Because Choate is legally bound by an agreement to not “disparage” Gearhart, Treasurer Jean Schook, or Vice Chancellor Don Pederson, testifying under oath was the only venue in which he could deliver his side of the story. But given her low profile and avoidance of media, it’s all the more upsetting that the committee didn’t afford Sharp the chance to make a statement. The Washington County prosecutor’s report released yesterday gives the impression that Sharp committed no wrongdoing intentionally, but rather that she was overwhelmed by her job and allowed to take the fall for larger oversights..

Ray says he has no memory of this, and tells presenter Davina McCall: “I never received this letter at all. I never knew about it until last year.”He adds that if he had known about it in 1957 he would have gone to meet his mum, adding: “I never got the chance.”Myra, who became Myra Matthews, and lived in Vandyke Street, Toxteth, died in 1975, aged 56.Ray, who has nine children and 12 grandchildren, had got his first break in 1988, when he learned the name of his mum and that, at the time he was placed in care, he had a half brother called Arthur. Now, of his hopes of finding Arthur, he said: “This may be the last chance I have to know who my family was.”Long Lost Family found Arthur still living in Liverpool and there is an emotional meeting between the two men, in The Monro pub in Duke Street.”Hello Ray, how are you doing mate?” asks Arthur and, again, there will be tears in homes across the nation.Arthur had first learnt of Ray’s existence when their mum was dying.

Barnhart said he believes change is coming and his experience makes him the best person to help small municipalities grappling with “diminishing” tax bases and the “increasing” cost of maintaining infrastructure. “If we don do anything, what then? How do we have a solution for municipalities that just can survive economically?” he said, noting that some are finding ways to save costs by co operating, but the Communities in Transition program is “not working well.” Hayward, who was among the board members who disavowed Barnhart views on the issue this spring, said while the topic of amalgamation is likely to come up, neither the province nor SUMA members are ready. He proposed leaving it to members to raise the issue while encouraging the creation of joint projects between municipalities and taking lessons from other provinces consolidations.

Many terrorism experts do not believe that the global jihadist movement is driven at every level by bin Laden and his followers. Although bin Laden still had huge ideological sway over some Muslim extremists, experts argue that al Qaeda has fragmented over the years into a variety of disconnected regional movements that have little connection with each other. Marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, said that al Qaeda would now just be a “loose label for a movement that seems to target the West”.