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MANILA, PhilippinesThe freedom of information (FOI) bill may just finally get moving in the House of Representatives, with the public information committee agreeing on Wednesday to form a technical working group that would consolidate the different versions of the measure that have been filed.

But if committee chair and Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte has his way, the FOI bills will instead be known as the access to information, or ATI bills.

However, several authors of the measure are opposed to Almontes idea as they said the word access does not capture the true significance of the bill, which is the citizens inherent right to information on matters of public concern.

Compared to the Senate, where the FOI bill has passed the committee level, the measure has been off to a sluggish start in the House.

The FOI bill was taken up during the first-ever meeting of the public information committee on Wednesday, after an earlier schedule had to be postponed. But since it was an organizational meeting, the discussions dealt mostly with the bills status and legislative history.

Almonte said House members should not feel pressured by the bills progress in the Senate, saying that committee members should be guided only by whether a measure is good for the country when passing a bill.

But he also pointed out that it was important that the FOI bill is passed as the constitutional provision on full public disclosure of transactions involving public interest was not self-executory. Its passage would uphold transparency in government and create the enabling law for the constitutional mandate, he said.

To forestall any more delays, Diwa party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay has proposed the creation of a technical working group that would discuss and consolidate bills of the same nature. Out of 40 bills in the committee, 19 are FOI measures.

The committee approved Aglipays proposal and designated Almonte as chair of the technical working group, giving him the blanket authority to decide how it would work.

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House info panel eyes consolidated FOI bill

MANATEE -- Lauren Martinez, a State College of Florida student and Freedom Village employee of six years, said she never expected to receive her first scholarship from the senior living community.

"I am following my mother's footsteps," Martinez said.

Martinez and her mother, Wilma Negron, are both recipients of Freedom Village scholarships.

Freedom Village residents have been raising money for employees to pursue higher education since 1995. The Freedom Village Scholarship Foundation has contributed more than $300,000 for more than 250 scholarships for State College of Florida students alone.

Glenn Vergason, scholarship fund chairman, said more funds have gone to support scholarship recipients at other schools.

"We are trying to assist

young people to get an education," Vergason said.

The State College of Florida held a thank-you reception Wednesday at Freedom Villages to show appreciation to the scholarship foundation for students who were able to attend the school through the scholarships.

Martinez was recently accepted into the honors society at the State College of Florida and is working toward a psychology degree with her scholarship. Negron, her mother, finished the school's LPN program and is working on a bachelor's degree in nursing.

Maria Sarver, assistant executive director at Freedom Village, said residents contribute in several ways to the scholarships. Residents can donate to the scholarship program through monthly service fees, remember the scholarship program in their wills or ask loved ones to give memorial donations in lieu of flowers at funeral services.

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SCF applauds Freedom Village scholarships

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Freedom Bank of Virginia (Bank) (Bulletin Board:FDVA.OB) earned a net profit before taxes of $1,230,094 for the first nine months of 2013 compared to a net profit before taxes for the first nine months of 2012 of $1,013,472 and $1,192,253 earned for all of 2012.

Financial Highlights

According to CEO Craig S. Underhill, The Bank is realizing a return on the investment in additional lenders. The Bank has reduced investments in securities to fund our substantial growth over the past twelve months in higher yielding loans. The combination of strong loan growth and improving asset quality is increasing the profitability of the Bank.

About Freedom Bank

Freedom Bank is a community-oriented, locally-owned bank with locations in Fairfax and Vienna, Virginia. For information about Freedom Banks deposit and loan services, visit the Banks website at http://www.freedombankva.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements, including our expectations with respect to future events that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's projections, forecasts, estimates and expectations include: fluctuation in market rates of interest and loan and deposit pricing, adverse changes in the overall national economy as well as adverse economic conditions in our specific market areas, maintenance and development of well-established and valued client relationships and referral source relationships, and acquisition or loss of key production personnel. Other risks that can affect the Bank are detailed from time to time in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We caution readers that the list of factors above is not exclusive. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and we may not undertake steps to update the forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of any circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements are made. In addition, our past results of operations are not necessarily indicative of future performance.

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Freedom Bank Announces Strong Loan Growth Generates Increased Profits

Freedom to Be Fat: The Burden of Obesity in America
Full video from The Atlantic available at: http://fora.tv/2013/10/08/slimmer_cities_strategies_for_fighting_obesity Linda Gibbs, NYC #39;s Deputy Mayor for Healt...

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Freedom to Be Fat: The Burden of Obesity in America - Video

Whither the First Freedom? with Ken Starr, E.J. Dionne, and Ross Douthat
For more on this event, visit: http://bit.ly/1gbou1h For more on the Berkley Center, visit: http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu October 10, 2013 | Since its ...

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Whither the First Freedom? with Ken Starr, E.J. Dionne, and Ross Douthat - Video

FULL STORY: Freedom
He was beaten, put in solitary confinement, and he watched as his brother died. Hamid Ghassemi-Shall was finally set free after a tireless campaign by his wi...

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FULL STORY: Freedom - Video

Chordashian - Skyscraper Souls Ft. Freedom Fry (Free Download Here!)
Subscribe for feel good music every day: http://bit.ly/WlflwrFdTube Listen to the more music like this on our Upbeat Morning Playlist at http://WallflowerFoo...

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Chordashian - Skyscraper Souls Ft. Freedom Fry (Free Download Here!) - Video

Poland: Freedom for Atheists | European Journal
In the fervently Roman Catholic country of Poland, a poster campaign defending atheism is attracting attention. In the past few years, increasing numbers of ...

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Poland: Freedom for Atheists | European Journal - Video

St. Louis -- It was the 59th annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet and a crowd of NAACP members and friends came together at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis to be a part of the event.

Several East St. Louis firefighters who make up the Color Guard presented the colors as the event got under way.

This year's theme was "Game Changer."

East St. Louis Mayor Alvin L. Parks Jr. asked the question "Where are we going with changing the game? I am glad the NAACP is leading the way.

"We must carry on and continue to stand for something. We are all leaders." Parks said.

U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville, briefly touched on the financial mess that's going on in Washington, D.C., saying he was in the east wing of the White House last Thursday with President Barack Obama as multiple members put their heads together to get out of the financial mess that the nation has gotten itself into.

"Our future is very bright, but not without peril. There are assaults upon our rights -- the voting rights act. The Supreme Court has stripped part of that down. We must work to continue to preserve those voting rights," Enyart told the crowd. "Programs that help Americans in need are being cut. There are cuts to the work force. We must work together. We must continue the great work of the NAACP to turn back the forces that would be regressive. We can't afford to regress," Enyart said, firing up the crowd.

The audience was filled with a host of city leaders from East St. Louis and St. Clair County. Besides Parks, there were Centreville Mayor Marius Jackson, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern whose wife, Erin Kern, is chairman of the NAACP scholarship committee. Also attending were retired St. Clair County Judge Milton S. Wharton, former Superintendent of School District 189 Katie Wright, St. Clair County Sheriff Richard Watson, East St. Louis City Manager Deletra Hudson, East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore and many more.

St. Clair County Judge Heinz Rudolf was in the audience. When he was asked what Game Changers means to him, he said "forever vigilant now and in the future."

Watson, who has attended the NAACP banquet for the last 10 years, said Game Changers means "Promoting the health and well-being of everyone."

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Freedom Fund Awards Banquet draws enthusiatic crowd

Before his suicide in January 2013, Aaron Swartz had worked together with the hacker and Wired editor Kevin Poulson on a platform for whistleblowers called Dead Drop. The software allows the transmission of messages and documents between whistleblowers and journalists. The sources of the data are protected by the fact that even the news organization contacted may not even know who has transmitted the messages. The aim of the tool is to protect information from anonymous sources on the internet.

Aaron Swartz did not have it done to complete his big project and now Freedoom of the Press Foundation has done this for him as well as taken charge of the DeadDrop project. In coming months, the Foundation will also provide on-site installation and technical support to news organizations that wish to run the system, which has been renamed SecureDrop.

The Open Source SecureDrop

SecureDrop is a safe, secure, virtual system where journalists can exchange information with hackers. The WikiLeaks media, it has been called, was Swartzs vision, who has become a symbol of freedom of information and of that part of the digital world.

The system assigns a unique code for each source and thus an anonymous entity can establish a relationship with the media without the need to give a name or face. The New Yorker, was one of the first institutions to adopt SecureDrop under the name StrongBox.

In August, the University of Washington safety experts and security expert Bruce Schneier had raised concerns about the safety of Dead Drop. The Freedom of the Press Foundation had therefore entrusted the security professional James Dolan with the revision of the software. Even now, with the main problems resolved, further improvements has been promised. Dolan had already helped the New Yorkerbuild and secure their own Dead Drop Strongbox implementation.

Any organization can install SecureDrop for free and can make modifications because the project is open-source. The foundation has written detailed installation instructions, which can be found on GitHub.

Although its creators do not guarantee 100% security, they do say that this tool has been tested in several studies to prove its high levels of security, but there are always risks. SecureDrop runs a public servant who serves in the face for the project, another server that archives the messages and documents and another that monitors the safety of the first two. SecureDrop still relies on donations to stay alive, but also accepts comments from developers interested in discussing the topic.

WikiLeaks, PRISM, and SecureDrop

With all the hype of WikiLeaks, PRISM, Edward Snowden and NSA that shock the world, a system in which people can share their knowledge in a completely anonymous way seems no longer a luxury in this period.

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Freedom of the Press Offers SecureDrop, a Tribute to the Legacy of Aaron Swartz