title: GO:OD AM

text: In the United States, "GO:OD AM" debuted at number four on the "Billboard" 200, selling 73,000 copies in its first week. It was the third highest selling album in the United States during its debut week. As of October 2015, the album has sold 92,000 copies domestically. "GO:OD AM" earned 14,000 album-equivalent units in the week following Mac Miller's death on September 7, 2018, thus allowing the album to re-enter the "Billboard" 200 at number 32. On October 26, 2018, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streams in excess of 500,000 units in the United States.


title: Micki Free

text: Micki Free (born May 20, 1955) is a guitarist and singer of Native American descent. He won a Grammy Award for his contribution to the "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984) movie soundtrack and has won two Native American Music Awards. He is the director of Promotions and Special Events for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, owners of Hard Rock International.


title: Micki Free

text: Micki Free, a "mixed-blood" Native American, was born in West Texas and moved to Germany soon afterward. He claims Irish, Comanche, and Cherokee descent. His stepfather, a U.S. Army sergeant, was stationed in Germany, and Free was introduced to rock 'n' roll there as a child, when one of his five sisters received tickets to a Jimi Hendrix concert and took him along to the show. "It just blew my mind", Free remembered.


title: Micki Free

text: His family later moved to Illinois, where Free joined the rock band Smokehouse. When he was 17, he was discovered by Gene Simmons of KISS, during a concert at which Smokehouse was the opening act for KISS, Ted Nugent, and REO Speedwagon. After Simmons' encouragement, Free joined Shalamar in 1984, just in time for the band's big successes, including a #17 position in U.S. Top 20 in 1984 with "Dancing In The Sheets" from the "Footloose" soundtrack, and a Grammy for "Don't Get Stopped In Beverly Hills" from the "Beverly Hills Cop" (1984) soundtrack in 1985. With Shalamar, he was nominated for a Grammy three times.


title: Micki Free

text: Micki Free also has a son, Talon Free and a wife, Britt Free and a daughter with former wife actress Teri Copley.


title: Micki Free

text: After Shalamar, Free and Jean Beauvoir (of The Plasmatics) founded an AOR band, Crown of Thorns. Free later founded (and still tours with) The Micki Free Electric Blues Experience, with Jon Brant (formerly of Cheap Trick) on bass, and Curly Smith (formerly of Boston) on drums. Recognition for his musical career after Shalamar came from the Native American Music Awards, where he won in the categories of Male Artist in 2002 and Pop Rock artist in 2004.


title: Micki Free

text: Micki Free has recorded with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and the DVD/CD/EP release "Micki Free Live in Hyde Park" featured Bill Wyman, formerly of The Rolling Stones. In 2002, he was cast to play Tonto in a new production of "The Lone Ranger".


title: Micki Free

text: "Native Music Rocks" is a music program created by Micki Free, designed to give Native American musicians an opportunity to tour alongside Micki and his band, American Horse Trio. The band features Cindy Blackman-Santana, former drummer for Lenny Kravitz, and David Santos on bass. Free was Director of the "Native Music Rocks" program and went on to create the first Native American Record company, Native Music Rocks Records, distributed by Fontana/Universal Music. He was a recording artist on the label as well as Chief Creative officer/VP. The event was sponsored by Hard Rock International and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.


title: Micki Free

text: Free was invited to appear as part of an all-star cast of Native American musicians, known as Native Rocks, at the American Indian Inaugural Ball in Arlington, Virginia, on the occasion of president Barack Obama's inauguration. He performed with Native Rocks at a related event at the Hard Rock Cafe prior to performing at the Inaugural Ball.


title: Micki Free

text: "Tattoo Burn" (2012), is a blues-rock style album written, produced, arranged, and performed by Free.


title: Micki Free

text: Free's manner of dress and appearance during the early 1980s (and that of Prince) was parodied in the "Chappelle's Show" sketch "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories": "Prince - Uncensored" (February 18, 2004). The sketch is a retelling by Charlie Murphy about meeting Prince (played by Dave Chappelle) and engaging in a basketball game, with Prince and the Revolution still wearing their flashy clothes, dominating Murphy and his friends and later serving them pancakes. In a 2016 interview, Free clarified that the events depicted in the sketch were "totally accurate" and that Prince played "like Michael Jordan".


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Bullfrog Productions Limited was a British video game developer based in Guildford, England. Founded in 1987 by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar, the company gained recognition in 1989 for their third release, "Populous", and is also well known for titles such as "Theme Park", "Magic Carpet", "Syndicate" and "Dungeon Keeper". Bullfrog's name was derived from an ornament in the offices of Edgar's and Molyneux's other enterprise, Taurus Impact Systems, Bullfrog's precursor where Molyneux and Edgar were developing business software. Bullfrog Productions was founded as a separate entity after Commodore mistook Taurus for a similarly named company.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Electronic Arts, Bullfrog's publisher, acquired the studio in January 1995. Molyneux had become an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, after EA purchased a significant share of Bullfrog. Molyneux's last project with Bullfrog was "Dungeon Keeper", and as a result of his dissatisfaction of the corporate aspects of his position, he left the company in July 1997 to found Lionhead Studios. Others would follow him to Lionhead, and some founded their own companies, such as Mucky Foot Productions. After Molyneux's departure, Electronic Arts' control over Bullfrog caused several projects to be cancelled. Bullfrog was merged into EA UK in 2001 and ceased to exist as a separate entity. Bullfrog titles have been looked upon as a standard for comparison and have spawned numerous spiritual sequels.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In 1982, entrepreneur Peter Molyneux met Les Edgar at an audio electronics shop called PJ Hi-Fi. When Molyneux left the company where he was working, Edgar suggested that they start a new one, which would later develop business software for the Commodore 64 as Taurus Impact Systems (also known as Taurus Software). The new company was named after Molyneux and Edgar's shared astrological sign, the Taurus. At some point, Molyneux accepted a deal to export money systems to Switzerland and baked beans to the Middle East.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: One day, Taurus received a call from the head of Commodore Europe, wanting to discuss the future of the Amiga and Taurus' software's suitability for the system. Molyneux was invited to Commodore Europe's headquarters, where he was offered several Amiga systems and a space at a show in Germany. When Molyneux was told that they were anticipating getting his network running on the Amiga, he realised that they had mistaken his company for one called Torus, a producer of networking systems. Molyneux wanted the Amiga systems, so he did not inform Commodore of this error. He received them and began writing a database program called Acquisition. Commodore kept asking about the database, and Molyneux gave them excuses because they were threatening to shut Taurus down. When Acquisition was finished, it was shown at the exhibition in Germany, and won product of the year. 2,000 copies were sold to a company in the United States, giving Molyneux and Edgar funds to sustain Taurus.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Another program Taurus wrote was a computer-aided design (CAD) package called X-CAD. They knew the Amiga was becoming a gaming machine, and a friend of Molyneux's asked him to convert "Druid II: Enlightenment" from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga. According to Edgar, it was around this time Bullfrog was founded in preparation for the day when Acquisition was no longer important and they could focus on games. Bullfrog was originally a brand of Taurus; Molyneux explained that this was because they wanted to avoid confusion over business software and money-making opportunities.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: The name came from an ornament of a bullfrog located in the office: when asked by "Joystick" why the name "Bullfrog" was chosen, Molyneux stated that they wanted "an idiotic name" without having to find one, and there happened to be a sculpture of a colourful frog on a pedestal labelled "Bull Frog by Leonardo" on the table. Afterwards, Molyneux and Edgar were running out of money, and Edgar suggested they close the company down. It was at this point when Molyneux came up with the idea of "Populous". The conversion of "Druid II: Enlightenment", "Populous", and a shoot 'em up game called "Fusion" were the first games developed under the Bullfrog brand.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: "Populous" was difficult to publish at first due to a lack of recognition—the god genre was, according to Bullfrog, "misunderstood by everyone". Despite this, Electronic Arts was willing to publish the game. Molyneux did not expect it to be successful, yet in 1989, the game received 10 awards, and another 12 the following year, with sales reaching one million copies. It ultimately sold four million copies. Edgar took note of the game's success and gave developers such as Imagineer licences to create ports for platforms such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Mega Drive, which enabled the game to gain traction in Japan.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: After "Populous", Bullfrog moved into the Surrey Research Park and had around 20 employees. Bullfrog was starting to gain a reputation, so people started to want to work for the company. Molyneux searched for staff himself, and employed artists and programmers. He travelled to universities, including Cambridge, where he offered computer scientists and banks the chance to come to the gaming industry.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Bullfrog's "Powermonger" was developed as a result of pressure from Electronic Arts for a follow-up to "Populous". and was released in 1990. The game won multiple Best Strategy Game awards, including one from "Computer Gaming World" (as did "Populous"). The direct sequel to "Populous", "", was released the following year and sold over a million copies. In late 1993, Bullfrog worked with researchers from the University of Surrey, who were nearby their offices, to study the movement and behaviour of underwater life so Bullfrog could reproduce it in the game "Creation".


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: By the mid-1990s, Bullfrog had become well known for innovation and quality. A 1995 article in "GamePro" stated that "Bullfrog's work has been termed some of the most innovative by industry leaders, and it's pioneered different genres of software." The same year, "Next Generation" similarly asserted that "Bullfrog has earned a reputation as one of the most consistently innovative and imaginative development teams in the world." In July 1995, "Edge" stated that Bullfrog had "an unparalleled reputation for quality and innovation", and by that year, Bullfrog were "rightly considered one of the most innovative in the world", according to "GamesTM".


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In 1994, three games were in development: "Creation", "Theme Park", and "Magic Carpet". Bullfrog focused on implementing multiplayer in all three games; Molyneux believed that multiplayer was more important than the compact disc (CD) format. "Theme Park" and "Magic Carpet" were released that year, the latter being the best-selling CD game that Christmas and winning Game of the Year awards in the United Kingdom and Germany. "Theme Park" proved popular in Japan and was a best-seller in Europe. During the development of "Theme Park", artist Gary Carr left Bullfrog following a disagreement with Molyneux on the game: Molyneux wanted gaily coloured graphics that would appeal to the Japanese market, but Carr disapproved, believing it would not work. Carr joined The Bitmap Brothers, returning to Bullfrog in 1995 to work on "Dungeon Keeper", although he ended up working as the lead artist on "Theme Hospital" instead.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In November 1994, Bullfrog began development for "Dungeon Keeper". By then, the company had been approached many times to develop games around film licences. McDonald's approached Bullfrog at some point for a joint game venture. By mid-1995, Bullfrog was focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and had a dedicated AI team working at its offices. Two AI techniques, Personality Mapping and Skeletal Mapping, were developed.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: According to Edgar, Bullfrog began merger talks with Electronic Arts in 1993. To get the best deal, he believed Bullfrog should also talk with other companies such as Sony and Virgin. He explained that Electronic Arts was the obvious choice as Bullfrog already had a positive relationship with them. According to Molyneux, Bullfrog received numerous offers expressing interest in purchasing the company. The offers were not taken seriously until major companies, such as Electronic Arts and Philips, made contact; it was then thought that the acquisition by one of these companies would be inevitable. Bullfrog was bought by Electronic Arts in early January 1995. The rumored price of the acquisition was $44 million(£29 million). By this time, the studio's staff count had risen from 35 to 60 and the acquisition allowed it to grow to 150 people within months. Molyneux became a vice-president of Electronic Arts and head of their European branch. Edgar became the vice-president of the European branch and Bullfrog's chairman. He described Bullfrog becoming part of a multinational company as "a very big change" and worked for Electronic Arts to assist with the transition. Although Molyneux had said that Bullfrog's products would not suffer as a result of Electronic Arts' purchase, the number of games in development meant that there was less time to refine them (despite the company's growth rate), affecting their quality.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: After the release of "Magic Carpet" in 1994, seven games were in development: "Magic Carpet 2", "Theme Hospital", "The Indestructibles", "Syndicate Wars", "Gene Wars", "Creation", and "Dungeon Keeper". After Electronic Arts' purchase, Molyneux was told to release a game, namely "Magic Carpet 2" or "Dungeon Keeper", within six weeks. Neither was near completion, so to appease Electronic Arts, "Hi-Octane" was created. It had a rushed development and no name by July 1995. Molyneux explained that Bullfrog's games were normally original, and they were not concerned about them being copied, but the project was "a little derivative", which was why it was kept secret—even Edgar was not informed of the project at first. Around this time, Bullfrog had a reputation for having largely ignored 16-bit game consoles, and "Syndicate Wars" was the company's first title originally developed for a console—the PlayStation.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: As Molyneux had been made vice-president of Electronic Arts, his corporate role and responsibility increased considerably and he began making frequent trips to San Francisco. Over time, he grew increasingly frustrated with the position and wished to return to game development. In July 1996, Molyneux decided to resign from Bullfrog to focus on game design, rather than become a mere employee. In response, Electronic Arts banned him from its offices, forcing him to move development of "Dungeon Keeper" to his house. Molyneux speculated that this was because Electronic Arts feared that he would take people with him. He decided to leave as soon as "Dungeon Keeper" was finished and commented: "My last day will be the day that this game goes into final test. I'm very, very, very sad, but also very relieved." He also said that Electronic Arts had been "unbelievably patient" and thanked vice-president Mark Lewis for campaigning for "Dungeon Keeper"s completion. Molyneux's planned departure was his motivation to make "Dungeon Keeper" good. He believed that he would enjoy being an executive but said that it was "an utter nightmare". Shortly after his departure, Molyneux said he still had feelings for Bullfrog and wished them success. Despite his dissatisfaction with the corporate aspects of being vice-president, Molyneux said that he had learned "an enormous amount". In 2017, he revealed that his resignation was the consequence of his, and technical director Tim Rance's, drunkenness. He said he would take his resignation email back if he could.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Around this time, as Electronic Arts increased control over Bullfrog. Mark Healey (the lead artist for "Dungeon Keeper") stated that the company "felt more like a chicken factory" after Electronic Arts' takeover and compared it to being assimilated by the Borg. Glenn Corpes (an artist for "Fusion" and "Populous") stated that he was not surprised at Molyneux's departure. Another employee believed that working for Bullfrog had become "a job" and that the company had lost its innovation. In 2008, Electronic Arts' president John Riccitiello corroborated these sentiments by admitting that their "dictatorial managerial approach" had suppressed Bullfrog's creativity. Sean Cooper (the designer of "Syndicate") said that if he could travel back in time, he would probably force Molyneux to refrain from selling Bullfrog to Electronic Arts. He described the period of resignations following Molyneux's departure as "such a horrible time". Molyneux believed that Electronic Arts had good intentions for Bullfrog, saying that "they just wanted to make it nicer" and putting the company's effects on Bullfrog down to "love abuse".


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: When "Dungeon Keeper" was nearing its completion in 1997, Molyneux, Rance, and Mark Webley (the project leader for "Theme Hospital") founded a new company, Lionhead Studios, that July. By the time the studio's first game, "Black & White", was released, Bullfrog employees such as Healey, Andy Bass (an artist who had worked on "Theme Hospital"), Russell Shaw (the composer for various titles), James Leach (Bullfrog's script writer), Paul McLaughlin (who worked on "Creation"), and Jonty Barnes (a programmer who had worked on "Dungeon Keeper") had joined Lionhead. Healey stated that, because of his dissatisfaction at Bullfrog, he was happy to follow Molyneux and became Lionhead's first artist. Also in 1997, Mike Diskett (the project leader, lead programmer, and lead designer of "Syndicate Wars"), Finn McGechie (the lead artist for "Magic Carpet"), and Guy Simmons left to found Mucky Foot Productions, with Carr joining them the following year.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Other notable people at Bullfrog around the mid-1990s include Simon Carter (the lead programmer for "Dungeon Keeper"), Richard Reed (the project leader for "Gene Wars"), Mike Man (the lead artist for "Syndicate Wars"), Alan Wright (the project leader and lead programmer for "Magic Carpet 2"), and Eoin Rogan (the lead artist for "Magic Carpet 2").


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In 1998, two games were released: "Theme Aquarium", and "Populous: The Beginning". "Theme Aquarium" was an attempt to "cross barriers" between the United Kingdom and Japan. Edgar explained that Bullfrog was more successful than most western game developers in Japan due to "Populous" and "Theme Park", and wondered about the possibilities of having a game designed in the United Kingdom and implemented in Japan by Japanese development teams. A small group was set up to do this. "Theme Aquarium" was released as a "Theme" game in Japan only; western releases removed the Bullfrog branding. As of 2012, many ex-Bullfrog employees were unfamiliar with the game. Shortly before Molyneux's departure, Bullfrog announced that the games then in development may be the final ones released for MS-DOS. It was "quite likely" that all future games would be Windows-only. The reason for the change in platform focus was so Bullfrog could create games with Windows in mind and use "powerful features" (such as 3D acceleration), which were difficult to use with MS-DOS.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In 1999, "Theme Park World" and "Dungeon Keeper 2" were released. Most of "Theme Park World"s development team came from Mindscape—they were brought to Bullfrog wholesale. Bullfrog worked with its sister company Maxis to release "Theme Park World" in North America under their "Sim" brand as "Sim Theme Park" to further establish itself in the region. "Theme Resort", a "Theme" game based around holiday islands, was cancelled and its team reallocated to "Theme Park World". "Dungeon Keeper 2" had a new development team led by Nick Goldsworthy, previously an assistant producer for "Theme Park" at Electronic Arts. During the development, Colin Robinson was interviewed for the role of Bullfrog's chief technical officer, and helped the project succeed. In 2016, Glenn Corpes speculated that Electronic Arts did not understand Molyneux's role at Bullfrog and thought he was in charge of everything and that Electronic Arts' response to his departure would be to install managers. In fact, he focused on one game at a time, and let others carry out their work.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In mid-1999, Edgar stepped down as chairman. He was succeeded as managing director by Bruce McMillan of Electronic Arts' Canadian studios. Corpes left to found the studio Lost Toys with Jeremy Longley (who had worked on "Theme Hospital", "Syndicate Wars", and "Populous III") and Darren Thomas (who had worked on "Dungeon Keeper" and "Magic Carpet 2", and was the lead artist on "Theme Park World"), which Edgar supported financially. Corpes stated that he was inspired by Mucky Foot Productions running its own affairs and that it was "quite embarrassing to still be working for the Borg". He also said that Lost Toys was partially his take on what Bullfrog was. Alex Trowers (a designer who had worked on "Syndicate" and "Powermonger") believed that Bullfrog had become too corporate after Electronic Arts' takeover and left for Lost Toys to return to "making games for the sake of making games", rather than to satisfy shareholders.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: In August 1999, Electronic Arts appointed Ernest Adams as the lead designer of the fourth instalment in the "Populous" series, "Genesis: The Hand of God". Bullfrog's management had concerns about its similarity to Lionhead Studios' "Black & White" and cancelled the project. Adams then became the lead designer on "Dungeon Keeper 3". As "Dungeon Keeper 2" did not perform as well as hoped, the team were instructed to make the third game more accessible. Development began in November 1999, but Electronic Arts' focus was changing. It was in negotiation with J. K. Rowling and New Line Cinema for licences to "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings", respectively. Electronic Arts saw a profitable opportunity and, in March 2000, cancelled "Dungeon Keeper 3" in favour of those franchises, although its cancellation was not officially announced until August. Bullfrog moved to Chertsey in 2000 and went through "a quiet patch" for the remainder of the year.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: The final game under the Bullfrog brand, "Theme Park Inc", was released in 2001. By the time the game was in development, most of the Bullfrog teams had become part of EA UK and much of the development was handled by another company. What remained of Bullfrog was then merged into EA UK. Molyneux stayed with Lionhead Studios until the formation of 22cans in 2012. Edgar had some involvement with the gaming industry since Bullfrog but eventually left for the automotive industry. In August 2009, Electronics Arts were considering revising some of Bullfrog's games for modern-day systems.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Several Bullfrog games have spawned spiritual successors or have been used as a base for comparison. "Dungeon Keeper" has influenced "War for the Overworld" and Mucky Foot's "Startopia", the former being described as "a true spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper". DR Studios' "Hospital Tycoon" has been compared to "Theme Hospital". "Satellite Reign" (programmed by Mike Diskett) has been labelled a spiritual successor to the "Syndicate" series. "Two Point Hospital", developed by Two Point Studios, is considered to be a spiritual successor to "Theme Hospital". In October 2013, Jeff Skalski of Mythic Entertainment, which produced a free-to-play remake of "Dungeon Keeper" for mobile platforms, said he would like to remake other Bullfrog titles, and described the company as "unstoppable". "Theme Park" also received a freemium remake in December 2011.


title: Bullfrog Productions

text: Bullfrog cancelled several projects. According to Molyneux, the most common reason games were abandoned in the company's earlier days was because the game testers did not like them. That being the case, his theory was that customers would not either. Cancelled games include:


title: Dimethylamine

text: Dimethylamine is an organic compound with the formula (CH)NH. This secondary amine is a colorless, flammable gas with an ammonia-like odor. Dimethylamine is commonly encountered commercially as a solution in water at concentrations up to around 40%. An estimated 270,000 tons were produced in 2005.


title: Dimethylamine

text: The molecule consists of a nitrogen atom with two methyl substituents and one proton. Dimethylamine is a weak base and the pKa of the ammonium CH--CH is 10.73, a value above methylamine (10.64) and trimethylamine (9.79).


title: Dimethylamine

text: Dimethylamine reacts with acids to form salts, such as dimethylamine hydrochloride, an odorless white solid with a melting point of 171.5 °C. Dimethylamine is produced by catalytic reaction of methanol and ammonia at elevated temperatures and high pressure:


title: Dimethylamine

text: Dimethylamine is found quite widely distributed in animals and plants, and is present in many foods at the level of a few mg/kg.


title: Dimethylamine

text: Dimethylamine is a precursor to several industrially significant compounds. It reacts with carbon disulfide to give dimethyl dithiocarbamate, a precursor to zinc bis(dimethyldithiocarbamate) and other chemicals used in the sulfur vulcanization of rubber. The solvents dimethylformamide and dimethylacetamide are derived from dimethylamine. It is raw material for the production of many agrichemicals and pharmaceuticals, such as dimefox and diphenhydramine, respectively. The chemical weapon tabun is derived from dimethylamine. The surfactant lauryl dimethylamine oxide is found in soaps and cleaning compounds. Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, a rocket fuel, is prepared from dimethylamine.


title: Dimethylamine

text: It is basic, in both the Lewis and Brønsted senses. It easily forms dimethylammonium salts upon treatment with acids. Deprotonation of dimethylamine can be effected with organolithium compounds. The resulting LiNMe, which adopts a cluster-like structure, serves as a source of "MeN". This lithium amide has been used to prepare volatile metal complexes such as tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium and pentakis(dimethylamido)tantalum.


title: Dimethylamine

text: It reacts with many carbonyl compounds. Aldehydes give aminals. For example reaction of dimethylamine and formaldehyde gives bis(dimethylamino)methane:


title: Dimethylamine

text: Dimethylamine is not very toxic with the following LD values: 736 mg/kg (mouse, i.p.); 316 mg/kg (mouse, p.o.); 698 mg/kg (rat, p.o.); 3900 mg/kg (rat, dermal); 240 mg/kg (guinea pig or rabbit, p.o.).


title: Kim Davis

text: Kimberly Jean Davis (; born September 17, 1965) is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis was elected Rowan County Clerk in 2014. The following year, the Supreme Court decided "Obergefell v. Hodges", and all county clerks in Kentucky were ordered to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Citing personal religious objections to same-sex marriage, Davis began denying marriage licenses to all couples to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples. A lawsuit, "Miller v. Davis", was filed, and Davis was ordered by the U.S. District Court to start issuing marriage licenses. She appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the application to appeal was denied. Davis continued to defy the court order by refusing to issue marriage licenses "under God's authority"; she was ultimately jailed for contempt of court. Davis was released after five days in jail under the condition that she not interfere with the efforts of her deputy clerks, who had begun issuing marriage licenses to all couples in her absence. Davis then modified the Kentucky marriage licenses used in her office so that they no longer mentioned her name.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis's actions drew strong and mixed reactions from prominent politicians, legal experts, and religious leaders. Attorney and author Roberta A. Kaplan described Davis as "the clearest example of someone who wants to use a religious liberty argument to discriminate", while law professor Eugene Volokh maintained that an employer must try to accommodate religious employees' beliefs. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that Davis's imprisonment was part of the "criminalization of Christianity", while "Washington Post" columnist Jennifer Rubin compared Davis's refusal to obey the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to Alabama Governor George Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" in 1963. A few weeks after her release from jail, Davis met with Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. She was defeated by Democratic challenger Elwood Caudill Jr. in the November 6, 2018, election and vacated the office on January 7, 2019.


title: Kim Davis

text: Kim Davis was born on September 17, 1965, in Jackson, Kentucky. By 1991, she was serving as chief deputy clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, reporting to her mother, Rowan County Clerk Jean W. Bailey. Davis's 2011 compensation was in wages with an additional in overtime and other compensation. She earned more than other chief deputies in the county, and some county employees and residents complained to the county's governing body, the Fiscal Court, that the clerk's staff's wages were too high, with total compensation for five employees being about $198,000. The Fiscal Court then voted to cut the 2012 budget for wages from $300,000 to $200,000.


title: Kim Davis

text: After her mother announced she would not run for re-election in 2014, Davis filed as a Democratic candidate for county clerk. At a candidates' forum, Davis stated she felt she was best qualified for the position because of her 26 years of experience in the clerk's office.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis narrowly won the Democratic primary election, defeating Elwood Caudill Jr., a deputy clerk in the Rowan County property valuation administrator's office, by 23 votes and advancing to the general election against Republican John Cox. Davis won the election, with Cox subsequently alleging that nepotism was to blame for his loss. After winning the race, Davis told "The Morehead News", "My words can never express the appreciation but I promise to each and every one that I will be the very best working clerk that I can be and will be a good steward of their tax dollars and follow the statutes of this office to the letter."


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis took the oath of office as the county clerk of Rowan County on , 2015, beginning a four-year term slated to end on , 2019. As clerk in 2015, Davis received an annual salary of .


title: Kim Davis

text: On , 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of "Obergefell v. Hodges", holding that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Fourteen counties in three Southern states continued to deny marriage licenses for same-sex marriage. The Alabama Supreme Court allowed the probate judges of ten counties in Alabama to deny such marriage licenses, the clerk of one Texas county chose to resign rather than issue such licenses, and the clerks of two counties in Kentucky were not issuing licenses due to paperwork delays. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear ordered all Kentucky county clerks to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses immediately.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis contacted Beshear, asking for an executive order to protect clerks who have moral objections against personally issuing such marriage licenses, as Kentucky law requires county clerks to issue marriage licenses in their names. She began turning away gay couples from her county office who were seeking marriage licenses. David Ermold and David Moore, a same-sex couple from Morehead, Kentucky and alumni of Morehead State University, released video footage on July 7, 2015 of Davis refusing to issue them a marriage license and requesting that they turn off their camera. The video went viral overnight.


title: Kim Davis

text: The Family Foundation of Kentucky, a local political organization, held a protest rally against the ruling at the State Capitol in Frankfort on August 22, 2015, attended by several thousand people. The clerks of the two other Kentucky counties declined to speak to the rally crowd, but Davis spoke briefly, saying, "I need your prayers ... to continue to stand firm in what we believe." At a competing event several blocks away organized by the Fairness Campaign of Louisville, attendees celebrated the Supreme Court's decision and called upon government officials to uphold the law.


title: Kim Davis

text: Rather than issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Davis began denying marriage licenses to all couples.


title: Kim Davis

text: Six couples who were denied marriage licenses from Davis sued her in her official capacity as county clerk. Four couples were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky and two couples each had separate legal representation. The four couples represented by the ACLU, two same-sex couples and two opposite-sex couples, filed the first lawsuit against Davis ("Miller v. Davis") on July 2, 2015. On July 10, 2015, David Ermold and David Moore (who had shot the viral video) next filed suit against Davis, represented by Joseph Buckles and Thomas Szczygielski ("Ermold v. Davis"); James Yates and William Smith Jr., represented by Rene Heinrich of the Heinrich Firm PLLC and Kash Stilz of Roush & Stilz PSC, filed a suit against Davis on August 25, 2015 ("Yates v. Davis").


title: Kim Davis

text: Federal district judge David L. Bunning of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the judge assigned to the cases, held hearings with Davis in Ashland, at which she was the only witness. Davis argued tearfully that issuing licenses under her name violated her beliefs, citing her religious rights under the First Amendment: "It wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment decision", she said. "It was thought out, and I sought God on it." Davis had already decided against resigning from her post, as doing so, she said, would only leave the matter to her deputies: "If I resign, I solve nothing. It helps nobody." Governor Beshear stated that he would not call a special session of the General Assembly to address Davis's concerns, while other state legislators believed that such a session could accommodate Davis with possible new legislation. Davis's attorneys, from the Maitland, Florida-based law firm Liberty Counsel, stated that the plaintiffs were free to drive to other counties to obtain their same-sex marriage licenses, with one adding, "This case is not about these plaintiffs' desires to get married, the case is about [their] desire to force Kim Davis to approve and authorize their marriage in violation of her constitutionally protected religious beliefs." Davis and her attorneys then sued Governor Beshear for ordering her to violate her religious beliefs instead of trying to accommodate them, arguing that Beshear, not Davis, should be held accountable for any legal damages from the ACLU lawsuit.


title: Kim Davis

text: On August 12, Bunning issued a temporary stay barring Davis from "applying her 'no marriage licenses' policy to future marriage license requests". Before the stay expired, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit refused to extend that ruling for an appeal. "It cannot be defensibly argued that the holder of the Rowan County clerk's office ... may decline to act in conformity with the United States Constitution", the three-judge panel wrote unanimously in their refusal, continuing, "There is thus little or no likelihood that the clerk in her official capacity will prevail on appeal."


title: Kim Davis

text: Liberty Counsel and Davis filed an emergency application to appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. On August 31, 2015, in a one-line order, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, preventing Davis from legally continuing to deny marriage licenses. In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to grant her stay request, Davis stated:


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis continued to defy Bunning's court order after the Supreme Court's refusal. The following morning, several couples sought to obtain marriage licenses, but Davis turned them away, saying she was acting "under God's authority". Some in the media questioned whether Davis, having been married four times and only recently converted, was acting hypocritically in the application of her beliefs.


title: Kim Davis

text: Judge Bunning ordered Davis and her six deputy clerks to appear before him on after the six couples sought to have her held in contempt of court. Bunning ruled in the plaintiffs' favor and held Davis in contempt. The ACLU asked the court to fine Davis, but Bunning ordered her remanded in custody after the hearing. The judge said Davis would remain there until she complied with the court's order to issue marriage licenses. Bunning then spoke with each of the deputy clerks who reported to Davis. Only her son, Nathan Davis, told the judge he refused to comply with the court's order to start issuing marriage licenses; Bunning declined to hold him in contempt. After the hearing, U.S. Marshals transported Davis to the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson.


title: Kim Davis

text: On Friday, September 4, the first day her office was open during her incarceration, Davis's deputy clerks began issuing marriage licenses to all couples. James Yates and William Smith Jr. (independently suing Davis) were the first couple in Rowan County to receive a marriage license since "Obergefell". They were soon followed by other couples who were plaintiffs against Davis.


title: Kim Davis

text: Through her Liberty Counsel attorneys, Davis filed an appeal of the order holding her in contempt of court, asking that she be released immediately from jail and that her name be removed from marriage licenses, allowing her deputies to issue them. Separately, Davis asked Governor Beshear to free her. The governor's office said that the conflict was a "matter between her and the courts"; Beshear added that he lacked the legal authority to either remove Davis from office or to relieve Davis of her statutory duties. Rowan County Democratic Judge-Executive Walter Blevins stated that he did not believe he would need to appoint a replacement for Davis, and that he believed the Attorney General of Kentucky and "the General Assembly will pass something where marriage licenses don't have anyone's name on them".


title: Kim Davis

text: Five days later, on Tuesday, September 8, Bunning ordered Davis released from jail. The order stated: "Defendant Davis shall not interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples. If Defendant Davis should interfere in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a violation of this order and appropriate sanctions will be considered."


title: Kim Davis

text: Bunning's order also stated that Davis's deputy clerks must continue to comply with his earlier order to issue marriage licenses and to submit status reports to him every fourteen days confirming their compliance. The deputy clerks released statements pledging to continue issuing licenses after Davis's release and to ignore any order from her to do otherwise, complying with the federal judge's order. Licenses issued since Davis's refusal state that they are authorized by "the office of the Rowan County Clerk" but no longer bear her name. Davis's supporters, gathered at the Rowan County Courthouse since her first day in custody, said that her deputies were unlawfully issuing licenses and should resign or be fired.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis returned to work a week later, on , 2015. She said that, while she would not interfere with any deputy clerk who issues marriage licenses, she would not personally issue or authorize any of the forms. She created several altered versions of the Kentucky marriage license form and instructed her deputy clerks to use them, which had her name and reference to the clerk's office removed. The ACLU sued Davis separately for these form alterations, which they found to be of questionable legality. Governor Steve Beshear was asked by Bunning to brief the court on the validity of the licenses. Governor Beshear acknowledged that Kentucky would recognize the licenses being issued, but he could not verify the legality of the licenses issued or the means by which the marriage licenses were altered. Bunning ultimately denied the ACLU's separate suit, stating the altered forms were likely legal and that Davis was now abiding by the court's order.


title: Kim Davis

text: While Davis remained inside her personal office, same-sex couples successfully walked out of the Rowan County clerk's office with their marriage licenses. One of the applicants said, "My license is valid, and it's valid because of the court order that's in effect ... It doesn't have to have her signature."


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis gained international attention after her refusal to issue marriage licenses and the ensuing controversy her actions caused. Many legal experts asserted that Davis had no standing under the law to refuse to issue the licenses. Columbia Law School professor Katherine Franke said, "Kim Davis has all sorts of religious liberty rights secured under the First Amendment and under other laws, but they are not at stake in this case. All she's asked to do with couples that come before her is certify that they've met the state requirements for marriage, so her religious opposition to same-sex marriage is absolutely irrelevant." Professor Stephen Vladeck of American University's Washington College of Law said that Davis "waived any right to have an objection to issuing same-sex marriage licenses when she ran for the job". "Washington Post" columnist Jennifer Rubin and others compared Davis's refusal to follow orders of the U.S. Supreme Court to Alabama Governor George Wallace's futile "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" protest of desegregation in 1963. The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT civil rights group, said, "Ms. Davis has the fundamental right to believe what she likes ... but as a public servant, she does not have the right to pick and choose which laws she will follow or which services she will provide." Attorney and author Roberta A. Kaplan, who argued for the plaintiffs in "United States v. Windsor", wrote that "Kim Davis is the clearest example of someone who wants to use a religious liberty argument to discriminate, yet she swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. It is laughable that she can then decide which laws to enforce, which is why every decision in her case has gone against her."


title: Kim Davis

text: Opposition to the federal ruling came from political columnists William McGurn of "The Wall Street Journal" and Ray Nothstine of "The Christian Post". Law professor Eugene Volokh suggested that the Kentucky's state religious freedom restoration act might compel the state to accommodate Davis's religious beliefs and argued that state courts have the authority to order the removal of Davis's name from marriage licenses. Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers also came to Davis's defense; he stated, in an amicus brief filed in federal court, that the "Supreme Court ruling has completely obliterated the definition of marriage". Liberty Counsel, the law firm defending Davis, stated, "Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience", stating also that she refused to accept a proposed compromise where she would no longer be found in contempt if she agreed not to interfere with her deputies issuing licenses to same-sex couples.


title: Kim Davis

text: Reactions against Davis also came from the White House, from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, and from candidates in the race for the 2016 presidential election. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, "No public official is above the rule of law. Certainly not the president of the United States, but neither is the Rowan County clerk." Governor Beshear said the judge's decision "speaks for itself", while his attorneys called the legal arguments in her suit against him "absurd". Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said, "Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law – end of story." Several Republican presidential candidates also called on Davis to comply with court orders. Donald Trump said, "the decision's been made, and that is the law of the land." Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, said Davis "is sworn to uphold the law", but also suggested that some sort of accommodation be made for her. Republican presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina both suggested that Davis should comply with the court order or resign.


title: Kim Davis

text: Several national Republican politicians supported Davis. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, said that the Kim Davis affair was part of a "criminalization of Christianity" and organized a rally for Davis outside the jail where she had been held. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican presidential candidate, said that Davis was a victim of "judicial tyranny" and attended the same rally. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, also presidential candidates, both voiced their support for Davis. Matt Bevin, the Republican nominee for Kentucky governor in the 2015 election, said a simple solution to Davis's plight is for the government to stop providing marriage contracts.


title: Kim Davis

text: A survey of American adults conducted by YouGov in September 2015 found that 56% supported Judge Bunning's decision to jail Davis for contempt of court, while 31% of Americans opposed the decision. When asked what Davis should do, 65% said that Davis should resign from office; 23% said that Davis should stay in office and continue to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; and 4% said that Davis should remain in office but issue licenses to all persons legally entitled to one.


title: Kim Davis

text: Other court clerks in the U.S. have also refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The probate judges of several counties in Alabama have stopped issuing marriage licenses to anyone. Probate Judge Nick Williams of Washington County, Alabama, said he stopped issuing licenses altogether to avoid discrimination and said, "I completely disagree with the authority the Supreme Court has." Probate Judge John Enslen of Elmore County, Alabama, said the federal government, not state probate offices, should be the entity issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Casey Davis (unrelated to Kim Davis), a clerk in Casey County, Kentucky, said, "We've not tried to prevent same-sex marriages, we've only tried to exercise our First Amendment rights", adding that such applicants could apply in other counties. Kay Schwartz, a clerk in Whitley County, Kentucky, felt oppressed: "There's a law against bullying ... Why take away the majority's right [just] to give the minority their rights?" She suggested the possibility of other options to meet the needs of same-sex applicants, such as an online service. The ACLU has no plans for legal action against other court clerks or probate judges. National attention has not been on them as the ACLU brought no case against them, speculated University of Kentucky political science professor D. B. Riggle: "The action in Rowan County may be in part due to the availability of plaintiffs for a case."


title: Kim Davis

text: Under Kentucky law, a commonwealth's attorney has the power to indict various local officials including "judges-executives, justices of the peace, sheriffs, coroners, surveyors, jailers, county attorneys and constables" for "malfeasance in office or willful neglect in the discharge of official duties" (an offense punishable by removal from office and a fine of up to $1,000); however, the statute doesn't include county clerks. "USA Today" writer Andrew Wolfson blamed "some reason lost to history" for the omission. Because Davis is an elected official, she cannot simply be fired. For Davis to be removed from the office of county clerk, impeachment proceedings must be initiated by the Kentucky House of Representatives and charges for impeachment brought to the Kentucky Senate.


title: Kim Davis

text: After being denied a license four times, one couple asked the Rowan County Attorney's Office to investigate Davis for official misconduct, a misdemeanor under Kentucky law. Official misconduct in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable with imprisonment not to exceed 12 months and fines of $500. The Rowan County Attorney's Office is prohibited from prosecuting Davis; Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins referred the official misconduct complaint to the Kentucky Attorney General's office, led by Attorney General Jack Conway. The Kentucky Attorney General's office conducted a review, and Conway issued a statement saying, "We are a nation of laws, and no one can defy an order from a federal judge." Conway then issued a one-sentence statement saying that he would not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Davis.


title: Kim Davis

text: Months after Davis's office began issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Davis's lawyers filed a motion asking the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to overturn four of Judge Bunning's decisions, calling them a "rush to judgment" that "imposed direct pressure and substantial burden on Davis, forcing her to choose between her religious beliefs and forfeiting her essential personal freedom on one hand, or abandoning those beliefs to keep her freedom on the other hand". The court denied the motion on November 5. Davis's lawyers filed their last appeal the next day, requesting a delay in issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, arguing that previous decisions should apply only to the four couples to whom Davis's office was initially ordered to issue licenses. The appeal also asked the sixth circuit court of appeals to overturn a previous ruling that had sent Davis to jail for failure to comply. This final appeal was denied two days later by the court.


title: Kim Davis

text: In March 2016, the Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, made a request to Davis for access to public records under the Kentucky Open Records Act, seeking copies of retainer agreements and lawyer-client engagement agreements between Davis and her attorneys at Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel, which responded to the request on Davis's behalf, refused to comply, arguing that the documents were preliminary and private records are not subject to the Act. CfA appealed to the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General, which under Kentucky law has the authority to make binding rulings on the Open Records Act, and resubmitted its request to Davis's office in April 2016. The Attorney General's Office sought to privately review the records at issue to determine if an exemption applied, but Liberty Counsel refused to make most of the documents available for a private review. In an opinion issued on June 30, 2016, the Attorney General's Office determined that Davis had violated the Open Records Act, saying that her conduct had the effect of "intentionally frustrating the attorney general's review of an open records request" which "would subvert the General Assembly's intent behind providing review by the attorney general."


title: Kim Davis

text: One of the first acts of newly elected Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin was an executive order to remove clerks' names from the state marriage licenses. Bevin expressed his hope on November 6, 2015, that the executive order will protect the religious beliefs of officials who are opposed to gay marriage. Kim Davis and her attorneys at Liberty Counsel immediately requested that the court dismiss her appeals, because the new regulation provides a religious accommodation for her and makes the case moot. Bunning agreed, dismissing the three lawsuits filed against her, saying the new governor's order to use a license form that does not require the county clerk's signature has removed the controversy before the court. One of the plaintiff couples who were denied marriage licenses from Davis contacted Bunning, requesting they be allowed to recoup $230,000 in legal fees. Davis's attorneys asserted that their legislative victory resolves the matter; the couples did not prevail against Davis, therefore they are not entitled to demand that Davis reimburse their legal fees. Separately, Rowan County filed a response contending that the county government should never have to pay for the actions of a single county clerk. Then, by May 2017, a Cincinnati federal appeals court found that Bunning had erred in finding that damages claims by plaintiff couple David Ermold and David Moore became moot, saying, "The district court's characterization of this case as simply contesting the 'no marriage licenses' policy is inaccurate, because Ermold and Moore did not seek an injunction—they sought only damages"; observing that the record does not prevent damages claims. The three-judge panel granted leave for the couple to sue for damages over one marriage license. Their case was sent back to Bunning, where he stated that the state of Kentucky was obligated to pay $222,000 in legal fees. The ACLU itself sued Davis to recover $233,000 in legal fees, but the motion was denied; the organization was not a "prevailing party" in the legal action.


title: Kim Davis

text: In July 2017, Davis was again sued for failing to issue a marriage license. The plaintiff, , Vanderbilt University Law School graduate, was denied a license to marry a laptop computer. A similar Florida lawsuit was dismissed in May.


title: Kim Davis

text: By February 2019, Governor Bevin formally rejected the idea of Kentucky bearing the $222,000 financial responsibility, insisting the amount should be paid by Kim Davis alone. "Only Davis refused to comply with the law" Bevin stated through his attorneys, insisting taxpayers "should not have to collectively bear the financial responsibility for Davis's intransigence." However, Bunning issued a preliminary injunction ordering the state of Kentucky to pay her legal fees, writing that "Davis represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky when she refused to issue marriage licenses to legally eligible couples. The buck stops there." Local reporting acknowledged that Bevin had previously backed her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On August 23, 2019, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld Bunning's decision ordering Kentucky to pay the $225,000 legal bill from the Kim Davis case.<ref name="Cheves_8/23/2019"></ref>


title: Kim Davis

text: Bunning ruled on March 18, 2022, that Davis violated the constitutional rights in both the "Miller" and "Ermold" cases, in light of the Supreme Court's "Obergefell" decision, stating that she "cannot use her own constitutional rights as a shield to violate the constitutional rights of others while performing her duties as an elected official." The decision allowed the plaintiffs in "Miller" and "Ermold" to continue to seek legal fees and potentially other damages from Davis through a jury trial.


title: Kim Davis

text: Within a few weeks of Davis's release from jail, Davis announced she and her husband had met with Pope Francis on September 24, 2015, at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States in Washington, D.C., during the Pope's U.S. visit in September 2015. According to Davis and her lawyer, the pope told Davis to "stay strong" and gave her two rosaries. Vaticanist John L. Allen Jr. said that "there's no way to view the encounter other than as a broad gesture of support by the pope for conscientious objection from gay marriage laws" and that the gesture strengthened the hand of those who defend religious freedom.


title: Kim Davis

text: Two days later, the Holy See Press Office issued a statement saying that "the Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects". According to Vatican spokesman Father Thomas Rosica, the Pope met with several dozen other people, and rosaries were also given to others in attendance; Davis was not invited by the Pope to the Nunciature, and "the meeting may have been manipulated by her and her lawyer". The only audience given by the Pope while in Washington was with a former student of his, an openly gay Argentine named Yayo Grassi, and Grassi's same-sex partner of 19 years. Observers speculated whether the Pope had not been informed of Davis's controversy or if the Vatican had underestimated the media impact that such a meeting would cause.


title: Kim Davis

text: On September 27, 2015, a reporter asked Pope Francis if he supported individuals, including government officials, who have a contentious objection to certain duties such as issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He responded:


title: Kim Davis

text: "I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscience objection but yes, I can say conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right...If a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right... Conscientious objection must enter into every judicial structure... Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying 'this right that has merit, this one does not.'"


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis announced that she would run for reelection in 2018 as a Republican. Davis did not face any challengers in the Republican primary. Four Democrats ran in the May 2018 primary with the winner being Rowan County Assistant Property Valuation Administrator Elwood Caudill Jr., whom Davis narrowly defeated in the Democratic primary in 2014. One of the Democrats Caudill defeated was David Ermold, who had been denied a marriage license by Davis and then filed suit against her. Davis lost her reelection campaign on November 6, 2018, when she was defeated by Caudill in the general election by a little over 8 percentage points.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis has been married four times to three husbands. The first three marriages ended in divorce in 1994, 2006, and 2008. Davis has two daughters from her first marriage and twins, a son and another daughter, who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband. Her third husband is the biological father of the twins, the children being conceived while Davis was still married to her first husband. The twins were adopted by Davis's current husband, Joe Davis, who was also her second husband; the couple initially divorced in 2006 but later remarried. Joe Davis has also stated his support for her stance against same-sex marriage. Davis's son Nathan works in her office as a deputy clerk and has taken the same position of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Shortly after the same-sex marriage license controversy, Davis said she and her husband switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis says she experienced a religious awakening in 2011, following her mother-in-law's dying wish that she attend church. Since then Davis has identified herself as a Christian, belonging to the Apostolic Pentecostal movement, which favors what they describe as a literal interpretation of the Bible. She worships three times a week at the Solid Rock Apostolic Church near Morehead. Following her conversion, Davis let her hair grow long, stopped wearing makeup and jewelry, and began wearing skirts and dresses that fall below the knee, in keeping with Apostolic Pentecostal tenets regarding outward holiness and modest dress. She also held a weekly Bible study for female inmates at the local jail. In an interview in January 2016, Davis said that she believed that "we are living in end times." Davis also expressed her view that the Bible is infallible.


title: Kim Davis

text: Davis was the subject of numerous satirical works following the burst of media attention in 2015. Books, social media profiles, and videos were created to satirize her refusal to issue marriage licenses. A Twitter account which once had more than 90,000 followers and is run by comedian Dave Colan trolled Davis with mocking tweets purporting to be from a woman who "Sits Next to Kim Davis". "Funny or Die" made a Mashup video featuring characters from "Parks and Recreation" that spoofs Davis's refusal to issue marriage licenses and parodies her meeting with Pope Francis. La Strega Entertainment created a satirical music video sung to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". "Saturday Night Live" cast member Aidy Bryant portrayed Davis during the show's season 41 premiere. Actress Jennifer Lawrence, in the December 2015 issue of "Vogue", told Jonathan Van Meter that Kim Davis is a "lady that makes me embarrassed to be from Kentucky."


title: Kim Davis

text: In 2015, her office claims to have received death threats by phone and email, including an ex-Marine who called saying he would attack them with a machine gun. In response, the sheriff's office took a position near the doorway of the office and Davis changed her driving routes and parking locations. She also had to change her home phone number. She later reflected "It was a very volatile time. The threats were nonstop. The lashing out and the venom spewed toward me was, I mean, I blushed just reading some of the stuff. Just think 'eww' you know. And I've received things in the mail that were ungodly." She stayed off social media and did not watch the news or any of the interviews or "read any of the stuff they wrote about me, which was some nasty stuff."


title: Jacksfilms

text: John Patrick "Jack" Douglass (born June 30, 1988), better known as jacksfilms, is an American YouTuber. Douglass began his online career in 2006. His YouTube channel initially consisted of infomercial parodies, sketches, and comedic music videos.


title: Jacksfilms

text: Douglass was born in Columbia, Maryland, on June 30, 1988, and is primarily of Irish ancestry. He has two older sisters. During high school he started to develop a love for music, and he learned to play the French horn and the piano. In May 2006, during his senior year of high school, he created short video sketches for a school assignment, leading him to decide to create films. The next month, he started using YouTube and uploading videos. After graduating from high school, Douglass attended American University, where he majored in film and minored in music theory.


title: Jacksfilms

text: On January 1, 2017, Douglass became engaged to his longtime partner Erin Breslin. The couple married on April 21, 2018. Douglass owns three American Eskimo dogs; their names are Klondike, Sundae, and Chipwich.


title: Jacksfilms

text: Douglass launched his main YouTube channel jacksfilms on June 26, 2006. He uploaded "The WTF Blanket (Snuggie Parody)" on January 22, 2009, which is his most-viewed video as of September 2022, amassing 25.6 million views. Many of Douglass' early videos were parodies, often about infomercials, and Apple or Samsung phones. In June 2011, Douglass began the series "Your Grammar Sucks", mocking internet comments with excessive grammatical and spelling errors. On June 27, 2013, the jacksfilms channel reached 1 million subscribers; this sits at a combined 5.33 million across his YouTube channels as of September 2022. In 2014, Douglass' channel jacksfilms was listed on "NewMediaRockstars" list of the top 100 YouTube channels, ranked at #54.


title: Jacksfilms

text: On January 8, 2014, Douglass launched "JackAsk", a series in which he satirically answers viewers' questions. On February 3, 2015, Douglass launched "Yesterday I Asked You" ("YIAY"), a daily series in which he reads his favorite answers from the viewers of questions he previously asked.


title: Jacksfilms

text: In 2016 and 2017, Douglass released a series of phone commercial parodies, on the first-generation iPhone SE, Galaxy S8, and iPhone X. These parodies received media attention from "CNET" and "Kotaku". On April 15, 2018, Douglass won the 2018 Shorty Award for YouTuber of the Year.


title: Jacksfilms

text: After Douglass made videos poking fun at "The Emoji Movie," he received a package from the film's marketing team on July 20, 2017, thanking him for being "the [No. 1] fan of "The Emoji Movie"". They invited him to the world premiere on July 23, and sent "Emoji Movie–"related merchandise.


title: Jacksfilms

text: On January 4, 2021, Douglass announced "YIAY TIME: The Game Show", a new YouTube Originals show. It premiered the next day on January 5, 2021, for free on Douglass's YouTube channel.


title: Jacksfilms

text: Douglass played Intern 2 on "MyMusic", a 2012 webseries funded by YouTube's $100 million original channel initiative. In 2014, Douglass voiced Jimmy in "16-Bit High", an animated series created by Smosh Games. In October 2015, Douglass played Pippen in the 2015 film "". Douglass appeared in the 2016 and 2017 editions of "YouTube Rewind".


title: FSO Polonez

text: The FSO Polonez is a motor vehicle that was developed in Poland in collaboration with Fiat and produced by Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych from 1978 to 2002. It was based on the Polski Fiat 125p platform with a new hatchback design by Giorgetto Giugiaro. It was available in a variety of body styles that included two- and four-door compact-sized cars, station wagons, as well as commercial versions that included pickup truck, cargo van, and ambulance versions. Production totaled more than one million units excluding the pickup truck and van variants. The Polonez was marketed in other nations and was popular in its domestic market until Poland joined the European Union in 2004.


title: FSO Polonez

text: The car's name comes from the Polish dance, the polonaise, and was chosen through a readers' poll conducted by the newspaper "Życie Warszawy".


title: FSO Polonez

text: The Polonez was based on the Polski Fiat 125p that Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych (FSO) built under licence from Fiat. The internal components, including modernised 1.3/1.5 Litre engines, (pistons and carburetor), the chassis, and other mechanicals, were from the Polski Fiat 125p, but the body was an entirely new liftback body designed in the early 1970s by Centro Stile Fiat as a new prototype of Fiat. After the Polish side started co-operation with Fiat over a new car, the original design was changed due to Polish requirements. The car was meant to be equipped with Fiat's 2.0 Litre DOHC engines in the 1980s, but financial problems at the time made the purchase of a licence from Fiat impossible. This is also why the 125p was produced simultaneously alongside the Polonez for more than a decade. Moreover, mechanical modernisation only took place when it could be applied to both cars. This situation finally changed after the production of the 125p ended in 1991.


title: FSO Polonez

text: An advantage of the FSO Polonez is its safety in an accident, especially compared to many of its rivals from the Eastern Bloc. In 1978, it was the only Eastern European car built to pass U.S. crash tests. Crash tests were performed in 1994 according to EU safety regulations so that the Polonez could be exported worldwide. They proved the car to be very safe. The Caro 1.9 GLD hitting a concrete block (without an energy-absorbing metal cage) with 40% of the front at survived very well. All doors could be opened without any difficulty, there were no critical injuries for passengers, and no fuel leakage occurred.


title: FSO Polonez

text: There were also many prototypes including: a pickup made using the rear part of Polski Fiat 125p pick-up, chassis cab (without frame in the rear), 4x4 off-roader (Analog), hydro-pneumatic suspension, another sedan version (very different from Atu/Celina), 4x4 Truck w/o offroad suspension and van.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In May 1978, mass production commenced. The official premiere of the FSO Polonez 1500 and FSO Polonez 1300 took place. The FSO Polonez 2000 Rally with a 2-liter Fiat DOHC engine was displayed sometime later. In 1979 the FSO Polonez 2000, sold mostly to government officials, appeared. The Polonez 2000 has a Fiat twin-cam engine with 1,995 cc, , a 5-speed gearbox, a 0–100 km/h acceleration of 12.0 seconds, and a top speed. The FSO Polonez 2000 Rally debuted in the Rallye Monte Carlo. In 1980 the FSO Polonez 1300 and 1500 three-door appeared. With the same short front doors as the five-door version, it was produced from 1979 until 1981 with about 300 units.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1981 a more economical version of the Polonez started being produced. This was sold without black side rubbing strips between the front and rear wheel, chrome bumper strips, rear window wiper-washer, fog lamps, luggage cover, and tachometer. Basic vinyl was used on the seats and in the luggage compartment. At the other end appeared the top version, FSO Polonez 1500 X. This was fitted with the AB 1,481 cc engine of , a five-speed gearbox (final drive ratio 4:3), and a radio. It was sold in the domestic market, usually for U.S. dollar payments.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1981 and 1983, the FSO Polonez Coupé with proper three-door bodywork was introduced. It had the usual 1,481 cc engine with and 2,0 DOHC Fiat. It was the first FSO model to feature electronic ignition and fuel economiser owing to a supply of pre-heated air to the suction manifold. Only a few dozen were produced.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1983 The Polski Fiat 125p was renamed FSO 125p, after FSO's licence rights to the Fiat badge expired. The new naming system for FSO's models was as follows:


title: FSO Polonez

text: Also in 1983, the FSO Polonez 2.0 D Turbo with an Italian VM Motori HR 488 engine of 1,995 cc appeared. It produces at 4,300 rpm and at 2,500 rpm. Final drive ratio is 3,727, for a 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 20,0 s, and a top speed of . Fuel consumption is 7.1/10.6/10.0 L/100 km, and approximately 100 cars were produced to this specification.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1987, the FSO Polonez 1.6 LE appeared. It has a 1,598 cc inline-four with at 5,200 rpm and at 3,800 rpm. Top speed is . There was also the rare FSO 125p 1.6 ME, with the same engine but a top speed of . Very few were made.


title: FSO Polonez

text: FSO Polonez modifications: stamped rear spoiler instead of plastic one, new model labels on the sticking foil, new version coding system with an 'S' supposedly meaning that the car had the additional rear-side windows in the C-pillar, a feature was often broken in practice. The versions available were:


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1988, the FSO Polonez 1500 Turbo with AA 1,481 cc engine, at 7,000 rpm, at 3,200 rpm, 8,5 s, appeared. This was a rally version only, built to group A specifications. Following this competition version, the FSO Polonez 1.5 SLE Turbo with a turbocharged AA engine was introduced in December 1989. With a compression ratio of 8.5 to 1, the 1,481 cc inline-four produces at 6,000 rpm, and at 3,200 rpm. The 100 km/h sprint was discharged in 11,0 s and the top speed is . A catalyzed version with was also available. The Turbo Polonez' were built mainly in rally versions (group N), although on special request a Turbo-kit could be installed in mass-produced cars.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1989, the '89 FSO Polonez appeared, the facelift included a rear boot lid lowered to the bumper level, new rear lamps, a rear window wiper-washer placed horizontally, and side repeaters placed horizontally near the front doors. In January 1989, the first catalysed Polonezes (1500 only) were shown at the Amsterdam Auto Show. Simultaneously, a version with an Italian FNM-built (Fratelli Negri Motori) turbo-diesel and a five-speed manual appeared (called the "Polonez Piedra 1.3 Turbodiesel"), specifically for the Belgian market. This engine has at 4,500 rpm, enough for a top speed of .


title: FSO Polonez

text: In 1990, the FSO Polonez 2.0 SLE appeared, fitted with Ford's 2.0 L engine, 12,5 seconds acceleration to 100 km/h and a top speed of .


title: FSO Polonez

text: A one off version of FSO Polonez dubbed Stratopolonez (also known as FSO Polonez 2500 Racing) uses Lancia Stratos components salvaged from a crashed such car that was driven by Andrzej Jaroszewicz, the son of Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz back in 1977 on Rally Poland. He failed to complete the rally, due to the Lancia Stratos crashing into the tree.


title: FSO Polonez

text: The creation of the vehicle was done by Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy FSO (FSO Research and Development Center) in 1978. The car uses an FSC Star radiator located in the front (as a counterweight due to the car being now mid-engined), engine output was improved to 280 PS, and doesn't share spoilers with FSO Polonez 2000 Rally.


title: FSO Polonez

text: This car was raced until 1985. Drivers were Andrzej Jaroszewicz, Adam Polak, Maciej Stawowiak, and Marian Bublewicz. Marian gave an improvement such as adding wider rear wheel arches and strengthening areas around the windshield. The vehicle then went to Museum of Technology, Warsaw afterward. In the year 2000, the vehicle was restored by students of Warsaw Motor Technical College as part of their diploma thesis.


title: FSO Polonez

text: 1991 marked the end of FSO 125p production. Along with this, FSO's 1,295 cc engine ended production. FSO imports to the United Kingdom were temporarily stopped. On the other hand, the facelifted FSO Polonez Caro appeared. It had new headlamps and grille (similar to the design of the FSO Wars, a prototype car was supposed to be the successor to Polonez), new front and rear bumpers, steering wheel, new rooflet over instruments, and improved front crash safety. Also new was the FSO Polonez Caro 1.9 GLD with Citroën's 1,905 cc diesel engine, , , and a top speed of . The Caro GLD was sold across mainland Europe.


title: FSO Polonez

text: (December) FSO Polonez 1.4 GLI 16V with Rover 1396 cc engine, @ 6000 rpm, @ 5000 rpm, 11,9 s, , with or without catalytic converter.


title: FSO Polonez

text: FSO Polonez Sedan prototype - later produced as the FSO Atu - with 4-door sedan bodywork, with a completely new dashboard and upholstery (project by FSO), new rear suspension: rigid rear axle with longitudinal wishbones, reaction bars, and coil springs. Rear lamps same as in the Caro version.


title: FSO Polonez

text: The next prototype: FSO Analog 4WD, light off-road car with 4-door pick-up bodywork and four-wheel drive.


title: FSO Polonez

text: End of export to the Netherlands, the last foreign market for Polonez passenger versions; the last offering in the Netherlands consisted of:


title: FSO Polonez

text: (December) FSO Polonez Caro Plus and Atu Plus 1.6 GSI - with Delphi (Multec XM) multi-point fuel injection, 1598 cc , , ca. , new door handles introduced.


title: FSO Polonez

text: Polonez was exported to many countries, including Netherlands, Yugoslavia, France, Argentina, Bolivia, UK, China, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Syria, Uruguay, Jordan, Norway, Finland, Egypt, Spain, Hungary, and others. Complete knock down (CKD) cars were assembled by El Nasr (in conjunction with Arab American Vehicles) in Egypt from 1983 until 1993, succeeding the locally assembled 125p in that market. In the late 1980s, a batch of 167 Polonez hatchbacks was exported to New Zealand. They were also exported to Chile and Colombia (in the latter country also used as police cars and taxicabs) from the late 1980s to early 1990s. In some countries, the FSO Polonez was sold as FSO Celina, FSO Prima, or FSO Caro. A few were also exported to Albania and the Soviet Union but did not find success there.


title: FSO Polonez

text: Imports to the UK ceased in 1997, though sales continued in some parts of Western Europe - including France - for at least a year afterward. They were withdrawn from those markets due to a combination of more stringent emissions requirements and declining demand.


title: FSO Polonez

text: In China, the Polonez platform was produced by YTO Group as the Dongfanghong/Yituo LT5021/LT5022 series, though with many modifications (trim pieces came from the Volkswagen Santana and power was sourced from locally produced 1.4L engines). These cars were built with locally-made spare parts for imported Polonez - common cars in China during that time, but with many other local parts substituted in (Dongfanghong was also working with Fiat at the time on tractor technology, which may have also influenced the choice of a car); a selling point for the vehicles were that their parts were easily interchangeable with Polonez. These cars were not nearly as successful as their actual Polonez counterparts, and none are known to survive today.


title: FSO Polonez

text: The FSO Polonez suffered from relatively poor performance (except for those models equipped with the Fiat 2.0 DOHC, the Ford 2.0 SOHC, or the Rover 1.4 MPI 16V). Polonez parts were relatively cheap and readily available. After 1992, quality began to increase, especially after 1995 when Daewoo started its cooperation with FSO. Since 1997, the last production models (the PLUS series) offered new features such as air conditioning.


title: FSO Polonez

text: Production ended in 2002, after 24 years. The relatively low price of the Polonez was seen as the main advantage over other cars. But demand slumped, and the last versions of the Polonez produced were the Truck versions, valued for their low price, reliability, and high load capability: up to depending on the version.


title: FSO Polonez

text: The Polonez was a common sight in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in its home country of Poland, but since Poland became a member of the European Union on 1 May 2004, the car was rapidly replaced by relatively cheap and tax-free used cars from Western Europe.


title: FSO Polonez

text: For many years the Polonez has been a popular choice for participants in the Złombol Charity Rally. In 2018 around 300 teams (~40% of all teams) used different versions of the Polonez in this event.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Edinburgh Trams is a tramway in Edinburgh, Scotland, operated by Edinburgh Trams Ltd. It is a line between St Andrew Square in the New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Construction began in June 2008, and after encountering delays it opened on 31 May 2014. The scheme had an initial estimated cost of £375 million in 2003, but by May 2008, when contracts were signed, the cost had risen to £521 million. The final cost after delays was £776 million.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: After running for two years, the scheme had achieved pre-tax profitability (excluding maintenance and infrastructure costs) and exceeded the original ridership targets. It has run at an operating loss since 2018 (e.g. − £9.4 million in 2018). On 14 March 2019, Edinburgh Council voted to approve the extension of the existing line from York Place to Newhaven. The extended line is due to be operational by early 2023.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Edinburgh and Leith were originally served by horse-drawn coaches, and then from 1871 various companies and corporations ran trams that were horse-drawn, then cable driven and finally electric, until 16 November 1956. After that date, public transport consisted of buses and a limited network of commuter rail lines.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Towards the end of the 20th century, there was revived interest in trams in the United Kingdom and networks were reintroduced in Birmingham, Croydon, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Proposals for a network in Edinburgh were made in the 1990s, and a plan to build a line along Princes Street and Leith Walk to Newhaven was proposed in 1999 by the City of Edinburgh Council, Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise and the New Edinburgh Tramways Company.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: A 2001 proposal envisaged three routes, lines 1, 2 and 3. The first was a circular route around the northern suburbs, and the others were radial routes to Newbridge in the west and Newcraighall in the south. All lines would have passed through the city centre. In May 2004, a 15-year operating contract was awarded to Transdev, to operate and maintain the tram network. This contract was cancelled in 2009.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Two bills to reintroduce a tram network were passed by the Scottish Parliament in March 2006. Lines 1 and 2 received parliamentary permission, but funding the entire network was deemed impossible. Line 3, to be paid for by a proposed Edinburgh congestion charge, was scrapped when the charge was heavily defeated in a referendum and construction of the remaining two lines was split into four phases:


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The future of the scheme came under threat in 2007, when the Scottish National Party (SNP) published its manifesto for the Scottish Parliamentary election. The party made clear its intention to cancel the scheme, along with the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link, to save £1.1 billion.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Following a lost vote in the Scottish Parliament, the SNP-led minority Scottish Government agreed to continue the line from the airport to Leith on condition that no more public money would be supplied. A report by Audit Scotland, commissioned by the Scottish Government, confirmed that the cost projections were sound. The cost of the scheme in 2003 was estimated at £498 million, £375 million in funding from the Scottish Government and £45 million from Edinburgh Council.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: On 25 October 2007, the council approved the final business case. Approval was given on 22 December 2007 for TIE to sign contracts with CAF to supply vehicles and BBS (a consortium of Bilfinger Berger and Siemens) to design and construct the network. Contract negotiations finished in April 2008, and construction started in June 2008. By this stage the cost of the project was estimated at £521 million. Funding problems and political disputes led to the scaling back of the original plans. In April 2009, the council cancelled phase 1b, citing revenue shortfall created by the economic slowdown to save an estimated £75 million. The Granton extension was also cancelled.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Until August 2011, the project was overseen by Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), a company wholly owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, who were responsible for project-managing the construction of the tramway.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: After the draft business case was accepted by the Scottish Government in March 2007, initial construction work commenced in July 2007, with the diversion of underground utilities in preparation for track-laying in Leith. These works followed a plan by System Design Services (SDS), a joint design team led by Parsons Brinckerhoff and Halcrow Group.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In May 2008, final contracts to build the tram system were awarded to BSC, a consortium of Bilfinger Berger, Siemens and Spanish tram builder Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF).


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The tramway uses a mix of street running and segregated off-road track, with conventional tram stop platforms. Stops are fitted with shelters, ticket machines, lighting and CCTV. The network is operated from a depot in Gogar, close to the A8 roundabout, immediately west of Edinburgh Gateway tram stop.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The route of the line required the construction of bridges to cross railway lines at Edinburgh Park and Stenhouse, and a tunnel under the A8 near the Gogar roundabout. A bridge at Balgreen was widened. Works to build a tram interchange at Haymarket station involved the demolition of a Category C(S) listed building, the former Caledonian Alehouse on Haymarket Terrace.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Some on-street track was laid in a special foundation with cobbled road surfacing designed to be sympathetic with the style of Edinburgh streets but was removed in many places due to objections from cyclists. The trams are powered by overhead cables attached to purpose-built poles or mounted on the sides of buildings. Nine electrical sub-stations were planned for the line to Newhaven, both underground and above-ground but only five were built after the line was truncated at York Place.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In 2008 and 2009, the project met with delays to work on tramway infrastructure. Phase 1b of the project was cancelled because of a funding shortfall in April 2009. Contractual disputes delayed track-laying in the city centre. In December 2009, media reported that the project budget was running over £545 million, and the system was unlikely to come into operation until February 2012 or later. The operating contract with Transdev was cancelled in December 2009 to reduce costs and it was announced that the trams would be operated by Edinburgh Trams Limited, a subsidiary of Transport for Edinburgh. In March 2010, Bilfinger Berger announced that the estimated completion date would be in 2014.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In February 2009, work on the Princes Street section stopped due to contractual disagreements between TIE and BSC after the latter submitted a request for an additional £80 million of funding. Edinburgh Council believed the contractors' claims were unjustified as they had agreed to fixed-price contracts. After negotiations, BSC agreed to commence construction in March 2009 within the original budget, although disagreements remained. Work restarted and line construction went ahead.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In August 2009, TIE began legal proceedings against the BSC consortium over delays to the project, and track-laying on Leith Walk, Shandwick Place and Haymarket was suspended. At issue were alleged changes to BSC's work specification, including track works on Princes Street and £5 million additional costs for foundation work near Murrayfield Stadium. The BSC consortium alleged that TIE had not diverted the underground utilities in time for track-laying to begin, breaching contractual agreements and costing the consortium additional staffing expenditure.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In January 2010 the independent arbiter found in favour of TIE on some points, but on most of the disputed issues ruled in favour of BSC and awarded the consortium 90% of its additional costs, estimated to be up to £80m.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Delays in track laying and depot construction affected vehicle testing. By September 2009, construction was reported to be nine months behind schedule, and CAF was due to deliver the first trams from its factory in Spain. With key project dependency out of synchronisation, TIE held discussions with Transport for London about delivering the trams to Croydon to conduct operational tests on the Tramlink network. Tram vehicle testing commenced in March 2010 on the Siemens test track in Wildenrath, Germany. The tests included recreating the steep gradients of Leith Walk, and using weights to simulate the heavy passenger load expected during a Murrayfield match day.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Following further disputes and delays, it was reported in March 2010 that Edinburgh Council was considering cancelling the contract with Bilfinger Berger. By June 2010, the project's cost had risen to £600 million. Council project managers were reported to be in crisis talks, considering options including: borrowing £55 million to fund the increased costs; phasing the introduction of the tram line, so that trams would initially run between the airport and Haymarket; and terminating the contract with Bilfinger Berger. The council asked TIE to draw up costs for truncating the line at four places: Haymarket station, York Place, the foot of Leith Walk or Ocean Terminal.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Work resumed in May 2011 at priority locations, Haymarket Yards and Gogar, while the project's future was decided by the council. In August 2011 it was announced TIE would be disbanded and consultants Turner & Townsend would manage the project.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: On 30 June 2011, Edinburgh Council voted to continue the line between Edinburgh Airport and St Andrew Square. Costs rose to an estimated £770m, leaving the council with a shortfall of more than £200m. The option to scrap the project was considered, but rejected. On 25 August 2011, the council voted to cut the line to run between the airport and Haymarket, reducing the expected cost to £715m. A week later, after the Scottish Government threatened to withhold £72 million of funding, the council reversed its decision, restoring the terminus at St Andrew Square. On 29 November 2011 it was announced that the eastern terminus would be at York Place instead of St Andrew Square; the intention had been to build the tracks to a reversing point at York Place (without a stop for passengers). Extending passenger services from St Andrew Square to York Place would enable Broughton Street, Picardy Place and the surrounding area to be better served at comparatively little additional cost.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The first electric wires were energised in October 2011 within the depot at Gogar. Testing trams began in December 2011 near the depot at Gogar, on a length of track. On 15 December 2011, the contractors handed the depot to the City of Edinburgh Council.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The first completed section of line, between the depot and Edinburgh Airport, was used to test a tram at full speed on 19 December 2012.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Delays in construction were criticised by businesses, who claimed their income was damaged by long-term road closures in the centre of the city, and also by some residents.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Cycling groups voiced safety concerns after people were injured as their bicycle wheels became caught in the track. They reported the road surface around the tracks was crumbling, raising further safety problems. In response, TiE promised to carry out repairs and Edinburgh Trams agreed to fund special training for cyclists., but the repairs were insufficient: in 2017, a woman was crushed to death by a passing bus when her bicycle wheel was caught in the tracks. Further safety concerns were raised by residents along the routes about the suspension of overhead electric cables from residential buildings, and some property owners refused permission for cables to be attached.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: To remedy crumbling tarmac along the tracks on Princes Street, the road was closed in September 2011 and remained closed for ten months. A road closure between Haymarket and Shandwick Place in March 2012 led to complaints from businesses and residents. It remained closed until October 2013. Originally to open as "Shandwick Place" tram stop, it was renamed "West End - Princes Street" prior to opening at the request of local traders, who felt the new name had greater associations to the city centre and would encourage more tourists to get off there. The stop was renamed again in August 2019 as "West End".


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: From late 2012, work continued mostly on schedule. More than of flawed concrete trackbed had to be replaced between Shandwick Place and Haymarket. In June 2013, overhead electric wires were installed on the city centre portion of the route. This was considered the last major step in the construction process.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Controversy erupted over concessionary travel for the elderly and disabled. Originally, it was planned that concessionary travel, that is the ability of those with a Scottish National Entitlement Card to travel on public transport free-of-charge, was not going to be offered on the tramway. This was despite the fact that Edinburgh Trams is to be run by Lothian Buses, who are mandated to offer free travel to those with concession cards on all their bus routes. This revelation quickly caused city leaders to support an "Edinburgh Evening News" campaign to ensure that concessionary travel would be offered on the new tramway. City transport convener Lesley Hinds stated "People in Edinburgh have paid through their council tax and their taxes for the trams to get up and running and it would be wrong for a large proportion of the population not to be allowed to use their concessionary bus pass".


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Despite this, the Scottish Government refused to pay for concessionary travel for the tram scheme, as it does for all bus routes in Scotland. Talks between the Scottish Government and Edinburgh Council eventually decided that concession cards should be valid for tram travel, but that they should be paid for by the Council instead of the Government. It was revealed on 15 August 2013 that the cards would be valid, and that travel would be paid for by Edinburgh Council. However, only people with cards issued in Edinburgh would be able to use them. This compromise upset many people in the Lothians, who often commute or travel into Edinburgh.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Works were two months ahead of schedule by September 2013, when Edinburgh Council announced the tramway would open by May 2014. All tram and road works were completed by 19 October with testing of the trams between the depot and Edinburgh Park commencing on 8 October 2013. This was followed by the energising of tram wires from Bankhead tram stop to York Place on 19 November, marking the first time that the route was completely energised. Testing along the full length of the route began on 5 December.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: A non-statutory public inquiry to scrutinise the delivery of the project was announced on 5 June 2014. This was subsequently upgraded by the Scottish Government on 7 November 2014 to a statutory inquiry to ensure that key personnel would provide evidence.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Edinburgh Council stated on 17 March 2014 that works would be conducted along Leith Walk to prepare it for a possible future extension of tram service. In December 2014, Edinburgh Council ordered a detailed business case for extending the line to Leith. The council said in July 2015 that three options for an extension to Leith had been costed. These were a £144.7 million extension to Newhaven, a £126.6 million extension to Ocean Terminal, or a £78.7 million extension to the Foot of Leith Walk.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In June 2018, Colin Beattie, the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh backed plans to extend the tram system to Musselburgh.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In March 2019, Edinburgh Council approved extending the system from York Place to Newhaven, with the line due to be operational by early 2023. Preliminary works to Constitution Street and Leith Walk started in November 2019. Work was suspended in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but was restarted in June 2020.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: In February 2022, the eastern terminating York Place stop was permanently closed for demolition and to enable connection to the Newhaven extension which will relocate the York Place stop to Picardy Place. Services initially terminated at the West End stop (between February and April 2022), before being extended to the St Andrew Square stop, the current terminus (until the Newhaven extension opens in 2023); however, trams still run to York Place to turn back.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: The single, route begins running on-street at York Place, in the city centre. It turns into North St Andrew Street, crosses St Andrew Square. From the square, it heads southeast into Princes Street, and west along the street toward Haymarket, via Shandwick Place, Atholl Place and West Maitland Street. At Haymarket, the route heads onto a segregated track parallel to the Glasgow to Edinburgh mainline. It follows the railway line west for about , to Edinburgh Park railway station. There, it leaves the railway line on a segregated track and heads north to Gogar Roundabout from where it heads northwest via Ingliston Park and Ride to Edinburgh Airport, where it terminates.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: An additional tram stop was opened in December 2016 in the Gogar area, between the Gyle Centre and Gogarburn tram stops. This stop, called Edinburgh Gateway, is situated alongside a new railway station on the Fife Circle Line to form a transport interchange between Edinburgh Trams and the Fife Circle and Edinburgh to Aberdeen Lines. After this stop opened, crews changed here rather than at the special short platform which had been constructed alongside the nearby Gogar depot. Thus, the additional stop at Edinburgh Gateway did not affect the end-to-end running time between the Airport and York Place.


title: Edinburgh Trams

text: Services operate between 05:00 and midnight, at 7- to 10-minute intervals 7 days a week (the period during which the interval is every 7 minutes is shorter on Sunday than on other days).