The first question you must ask yourself is whether you are charged with a misdemeanor or felony. Misdemeanor is any criminal offense where you are facing less than 1 year in jail. A felony is a criminal offense where you are facing more than a year in jail. In Washington, DC misdemeanors are prosecuted by 2 government entities, United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) or the District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office (OAG). This article discusses the process of a typical misdemeanor going through D.C. Superior Court in Washington, DC.

The police officer has stopped you and charged with a misdemeanor. Typical misdemeanors in the District of Columbia are Simple Assault, possession of an illegal drugs, threats, theft, destruction of property etc. The police officer has 2 alternatives at this point. He may issue you a citation release or he may hold you in custody to see a Judge within 48 hours. A citation release is usually given for low risk offenders and has strong ties to the community after he runs a record check. You will be required to sign notice for courtroom C10. Courtroom C10 in D.C. Superior Court is an arraignment court. If the police officer department holds you at the time of misdemeanor offense you will see a Judge in Courtroom C10 within 48 hours, most of the time within 24 hours. At this point you may inquire about retaining a lawyer; however it is not necessary as there will be a lawyer at your initial arraignment provided by the Court. The lawyer will represent you at the arraignment; however you will be screened for a court appointed attorney on this date and if you do not qualify you must obtain a lawyer by your next status date.

Arraignment court is open every day except Sunday. Arraignment is a formal reading of criminal information in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. For family members trying to find their loves who are locked up, there will be a list on the wall before entering Courtroom C10 informing which attorney has been assigned to represent your family member.

At the time of arraignment the prosecutor will inform in open court whether you are eligible for diversion. Thereafter, a next court date is set which is called a status hearing. A status hearing is when you will make a decision of whether to go to accept diversion (if eligible), to set a trial date, or enter a plea of guilty.

Online freelance writing is emerging as a practical and profitable avenue for making money; but it faces formidable challenges of legality, internet penetration, and lack of pertinent equipment. Increasing global unemployment has resulted in the emergence of alternative ways of making money. Millions of people have embraced the internet in the quest for gainful self-employment. The World Wide Web is the next frontier in the fight against unemployment. While there are many other options for making money, freelance writing is the most popular owing to its relatively low demand for skills. Writers who ply their trade on the internet write academic papers, web content; technical documents such as reports, data entry and many other related activities. In spite of this, there are a number of challenges that this industry faces.

First, online freelance writing is largely unregulated. Companies are springing up every day and begin to offer pertinent services to willing clients. They recruit writers from all over the globe and assigned orders, based on a pre-stated criteria. Online writing companies are the intermediaries between the writer and the client. Problems arise, however, when unscrupulous people start companies which have ignoble intentions. These fraudsters deprive both the writer and the client of their money. After gaining substantially from unsuspecting people, the companies disappear suddenly. Such actions are demoralizing to the defrauded parties. Unfortunately, the aggrieved party rarely gets justice since these internet sites are operated from different countries, and serve a global customer base.

Another important challenge facing online freelance writing is the disparity or dearth of internet penetration. While it is true that most urban centers have internet coverage, the signal becomes weak as one travels to the outskirts. There are areas that have no internet coverage at all. Writers living in such places, have a problem accessing respective sites. They, therefore, miss out on jobs, thus curtailing their incomes. Even in cases where such writers seek for alternative internet sources, the costs are too high. In developing countries, where many of these writers are found, problematic internet connections are a formidable barrier.

Lastly, lack of computers, modems and other respective apparatus, impacts online freelance writing negatively. Owning a desktop computer or a laptop is not easy for some writers, especially those that have recently graduated from universities. Although cyber-cafés are practical alternatives, they do not offer the writer an atmosphere conducive to effective writing. In other words, unless a writer owns a computer with internet connection, he or she may not excel in this field.

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Although it may seem like a common, straight forward charge, operating a vehicle under the Influence of alcohol and/or drugs (OVI) is a serious crime. Known in some states as DUI or DWI, an OVI charge can lead to a relatively lengthy legal process. To ensure that you understand the charges you are facing, as well as your legal rights, it is important to retain an attorney who specializes in OVI cases as soon as possible.

Why hire an OVI Attorney

Driving under the influence is a risk to the driver as well as everyone else on the roadway. Since impaired driving puts so many lives at risk, you may be facing series charges that could result in jail time and/or large fines. Hiring an experienced OVI attorney can help you reduce the charges or sentencing. In some cases, an attorney can even have an OVI charged dropped entirely.

An experienced OVI attorney will have strong understanding of state and local OVI laws. This is essential to helping you understand the charges you are facing and your options during each stage of the criminal proceedings. OVI attorney’s also study legal precedents that will strengthen your case. Without an attorney in your corner, the likelihood of having your sentence reduced or charges dropped are very slim.

Although never advisable, some cases can be handled without legal representation. Often, these are cases where it is the individual’s first offense, there were no injuries or deaths, and there is substantial evidence to support the charge.

If you are facing charges that include any of the following, an OVI attorney should be contacted as soon as possible.:

• You have been arrested for an OVI before.

• Another person was injured or killed as a result of your OVI.

• You are a commercial driver.

• You believe that you are innocent of the charges, or you think the charges should be reduced to reckless driving or physical control.

What to look for an OVI Attorney

When hiring an OVI attorney, you want someone who is experienced in local OVI law. This will ensure you have representation that has specialized knowledge of every aspect of an OVI charge, including breathalyzers, blood test and chemical test procedures.

An OVI attorney will also have experience handling a variety of cases involving OVI arrests and other drunk-driving offenses. They will have a track record of:

• Reducing or eliminating jail time;

• Negotiating plea bargains;

• Eliminating a revoked license and reducing OVI charges to lessor offenses.

Your OVI/DUI defense begins as soon as you are pulled over. When you are arrested, you should immediately contact an OVI attorney who can advise you of your options.

Are you planning of constructing a house? While there are many house plans that you can go with, not all of them are ideal for you. One of the best plans that you should consider is the east facing plan.

Benefits Of East Facing House Plan

There are a number of benefits that come with an east facing plan. Some of the benefits include:

Sunlight: since the sun rises from the east, it means that your house will be receiving a lot of sunlight during the early morning. This will reduce your energy bills as you don’t have to leave the lights on if you wake up early.

Health: researchers have shown that the morning sun is always the best. Since your house will be facing east, you will be getting the most from the beneficial morning sun.

Tips To Consider When Designing An East Facing House Plan

For you to design a perfect east facing house you need to put a number of tips into consideration:

Plenty of space on the east: as an architect you need to leave enough space in the east. This is the space that the people in the house will be using to bask during the early morning.

Short east compound wall: to allow plenty of sun into the building, you should ensure that you don’t cover the house with the compound wall. This calls for you to construct a wall that is much shorter than the house. To leave enough space on the east side you should ensure that the main gate faces northeast.

Have a verandah: when designing the house you should ensure that the house has a verandah on the eastern side where the owners of the house can sit and enjoy the healthy morning sun. You can design a sloping verandah; however, you should ensure that it doesn’t face west.

Clutter free: to avoid obstructing positive energy you should ensure that the space on the eastern side is clean and clutter free. This calls for you to remove any heaps of soil, stone or garbage that might be there. You should also ensure that the house doesn’t have any elevated land. The floor should be less elevated than the center room.

If there’s a road running in front of the house you should ensure that it’s lower than the plot.

Conclusion

These are the advantages of an east facing house plan. If you are interested in an east facing house, ensure that the plan is designed by a professional architect.

Contemplating a new life in Canada? You are not alone. Almost a million people moved into Canada legally in 2004 alone and hundreds of thousands more have their applications pending. Canada is one of the Western countries that admits the most immigrants next to the United States. The immigrants are lured by the high standards of living which stem from low crime rates and a sound economy. Once you get to Canada, what are you likely to expect?

Seventy percent of all new immigrants into Canada report little hassles settling in. Many already have friends and family in Canada who help them assimilate. If not, there are many immigration advocacy groups that help newcomers make the transition. Most of the new arrivals find work in less than a year. This can be work in almost all fields and sectors of the economy.

It has also been reported that most immigrants, almost 90 percent, tend to flock with their own ethnic groups. Because Canada is a multi-ethnic society, much like the United States, new arrivals quickly find their own countrymen already established. Many also bridge the cultural divide and establish new friends among other ethnicities.

Weather Barrier

One of the major impediments to getting settled was the weather. Canada boasts some of the coldest winter months in the entire Western Hemosphere. This is because of the continent’s close proximity to the Arctic circle and North Pole. This problem is compounded by the fact that many immigrants to Canada come from the tropics where the weather is relatively warm all year round.

Qualifications

While it is true that the Canadian immigration system only desires to legalize people who have formal skills, there is stiff competition for jobs in Canada. This is because Canada has one of the highest literacy rates on the planet. If one is seeking menial jobs, these are plenty in Canada. But if one desires to advance higher to the blue-collar corridors, then one has to be well educated and have skills and experience. Newcomers may only have a rudimentary knowledge of an advanced economy’s inner workings and this can hinder assimilation.

Language

English and French are the predominant languages in Canada. French is especially dominant in some states such as Quebec. While immigrants coming from French-speaking lands such as some West African states would have no problem, this may not be the case with English-speaking migrants. One may find themselves enrolling either in English or French classes before fully being assimilated into the Canadian workforce.

If you are worried about losing your home to foreclosure and are getting behind on your mortgage payments, there are some financially strategic things you can do to save your home. It’s best to learn about the foreclosure laws in our state and understand the well-documented case law. You should probably immediately seek the professional advice of a bankruptcy attorney who has dealt with such issues if you want to prevent foreclosure.

Did you know that once you file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in California, the bank cannot do a foreclosure sale during the proceeding which take about 3-4 months? The lender can petition the judge to bypass that general rule and foreclose early or ask for a foreclosure sale, but it’s rarely ever granted without extenuating circumstances.

In Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, you will have to keep up on your mortgage payments and/or make a deal with your lender, otherwise, the lender can ask the judge to foreclose anyway. Depending on your relationship with your lender and your good faith, the judge sometimes allows this. Again, it’s best to ask your bankruptcy attorney what to do and how to do it in order to have the best chances of keeping your home when it is over.

Can You Stay in Your Home After Foreclosure in California?

It turns out that you can stay in your home after foreclosure and up to the final sale, although that would be cutting it close. Generally speaking, after a foreclosure it takes anywhere from 2 months to a year for the actual sale to occur. This is the case for both judicial and nonjudicial foreclosures.

In fact, in California, there is a terrible problem where the family that once lived in the home before foreclosure leaves as requested, but then a new party, a homeless squatter, moves in and stays in the home until it is sold, often until the new owners try to move in. Sometimes the new owners have to go and get an eviction notice, which also takes time. It’s an interesting world we live in but that’s what’s happening here in California.

In Ventura County, there has been a whole slew of cases where this has happened. Squatters learn about the loopholes in the law on the Internet, often watching YouTube Videos. Some of the advice is garbage, some is valid. Either way, it is causing a problem in neighborhoods around the Ventura County area and nearby adjacent neighborhood that are in Los Angeles County.

Can You Buy a New Home After You File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?

The answer to this question might shock you. After all, people assume that filing for bankruptcy is the kiss of death, and their credit will be shot forever or at least a decade. Not so. Indeed, 24-months after the date your bankruptcy is completed you will be able to qualify for a home loan and mortgage providing you have adequate income at that time to service the loan payments.

For Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, the situation is similar, but there are other things you need to know and you should contact a bankruptcy attorney in your area who specializes in these venues for all the correct details.

What Can I Keep from My Home If the Bank Forecloses?

This is a very important question and if you get it wrong you could find yourself in jail for grand theft. You cannot take solar panels, hot water heaters, or any built-in appliances. Don’t attempt to take garbage disposals, trash compactors, built-in ranges, dishwashers, or air-conditioning systems. You cannot take burglar alarms, smoke detectors, or smart house systems that are built into the home as an integrated system. You may take televisions, refrigerators, and washers and dryers.

You cannot take an outdoor patio system that is anchored to the house on one or more sides or on top. Basically, the law reads that you cannot take anything affixed to the building or land. Again, take these rules seriously, and if you have any questions, ask your bankruptcy attorney. If you have to go and you’ve exhausted all other avenues, do it right. You don’t want to begin your fresh start with a new criminal conviction – that doesn’t look good on any resume.

There Are Ways to Prevent Foreclosure in California

The easiest way is by asking your lender for a loan modification. The bank doesn’t want to take back your home, they just want to get paid. Thus, it is in their best interest to work out a favorable deal that will have you back making payments until that mortgage is paid in full. Sometimes lenders won’t move an inch on the first request, but when an attorney contacts them on your behalf, it’s amazing what you can negotiate.

If you pay off your mortgage the lender cannot foreclose obviously, which is one more option. Get a loan from another source and pay off the mortgage. You can also sell your home in a short sale, or for the amount left on the mortgage. Although you won’t get any equity back, your credit will be great having paid it off.

Other Considerations

After the housing crash of 2008 many servicers made errors in the paperwork. The court no longer takes their word over the borrower. If they made a serious mistake, your attorney will now be in a very favorable position to negotiate for you. At least, your bankruptcy and foreclosure attorney will have the lender start the process all over again, and at best, might save you 10s of thousands of dollars and a truly stellar renegotiated mortgage rate and terms. Be sure to learn all the facts.

Has fear of the unknown frozen you so that you are hesitant to make much needed decisions? Or, has thinking about the future and how you are going to manage without your loved one brought great anxiety? Fear of the unknown is among the most common, and most difficult, grief-related issues to deal with.

Why is this so? Simply because uncertainty is an integral part of life that is ignored by most until it forces us to confront it. Then we have to take a stand when we are in an anxiety-filled frame of mind. The choice becomes: either learn to live one day at a time (perhaps one minute at a time) or allow the unknown to fill us with crippling fear and freeze us. So what can we do to deal with fear of the future, the unknown?

1. Realize that taking risks is still a productive method of dealing with the unknown. Risk taking is at the very core of growth and advancement. It involves new learning, sacrificing, and being open to the belief that failure is part of the learning curve; it gives us new information to carry on. Be willing to come out of your shell and start again and again, even though you are hurting.

2. Recognize that millions before you, and I include myself, have learned to live with uncertainty. Psychotherapist Pauline Boss in Ambiguous Loss says, “Although our longing for certainty is normal, it is also natural never to find it.” The key word is natural and that you can live with uncertainty, so unpleasant though it is.

To live with it means that we need to keep experimenting to find ways to recognize that uncertainty is okay to have. At the same time, we make and execute plans to manage it (as mentioned above new learning is the key). Then, when one approach doesn’t work, try another.

3. Focus your attention more on the present and less on the future. This takes concerted effort to be sure. But it can be done, and is a crucial strategy. Focus on and take care of immediate needs. And, when you feel the downward spiral of thinking the worst about what lies ahead–shift your attention back to something wholesome in the present.

Become an expert at refocusing and adopt it as a lifelong skill. Trust those you are close to. It’s okay to lean on them and share your fear and ask for advice. Take it, if it fits for you. Let it go for later consideration, if it doesn’t.

The key understanding is to take action after assessing the dynamics of the situation and consulting with those who have input that could be useful to your plan. The latter can help immensely in allaying fears, so seek out the wise and experienced, even if you have to pay an expert for advice.

The most consistent suggestion coming from counselors of every stripe is: face your uncertainty based fears. Don’t allow them to immobilize you. Remember, there are always going to be times of not knowing–it is inescapable. However, the upside is that the history of facing the unknown tells us that you will prevail.

Information abstracted from regional and national studies concerning the challenges facing nonprofits indicates that several issues are shared as concerns for nonprofit leaders. Board development and fundraising and are the main issues for nonprofits with a secondary emphasis on difficulties related to improving operations and more effectively managing resources.

EMERGENT THEMES

Some fundamental concerns were commonly identified in the studies, which surveyed nonprofit executive directors and board members. Five major themes clearly emerged from the various reports’ inventories of issues. These suggest areas of the most pressing needs as indicated by nonprofit leaders:

1. Board Development – Building an active and strategically oriented board of directors was the most frequent concern. Specific issues identified were:

· Recruiting high-impact board members

· Cultivating a dynamic and effective culture among board members

· Fostering a strategic orientation for boards

2. Marketing/Fundraising – Developing effective marketing programs to recruit and retain donors was also a high priority. In particular, respondents were concerned about:

· Applying marketing/communications techniques to donor contact activities

· Expanding their current donor base

· Increasing donations from current donors as well as enhancing donor loyalty and retention

3. Information Management – Utilizing effective information management for measuring and evaluating operations and programs was also very important.

· Establishing a clear set of quality benchmarks for assessing services

· Using IT to reduce costs and create value

· Evaluating programs/services against key performance measures

· Establishing a better model for measuring and reporting outcomes

· Measuring the real benefit of development and marketing investments

· Devising a consistent approach for measuring organizational performance and impact

4. Human Resources – Attracting, developing and retaining productive staff and volunteers was a critical concern:

· Attracting and retaining skilled staff

· Attracting skilled, motivated volunteers

· Developing a leadership transition and succession plan

· Improving workforce performance

· Providing ongoing training and skill building

5. Collaboration – Pursuing constructive alliances, partnerships, and mergers was also a significant issue.

· Developing collaborative partnerships with public sector agencies, including government

· Forging collaborative partnerships with the private sector

· Pursuing mergers with overlapping services/agencies

Extrapolating from these topics, a sixth theme is implied as a supplementary concern:

6. Business Proficiency – the need to embrace the business skills and processes essential to effectively addressing the needs identified in these five major themes.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Several changes in the operating environment of the nonprofit sector are impacting leaders’ perceptions of the issues facing them.

Funding Challenges – Many nonprofit organizations are simultaneously facing a rapidly changing funding environment and a steadily rising need for services from the communities they serve. Reduced or tightly focused government funding is placing great pressure on the sector, which has also experienced a proliferation of new nonprofits during the past decade, thus increasing the competition for a smaller pool of funds. Countless nonprofit organizations are feeling the impact of federal reductions to their core funding streams at the same time foundation endowments and giving are down and many state and municipal governments are experiencing deficits that are reflected in reductions in spending on social programs.

Accountability Pressures – As a result of a few high profile cases, nonprofits are facing powerful accountability pressures to provide measurable proof that the services they provide have an impact on the communities and populations they target. Funders and the public want to know in detail if the funded organization is effective in doing what it sets out to do and if it is also efficient at what it does. While gaining and keeping the pubic trust is absolutely essential, calls for accountability can lead nonprofits to spend more time searching for financial support and accounting for funded task performance in order to continue receiving funding from the source. This can cause nonprofits to be more business-like but may also draw attention from responding in innovative or distinctive ways to community and/or client needs.

Collaboration Fascination – Government and foundation funders are increasingly requiring the use of interorganizational relationships such as collaboration, partnerships, and alliances as an element of funded projects. However, while there is a growing body of knowledge about the factors that support effective negotiation and integration of strategic partnerships, much less is known about the actual outcomes nonprofits experience and how these compare to expected outcomes. Many nonprofits expend large amounts of organizational energy for questionable returns while pursuing interorganizational relationships. Nonprofits often encounter major barriers to collaboration, such as autonomy issues and “turfism,” conflicting organizational cultures, and trust-building among organizations.

ADAPTIVE REPERCUSSIONS

Responding to these difficult circumstances necessitates adaptations that involve more than merely developing additional financial support.

Leadership Challenges – The health of the nonprofit sector depends on the quality of its executive leadership. Agency leadership, including board members, must be able to raise fundamental questions related to strategy, mission, and accountability, as well as the roles that their organizations play within their communities. For many nonprofits, being responsive to changes in the environment means a heighten need to:

· Determine the most effective way to serve a client population that may be growing or changing;

· Develop strategies and processes to access and manage new funding streams;

· Decide where and how to make budget cuts;

· Develop technology to capture information for reporting and billing;

· Manage cash flow challenges;

· Consider new partnerships, explore possible collaborations, and consider mergers or acquisitions.

Given the challenging changes in the typical nonprofit’s task environment, effective board leadership becomes particularly crucial. The issues facing the nonprofit sector underscore the need for responsive, skilled and effective board leadership in maintaining and improving the quality of organizational performance. It is appropriate that nonprofit boards take a leadership role in assisting agency management on critical issues such as mission definition and strategic planning, legal compliance and conflicts of interest, oversight of agency financial management, resource development, establishing interorganizational collaborations, cultivating community relationships, and opportunities for capacity-building training.

Management Challenges – Nonprofit managers are challenged to perform multiple functions and roles as they guide their organizations through today’s complex environment. They must be highly skilled not only in the technical aspects of their organizations’ mission, but also in management areas such as finance, human resources, information technology, program evaluation, resource development, and many other management responsibilities. Also, an organization’s human resources represent the collective capabilities and experiences of its people. Unfortunately, nonprofit organizations are often challenged when it comes to managing staff talent actively. Attracting and retaining skilled staff as well as heightened accountability and competition create a need to develop the specialized business skills and processes that are required of for-profit organizations. Consequently, like their counterparts in the business world, nonprofit managers need to continuously seek out and utilize the latest methods and techniques of organizational management and leadership.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SUCCESS

Restating the six identified needs as positive attributes indicates that resilient nonprofits will have:

1. A strong governance structure and visionary board members with the right skills and access to resources.

2. Sufficient and flexible funding.

3. A defined set of best practices in service and management functions and an effective way to measure performance against these benchmarks.

4. A skilled workforce operating in a culture that facilitates opportunities for innovation and growth.

5. Effective community relationships that include collaborative partnerships with other providers, funders and other organizations and systems.

6. Management capacity to support services, including accounting, human resources, technology and marketing/development functions.

A SEVEN-STEP PRESCRIPTION

Seen from this perspective, there are seven actions that nonprofits can take to achieve these characteristics and address the challenges they face:

1. Undertake an organizational assessment and create a strategic plan to address any capacity deficits.

2. Engage board members to ensure quality governance structures, practices and oversight.

3. Embrace and adopt sound marketing and communications strategies.

4. Build business skill sets and integrate basic business practices and tools.

5. Identify and implement appropriate metrics and make better use of technology to enable evaluation of the success and impact of delivery of services and programs as well as internal operations.

6. Institute progressive human resource practices focusing on skills and team building.

7. Explore and adopt new collaborative business models with complementary organizations.