Joseph Gurney Cannon was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, many consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such control over the House that he could control debate. Cannon is the second-longest continuously serving Republican Speaker in history, having been surpassed by fellow Illinoisan Dennis Hastert, who passed him on June 1, 2006. Cannon is the second longest serving Republican Representative only surpassed by Alaska congressman Don Young, as well as first member of Congress, of either party to surpass 40 years of service. Cannon's congressional career spanned 46 years of cumulative service—a record, not broken until 1959, he is the longest serving member of the House of Representatives in Illinois, although the longest continuous service belongs to Adolph J. Sabath. Cannon has the distinction of being the subject of the first Time cover dated March 3, 1923.

Cannon was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1840 moved with his parents to Annapolis, about 30 miles north of Terre Haute. He was the elder of Horace Franklin Cannon, a country doctor. Horace Cannon drowned on August 7, 1851 when Joseph was fifteen years old as he tried to reach a sick patient by crossing Sugar Creek. Young Cannon took charge of the family farm, his brother William would become a successful realtor. Asked by Terre Haute politician and lawyer John Palmer Usher, future Secretary of the Interior under President Abraham Lincoln, to testify in a slander case, Cannon became fascinated with the law, he asked Usher if he could study law under him and moved to Terre Haute. At age 19 he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, to attend a semester of law school at the University of Cincinnati law school. In 1858, he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Terre Haute, but was disappointed when Usher refused to offer him a place in his office; that year he relocated to Illinois.

His choice of a new hometown was somewhat involuntary, taking place while he was travelling from Shelbyville, Illinois, to Chicago to find more clients for his law firm. During the trip, he ran out of money, he boarded a Chicago-bound train in Illinois. As Cannon did not have a ticket, he was removed from the train in Tuscola. There, he became State's attorney for the twenty-seventh judicial district of Illinois, holding the position from March 1861 to December 1868, he was one of the charter members of Tuscola's Masonic Lodge No. 332, founded on October 2, 1860. In 1876 Cannon moved to Danville, where he resided for the rest of his life, he and his wife Mary P. Reed, whom he married in 1862, had two daughters, he became a follower of Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858. After Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Cannon received an appointment as a regional prosecutor. Cannon, a member of the Republican Party, was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois to the Forty-second and to the eight succeeding Congresses, was the chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department and of the Committee on Appropriations.

Cannon was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress, but was elected to the Fifty-third and to the nine succeeding Congresses that sat between 1893 and 1913. He attempted to gain the Speakership four times before succeeding, his antic speaking style, diminutive stature and pugnacious manner were his trademarks. The newspapers lampooned him as a colorful rube. "Uncle Joe", as he was known clashed with fellow Republican Theodore Roosevelt, asserting that Roosevelt "has no more use for the Constitution than a tomcat has for a marriage license". Cannon was chairman to the Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Rules, Speaker of the House of Representatives, he received fifty-eight votes for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1908. Cannon wielded the office of Speaker with unprecedented power. At the time of Cannon's election, the Speaker of the House concurrently held the chair of the Rules Committee, which determined under what rules and restrictions bills could be debated and voted on, and, in some cases, whether they would be allowed on the floor at all.

As such, Cannon controlled every aspect of the House's agenda: bills reached the floor of the house only if Cannon approved of them, in whatever form he determined – with Cannon himself deciding whether and to what extent the measures could be debated and amended. Cannon reserved to himself the right to appoint not only the chairs of the various House committees, but all of the committees' members, used that power to appoint his allies and proteges to leadership positions while punishing those who opposed his legislation. Crucially, Cannon exercised these powers to maintain discipline within the ranks of his own party: the Republicans were divided into the conservative "Old Guard," led by Cannon, the progressives, led by President Theodore Roosevelt, his committee assignment privileges ensured that the party's Progressive element had little influence in the House, his control over the legislative process obstructed progressive legislation

Hebri Subhaskrishna Ballal is an Indian Administrator and Pro Chancellor of the Manipal University and Chairman of FICCI - Higher Education Committee. Ballal is an ethnic Bunt and hails from the Hebri Beedu family,the chief landowners of Hebri in Udupi district, he is the eldest among five sons of Belinje Sanjiva Hegde. He has two children son, Sandeep Ballal and daughter Supriya Shetty, his youngest brother is H. Sudarshan Ballal.. Ballal graduated with an MBBS from Mysore Medical College and post graduated with DMRD and MD in Radio-diagnosis from Government Medical College, Bangalore. In April 1997, Dr Ballal was appointed Associate Dean of the Kasturba Medical College and subsequently, in 2001, was elevated as its Dean and on 1 September 2003, he was appointed to the distinguished position of Vice Chancellor of Manipal University. From July 2006, he has been elevated to the position of Pro Chancellor. Dr Ballal has been an active member of Indian Medical Association. In 1987 he was elected as President of IMA, South Canara Branch and the Vice-President of Karnataka State Indian Radiological and Imaging Association.

He is a member of Central Council of Indian Radiological and Imaging Assoc. and member of National Advisory Board of Indian Journal of Radiology. In 2001, as Chairman of the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association organising Committee, he conducted its annual conference at Manipal with over 1500 delegates participating in the conference, he is the Chairman of the Higher Education Committee constituted by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi and the Member of the Committee set up for National School of Pharmacy by the Pharmacy Council of India. He is the Member of the National Centenary Celebration Committee of the Trained Nurses Association of India, New Delhi. New Year Award 2008 IBM Inspiring Vice Chancellor of the year Aryabhatta award H S Ballal Biography on Manipal University's website

Larisa Yurkiw is a Canadian retired World Cup alpine ski racer, specializing in the speed events of downhill and super-G. Born in Owen Sound, Yurkiw made her World Cup debut at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, in a downhill event in January 2007. In 2015, she achieved a personal best at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy when she placed 2nd in the DH discipline, she went on to achieve three more World Cup podiums. On December 16, 2009, a crash during a training run at Val d'Isere resulted in an ACL tear, MCL tear, patellar tendon tear and tears in both the lateral and medial miniscus in her left knee, she did not compete on home soil at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia. Prior to debuting on the world stage, she had much success as a junior ski racer, she made her debut on the Nor-Am Cup on March 2004, held at her home club, Georgian Peaks. From 2005 to 2009, she reached the podium seventeen times, having won gold eight times in all disciplines but slalom, she had success racing on the GMC Cup, a non-FIS sanctioned ski series that challenges Canada’s most promising skiers.

In 2007, Larisa competed on the South American Cup. Yurkiw picked up a silver medal at the 2008 FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Formigal, Spain in the combined discipline. From 2006 to 2008, she posted three more top 10 results at this event, she earned two gold medals at the 2008 Canadian National Championships in Super-G and downhill, three silver medals in 2009. Since she was still considered a junior in both 2008 and 2009, she went on to become the Canadian National Junior Champion in downhill, giant slalom, slalom. Yurkiw announced her retirement on May 11, 2016 via social media, citing her desire to preserve her health; this had come after the best season of her career. 4 podiums – Skis: Rossignol Bindings: Rossignol Boots: Rossignol Poles: Komperdell Helmet & Goggles: Uvex Sponsor: Cresco FX Larisa Yurkiw at the International Ski Federation Larisa Yurkiw World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation Larisa Yurkiw at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database Larisa Yurkiw at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com Rossignol.com – team – Larisa Yurkiw Official website Larisa Yurkiw on Twitter