This led to the conclusion that some traits are related to each other because of their near proximity to each other on a chromosome.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The understanding of linkage was expanded by the work of Thomas Hunt Morgan. Morgan's observation that the amount of crossing over between linked genes differs led to the idea that crossover frequency might indicate the distance separating genes on the chromosome. The centimorgan, which expresses the frequency of crossing over, is named in his honour.


title: Genetic linkage

text: A linkage map (also known as a genetic map) is a table for a species or experimental population that shows the position of its known genes or genetic markers relative to each other in terms of recombination frequency, rather than a specific physical distance along each chromosome. Linkage maps were first developed by Alfred Sturtevant, a student of Thomas Hunt Morgan.


title: Genetic linkage

text: A linkage map is a map based on the frequencies of recombination between markers during crossover of homologous chromosomes. The greater the frequency of recombination (segregation) between two genetic markers, the further apart they are assumed to be. Conversely, the lower the frequency of recombination between the markers, the smaller the physical distance between them. Historically, the markers originally used were detectable phenotypes (enzyme production, eye colour) derived from coding DNA sequences; eventually, confirmed or assumed noncoding DNA sequences such as microsatellites or those generating restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) have been used.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Linkage maps help researchers to locate other markers, such as other genes by testing for genetic linkage of the already known markers. In the early stages of developing a linkage map, the data are used to assemble linkage groups, a set of genes which are known to be linked. As knowledge advances, more markers can be added to a group, until the group covers an entire chromosome. For well-studied organisms the linkage groups correspond one-to-one with the chromosomes.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Linkage analysis is a genetic method that searches for chromosomal segments that cosegregate with the ailment phenotype through families. It can be used to map genes for both binary and quantitative traits. Linkage analysis may be either parametric (if we know the relationship between phenotypic and genetic similarity) or non-parametric. Parametric linkage analysis is the traditional approach, whereby the probability that a gene important for a disease is linked to a genetic marker is studied through the LOD score, which assesses the probability that a given pedigree, where the disease and the marker are cosegregating, is due to the existence of linkage (with a given linkage value) or to chance. Non-parametric linkage analysis, in turn, studies the probability of an allele being identical by descent with itself.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The LOD score (logarithm (base 10) of odds), developed by Newton Morton, is a statistical test often used for linkage analysis in human, animal, and plant populations. The LOD score compares the likelihood of obtaining the test data if the two loci are indeed linked, to the likelihood of observing the same data purely by chance. Positive LOD scores favour the presence of linkage, whereas negative LOD scores indicate that linkage is less likely. Computerised LOD score analysis is a simple way to analyse complex family pedigrees in order to determine the linkage between Mendelian traits (or between a trait and a marker, or two markers).


title: Genetic linkage

text: NR denotes the number of non-recombinant offspring, and R denotes the number of recombinant offspring. The reason 0.5 is used in the denominator is that any alleles that are completely unlinked (e.g. alleles on separate chromosomes) have a 50% chance of recombination, due to independent assortment. "θ" is the recombinant fraction, i.e. the fraction of births in which recombination has happened between the studied genetic marker and the putative gene associated with the disease. Thus, it is equal to .


title: Genetic linkage

text: By convention, a LOD score greater than 3.0 is considered evidence for linkage, as it indicates 1000 to 1 odds that the linkage being observed did not occur by chance. On the other hand, a LOD score less than −2.0 is considered evidence to exclude linkage. Although it is very unlikely that a LOD score of 3 would be obtained from a single pedigree, the mathematical properties of the test allow data from a number of pedigrees to be combined by summing their LOD scores. A LOD score of 3 translates to a "p"-value of approximately 0.05, and no multiple testing correction (e.g. Bonferroni correction) is required.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Linkage analysis has a number of methodological and theoretical limitations that can significantly increase the type-1 error rate and reduce the power to map human quantitative trait loci (QTL). While linkage analysis was successfully used to identify genetic variants that contribute to rare disorders such as Huntington disease, it did not perform that well when applied to more common disorders such as heart disease or different forms of cancer. An explanation for this is that the genetic mechanisms affecting common disorders are different from those causing some rare disorders.


title: Genetic linkage

text: Recombination frequency is a measure of genetic linkage and is used in the creation of a genetic linkage map. Recombination frequency ("θ") is the frequency with which a single chromosomal crossover will take place between two genes during meiosis. A centimorgan (cM) is a unit that describes a recombination frequency of 1%. In this way we can measure the genetic distance between two loci, based upon their recombination frequency. This is a good estimate of the real distance. Double crossovers would turn into no recombination. In this case we cannot tell if crossovers took place. If the loci we're analysing are very close (less than 7 cM) a double crossover is very unlikely. When distances become higher, the likelihood of a double crossover increases. As the likelihood of a double crossover increases one could systematically underestimate the genetic distance between two loci, unless one used an appropriate mathematical model.


title: Genetic linkage

text: During meiosis, chromosomes assort randomly into gametes, such that the segregation of alleles of one gene is independent of alleles of another gene. This is stated in Mendel's Second Law and is known as the law of independent assortment. The law of independent assortment always holds true for genes that are located on different chromosomes, but for genes that are on the same chromosome, it does not always hold true.


title: Genetic linkage

text: As an example of independent assortment, consider the crossing of the pure-bred homozygote parental strain with genotype "AABB" with a different pure-bred strain with genotype "aabb". A and a and B and b represent the alleles of genes A and B. Crossing these homozygous parental strains will result in F1 generation offspring that are double heterozygotes with genotype AaBb. The F1 offspring AaBb produces gametes that are "AB", "Ab", "aB", and "ab" with equal frequencies (25%) because the alleles of gene A assort independently of the alleles for gene B during meiosis. Note that 2 of the 4 gametes (50%)—"Ab" and "aB"—were not present in the parental generation. These gametes represent recombinant gametes. Recombinant gametes are those gametes that differ from both of the haploid gametes that made up the original diploid cell. In this example, the recombination frequency is 50% since 2 of the 4 gametes were recombinant gametes.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The recombination frequency will be 50% when two genes are located on different chromosomes or when they are widely separated on the same chromosome. This is a consequence of independent assortment.


title: Genetic linkage

text: When two genes are close together on the same chromosome, they do not assort independently and are said to be linked. Whereas genes located on different chromosomes assort independently and have a recombination frequency of 50%, linked genes have a recombination frequency that is less than 50%.


title: Genetic linkage

text: As an example of linkage, consider the classic experiment by William Bateson and Reginald Punnett. They were interested in trait inheritance in the sweet pea and were studying two genes—the gene for flower colour ("P", purple, and "p", red) and the gene affecting the shape of pollen grains ("L", long, and "l", round). They crossed the pure lines "PPLL" and "ppll" and then self-crossed the resulting "PpLl" lines. According to Mendelian genetics, the expected phenotypes would occur in a 9:3:3:1 ratio of PL:Pl:pL:pl. To their surprise, they observed an increased frequency of PL and pl and a decreased frequency of Pl and pL (see table below).


title: Genetic linkage

text: Their experiment revealed linkage between the "P" and "L" alleles and the "p" and "l" alleles. The frequency of "P" occurring together with "L" and with "p" occurring together with "l" is greater than that of the recombinant "Pl" and "pL". The recombination frequency is more difficult to compute in an F2 cross than a backcross, but the lack of fit between observed and expected numbers of progeny in the above table indicate it is less than 50%.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The progeny in this case received two dominant alleles linked on one chromosome (referred to as coupling or cis arrangement). However, after crossover, some progeny could have received one parental chromosome with a dominant allele for one trait (e.g. Purple) linked to a recessive allele for a second trait (e.g. round) with the opposite being true for the other parental chromosome (e.g. red and Long). This is referred to as repulsion or a trans arrangement. The phenotype here would still be purple and long but a test cross of this individual with the recessive parent would produce progeny with much greater proportion of the two crossover phenotypes. While such a problem may not seem likely from this example, unfavourable repulsion linkages do appear when breeding for disease resistance in some crops.


title: Genetic linkage

text: The two possible arrangements, cis and trans, of alleles in a double heterozygote are referred to as gametic phases, and "phasing" is the process of determining which of the two is present in a given individual.


title: Genetic linkage

text: When two genes are located on the same chromosome, the chance of a crossover producing recombination between the genes is related to the distance between the two genes. Thus, the use of recombination frequencies has been used to develop linkage maps or genetic maps.


title: Genetic linkage

text: However, it is important to note that recombination frequency tends to underestimate the distance between two linked genes. This is because as the two genes are located farther apart, the chance of double or even number of crossovers between them also increases. Double or even number of crossovers between the two genes results in them being cosegregated to the same gamete, yielding a parental progeny instead of the expected recombinant progeny. As mentioned above, the Kosambi and Haldane transformations attempt to correct for multiple crossovers.