braille

WMCI industry? Braille

Inmates at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution may soon be dealing in the business of Braille.

Prisoners at WMCI may soon begin producing Braille materials for the blind and vision impaired through an industry proposal being considered by the Wyoming Department of Corrections.

WMCI Warden Mike Murphy updated the Prison Community Partnership Committee of the plan at the committee’s quarterly meeting Wednesday evening at the prison.

“We’ve seen some inmates who have learned Braille and gone out and made a decent living writing and producing materials,” Murphy said. “It’s a specialized skill that there is a real world demand for.”

Inmates in the Braille production facility would initially transcribe books, magazines, restaurant menus and other publications into Braille. Once established, the program would also begin producing music and maps for the blind.

The Department of Corrections is in the process of developing a business plan for the Braille transcription program and ordering the necessary equipment, Department of Corrections Prison Industries Manager Lynn McAuley said in an interview Thursday morning. Department officials hope for a July or August start date for Braille production. If implemented, the Braille industry would employee as many as 15 WMCI inmates.

The idea for the Braille translation came from five inmates who worked at an out-of-state prison’s Braille production facility, McAuley said.

“They are already trained and had been doing the work before they got here,” she said. “They approached us with the idea and said it was something they’d been doing and really liked.”

If WMCI follows through with the proposed Braille production industry, Wyoming will become the 21st state to produce Braille materials in the correctional system. Iowa makes about $240,000 a year in revenue from a similar scale Braille facility,” McAuley said.

Another proposal being considered for WMCI is a central business office for the state’s prison industry system. The facility would be in charge of tracking and processing orders and accounting for the state’s prison industries.

colt

With a Leg Injury, Eskendereya Is Retired

The injured Wood Memorial winner Eskendereya has been retired due to a leg injury. The owner Ahmed Zayat said Friday that tests showed that the 3-year-old colt had a soft tissue injury in his left front leg. The onetime likely Kentucky Derby favorite, Eskendereya was pulled a week before the race with swelling in the same leg. Zayat also announced he was selling a share of the horse to Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables. The sale price was not disclosed. Zayat agreed to sell a portion of Eskendereya as part of a reorganization plan after his racing operation declared bankruptcy. The horse’s value was based on his performance in the Wood and the Fountain of Youth, and Zayat said the horse sold for more than the valuation price.

boycott

San Jose sees AZ boycott as business opportunity

Another Bay Area city is taking a stand against Arizona's new immigration law, but unlike Oakland and San Francisco, city leaders in San Jose are going beyond the boycott. The backlash against Arizona, could be a golden business opportunity.

San Jose opposes Arizona's immigration law, but they're not just taking a stand verbally, they're putting it in their marketing material.
Arizona's controversial immigration law continues to strike an emotional chord, but in San Jose, city leaders are quietly putting their outrage where it could hurt Arizona financially.
"We're banning any travel using city funds from San Jose to Arizona," says San Jose City Council member Sam Liccardo.
Oakland and San Francisco are already doing the same. That's why San Jose's mayor is not just stopping at a citywide boycott. He's using the immigration law as a marketing tool against Arizona and for Silicon Valley.
"I think this is a big mistake, gives us an opening to keep some of these jobs in California. So we're going to take every advantage of it if we can," says San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed.
There's a long standing competition between Arizona and California. Arizona has successfully lured several Silicon Valley clean tech companies out of the state. Mayor Reed is sure they'll think twice now before moving.
"I'll be using it as leverage, just making my point that there's no place in the world like Silicon Valley where people from all over the world can come and focus on what we have in common rather than our differences," says Mayor Chuck Reed
"There's a comfortability [sic] that exists here that perhaps does not exist in Arizona," says Cliff Clarke, Clarke Clean CEO.
Clarke Clean is a green company that makes liquid coating for solar panels and windows. He wants to expand his operations, but refuses to go to Arizona as long as this law is in place. Clarke's says his work force is very diverse.
"If there was an environment that existed where at any time they could be pulled over while they were driving our vehicles or going from one place to the other, of course that would make people uncomfortable," says Clarke.
The city is betting that comfort level will make a difference, even though it costs 50 percent more to rent office space in San Jose, than in much of Arizona.