Presidential candidate Peter Casey has visited the county today – an hour after Donegal County Council decided to not nominate a candidate for the 2018 Election. The decision was followed by a visit from Áras hopeful Peter Casey, who visited Donegal County Council to meet with councillors after the nomination deadline passed.Cathaoirleach Seamus Ó Domhnaill announced at today’s monthly meeting that the council would not be nominating a presidential candidate as no special motion was put down by any councillors before midday.  Áras candidate Peter Casey visits Donegal County Council Donegal-based businessman and Dragons’ Den star Peter Casey then arrived at the Lifford council building before lunchtime to meet and greet with local representatives.However, as no special meeting was called to nominate a candidate in Donegal, Mr Casey was not given an opportunity to speak. Áras candidate Peter Casey visits Donegal County CouncilThe Co. Derry man, who has a home in Inishowen, secured his place on the Presidential ballot last Tuesday.Before sitting with councillors outside the chamber at the interval, Mr Casey tweeted: “Looking forward to meeting with councillors in @donegalcouncil today but as I have the required nominations, I won’t be seeking their endorsement. Thank you to everyone who has been in touch with messages of support and well wishes.”In his explanation on why Donegal County Council was not nominating a candidate, Cllr Seamus Ó Domhnaill said that he informed the July council that he was willing and able to facilitate a meeting for the local authority.Cllr Ó Domhnaill said he was contacted by a number of councillors to hold the meeting, but that request subsided and the nominee that was on the minds of councillors was duly nominated by other councils.It was then deemed that there was no need to hold a special meeting today (Monday) as no councillors submitted a special motion before the deadline at 12noon.Presidential candidate Casey visits Donegal councillors but there’ll be no nomination was last modified: September 25th, 2018 by Rachel McLaughlinShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) read more

Apaches fall to Marathon ThursdayBy Paul LeckerSports ReporterKRONENWETTER — Auburndale’s Rachael Bolder tossed a six-inning no-hitter, and the Apaches rolled to a 13-0 win over Northland Lutheran in Marawood Conference South Division softball action Friday.Bolder struck out 10 and did not walk a batter in her no-hit victory, and she also had a double and three RBIs.Brooke Anderson was 2-for-3 and scored three times, and Marissa Ponshock, Mackenzie Raab and Jenna Ertl each had a pair of RBIs for the Apaches (8-7, 5-5 Marawood South).The Apaches lost at Marathon 12-3 on Thursday. Raab had two of Auburndale’s five hits, and Hannah Bolder had two RBIs.Auburndale hosts Wausau Newman Catholic on Monday.(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)Apaches 13, Wildcats 0Auburndale 006 304 – 13 8Northland Lutheran 000 000 – 0 0Northland Lutheran statistics not provided.WP: Rachael Bolder.SO: R. Bolder 10. BB: R. Bolder 0.Top hitters: A, Brooke Anderson 2×3, 3 runs, RBI; Mackenzie Raab 1×3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Jenna Ertl 2 RBIs, 3 runs, 3 SBs; Hannah Bolder 2 runs; Marissa Ponshock 2 RBIs; R. Bolder 2B, 3 RBIs.Records: Auburndale 8-7, 5-5 Marawood Conference South Division; Northland Lutheran 3-7, 2-7 Marawood South.—Thursday’s GameRaiders 12, Apaches 3Auburndale 003 000 0 – 3 5Marathon 421 221 – 12 11Marathon statistics not reported.LP: Maggie Willfahrt.SO: M. Willfahrt (3 inn.) 3, Rachael Bolder (3 inn.) 2. BB: Willfahrt 3, R. Bolder 2.Top hitters: A, Mackenzie Raab 2×3; Hannah Bolder 2B, 2 RBIs.Records: Auburndale 7-7, 4-5 Marawood South; Marathon 14-4, 8-1 Marawood South. read more

By Hub City Times staffMARSHFIELD – The Marshfield High School boys tennis team took down Wausau West 5-2 on May 2, in Wausau. Singles winners for Marshfield were No. 2 Calvin Lawler (6-4, 6-0), No. 3 Ryan Paulman (6-0, 6-0) and No. 4 Eli Swansen (4-6, 6-4, 6-4). No. 1 singles player Sam Haessly lost his match in straight sets. Doubles winners for the Tigers included the No. 1 team of Jared Cordova and Will Fay (6-0, 6-2) and the No. 2 doubles team of Lucas Paulman and Sam Roherty (6-1, 7-5). The No. 3 doubles team of Josh Grissman and Payton Smith lost their match in three sets (7-5, 2-6, 6-3).On May 4, the Tigers were back in Wausau, where the team went 2-3 in dual match play, at the Wausau Area Invitational. The Tiger boys grabbed a 7-0 win over Pulaski and a 5-2 win over Wausau East. The Tigers lost close, 3-4, matches to Bayport, Menomonie, and Oshkosh West.The No. 2 doubles team of Will Fay and Lucas Paulman went undefeated, with 5-0. read more

A record 10 million Indians are set to take a national test on March 15 to delete the il from the adjective describing them as illiterateIn 2009, the then UPA government decided to launch a new scheme to draw illiterate adults to classrooms. But the bureaucrats were up against a,A record 10 million Indians are set to take a national test on March 15 to delete the il from the adjective describing them as illiterateIn 2009, the then UPA government decided to launch a new scheme to draw illiterate adults to classrooms. But the bureaucrats were up against a wall. Many similar schemes launched earlier had already gathered cobwebs, unable to entice the millions who remain illiterate even six decades after Independence.It was then that the officials came up with a new idea: issuing a certificate declaring one a literate person.That one document did for the adult literacy programme-christened Saakshar Bharat-what no amount of publicity, backed by all the machinery at the government’s disposal, could have.If the meat of the matter lies in statistics, here’s one: 580,000 illiterate adults took the Basic Literacy Test when it was held for the first time in August 2010. Four years on, the figure went up to 4.1 million in August 2014. When the next test is held on March 15, officials expect nearly 10 million people to appear for these certificates. To ensure the record turnout, state governments have been enrolling learners in villages for months now.”The certificate has become a status symbol of sorts in villages, where most of the target group lives,” says YSK Seshu Kumar, director general, National Literacy Mission Authority, which handles the Saakshar Bharat programme. People who score well in the test and secure the literacy certificate often frame it and put it up on their wall, Kumar adds.It is, after all, an affirmation of their capability and potential. Many among these new learners are women, and most among them had never stepped into a classroom before.advertisementLiteracy programmes, though, are not exactly a novel concept in India. Post-Independence, the first such effort, the National Adult Education Programme, was launched on October 2, 1978. Exactly a decade on, the National Literacy Mission (NLM) took off in May 1988. But it was not until after another decade, when the NLM strategy was modified to launch Saakshar Bharat in September 2009, that the accelerator was pressed hard.Touted as the world’s largest literacy mission, Saakshar Bharat aims at raising literacy levels to 80 per cent and reducing the gender gap in literacy to 10 per cent by 2017. With a target of imparting functional literacy to 70 million people, with the prime focus on women, the programme is being implemented in rural areas of all districts with an adult female literacy rate of 50 per cent and below as per Census 2001.So what makes the biannual Basic Literacy Test one of the most talked-about competitive examinations in rural India today? The fact that it tests a new learner on abilities to read aloud and with understanding at a reasonable speed, taking dictation, reading and writing numbers and simple calculations. And the encouraging numbers: since August 2010, approximately 43.3 million people have taken the test, conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling.Of these, 31.3 million have passed the 150-mark assessment. Those who score at least 40 per cent are graded B and those scoring more than 60 per cent receive the A-grade literacy certificate. People failing to score 40 per cent are graded C and have to take it again.And the project sure has come a long way. In its early days, State Literacy Mission Authority staff had to knock on doors asking people to come to the adult education centres. Today, officials say, with justifiable pride, the project is on automaton. In fact, it has moved to the next level: as millions achieve basic literacy, they are now asking for more.”We have covered 32 of Rajasthan’s 33 districts in the last five years,” says Sudhanshu Jain, director, State Resource Centre, Jaipur. “The bigger challenge now is to keep up with the pace of the programme. As we have more and more literates, they now want to move to basic and vocational education and advanced studies. We are making efforts in that direction as well, and with the help of NGOs we have begun providing facilities in our adult education centres.”Besides, the state is making the literacy programme more attractive by integrating it with modules on legal and electoral literacy, financial literacy, and clubbing it with the Jan-Dhan Yojana and issues of disaster management and rural requirements, among others.The Saakshar Bharat programme has done considerably well in states such as Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, besides Chhattisgarh and some of the states in the North-east.In fact, the basic literacy mission has probably done the best in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand despite problems of Maoist extremism in that belt, says Nasim Ahmed, assistant educational adviser, School Education Department, Ministry of Human Resource Development. Giving due credit to the states, Ahmed says this has been possible primarily because the adult education departments of these two states have taken the lead on mission mode.advertisementApart from the adult education centres and the smaller literacy learning centres in villages, the literacy drive is now also backed by new education centres being set up by public sector undertakings (PSUs) as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives. The PSUs, according to officials, donate about Rs 2.5 lakh to establish these centres with a few computers, sports equipment, sewing machines, TV sets and other computer-based learning modules. On the private side, Tata Consultancy Services has developed some functional literacy software that helps complete learning modules in 50 hours-a huge improvement over the 300-hour-long book modules. Of the targeted 904 such centres, 458 have already been set up.While the infrastructure mechanism is still being put in place, what cannot be denied is that a quiet revolution is going on somewhere-everywhere. And come March, millions more would, confidently and proudly, check the box in any application that asks whether they are literate.Follow the writer on Twitter @anubhutivishnoi read more