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Eden Prairie is set to create a domestic partnership registry.

The Eden Prairie City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance Tuesday. A second reading is expected at the Jan. 17 City Council meeting.

At an August work session, the Human Rights and Diversity Commission told the city that Minneapolis created a registry in 1991. Several other cities have since included a registry, like Duluth, Edina, Richfield and St. Louis Park.

City Manager Rick Getschow said Eden Prairie’s ordinance was modeled on one in Hopkins, where those registering must live in the city.

He said it would allow unmarried couples who live in Eden Prairie to document their relationship and might help them receive benefits of a documented domestic partnership.

Getschow said it would not be an administrative burden. According to the report to the city, since Edina implemented a registry in 2010, it has received about nine registry applications. The city would charge $20 to register.

City Council Member Brad Aho said it’s not responsible or prudent for the city to become engaged in a social issue that’s going to be addressed by the state’s voters this year.

He said the city should focus on the budget, infrastructure, safety and security of its residents, visitors and business people. The county is generally where marriages and deaths are registered. He said this would set a different precedent and be problematic.

Aho asked how the city government would determine if people who sign up for the registry are responsible for each other or committed to each other as the registry wording states.

“For these reasons I plan on voting against the first reading of this ordinance,” Aho said. “I really don’t think we should get involved in this as a city.”

The other City Council members disagreed.

Council Member Kathy Nelson said that it doesn’t really have anything to do with marriage. It would apply to domestic partner-ships, for heterosexual and same-sex couples.

Council Member Ron Case said domestic partnerships wouldn’t give a couple any of the rights given to a legally married couple.

Case said it does go beyond the purview of what cities have done, but “it is very prudent or responsible to work for the freedom of all our residents to pursue happiness.”

City Council Member Sherry Butcher Wickstrom also supported the registry, saying it strengthens the Eden Prairie Manifesto through actions.

Aho asked if city employees sign up for a domestic partnership registry, would the city have to provide them benefits as it would a married couple?

City Attorney Ric Rosow said the city was prohibited by state law from doing that.

Aho asked what would happen if people wanted to register a polygamous relationship.

The ordinance states that on the application those applying affirm that they do not have any other domestic partners and are not married, Nelson said.

“I don’t think that we’re likely to have any more problems than any other city has that has done it,” Nelson said.

Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens said she didn’t look at it as a “defense of marriage’ issue. She thought it would support the mission of the Eden Prairie Manifesto (See story on Page 3).

“Because this doesn’t have any legal bearing, I couldn’t come up with a single thing that’s really a con about it,” Tyra-Lukens said.

Aho said he didn’t see much benefit for people who register. He said it seemed like the city was trying to get the issue out on a lo-cal level as a way “to apply pressure on higher levels of government.”

“It seems like more of a political tool than something that’s really something the city should be involved in,” Aho said. “That’s one of the reasons I have a real problem with it.”

Butcher Wickstrom moved to approve the first reading; the motion was seconded by Ron Case. Tyra-Lukens, Butcher Wickstrom, Case and Nelson voted in favor; Aho voted against.

City Manager Rick Getschow said no public hearing was required for the ordinance change. He said if residents want to comment at the Jan. 17 meeting, they would need to speak during the open podium portion before the meeting.

The 2012 London Olympics will go down in history as a giant missed opportunity for young Britons unless David Cameron orders an urgent rethink to revive and boost sport in schools, former Labour Olympics minister Tessa Jowell says.

The stark warning from Jowell, a member of the Olympics board and one of the leading champions of the Games, lays bare mounting concern at sports highest levels that the Olympics will be scarred by a failure to deliver on the promise of a permanent legacy.

Her comments, in an interview with the Observer, will embarrass Cameron ahead of a special Olympics cabinet meeting this week to fine-tune planning for the £9bn Games, which are now just some 200 days away.

Jowell, who helped frame the successful 2005 UK bid around a promise to inspire a generation, has been central to the cross-party consensus behind the planning of the Games.

However, she felt she had to speak out to try to reverse the coalitions incomprehensible decision to dismantle the very national programmes for school sport that had been on course to deliver the legacy. Jowell said the decision in 2010 of the education secretary, Michael Gove, to withdraw funding for the programme of schools sports partnerships had undone eight years of work at a stroke.

The need to build a legacy through school sport was a classic example, Jowell argued, of where cross-party cooperation had been necessary – but had broken down after the coalition came to power. Jowell said: The fact is that kids were beginning to build sport into their everyday lives, using sport as a motivator to get them to school on time, to feel proud of being at school where they could discover abilities that they never thought they had.

There was evidence that sport in primary schools had gone into decline with the Olympics approaching, though statistics were difficult to compile because Gove had abolished the survey that monitors sporting activity.

She said the prime minister needs to understand that a great national opportunity is slipping away every week – and it can, just, be rescued in time for the Games. The failure to continue the progress toward unprecedented levels of participation in sport for children of all ages in state schools risks being one of the great missed opportunities of the 2012 Olympics.

She called on Cameron to order a complete rethink of policy and re-instate or replace the previous national network of local sporting partnerships, which provided specialist teachers to schools, as a matter of urgency.

Between 2003 and 2010, secondary school children playing two hours or more of sport a week rose from 20% to 85% as the partnerships were built.

Cameron now faces pressure from several directions to act to avoid having the Olympics marred by his governments approach to school sport. Last week Baroness Campbell, who heads the Youth Sport Trust and heads UK Sport, the funding agency for elite Olympic sport, called for a long-term agreement to be reached on funding for school sport. if there was to be any chance of delivering a real legacy from the Games.

My plea is that if you want a legacy, you need to think long-term strategy, Campbell said. There was a legacy from the last strategy, which was greater participation [in schools]. If you really want to make the School Games a driver youve got to think long term.

Jowell said: The decision to bid to host the Games was a decision to do something very big and ambitious for young peoples lives. So it is simply not good enough for ministers to wring their hands about childhood obesity, low self-esteem, absenteeism and bad discipline, when there is so much evidence to show the extent to which sport can remedy so many ills.

Ministers are putting in place a new national competition, the School Games, that will climax with finals at the Olympic Park in the summer. They say the Games will be the basis for a policy for competitive sport, although funding is not guaranteed beyond 2014-2015. So far only around half of all schools have signed up to take part.

BOSS Lee Bradbury wants his talented twosomes to keep hunting in packs as Cherries continue to scent the League One play-offs.

Bradbury says he has been encouraged with the partnerships struck up between lefties Charlie Daniels and Marc Pugh and strikers Wes Thomas and Michael Symes.

The quartet, who starred in the 2-0 win over Wycombe on Bank Holiday Monday, are all expected to keep their respective places when Cherries visit Walsall tomorrow (3pm).

Bradbury said: “Charlie and Marc have a good relationship on and off the pitch and I feel they are getting on well.

“It is natural for Marc to come in on his right foot when he is on the left-hand side and Charlie likes to overlap and give us width, pace and quality.

“We have got Scott Malone champing at the bit as well so it is a good selection headache to have because we have got quality players waiting to come in.”

Bradbury’s decision to pair Thomas and Symes together against Wycombe paid dividends as the duo netted either side of half-time to sink the Chairboys.

“I didn’t put it to the lads as a 4-4-2 and we went with Michael just behind Wes,” said Bradbury, who has seen his preferred 4-5-1 formation often work to a tee this season.

“Michael played in the hole and Wes was able to expose the centre-halves down the sides. I thought they did it well for the whole game.

“I thought they linked well and, with Michael drifting into the hole, it caused the centre-halves problems because they didn’t want to come out and leave Wes one-on-one. It was a 4-4-2 at times
but, when they had the ball, we dropped in the hole and caused them a problem in midfield.”

Cherries will be looking to extend to 11 their unbeaten league run on the road when they face 19th-placed Walsall at the Bescot Stadium.

The struggling Saddlers are currently one point above the drop zone having won three times at home and only once on their travels – at the Seward Stadium in August.

However, they did claim the prize scalp of Sheffield Wednesday at the Bescot on Boxing Day, their only triumph in their past 11 league games, five of which have been drawn.

Bradbury, who had a loan spell with Walsall in 2004, added: “The likes of Walsall and Wycombe are fighting for their lives and they don’t make it easy for you. People think you have an automatic
right to get three points but it is not that way at all.”

Cherries: (from) Flahavan, Purches, Francis, Zubar, Daniels, Fogden, Gregory, Arter, Pugh, Symes, Thomas, Cummings, Taylor, Baudry, Parsons, Cook, Malone, Jalal.

Saddlers: (from) Walker, Westlake, Sadler, Butler, Beevers, Chambers, Peterlin, Halliday, Jarvis, Paterson, Nicholls, Taundry, Hurst, Gnakpa, Macken, Grof.

Purists, skeptics and conspiracy theorists can’t seem to imagine honorable ventures between public and private parties, but public-private partnerships do offer promise for the future.

Public-private partnerships can harness the strengths of the private sector to more economically deliver public services.

The public sector seldom earns accolades for responsive customer service, efficiency in operations or quick responses to changing needs — characteristics at which those in the private sector must master or be replaced by someone who does.

The private sector seldom is honored for putting public needs ahead of profit, operating in a publicly transparent manner or eschewing new trends in favor of maintaining traditional services — activities the public sector must engage in or risk taxpayers’ wrath and being replaced by public servants who will.

As we have seen on all levels of government, escalating costs amid declining revenues put more and more pressure on the public sector as it struggles to maintain services without hiking taxes to economically debilitating levels. Faced with the choice of reducing services or hiking taxes, elected officials are looking for alternatives — and public-private partnerships offer a viable option.

That’s not to say, however, the intersection of the two very different approaches will be seamless. Two recent examples offer insight to the pros and cons of public-private partnerships.

When the West Texas Municipal Power Agency partnered with private investors to obtain electricity for Lubbock and other member cities, it leveraged private funds to meet a public need. Had the effort been successful, the public could have received low-cost power while the investors earned significant returns on the sale of excess electricity. The investors were criticized over their potential profits, but their loss of about $9 million because the effort failed underscores the size of the risk — and it was a risk the public sector could not have embraced.

A partnership between Texas Tech and RaiderPark remains young and without a clear indication of whether it will be successful.

In short, RaiderPark built a parking facility north of Jones ATamp;T Stadium and Tech is leasing it to rent out for student and fan parking. While the university has yet to make any money from the deal, it does have 1,000 parking places it didn’t have previously.

Had the university decided to build its own facility, it would have cost more than $12 million and would have generated little or no income. As it is, private money built the facility and, should Tech not continue with the lease, the investors will be left with the bill.

Part of the difficulty in creating successful public-private partnerships is that each side is nervous about the somewhat foreign characteristics of the other. Private businesses chafe at the level of transparency required in the public sector; government is better at raising money to finance the vision than adjusting the vision to fit the financial realities.

But taxpayers should cheer these cautious courtships between government and business. While there will be failed marriages along the way, those that work will benefit us all by combining the qualities of the partners.

From the backyard to the Olympics, this star equestrian has had a little help from her friends.

Partnerships in life are so important, whether they are with family, friends, colleagues or even animals. Partnerships are how my success has been created.

In 2011, I enjoyed my most successful year to date. I signed a multi-year contract with Gucci and Jaeger-LeCoulture and I won the formula one of equestrian- the Global Champions Tour. My success has been dependent on partnerships.

I grew up in Sydney. My family did not have horses but our neighbours did. I spent all my spare time with their horses. At the age of eight, I dreamt of going to the Olympics with a chestnut horse and a blue riding jacket.

Businessolver will continue to develop strategic partnerships with HR and benefits-related organizations with the addition of 25-year HR outsourcing vet Jeff Mortland.

West Des Moines, Iowa (PRWEB) January 05, 2012

Businessolver, a West Des Moines-based benefits outsourcing company, will continue to develop strategic partnerships with HR and benefits-related organizations with the addition of Jeff Mortland.

Mortland brings nearly 25 years of HR outsourcing experience to Businessolver. He will leverage that experience as Assistant Vice President of Alliances.

Were excited to leverage Jeffs strategic alliance experience to accelerate our alliance focus and opportunities, said Businessolver Vice President of North American Sales Loren Brockhouse. Were relying on his experience to develop formal relationships with organizations that align well with our business strategies.

Mortlands experience includes HR, benefits administration and payroll outsourcing services. He led sales groups for Ceridian, ADP and HR XCEL before joining Businessolver.

Its exciting to be a part of an organization that provides top-notch technology and industry-leading service to support it, said Mortland. The technology provides a lot of opportunity to connect with other leading providers and offer our clients an even more complete solution.

About Businessolver

Businessolver is a provider of online benefits administration services and benefit administration outsourcing services. Its web-based platform automates employers insurance benefit administration by consolidating multiple insurance carriers into a single platform and customizing the process to meet each employers unique enrollment requirements. In addition to Enrollment and Eligibility services, other Businessolver service offerings include: COBRA Services, Billing and Financial Reporting, Service Center, Benefit Advisory Services, Eligibility Verification and Fulfillment.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebmortland/alliances/prweb9081411.htm

Google has announced that it has brought new hardware manufacturers on board as partners for its IPTV service Google TV.

LG is the biggest name to join the Google TV ecosystem this year and will unveil a new line of Google TV sets running on its own L9 chipset at CES in Las Vegas next week.

“Through Google TV, LG has merged Google’s established Android operating system with LG’s proven 3D and Smart TV technologies, offering consumers a new and enthralling TV experience,” said Havis Kwon, president and CEO of LG.

Chip makers Marvell, from the US, and MediaTek, from Taiwan, have also announced their partnerships with Google and their hardware will power Google TV devices over the coming year. They join Samsung, Sony and Vizio, which will bring Google-TV powered devices to market in 2012.

“Google TV is about bringing new entertainment and innovation from the web to TV and our team along with our partners are pleased to bring more Google TV powered products to more people, across more devices in more countries in 2012,” said Mickey Kim from Google TV’s partnership management team.

Last October, Google launched an update to its Google TV service, which includes a simpler interface and a more “TV-like YouTube experience”, as well as Android Market.

The company claims that since launching the update, it has seen activation rates more than double and it now has more than 150 apps which developers have specifically built for TV.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, says her administration remains committed to a vibrant partnership with all critical stakeholders, including the private and public sectors.

Speaking today at her swearing-in ceremony, Mrs. Simpson Miller added that the government is also committed to international partners, particularly the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the administration identifies the basis for a new agreement with the Fund.

The Prime Ministerpointed outthat the new governments policies are based on the principle that the private sector is a main participant in shaping the economy. However, she said in a time of crisis, the government must act to stimulate growth and to restore confidence in the countrys ability to pay its way.

Hence, in the short and medium term, we will use state resources to stimulate employment through the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP). We will do so in a transparent and non-partisan manner, to improve critical areas, such as the infrastructure and the environment, which support economic growth, she said.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said the government will also broaden and deepen its input into the Regional Integration Movement, by restoring Jamaicas vibrant and vigorous participation.

She highlighted one important agenda item, which is to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice at the countrys final appellate jurisdiction, and end judicial surveillance from Britain.

We must fully repatriate our sovereignty. And, in going forward, we invite the Opposition to follow through on the statements which it recently made that we were lsquo;not far apart in our respective positions. Let us, together, complete this aspect of Regional Integration within the life of this administration, the new Prime Minister said.

Mrs. Simpson Miller, the nations 7^th Prime Minister, is being installed for the second time. She led the Peoples National Party (PNP) to victory over the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the general election on December 29, 2011, winning 42 of the 63 Parliamentary seats.

By Alphea Saunders, JIS Reporter

Governor Markell has seen the positive difference that faith-based organizations provide every day across Delaware and this new council will work to establish partnerships between government agencies and faith-based organizations to help battle poverty, expand access to health care, promote education and improve public safety.  At least 9 members will be appointed to the new council by Governor Markell.  They will represent the theological and geographic diversity of Delaware. 

NEWS RELEASE:  Governor Markell Creates Delaware Council of Faith-Based Partnerships
White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Director Josh DuBois Joins  the Signing

Wilmington, DE – Praising the hard work and positive difference faith-based organizations provide each day throughout the state, Governor Jack Markell today created through his 33rd executive order the “Delaware Council of Faith-Based Partnerships. ” This new Council recognizes the significance of faith-based organizations in addressing many significant social needs, and will work to establish partnerships between government agencies and faith-based organizations to help fight poverty, expand access to health care, promote education and improve public safety.

“Regardless of denomination or geography, in every corner of our state, someone has heard and answered the call to serve their neighbor,” Markell said. “Members of faith-based organizations offer up tens of thousands of volunteer hours and countless resources to improve our communities. The Council should serve as a place for those organizations to turn to help harness this potential and this power. It’s about giving groups a chance – if they wish – to work together to make an even greater difference.”

Markell was joined at the signing by more than thirty leaders from faith-based organizations; by Joshua DuBois, the Executive Director of President Obama’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships;  Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, Mayor Jim Baker and others.

“On behalf of President Obama, I thank you for bringing this council to fruition,” Dubois said.  “While government is critically important, government alone will never solve the problems facing our communities.   We have to connect and partner with faith-based and non-profit organizations.  Because of visionary leadership in your state, you have a formal mechanism to do the same thing through the Council of Faith-Based Partnerships. Families will be able to better access services in improved ways because of this Council.”

Lt. Governor Denn has been an active advocate for bringing faith-based non-profits together to collaborate on solving problems.

“This is an important step forward in what has been a blossoming effort in recent years to take advantage of the talent in the faith-based and non-profit sector in our state,” said Denn. “For many folks, places of worship are central places in their life and places they turn to for guidance and assistance.  They are doing great work. This Council will give them the opportunity to do more together.”           

Specifically, the executive order provides the Council the following powers, duties and functions:

(a)    Work closely with faith-based and community-based groups, charitable organizations, private foundations, voluntary associations, educational institutions, and other non-profit service organizations to promote volunteerism and community service;

(b)    Develop partnerships between faith-based groups and executive branch agencies that will facilitate the missions of those organizations in areas such as education, social services, health, and housing;

(c)    Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information among faith-based organizations whereby such organizations can work together to improve delivery of services in the community;

(d)    Promote innovation and model programs and initiatives, and share best practices among faith-based groups and organizations;

(e)    Coordinate Council activities with those administered by private, faith-based and governmental organizations to ensure that services are rendered efficiently and that they are not duplicated;

(f)    Develop sustainable funding through private sources to support the objectives of the Council and the collaborative efforts to which Delaware faith-based organizations are devoted.

The Governor will appoint at least 9 members to the council, and its memberships will seek to represent the theological and geographic diversity of our state.

Executive Order 33 is available online and photos are available for media use on Flickr.

This week I’m at the Wall Street Journal’s D9 conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The event features a series of tech luminaries interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, of the Journal’s All Things Digital Website. Last night’s kick-off interviewee was Eric Schmidt, formerly CEO of Google.

Schmidt, who now sits on the Google board and deals with external issues relevant to the company–”deals, evangelism, government,” in his words–had a lot of fascinating things to say, and if you’ve got time I recommend watching the video. But I thought I’d call out a few of the things he said–mainly about Apple, because that’s how I roll.

When Mossberg asked Schmidt about the Google relationship with Apple, the former executive admitted that it can be testy. “It started off as very much a partnership”–Schmidt was on Apple’s board of directors for three years–”but now with Android it’s much more rough. We have a partnership with them and we compete with them. We have a very good search partnership and a very good maps partnership, but we compete” when it comes to smartphones.

There’s nothing unexpected in any of that, but Schmidt did drop one tidbit when Mossberg asked if he expected those mapping and search relationships with Apple to continue. “I certainly hope so,” said Schmidt, adding that “we just renewed” both the map and search deals with Apple.

That’s interesting news, considering reports that Apple has been busily building its own maps infrastructure. Of course, nobody knows what the details of those deals are. It’s possible, for example, that Apple has an opt-out clause. Or perhaps Apple is content with the quality of Google’s services–for now.

Schmidt also spent a little time talking about what he called the “Gang of Four”–Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. These are four companies that, in Schmidt’s estimation, all have a size and global reach that just ten years ago would have been the provenance of a single company (Microsoft, and before them, IBM).

“We’ve never had four companies growing at the scale that those four are in aggregate,” in customers, cash flow, reach, partners, software development tools, and so on, according to Schmidt.

Note that Microsoft isn’t among those four. That’s not an oversight: “Microsoft is not driving a revolution in the minds of consumers,” said Schmidt. It’s quite a fall from a company that only a decade ago seemed to have the tech industry by the throat.

But Schmidt didn’t shy away from his own shortcomings. The former CEO admitted that he “screwed up” when it came to dealing with Google’s lack of success in creating a social-connection system. Meanwhile, Facebook has succeeded at creating its own “social graph,” as well as rolling out the Facebook Connect system and the Like button.

Swisher said that Steve Jobs told her, sotto voce, that “an Android phone is a probe in your pocket. We could do that, too, but we don’t have a search engine to suck it back into.” Schmidt denied that secondhand accusation: “We don’t suck it into anywhere,” he said.

The bottom line, Schmidt said, is that when it comes to phones, “the Apple model is the inverse of the Google model. The Apple model produces beautiful products with a specific market size and share. The Google model is just the inverse. It’s OK. Let the market decide. It’s called competition.”

But when it comes to that competition, Schmidt suggested that it’ll be hard rowing for platforms other than iOS and Android, just because of the sheer amount of time it takes to develop for those two platforms. He took a shot at the “closed nature of iOS” a few times, but also said that in maybe ten years all apps will be built using HTML5 and related technologies, because all platforms (including Google’s and Apple’s) support it.

Finally, regarding the recently-announced Google Wallet initiative, which allows you to buy stuff with your smartphone, Schmidt said that there’s “no intent to favor just one platform.” In other words, don’t be surprised to see Google Wallet support come to the iPhone eventually.

But even there, Schmidt couldn’t help but taking a parting shot at Apple: While answering an audience question about integrating Google’s voice-recognition systems into iOS, he said Google has to be careful in developing apps for other platforms, because they might waste their time building an app that would just get rejected.

All in all, it was an interesting interview with lots of talk about privacy and security issues, and I recommend that you watch it if you get a chance.