Bluffton, South Carolina
Funeral Home
Robert Lewis “Rusty” White, age 72, formerly of Atlanta, Ga., died at his home in Bluffton, S.C. on Monday, June 18, 2018.
Mr. White was born on July 8, 1945 in Jackson, Miss., the son of the late Grace and Lewis White. He was raised in Newton, Miss. and was of the Baptist faith. Rusty was a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where he double-majored in physics and art. While at Ole Miss he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Following his formal education he served honorably in the United States military during the Vietnam War.
He was the founder and publisher of the Robb Report magazine as well as several other publications until his retirement in 2002. A man of many talents, Rusty began Rob Partners, an online auction company for high end antiques & collectibles. Outside of work, he enjoyed collecting Civil War weaponry, of which he was considered an expert. He was the owner of the Rose Hill Mansion, an antebellum plantation house in Bluffton, which he restored to its current beauty after years of abandonment following a fire in the 1980s.
Mr. White is survived by his loving wife of 21 years, Robin Ann Sumners White; sister, Donna White Angel, of Woodstock, Ga.; nephew, Michael Angel (Sharon); niece, Heather Angel Dittus; great nephews, Henry and Martin Dittus; father- and motherin-law, Robert and Ann Sumners; and brother-in-law, Mark Sumners (Nancy).
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests donations to the Daughters of the American Revolution for the DAR’s patriotic service projects.
Sauls Funeral Home of Bluffton is assisting the family with a private memorial service, www.saulsfh.com.
WASHINGTON — Bowing to pressure from anxious allies, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed himself Wednesday and signed an executive order halting his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents when they are detained illegally crossing the U.S. border.
It was a dramatic turnaround for Trump, who has been insisting, wrongly, that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision.
The order does not end the “zero-tolerance” policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally. But it would keep families together while they are in custody, expedite their cases and ask the Defense Department to help house them. It also doesn’t change anything yet for the some 2,300 children taken from their families since the policy was put into place.
The news in recent days has been dominated by searing images of children held in cages at border facilities, as well as audio recordings of young children crying for their parents — images that have sparked fury, question of morality and concern from Republicans about a negative impact on their races in November’s midterm elections.
Until Wednesday, the president, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other officials had repeat- edly argued the only way to end the practice was for Congress to pass new legislation, while Democrats said Trump could do it with his signature alone. That’s just what he did.
“We’re going to have strong, very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together,” said Trump, who added that he didn’t like the “sight” or “feeling” of children separated from their parents.
Under a previous classaction settlement that set policies for the treatment and release of minors caught at the border, families can only be detained for 20 days. A senior Justice Department official said that hasn’t changed.
“This is a stopgap measure,” said Gene Hamilton, counsel to the attorney general. Justice lawyers were planning to file a challenge to the agreement, known as the Flores settlement, asking that a judge allow for the detention of families until criminal and removal proceedings are completed.
So Trump’s order is likely to create a fresh set of problems and may well spark a new court fight. It’s unclear what happens if no changes to law or the settlement take place by the time families reach the detainment deadline. The language also leaves room to separate children from parents if it’s best for the child’s welfare.
And it didn’t do much for the teeming outrage over the issue. The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center said the order didn’t go nearly far enough.
“The administration still plans to criminalize families — including children — by holding them in prison-like detention facilities. There are workable alternatives,” president Richard Cohen said in a statement.
It’s also unclear what will happen to the children already separated. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said his department will start reuniting detained immigrant children with their parents — but he made no specific commitment on how quickly that can be accomplished. And officials said the cases of the children already separated and turned over to their custody would proceed as usual.
Georgia Tech’s startup incubator is targeting health technology entrepreneurs, thanks to a contribution from a Blue Cross-owned health IT company.
Atlanta-based NASCO, which is owned by several Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, is donating funding for Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center for its HealthTech initiative.
That program, which will formally launch next month, is helping build companies working on the issues of population health, caregiver support, billing fraud, precision medicine, genomics, medical devices, diagnostics, data analytics, and process improvements in drug research.
The HealthTech program is the third of its kind at ATDC and follows other gifts used for initiatives in the financial and retail technology sectors.
“NASCO views this partnership with the ATDC and the launch of the HealthTech initiative as critical to our mission to deliver innovative health services and to support the Georgia health care and technology communities,” David Weeks, NASCO’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. “Health care is a highly interconnected ecosystem, and new technologies are helping us to both reduce customer friction and improve health outcomes. The HealthTech vertical will be a key incubator of new ideas to enable these changes.”
Added Kirk Barnes of ATDC HealthTech, who spearheaded the development of this initiative: “Health care systems across the U.S. as well as the patients in their care continue to explore ways to leverage innovation and technology to reduce costs, improve patient satisfaction, eliminate waste, increase access, and improve outcomes.
“We are extremely excited about the partnership with NASCO. The company embraces innovation and technology to improve the way that health care is delivered.”
The NASCO partnership will help the Georgia economy by helping entrepreneurs launch viable companies in the state, said ATDC Interim Director Jane McCracken.
Metro Atlanta is a leading hub for health IT companies, and is the home of many major health care organizations, including the CDC.
NASCO provides information technology products and services — benefit management, eligibility, membership, billing and claims processing support — for Blue Cross plans.
It’s owned by Blue Cross plans, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, the state’s largest health insurer.