LNS Captioning

11/01/2023

Here's a story about Senator Fetterman's appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The senator read what the captioner wrote just for him so he could stay on track during the show.

NCRA member provides captioning for U.S. Senator on CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert October 27, 2023 Emily Nicholson On Oct. 11 Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss an array of issues. Throughout the interview, the senator relied on capt...

10/30/2023

Like most people, I have my mind on the deaf community in Maine. I received an email with a link to the Maine community's information: https://www.deafmaine.org/contribute/ Please consider contributing. Thank you.

GoFundMe's:These GoFundMe's have been established by the victim's families -- we strongly encourage you to contribute to them. Your contribution will be separate from most of the funeral and interpreting costs making it more impactful for the victims. **NEW** Family of Steve Vozzella - GoFundMe orga...

04/27/2023

Gen Z kids love captioning. And their loving captioning is changing our culture. More and more people expect captions to be turned on. People with hearing disabilities are right alongside these young folks.

Check out this article from New Jersey.

Young audiences are turning captions on and spurring advances in long-overlooked accessibility tools.

03/23/2023

Bravo, National Association of the Deaf!!

https://youtu.be/0OgPNVIjWnM

We Won We WON! Earlier this year, we went to the US Supreme Court with Disability Rights Michigan, Latham & Watkins, and Ellen Saideman, to represent a Deaf man, Miguel Luna Perez, who grew up in a public school district without any access to sign language interpreters or accommodations. All nine Su...

03/16/2023

Hey, this is great. Our national association held a legislative boot camp in Washington, D.C., three weeks ago. A delegation of Missouri and Kansas members dropped in on one of the Missouri representatives, and they did some excellent work!

Training for Realtime Writers Act gains first sponsor in U.S. House of Representatives March 13, 2023 NCRA Government Relations is proud to announce that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, II of Missouri will serve as the first sponsor of the Training for Realtime Writers Act in the 118th Congress. The bill seek...

03/14/2023

Hi, everyone. If you see TV captions that are not accurate, synchronous, placed correctly, and/or complete, please file a complaint with the FCC. Instructions are included in this link.

And if you have any questions, let us know. Our company was involved in setting up these Federal guidelines back in 2014.

Closed captioning displays the audio portion of a television program as text on the TV screen, providing a critical link to news, entertainment and information for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

02/08/2023

Hey, everyone, it's still National Court Reporting and Captioning Week. Here's an interview of a judge who supports people reporting the proceedings and not a digital recorder.

You cannot duplicate the performance of the human mind and ear February 2, 2023 The Hon. Dan. R. Slayton In an article posted Jan. 25 by the Arizona Daily Sun, the Hon. Dan Slayton, presiding judge of the Coconino County Superior Court, was quoted as saying he believes a court reporter should be av...

01/25/2023

News from one of our captioning friends, Darian Elliott. Darian was asked to caption for "Hamilton" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

My night with Hamilton January 20, 2023 By Darian Elliott Darian Elliott, RPR, CRR, CRC, from Frederick, Md., has been providing captioning and CART for 23 years — covering church services, news programs, council meetings, theatre performances, sporting events, and her favorite, classes for studen...

11/30/2022

Federal legislation considers updates to captioning law November 28, 2022 In 2010, NCRA was one of many parties involved in the passage of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which made sure that accessibility laws enacted in the 1980s and 1990s were brought up to d...

09/29/2022

70% of overall toxic waste in America is through e-waste.

Did you know that the City of Portland has been battling e-waste since the 90’s? That’s right. The City has recycled computers and monitors since the service first came online in the early 1990s. The program expanded in 2009 to include “micro electronics” such as cables, mice, keyboards, AV equipment, small scanners, speakers.

Each year the City diverts 35,000 pounds of electronics from landfills by donating used electronics to the non-profit Free Geek. Free Geek's goal is to reroute technology from landfills by refurbishing it and giving it back to the community at no or low costs.

FREE GEEK
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

09/06/2022

Just so you know, an LNS captioner made those captions on that screen. Cool!

https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2022/09/reser-stadiums-5-million-video-board-gave-oregon-state-a-few-nervous-moments-but-the-cool-factor-is-undeniable.html?utm_campaign=theoregonian_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0NhDLOCZq_j19fPziZfQiUQcAccyRmcQRPeCFXsfkUYdjp538-kQCIadM

The 6,750-square foot scoreboard became operational and powered by Wednesday night, giving the school less than three days to test before Saturday night's season opener

08/11/2022

Press release from the Federal Communications Commission about access for TV programming:

This page contains important information and activities pertaining to the Commission’s rules regarding access to emergency information on television, including rules, guides, orders, public notices, notices and press releases.

08/03/2022

This is a great story about captioners and court reporters sharing their time to make a difference in our community.

Court reporters preserve Freedmen’s Bureau documents at Transcribe-A-Thon August 2, 2022 Transcribe-A-Thon participants Following a successful Zoom Transcribe-A-Thon in February arranged by Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI, an official court reporter and captioner from Washington, D.C., and Juanita Price,...

08/03/2022

Great words of praise for Deanna Baker! The first time I met Deanna was at a regional HLAA meeting here in Portland in 1992. She showed me how to display my captions on an overhead projector. Remember those things? We've come such a long way since then, and we all owe so much gratitude to Deanna for leading the way.

Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award presented to Deanna Baker July 29, 2022 Deanna Baker with Michael Meyer, nephew of Rocky Stone, founder of HLAA and a member of the Board of Directors By Lisa Johnston The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) honored one of its own at its national convention in T...

05/04/2022

Please take note! All of our work is now provided over the internet. What a change from when we started captioning 29 years ago!

The countdown to the end of copper POTS lines has begun May 2, 2022 By Carol Studenmund FCC Order 19-72A1 releases telephone carriers from obligations to maintain copper POTS lines as of August 2, 2022. POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service. For decades, captioning data has been delivered to c...

03/08/2022

We received some very nice client feedback today at the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners meeting.

"Now Jeston Black will provide an overview of the legislative session and how that might impact our local work.
>> JESTON: First, I would like to give a shout-out to the closed captioner spelling my name correctly, which is amazing.
[Laughter]
>> JESTON: Thank you."

Marina Hovious, Board Clerk
Multnomah County Commissioners

01/06/2022

Great job, Chad Ludwig.

The DeafBlind Institute at Western Oregon University recently received $2.1 million to help train interpreters in Protactile, a language created by DeafBlind people.

12/08/2021

Well, this was a great find this morning in my emails. Tevin H. Green works for our court reporting firm, and we are so blessed to have him with us. And the person who interviewed Tevin is Kendra Steppler, and she worked for us while she was in court reporting school.

New Professional Profile: Tevin Green December 5, 2021 Tevin Green By Kendra Steppler Tevin Green lives in Vancouver, Wash., where he works as a freelance reporter. He graduated from Sumner College in Portland, Ore., and has been an NCRA member since 2015. KS | Why did you choose to become a court ...

11/12/2021

LNS Captioning needs to expand our group of captioners. I know, who doesn't? Here's what one of our captioners said about us just this week: "I think you pay very well, your prep is topnotch, and you're all great to work with."
NCRA certifications are desired, but if you don't have them, contact me anyway. I know great captioners who do not have their certifications.
Carol at LNS Captioning dot com.
Thanks.

11/04/2021

Court reporting and captioning are great careers!

Steno Talk podcast surpasses 11k plays, continues to grow November 1, 2021 Steno Talk host Anna Mar NCRA member Anna Mar, a freelancer from San Antonio, Texas, first learned about court reporting as a receptionist in an emergency room after starting a conversation with a patient’s daughter who was...

10/29/2021

In my spare time, I chair the MHCRC. What a great community group! Please pass this information on to nonprofit groups in Multnomah County who want to create video content.

09/08/2021

Part-time Staff Bookkeeper Staff Support
We are a well-established court reporting and closed captioning firm in the heart of downtown Portland looking for someone to join our team part time to become a part of our Bookkeeping Team. This position does require working within our offices, where we observe Covid protocols.

Do you love crunching numbers, working against payroll deadlines and generally making sure everything runs smoothly? We are in need of a part-time person who is detail-oriented, very organized, deadline-driven and comfortable working with a variety of different accounting and office software applications. This position requires excellent communication skills, the ability to work well independently as well as with others and work well under pressure. A working knowledge of Quickbooks and Microsoft Office is a must. Some Human Resources experience working with benefits administration and COBRA is a plus.

Pay: $17.75/hour
Hours: 20+ hours/week, M-F (We are able to flex within the hours of 8am-5pm on a 4 hour shift)

Duties Include:

Bookkeeping-specific
• Check handling
• Credit Card entries and reconciliation
• Post-Production Billing
• Collections
o Court Reporting
o Captioning
 Post-Production
 Live captioning
• Review electronic payment summary for accuracy and on-time delivery:
o Court Reporting
o Captioning
• Pay LNS bills as requested.
• Posting payments
o Check deposits
o Credit cards
o PayPal
o Electronic funds transfer
• Interfacing with clients concerning accounting matters and business correspondence
• Cover desk for main Bookkeeper when they are away

Admin-specific
• Request and distribute insurance certificates multiple times per year for various clients
• Order office supplies as requested.
• Issuing monthly bus passes
• HR duties such as processing new hires, terminations, and open enrollment for benefits
• Process the Washington State Contract quarterly report, enter data in the system, and submit totals.
• Send documents via Sharefile as requested.

Other duties as determined by the owners

Software: Quickbooks, Sharefile and Microsoft Suite

06/29/2021

You may have heard we had a heat wave the last two or three days. It's only going to get up to 97 today. Only.

One of our staff members has no AC at home. She is staying at a hotel near the office, which allows pets. Miss Kitty is hanging out at the office today. It's a busy day for the court reporting side of the business, so Miss Kitty is sharing an office with Katie Williamson. I hear she's even helping answer the phones.

Portland so often has so much rain in June, we call it Junuary. Not this year!

06/18/2021

We are a well-established closed captioning firm in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, looking for someone to join our team part-time to support caption coordinating after hours. This includes nights, weekends, and holidays. The work would be performed remotely, outside of the office.

Covid shut-in? Can’t sleep at night and want to get paid during your nocturnal insomnia? We are in need of a person to work ON-CALL, who is detail-oriented, very organized, and comfortable working with all types of personalities. You may have shifts where nothing happens and some nights you will be busy, though not usually the entire time. This position requires excellent communication skills, the ability to work well independently as well as with others, and work well under pressure. A working knowledge of Microsoft Office is a must. This position is working in live TV and live Web-based events!

Pay starts at $13,350. Must be available to start right away. Must have flexibility to swap work shifts for vacations or emergencies.
Shift Nights & Hours:
 Mondays 5:00 p.m. through Tuesdays 8:00 a.m.
 Tuesday evenings off
 Wednesdays 5:00 p.m. through Thursdays 8:00 a.m.
 Thursday evenings off
 Fridays 5:00 p.m. through Saturdays at 11:59 p.m.
 Sundays off
 Holidays: Split in half with other nights and weekends coordinator
 Vacations: Swap shifts with other nights and weekends coordinator
Duties include but are not limited to:
• Receive calls from clients and/or captioners needing immediate assistance. Serve as the liaison between captioners and clients.
 Coordinate coverage for late additions to the schedule or severe weather emergencies
 Troubleshoot loss of audio or loss of captions
 Assist captioners to track down prep for programming
 Look for coverage for events that still need a captioner assigned for the upcoming week
• Update master caption schedule based on schedule changes and additions
• Share the duty of preparing script reminders for sports teams and stadium clients
• Check in captioners for their assignments on weekend shifts (Saturdays)
• Work with coordinating team to provide the best service for our clients

05/05/2021

Great story about a captioner working in the Washington, D.C. court system. Way to go, Juanita Price!

First to provide remote CART in District of Columbia Superior Court May 3, 2021 Juanita Price, RPR Juanita Price, RPR, an official and CART captioner from Gainesville, Va., was recently recognized for being the first CART captioner at the District of Columbia Superior Court to provide remote CART. S...

04/15/2021

Happy National ASL Day 2021!!

On April 15, 1817, the first lasting school for the deaf in the United States opened. Students gathered there over the years and at subsequent deaf schools across our nation. The children intermingled Native American Signs, French Sign Language, and Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language. This process br...

04/15/2021

Here's a wonderful update on the State of Washington bill about captioning from my friend Dean Olson:

Good morning,

The “Turn on the TV Captions” bill is on its way to the governor’s desk now.

Thank you for helping support this. After passing the House with all yes votes, it passed the Senate with all yes votes. It was a bipartisan effort. If there’s anything to do, it is to please email thank-you to the senator and the two representatives who represented you on this.

After Governor Inslee signs it, it appears Washington State will be the first state in the country to require we turn on the TV captions for public places.

Thank you,

Dean

April 14, 2021 - Senate concurred in House amendments.
04/14/2021
You are subscribed to SB 5027 for Washington State Legislature Bills. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
April 14, 2021 - Senate concurred in House amendments.
Bill Description - Television closed captions
April 14, 2021 - Passed final passage; yeas, 48; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1.
04/14/2021
You are subscribed to SB 5027 for Washington State Legislature Bills. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
April 14, 2021 - Passed final passage; yeas, 48; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 1.
Bill Description - Television closed captions

04/11/2021

Another update from our friend Dean Olson about turning the captions on in all public places in Washington. It's good that he reminds us to thank Senator Pedersen who moved this bill along.

Good morning,

Presently, the amended ‘Turn on the TV captions’ bill, SB 5027, is waiting to be scheduled for a final senate vote. I was advised we might want to take one, additional minor step to thank the Senator for his support and gently nudge to help schedule it for the senate vote.

The link to the Senate “Turn on the TV Captions bill,” aka SB 5027 is here.

On 12 April 2015: if possible, please send thank you for supporting SB 5027 - via email and phone – to Senator Pederson. Here is his information:

Pedersen, Jamie, (360) 786-7628, [email protected].

Please thank him for his support. This will help encourage him to help schedule this bill. This will help give him reassurance that we support this effort and help us express our thanks for their work.

Though the support is strong, and some have said this should pass, I believe if we take one more step to call Senator Pederson, we’ll help get this to the senate floor. Last year, several good bills didn’t make it to the final vote and the session ended too soon; ending those bills. I hope we can help nudge this to the final vote.

This will be the final email request on this issue.

Also, we might perhaps thank our representatives and senators, plus their staff, as well. This bill is the first to require TV captions in public spaces in one of the 50 US states. It was good to help contribute to the bill’s passing. 😊

Thank you,

Dean

04/06/2021

Here's an update on the State of Washington bill to require captions be turned on in public places, and it's good news:

Mid-morning, today (4/5), the WA State “Turn on the TV Captions” bill passed the WA State House 97-0. While I was at work, several wrote to tell me they helped. Even folks from Dallas, TX and Portland, OR stepped up too!

This bill, originally sponsored and introduced by members of both parties, has bipartisan support. I hope this bill will be a model for other states, too.

The bill’s information is here: SB 5027.

While in the WA State House, the bill was amended. It is going back to the Senate for a second vote (to approve the amended version). It originally passed 48-1 there. The lone no vote was from one of Whatcom County’s senators. It has a good chance to make the WA State governor’s desk now.

Thank you,

Dean Olson
www.wash-cap.com

Washington State Communication Access Project is a non-profit dedicated to enabling hard-of-hearing persons to fully enjoy public venues through captioning.

04/06/2021

So many people use captions these days. There is no one audience, but many. People who can't hear, people who are learning English, people who want to keep the sound down, people on the train or bus, and the list goes on.

Captioning has taken off among the non-hearing impaired — and for good reason