James Gillespie Blaine was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, serving as Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives from 1869 to 1875, in the United States Senate from 1876 to 1881. Blaine twice served as Secretary of State, one of only two persons to hold the position under three separate presidents, unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President in 1876 and 1880 before being nominated in 1884. In the general election, he was narrowly defeated by Democrat Grover Cleveland. Blaine was one of the late 19th century's leading Republicans and champion of the moderate reformist faction of the party known as the "Half-Breeds". Blaine was born in the western Pennsylvania town of West Brownsville and after college moved to Maine, where he became a newspaper editor. Nicknamed "the Magnetic Man", he was a charismatic speaker in an era, he began his political career as an early supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort in the American Civil War.

In Reconstruction, Blaine was a supporter of black suffrage, but opposed some of the more coercive measures of the Radical Republicans. A protectionist, he worked for a reduction in the tariff and an expansion of American trade with foreign countries. Railroad promotion and construction were important issues in his time, as a result of his interest and support, Blaine was suspected of corruption in the awarding of railroad charters with the emergence of the Mulligan letters; as Secretary of State, Blaine was a transitional figure, marking the end of an isolationist era in foreign policy and foreshadowing the rise of the American Century that would begin with the Spanish–American War. His efforts at expanding the United States' trade and influence began the shift to a more active American foreign policy. Blaine urged greater involvement in Latin American affairs. An expansionist, Blaine's policies would lead in less than a decade to the establishment of the United States' acquisition of Pacific colonies and dominance of the Caribbean.

James Gillespie Blaine was born January 31, 1830 in West Brownsville, the third child of Ephraim Lyon Blaine and his wife Maria Blaine. He had two older sisters and Margaret. Blaine's father was a western Pennsylvania businessman and landowner, the family lived in relative comfort. On his father's side, Blaine was descended from Scotch-Irish settlers who first emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1745, his great-grandfather Ephraim Blaine served as a Commissary-General under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. Blaine's mother and her forebears were Irish Catholics. Blaine's parents were married in 1820 in a Roman Catholic ceremony, although Blaine's father remained a Presbyterian. Following a common compromise of the era, the Blaines agreed that their daughters would be raised in their mother's Catholic faith while their sons would be brought up in their father's religion. In politics, Blaine's father supported the Whig party. Blaine's biographers describe his childhood as "harmonious," and note that the boy took an early interest in history and literature.

At the age of thirteen, Blaine enrolled in his father's alma mater, Washington College, in nearby Washington, Pennsylvania. There, he was a member of the Washington Literary Society, one of the college's debating societies. Blaine succeeded academically, graduating near the top of his class and delivering the salutatory address in June 1847. After graduation, Blaine considered attending law school at Yale Law School, but decided against it, instead moving west to find a job. In 1848, Blaine was hired as a professor of mathematics and ancient languages at the Western Military Institute in Georgetown, Kentucky. Although he was only eighteen years old and younger than many of his students, Blaine adapted well to his new profession. Blaine became an admirer of Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, he made the acquaintance of Harriet Stanwood, a teacher at the nearby Millersburg Female College and native of Maine. On June 30, 1850, the two were married. Blaine once again considered taking up the study of law, but instead took his new bride to visit his family in Pennsylvania.

They next lived with Harriet Blaine's family in Augusta, Maine for several months, where their first child, Stanwood Blaine, was born in 1851. The young family soon moved again, this time to Philadelphia where Blaine took a job at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind in 1852, teaching science and literature. Philadelphia's law libraries gave Blaine the chance to at last begin to study the law, but in 1853 he received a more tempting offer: to become editor and co-owner of the Kennebec Journal. Blaine had spent several vacations in his wife's native state of Maine and had become friendly with the Journal's editors; when the newspaper's founder, Luther Severance, Blaine was invited to purchase the publication along with co-editor Joseph Baker. He accepted, borrowing the purchase price from his wife's brothers. Baker soon sold his share to John L. Stevens, a local minister, in 1854; the Journal had been a staunchly Whig newspaper, which coincided with Blaine's and Stevens' political opinions.

The decision to become a newspaperman, unexpected as it was, started Blaine on the road to a lifelong career in politics. Blaine's purchase of the Journal coincided with the demise

The New York City Police Department Auxiliary Police is a volunteer reserve police force, a subdivision of the Patrol Services Bureau of the New York City Police Department. Auxiliary Police Officers assist the NYPD with uniformed patrols, providing traffic control, crowd control, other services during major events. Over 4,500 Auxiliary Police officers contribute over one million hours of service each year; the NYPD Auxiliary Police program is the largest Auxiliary Police program in the United States. There are seven titles in the New York City Police Department Auxiliary Police: The precursors to the Auxiliary Police were organized during times of war when police officers were drafted into service, leaving the city with a diminished police force; the Home Defense League was established in New York City in 1916 under Police Commissioner Arthur Woods to supplement the police force. Many police officers had joined the armed forces as the war in Europe progressed. Citizens volunteered to enroll in the Home Defense League to aid police in patrolling duties and be on hand in case of emergencies.

In a matter of months, 22,000 people had volunteered for the Home Defense League. They were required to attend trainings on handling prisoners, protecting themselves, using weapons, they received no pay. If the need arose, they could be called into service to guard armories, subway stations, other areas of the city. In 1918, the Home Defense League changed its name to the New York Reserve Police Force, as proposed by Commissioner Richard Enright, in addition to undergoing higher-caliber training under Special Deputy Police Commissioner Lewis Rodman Wanamaker. Over 3,000 women joined the Police Reserve, serving under Captain Mary Noonan to provide eyes and ears for the police, look out for children's safety, give first aid if necessary. Governor Alfred E. Smith signed a new state law in 1920 that established the permanency of a reserve force as an adjunct of the police department. By the mid-1920s, the Police Reserve had stopped functioning as an active part of the Police Department, due to political disputes in a high-crime period.

The Reserve was formally disbanded in 1934. During World War II, the need for a reserve force returned; the City Patrol Corps was organized in 1942 to assist police in patrol work. By war's end in 1945, the corps was disbanded, but the city continued to maintain a volunteer police unit. In 1950, the 81st Congress of the United States of America passed the Public Law #920, entitled "The Civil Defense Act of 1950," authorizing a Federal Civil Defense Program. In 1951, the New York State Legislature enacted the "Defense Emergency Act" requiring New York City to recruit and equip volunteer Civil Defense wardens, who would provide traffic and crowd control and other assistance to police officers in the event of an emergency or natural disaster; the New York Penal Law provided peace officer status for the Civil Defense wardens during the event of an actual natural or man-made disaster or attack or during training drills. In 1967, a Mayoral Executive Order closed the Civil Defense Headquarters and placed full responsibility of the Civil Defense wardens with the NYPD.

The NYPD retitled the division Auxiliary Police, changed the uniform to reflect police officer uniforms, revised the duties of Auxiliary Police. During the 1960s when crime was on the rise, uniformed Auxiliary Police patrols were one means to deter crime. Auxiliary Police recruits must pass an 18-week, 140 hour "Auxiliary Police Basic Training Course". Auxiliary recruits are required by the New York State Municipal Police Training Council to undergo and pass this training course before they become Auxiliary Police officers; the training given in this course includes training in penal law, police science, radio use, defensive tactics, unarmed self-defense, self-defense with a straight wood baton, physical training, chemical training, first aid, handcuffing techniques, arrest procedures. In 2008, the NYPD revised the training course to include training in location and use of pressure points, dealing with domestic violence situations, firearm safety, terrorism awareness. A written and physical exam is given at the end of training.

Upon the completion of the Basic Training Course, the physical exam, the written exam, probationary Auxiliary Police officers are issued their shield and police identification card along with their baton and initial uniform allowance voucher. Probationary Auxiliary Police officers must patrol with a field training officer. All Auxiliary Police officers are required by New York State to pass an annual refresher course in the use of force with the straight baton, arrest procedures, law in order to maintain their status. Auxiliary Police officers are neither Police Officers nor Peace Officers Although volunteers, Auxiliary Police officers are city employees while on duty and may be eligible for Workers' Compensation in the event of injury while on duty. Auxiliary Police officers must maintain equipment at their own expense. Officers who work the minimum required hours per fiscal year receive an annual uniform allowance check to help pay for new and replacement equipment and uniforms. Auxiliary Police officers may carry and use straight wood batons Auxiliary Police officers may carry and use handcuff restraints both on and off duty in accordance with NYC Administrative Code 10-147 Auxiliary Police officers may physically detain violators of Misdemeanors and Felonies under the State of New York Civil Defense Act Article # 8 Section # 105 Auxiliary Police officers injured while on duty are provid

Jean-Louis Prévost was a Swiss neurologist and physiologist, a native of Geneva. He studied at Zurich and Vienna, in 1864 became an interne in Paris under Alfred Vulpian. After earning his medical doctorate at Paris in 1868, he returned to his hometown of Geneva, where he maintained a laboratory with Augustus Volney Waller. In 1876 he became a professor of therapy at the University of Geneva, in 1897 succeeded Moritz Schiff as professor of physiology, a position he held until 1913. Two of his better known students at Geneva were Paul Charles Dubois. Prévost is credited with introducing modern medical physiological practices at Geneva, was the author of over sixty books and articles. While still a student, he co-authored with Jules Cotard, a work on cerebral softening called Etudes physiologiques et pathologiques sur le ramollissment cérébral. With Jacques-Louis Reverdin and Constant-Edouard Picot, he founded the journal Revue médicale de la Suisse. Prévost's law: Medical sign involving unilateral brain lesions, where the head is rotated toward the diseased hemisphere.

Note: He is not to be confused with Jean-Louis Prévost, a botanical artist and a distant relative. Jean-Louis Prévost @ Who Named It