TALK ABSTRACT:
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With the recent discovery that virtually all local galaxies harbor massive
nuclear black holes, there is now convincing evidence that active galactic
nuclei (AGN) and normal galaxies in our local Universe are fundamentally
connected.  However, the nature of this connection and the detailed
evolutionary history connecting these objects is unknown.  Low Ionization
Nuclear Emission Line Regions (LINERs), defined by their narrow optical
emission lines of low ionizatation uncharacteristic of photoionization by
normal stars, may constitute a vital piece of this puzzle, possibly
representing the "missing link" between the powerful quintessential AGN in
the Universe and galaxies such as our own.  Despite several decades of
intense research, there are still open questions, including:  what fraction
of LINERs are truly AGN, what are their accretion properties, and how do
these quantities relate to the properties of the host galaxy?  In this talk, 
I will summarize recent results from our ongoing multiwavlength investigation
of LINERs and compare them with similar observations of known AGN.