Category Archives: Progress

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Mega tweets and megawatts: Elon Musk supercharges progress on ... - The Economist

TechCrunch

Leaked internal Uber documents show rocky self-driving car progress TechCrunch New internal Uber documents leaked to Recode detail the company's progress toward realizing its dream of a fleet of vehicles entirely devoid of pesky human drivers. As those files reveal, Uber's month-over-month metrics aren't exactly a steady line of ... Uber's autonomous cars drove 20354 miles and had to be taken over at every mile, according to documentsRecode all 12 news articles »

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Leaked internal Uber documents show rocky self-driving car progress - TechCrunch

US ENVOY Jason Greenblatt (center) poses with Israeli students in Jerusalem after a meeting to discuss their views and perspectives on the future. . (photo credit:TWITTER)

Israel and the United States moved closer to creating a joint policy on settlement construction Thursday as right-wing politicians pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to freeze such building.

Netanyahu and US envoy Jason Greenblatt discussed the issue during a three-hour meeting in Jerusalem.

According to a joint statement released after the meeting, the two men made progress on the issue of Israeli settlement construction and discussed concrete measures that could help support and advance Palestinian economic development.

It was the second meeting between the two men during Greenblatts four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Greenblatt is in the region speaking with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leadership ahead of an anticipated US push for a regional peace deal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the joint statement, Thursdays meeting was positive and dealt with the shared interest of the United States and Israel in advancing a genuine and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians that strengthens the security of Israel.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu told the cabinet that part of this process was an agreed-upon policy regarding settlement construction. Agreed-upon for us, of course, not just for the American side.

Naturally, this will be good for the State of Israel since we have not been in these processes for many years, Netanyahu said.

He has not made any details of the discussion public, but did tell the cabinet that he planned to keep his promise to the 40 Amona families to create a new settlement.

To the residents of Amona, I reiterate: I gave you a promise to build a new community and I will honor that commitment.

Its a statement he has made numerous times since the Amona outpost was destroyed in February. Still, he has not placed the issue on the cabinets agenda for the necessary vote to legalize what would be the first new settlement in 25 years.

Concurrent with Greenblatts visit, Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan spoke with Likud ministers and warned them about the political consequences of any possible settlement freeze.

Its believed that Netanyahu has proposed to the US that Israel be allowed to build in the settlement blocs including Gush Etzion, Ariel, Maaleh Adumim and Modiin Illit while freezing construction in the isolated settlements beyond the security barrier.

US President Donald Trump already has publicly said he wants Israel to constrain settlement activity.

In an unusual move, Greenblatt met Wednesday with settler leaders Dagan and Efrat Council head Oded Revivi, who is the chief foreign envoy for the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria.

We respect Trump and the new government. Were please there is a supportive government [in Washington], Dagan said afterward.

Our requests are to our government and to our ministers. We must make a drastic change and stop these edicts [against settlement activity] that harm the basic rights of the residents of Judea and Samaria, he said.

Setters would like to see unrestrained building and have called on Netanyahu to annex Judea and Samaria, starting with the Maaleh Adumim settlement.

The last US peace initiative under former US President Barack Obama broke down in April 2014. Palestinians have insisted that talks cannot be renewed unless Israel halts all West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem. Israel, in turn, has called for a renewal of direct talks without preconditions.

During Greenblatts visit he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as a broad cross section of Israelis and Palestinians including politicians, civic society members, Gaza residents, religious leaders and students. On Wednesday, he traveled to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah.

He issued a series of tweets, some fairly personal, that spoke of his visit to Yeshivat Hakotel and of the evening prayer service the Prime Ministers Office held for him so he could say the mourners kaddish for his mother.

I was extremely fortunate to meet some incredible Israelis and Palestinians on my trip. Thank you all for your perspectives! he wrote.

On Wednesday night, he tweeted: Peace and coexistence are not just possible in this extraordinary city [Jerusalem], they exist already and have for centuries! On Wednesday, senior Fatah official Jabril Rijoub told The Jerusalem Post that the Palestinians remain committed to a two-state solution at the pre-1967 lines.

Rajoub called the settlements a malignant cancer and an existential threat for Israel. The starting point for talks must be a settlement freeze, he stressed.

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Progress on Israel-US joint policy on settlement construction - Jerusalem Post Israel News

MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi and U.S. commanders offered conflicting accounts Thursday of progress in western Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have been battling the Islamic State group for nearly a month as they try to retake the remainder of the city. Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the American commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq, said the troops had recaptured "a little over a third" of neighborhoods west of the Tigris River, while Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, said they had retaken up to 60 percent, with fighting still underway. Iraq declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated" in January. Iraqi officials have overstated gains in the past, declaring areas liberated from ISIS militants only to see the resumption of fighting or militant attacks. The extremists have targeted eastern Mosul with bombings and other attacks on several occasions in recent weeks.

Front-line commanders meanwhile said progress has been slow over the past week, with troops advancing just a few hundred meters (yards) in the face ofISIScar bomb attacks.

A suicide attacker driving a bulldozer rigged with explosives plowed through the Federal Police's front line on Wednesday, killing more than 10 soldiers and wounding several others, according to a Federal Police medic who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Iraq's military does not release casualty figures.

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Iraq, US offer differing accounts of progress in Mosul - Military Times

Daniel J. Gross Staff Writer @danieljgrossChris Lavender Staff Writer @LavenderSHJ

Seven months after Spartanburg County made a public commitment to reduce the number of inmates with a mental illness, progress has been made in some areas but not in others.

Among the advances, more inmates are being screened for behavioral health issues. In September 2016, the jail began a pilot program with the Spartanburg Area Mental Health Center in which a psychiatrist visited the facility two afternoons a month to evaluate and assess individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness. The psychiatric services have continued beyond the pilot period.

The schedule has allowed a psychiatrist to see about seven to eight people per visit, or about 15 per month.

The program joins an existing one at the jail that brings in a licensed counselor from the state Department of Mental Health and volunteer counselors from West Gate Family Therapy Institute to evaluate inmates.

Spartanburg County agreed take part in the Stepping Up Initiative in a July 2016 resolution. The nationwide effort seeks to reduce the number of people with mental illness in jails.

Stepping Up is run by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and other partners that provide counties with resources and expertise on how to implement strategies and track data.

Some of the Stepping Up goals overlap with work already being done by the Spartanburg County Behavioral Health Task Force.

The task force has initiated more than 20 programs to improve access to mental health care, including some that have helped identify more inmates with behavioral health needs in the Spartanburg County jail. Other programs are working to provide post-incarceration support to reduce recidivism rates.

"The detention center has been very involved with the Behavioral Task Force," said Spartanburg County Administrator Katherine O'Neill.

One area of Stepping Up that's still being worked on is baseline data collection.Stepping Up suggests tracking the number of inmates with a mental illness booked into the jail, the length of their stays, their connection to treatment and their rate of re-arrest.

The data piece is crucial, said Kati Habert, the deputy program director at the Council of State Governments Justice Center. The goal of initiative is to reduce the number of people with mental illness that are in the jail. In order to be able to do that, you have to know who is in jail in the first place. Use that information to then plan the best sort of strategies for them and use those numbers to track their progress.

According to Kathy White, the jails medical administrator, there is currently no process for tracking such information, but discussions are ongoing for how best to do so.

The detention facility, as a general rule, needs a mechanism for tracking recidivism rates for all inmates, which we do not currently have, White said.

She said a database would allow staff to cross-reference inmates and their connections to services and treatments. That would allow the county to determine which services are working best at reducing recidivism, she said.

Data that is available shows the percentage of inmates takingpsychotropic medications is unchanged from a year ago. A recent tally found 229 out of 840 inmates, about 27 percent, were on psychotropic medications.

Stepping Up also recommends counties work to connect inmates to mental health services upon their release, and suggests ways to accomplish the task.

White said that piece also is still lacking, since it's not always easy to coordinate an inmate's release.

Planning ahead by scheduling appointments in advance doesnt always work, White said.

Most of the inmates who are directed to follow-up appointments with mental health professionals already know when theyre getting out, she said.

Jail personnel do attempt to provide inmates with information about services that are available once they're released, White said, such as a list of agencies with contact names and numbers. Inmates may also receive information about resources such as the National Alliance for Mental Illness, AccessHealth or New Day Clubhouse, White said.

But she noted there are other factors besides treatment that can affect recidivism rates, such as access to housing, transportation and family support.

Through the programs and services at the jail, we are able to assist with stabilization and initiating treatment, but mental illness is lifelong and what we provide is only the beginning, White said. Focus must not simply be on treating the mental illness, but also recognizing and addressing those barriers to care and treatment. I feel confident through the efforts of the Behavioral Health Task Force and our community partners, we will be able to begin addressing those issues as well.

Spartanburg County Councilman Michael Brown said thecounty and its partners will continue to work toward meeting the Stepping Up guidelines andhelping inmates with behavioral health needs.

"Jails should not be a first line for treatment," Brown said. "Our goal is to help them get the long-term help they need."

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Spartanburg County makes some progress on mental health care for inmates - Spartanburg Herald Journal

Homeland Security

Efforts to modernize immigration processing systems at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have been rocky in the last couple of years, but the agency's acting director told a congressional panel that it's making some progress.

Bringing paper-based systems at CIS into the digital world "remains a substantial work in progress," said Lori Scialabba, CIS acting director at a House Homeland Security Oversight and Management subcommittee hearing on critical weaknesses in the agency's IT processing systems.

The hearing follows repeated Government Accountability Office and Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General Reports about the agency's troubled Electronic Immigration System, dubbed ELIS.

In January, the DHS IG recommended the agency stop using ELIS because of "alarming security concerns."

That warning was the latest episode in the ELIS saga, which began as a traditional "waterfall" IT development program in 2005-2006 under a single integrator. That project was radically altered in 2012 after the first release of the project didn't deliver on capabilities. Another IG report last November found that ELIS issued almost 20,000 duplicate green cards.

The problems with the systems, said Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), increase the potential for extremely bad consequences. Potential black markets in green cards, visas issued erroneously and other snafus caused by inadequate technology, he said, "can lead to horrific results," such as use by dangerous criminals or terrorists.

Scialabba said CIS is gradually getting a handle on its systems. ELIS is part of the CIS Transformation Program. The program became part of CIS Office of Information Technology last January, she said. The agency's CIO now oversees its day-to-day operations.

It has been adding applications to its electronic processing system, including, in 2015, the application for green card replacement and, in 2016, applications for temporary protected status and deferred action for childhood arrivals. It also began a more complicated incorporation of applications for naturalization, but problems led to those applications being shifted to a legacy system in August 2016, Scialabba said.

The lurching, stop-and-go activity appeared to frustrate lawmakers on the committee.

"I'm disappointed that the department didn't send the USCIS chief information officer" to testify at the hearing about the "agency's information challenges," said subcommittee ranking member J. Luis Correa (D-Calif.), who added that CIS has to learn how to manage agile acquisition processes.

The agency's shift to a more agile process to develop ELIS was noted, but lawmakers and DHS Inspector General John Roth, who also testified at the hearing, didn't appear convinced the agency had mastered the process.

Using agile processes, Roth said, requires some technical expertise on the part of the agency. That technical expertise at CIS, he said, was thin. Also communications to top agency officials about potential problems weren't efficient, which left those officials in the dark.

"If you put it out and it breaks, then pull it back, that's not agile," Roth said.

About the Author

Mark Rockwell is a staff writer at FCW.

Before joining FCW, Rockwell was Washington correspondent for Government Security News, where he covered all aspects of homeland security from IT to detection dogs and border security. Over the last 25 years in Washington as a reporter, editor and correspondent, he has covered an increasingly wide array of high-tech issues for publications like Communications Week, Internet Week, Fiber Optics News, tele.com magazine and Wireless Week.

Rockwell received a Jesse H. Neal Award for his work covering telecommunications issues, and is a graduate of James Madison University.

Click here for previous articles by Rockwell. Contact him at mrockwell@fcw.com or follow him on Twitter at @MRockwell4.

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Immigration modernization a work in progress - FCW.com

The Detroit News 10:46 p.m. ET March 16, 2017

Wayne Executive Warren Evans has overseen much progress, but the to-do list is still long.(Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News)Buy Photo

Wayne County has a long way to go, but in a short time Warren Evans has set the county on an admirable financial turnaround. In his second State of the County speech last week, Evans balanced nearly every accomplishment against a sobering reality.

Weve made tremendous progress, but we need to stay focused and continue to make the difficult decisions, the first-term county executive said.

While Detroit opted for emergency management and bankruptcy to resolve its financial crisis, Evans saw another way. He signed a consent agreement with the state under the emergency management law and renegotiated county employee contracts, cutting pay and pensions just one of the tough tactics necessary to regain financial footing.

In October, the county exited the states consent agreement on stable ground. In 2016, Wayne County posted a 2-year accumulated $80 million surplus, contributed $10 million toward unfunded pensions, upgraded its bond ratings (which translates into enormous savings on future loans), and reduced its unfunded health care liabilities by nearly $1 billion.

Two years ago this county would have had difficulty borrowing money to buy a used car, he said. Were now able to borrow up to $300 million to solve our jail problem. It didnt happen by accident.

The unfinished jail is a constant reminder of millions of taxpayer dollars mismanaged and promises broken. It represents an old way of doing business that Evans wants to leave behind. Hes determined to see the new jail built at the right price and speed.

Rock Ventures wants to build it. Most attractive is its willingness to bear cost overruns, a common symptom of the countys projects in the past. Rocks deal would give Wayne County a new courthouse instead of a remodeled one, a new 60-bed juvenile detention center and a 1,632-bed adult jail altogether, a new criminal justice complex on Warren just outside downtown.

Rock Ventures proposes a $1 billion redevelopment of the unfinished jail site. Thats an exciting prospect for downtown Detroit. Evans is cautious. His focus is on dollars and time, and Rock has a lot of work to do to meet our timetable, he said. Evans is committed to a full review of the Rock Ventures proposal, and we trust that he will look as closely at the advantages as at the risks.

Also in his speech, Evans called out Lansing, criticizing the state for not sending more direct aid to local communities: Michigans system of funding local governments is broken. The state can no longer continue to solve its budget problems on the backs of local governments.

Whether thats the answer or not, local communities have to do a much better job of managing their own finances and coming up with creative ways to stretch their resources. Evans is doing that in Wayne County, and he should get credit for the progress.

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Editorial: Wayne making progress under Evans - The Detroit News

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Lake Erie is a treasure for Ohio, providing 3 million Ohioans with drinking water and hundreds of thousands of Ohioans with good jobs in our billion-dollar fishing industry and the broader tourism industry. About 7 million people visit Lake Erie every year, spending nearly $13 billion in Ohio.

Portman

THE BLADE Enlarge | Buy This Image

I am proud to be co-chair, with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) of the Senates Great Lakes Task Force, a bipartisan group of senators who advocate for policies that protect the Great Lakes.

During my six years in the U.S. Senate, I have authored a number of bills that President Obama signed into law to protect our lake, including a law to prioritize funding to fight the harmful algal blooms that caused half a million people in Toledo to lose their drinking water in August of 2014.

I also authored a law to prevent Asian carp, an invasive species that could ruin the fishing industry, from getting into the lake.

One of the laws I co-authored phases out the use of microbeads small plastic beads used in products like face scrubs. Microbeads are so small that they slip through our water filtration systems, often absorbing toxins and getting eaten by fish, which become sick and unsafe to eat. Stopping these beads from polluting our waters is healthier for people, fish, and the Lake Erie fishing industry.

Last year, I teamed up with Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar to author the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act, a new law that requires the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to partner with other federal agencies and with states like Ohio to restore fish and wildlife populations in the Great Lakes.

Through these measures and others, a lot of progress has been made in protecting our lake.

Last year, I led the Senates efforts to extend a critical program called the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, or GLRI, which has brought millions of dollars in funding to Ohio cities like Toledo to clean up pollution in the lake, stop invasive species like Asian carp, and reduce the likelihood of harmful algal blooms.

Now that the GLRI has been newly extended for five years, we have to fight every year for this program to be adequately funded in Congress annual spending bills.

Sometimes its been a difficult fight. President Obama repeatedly proposed slashing this program by $50 million, a step I fought at every turn. I worked with my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to fully fund the program, and we succeeded. Ultimately, President Obama signed full funding for this program into law.

Following weeks of speculation, President Trumps administration this week proposed cutting this program even more drastically than President Obama proposed. I understand the goal of bringing down the federal deficit, and I share that goal. But doing that by cutting the GLRI is penny-wise and pound foolish.

Heres why. According to a recent study, the GLRIs work generates a total of more than $80 billion in benefits in health, tourism, fishing, and recreation.

The study also states that it saves local communities like Toledo $50 million in costs, and increases property values across the region by a total of $12 billion.

Theres no question that we need to get our fiscal house in order. But we need to do that in a smart way that keeps in place smart investments that have a big impact like GLRI.

Thats why in February I led a bipartisan group of senators and members of Congress in writing a letter to President Trump, making it clear to him that cutting the GLRI just doesnt make sense. I have personally talked about this issue with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, whose job it is to lead this interagency program, and he told me that he supports GLRI.

GLRI helps Ohio preserve the treasure of Lake Erie. Im going to keep fighting for the funding we need, just as I have in the past. After several years of progress in protecting Lake Erie, we cannot afford to go backward.

Rob Portman is a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio.

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Protect Lake Erie and keep progress going - Toledo Blade

A new commission convened Thursday to begin measuring how well the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is implementing task force recommendations from last year.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams asked the four taskforces to write a strategic plan.

Now, the Commission on Progress will study how well police are doing at increasing transparency, community engagement, training and resources.

Listen to the story airing on 89.9 WJCT-FM

The six-member commission has its work cut out, with the strategic plan listing more than 100 steps the sheriffs office could take to improve its relationship with the community.

Our real job is just sort of keep everybody focused, I think, more than anything else, Commission Chairman Rev. Allison DeFoor said.

DeFoor is an Episcopal priest and retired Monroe County sheriff. He said the goal Thursday was to get a sense of the path forward.

Each member of the commission chose a subject to track, like transparency or community engagement, and brainstormed examples from other places where police have already plowed the same ground.

DeFoor said its not clear whether the commissions job is to simply track progress or make new recommendations.

Seems a little early to figure that out. I mean, weve got 109 recommendations to deal with, but if something flows out of those, 109 it would seem logical to be an extension of it, he said.

The commission is still setting its schedule and will announce the next meeting soon.

Reporter Ryan Benk can be reached at rbenk@wjct.org, 904-358-6319 or on Twitter @RyanMichaelBenk.

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Jacksonville Sheriff's Office 'Commission On Progress' Begins Work - WJCT NEWS

As Manchester United embark on a hectic 11-day travel mission, we take a look at their travel plans for the next few days. Antonio Conte plays down the idea of a rift between him and Jose Mourinho after Chelsea's win over Man United in October.

Since winning at Chelsea in October 2012, on the way to a 20th league title, Manchester United's record at Stamford Bridge is abysmal: no wins and only one draw in six subsequent games. Their most recent visit was the worst of all, a 4-0 hammering last October that was the low point of Jose Mourinho's time in charge so far.

As if history doesn't make Monday's FA Cup quarterfinal daunting enough, Mourinho and his men head to London following a 4,500-mile round trip to Russia for last Thursday's Europa League round-of-32 first leg vs. Rostov. Chelsea, by contrast, haven't had a game since their 22-mile round trip to West Ham last Monday.

Further, United will be missing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their player of the season so far, a one-man goal factory whose tally of 26 in all competitions is almost three times that of the next top scorer, Juan Mata. Ibrahimovic will serve the first of a three-match suspension after he accepted a violent conduct charge for elbowing Bournemouth's Tyrone Mings in last weekend's 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

United are used to being favourites in almost every game they play but, despite not having lost in 17 league outings since their last visit to Chelsea, they will be underdogs as they face the best team in England this season.

(It's not like United can hold out for a draw either, as FA Cup sixth-round replays have been abolished. The move pleased Mourinho when he was asked about it earlier this season; he may revise that view if it's 1-1 after 88 minutes.)

Mourinho wants to win a treble this season, or a treble-and-a-half since he counts the Community Shield as half a trophy. He's already won the EFL Cup and his side are well placed to reached the last eight of the Europa League, ahead of Thursday's second leg at home vs. Rostov.

While Ibrahimovic has been the key man overall, he's only played 28 minutes of FA Cup football: A substitute cameo in the last round at Blackburn Rovers, in which he scored the winning goal. In Europe, the only two games that United have lost were the two in which Ibrahimovic didn't start, defeats at Feyenoord and Fenerbahce.

Apart from a game vs. Arsenal in November, when he was suspended, Ibrahimovic has played every single minute of every league game this season. Only Paul Pogba, who needs to step up on Monday after some indifferent displays, has played as much.

Marcus Rashford filled in as United's lead striker against Arsenal, but failed to have the same impact as in the equivalent fixture last season, when he scored twice. The 19-year-old's favourite United goal came come in an FA Cup sixth round replay at West Ham a year ago but Rashford, often played in a wide-left role, has been less prolific this season with seven goals from 36 games.

He could get a chance to lead the line in Ibrahimovic's absence, possibly in a 4-3-3 formation with Anthony Martial to his left and Juan Mata on the right, though Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been among United's best performers in recent months and deserves a chance to play against a side of Chelsea's pedigree.

The Armenian midfielder was not involved in that October game, when Mourinho went for a five-man midfield featuring Rashford, Pogba, Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Jesse Lingard. Fellaini was brought off at half-time but could make up for Ibrahimovic's absent physical threat. Lingard, who is admired by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, was replaced by Martial that day. Michael Carrick, meanwhile, didn't get off the bench.

United played with an uncustomary three at the back in Rostov and the alignment didn't convince, albeit in difficult conditions. Was it kidology from Mourinho or preparation to match Chelsea's successful formation? United's defence is a concern and Chris Smalling had possibly his poorest game in a United shirt the last time the sides met, when the hosts took the lead after just 26 seconds.

When asked about Monday's game against the club he led to three league titles, Mourinho said he won't field a "Nicky Butt team," referring to the former United midfielder's current role as United academy director. Mourinho sees talent in some youngsters at the club but doesn't trust them enough to start at Stamford Bridge. Instead, he'll go with a strong team, partly because he's vengeful, but chiefly because he wants United to retain the FA Cup for the first time in their history.

The manager does not have priorities; he wants to win every trophy on offer and has a large squad with no injuries, even if there's clearly room for improvement, with a second striker and a left-back he fully trusts among the main areas of focus.

Hindsight shows how things have changed since the start of the season, when right-back was considered a bigger problem than the opposite flank and, in Ibrahimovic, Rashford, Martial and Wayne Rooney, United hardly looked short of goalscorers.

There are too many games at present for Mourinho to feel satisfied with his side's preparation, but that's because United have been successful in non-league competitions this term: Monday will be the 20th cup tie, with up to eight more to follow.

The fans are certainly up for the trip to Chelsea and the increased 5,685 ticket allocation was oversubscribed by 3,000, even though the game is on a Monday evening. The atmosphere will be rocking in the away end at Stamford Bridge, with supporters keen to see if perceived improvement since their last visit is genuine and whether the Reds are closer to being able to go toe-to-toe with the best.

Chelsea's official website mocked United's recent league form last week when an article said it has "lifted them all the way from sixth to sixth." Actually, United were seventh after the 4-0 but it is true that the improvement in league position has been marginal. Winning at Chelsea, though, would send a powerful signal that Mourinho and Co. have not stood still.

Andy Mitten is a freelance writer and the founder and editor of United We Stand. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyMitten.

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Visit to Chelsea will show United's progress - ESPN FC (blog)