Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Three-week course on 'Conservation of Organic Materials in Heritage Sites and ... - AME Info

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Three-week course on 'Conservation of Organic Materials in Heritage Sites and ...

AME Info


It was organised by ICCROM through its recently established Regional Centre in Sharjah, UAE , in partnership with the Government of Sharjah (represented by the Sharjah Museums Department, the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, the American ...


3-week course on cultural heritage conservation concludes in Sharjah

Gulf Today



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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Memorial Day tribute: 15 soldiers and 3 airmen with local ties - Colorado Springs Gazette

deeshu-tatum.blogspot.com


Memorial Day tribute: 15 soldiers and 3 airmen with local ties

Colorado Springs Gazette


He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “His goal as a chaplain was not to be a social worker, but to be a spiritual guide,” a friend said. Staff Sgt. Jesse Infante, 30, of Cypress, ...


45th's training adds sense of realism

Tulsa World


Fort Drum Soldier killed in Afghanistan

YNN


1st Air Cav soldiers begin journey to Afghanistan

DVIDS


Syracuse.com -The Republic -ReadMedia (press release)


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Friday, May 27, 2011

University of Phoenix adding resource center - San Antonio Business Journal:

chauezhelolocu1622.blogspot.com
The center, says Wally Hedgecock, vice president and director for thelocal campus, will provide universitu students a place to network with faculty and othetr students and work with the university’ s enrollment, financial and academicx counselors. “It’ll be a place for studentss togo — whether they’re on campus or onliner students — who live in the area, and accessd tutoring ... workshops and go and hang out and work ontheier homework,” Hedgecock says. The new center will be between 5,000 and 6,00o0 square feet and will have a researchy room with anywhere from 12 to 16 workstationdwith computers.
There will also be tutorinh rooms, administrative offices, a staffed lobbh area and a snack bar. The center will have the capacitg to serve between 25 and 30 studentas and will support up to 14 facultand staff. Hedgecock says the university hopees to open the new center sometime in late summedr orearly fall. An exacyt timeline will be determined once the leas for the propertyis finalized. The University of Phoenix has been in the Alam Citysince 2004. It has more than 190 campusea and learning centers in North Americaand Europe.
It is a subsidiaryh of Phoenix-based Other subsidiaries of Apollo Group include the Institutd forProfessional Development, the College for and

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Frazier museum chooses Bandy Carroll Hellige as it agency of record - Business First of Louisville:

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Previously, the museum had no single agency of with several Louisville advertisinf firms handlingthe work, said Krista public relations and marketing director for the “I just decided to consolidate all that with Bandyu Carroll Hellige,” McHone said. Bandy Carroll Hellige will develol and implementall campaigns, including branding, marketing, advertising, publiv relations and interactive programs for the the release said. The Frazier museum, 829 W. Main St., was foundef in 2004 by OwsleuBrown Frazier, the retiredr vice chairman of , the Louisville-based spiritds and wine company.
The museumn has about 100,000 square feet of antiques arms andhistorical items, many of whicyh are from Frazier’s private Bandy Carroll Hellige was foundee in 1989 by partners Susan Bandy, Mark Carrolo and Tim Hellige and has a totalo of 44 employees at its headquarters in Louisville, Ky. and an officer in Indianapolis, according to the

Sunday, May 22, 2011

San Diego Padres Experience a Baseball Rapture - SanDiego.com

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SanDiego.com


San Diego Padres Experience a Baseball Rapture

SanDiego.com


The San Diego Padres are going through their own end of the world experience, end of their hopes for the season. No one advertised this was going to happen, no one could forecast this, no one would ever believe it. Especially not likely to happen, ...



and more »

Friday, May 20, 2011

Smoking ban inquiries tackled in city Q&A - News-Leader.com

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Smoking ban inquiries tackled in city Q&A

News-Leader.com


Bob Goosey, Pall Mall in hand, and Ross Brown (right) smoke as they frame a house on East Catalpa Street. "I didn't think it would affect us," Goosey said of the ordinance. According to Springfield's new ordinance, construction workers building a house ...



and more »

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mortgage rates fall a second week - Memphis Business Journal:

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's weekly report shows 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.2 percengt this week, down from last week'sx average of 5.32 A year ago, 30-year mortgages were averaging 6.37 percent, although rates fell below 5 percenrt earlierthis year. The nation’s job market is one factofr thought to be influencingmortgage rates. “Interesgt rates for 30-year fixed-ratee mortgages fell to the lowest level in six weeks amid markert concerns over a weakeninglabodr market,” said Freddie Mac Chiev Economist Frank Nothaft. “The economy lost 467,0009 jobs in June, more than the market consensus, and the unemploymenrt rate roseto 9.5 percent, the highesg since August 1983.
” this week reported an 11 percent increasre in mortgage applications, as refinancing activity jumpec and applications to purchase homee rose to the highest level in threr months. Those with more than one mortgage obligatiobnare struggling. The reported this week that the numbetr of home equity loans thatwere 30-dayse or more delinquent rose to a record high of 3.52 percentr in the first quarter and home equity lines of creditr in default also reached a record of 1.
89

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Former Mirabilis head charged in $181M payroll tax fraud - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The grand jury charged Amode owith conspiracy, failure to remit payrol l taxes, wire fraud and obstructioj of an agency proceeding. Amodeo faces 370 years imprisonment and fineszof $6.75 million if convicted. Accordinhg to the indictment, Amodeo and other unnamef executives at his company knowingly failed to remit to the payroll taxex totalingsome $181.8 including $129.7 million in FICA and withholdiny taxes. It started with $7.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2004 with two businesseshe controlled, and . It then continuer over the next two yearsd with for theremainingh $174 million.
Investigators said Amodeo included a number of companiexs in the activity acting as professionaolemployee organizations, which would lease employeesz to other companies. Otheer companies believed to be involvec inthe scheme, according to U.S. Attorneuy Robert E. O'Neill, were , , , , , , , , and variouws other companies. In some cases, Amodeo was not listed as a director, officer or shareholder of thoswe companies, but prosecutors said he and others directed the business activities of allthe companies. Mirabili Ventures itself shut down in October 2007 afterf reporting total lossesof $285 milliomn along with other costs and punitivw damages.
Beginning in 2007, 24 legal action s had been filed against Mirabilis with all but eigh t of them settled or dismissed by the time thecompanu shuttered, according to officials at the time. Mirabilies also filed counterclaims to some of the suits claiming it was still owed $14 million. On top of that, Mirabilis was lookinf to get $47 million in investmentas and loans along withanother $200 millio in other damages it said it was owed by its all money being funneled into the IRS whil e the government agency looked to see how much in taxesx the company owed, officials said at the Mirabilis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptc protection last May, listing up to 200 creditords and liabilities of betweejn $50 million and $100 million.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Fish story offers lesson for keeping businesses off the hook - San Francisco Business Times:

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These market-savvy fish are cleaner wrasse, 4-inch-long, eel-looking found on the reefs of Ras Muhammad on the Red Sea coasrtof Egypt. The cleaner wrasse eat the dead skin, mucus and food debris from the bodies of theidclients -- other fish. Some of the though, cheat, by feasting just on which is easier to locate on their customers andmore "energhy rich," than parasites, which are harder to the scientists found. Otherzs cheat by cleaning their client s just enough to keep them coming back for morecleaninhg sessions.
But market forces keep the cleaner wrasse'x personal valet services at a high say researchers Redouan Bshary at Cambridge and Danieo Schaffer at the Max Planck Institute for Behaviorap Physiologyin Germany. And in a lesson-teaching some predatory fish handle beinyg cheated by attackingthe cheaters. Nonpredatoryh fish, though, would seem at the mercy of the Not so, Bshary and Schaffer say. Nonpredatorg fish that were cheated in the past were less likeluy to return tothe "cleaning stations" whers the cleaner wrasse didn'f do a good job for a new especially if they were cleaned poorly more than once.
"Iu would not be surprised if clients eventuallyu avoid a station completely if they arecheate repeatedly," Bshary told New Scientisy magazine, a British publication. Other clients also took thei r business to other stations if they had to wait in line too Bshary and Schaffer say that by exercisingconsumer choice, the client fish create competition between the cleaning thereby maintaining quality service. Attacking the slackers probably servesaas motivation, too. • Quality service might keep you frombeing • Fish expect the difficult tasks done well, not just the easy • Fish make judgments about servicde and quality, and will go to placea that provide it.
• Some fish are smarter than we thinkothey are. These lessons should be obviouswto retailers, manufacturers, airlines, repair services and anyonee else who deals with the public. Yet, we've all been ignoredx by clerks, sold goods that were shoddy and treatedf like brainless idiots by those tryinvg to part us fromour money. It'w probably our fault for keeping such businesses open by continuinhg to purchase goods and services from We tend to think suchplaces won't be in businesxs long as competition weeds them out. Things mighft progress faster if we startesd carrying predatory fish inour pockets.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Biz Bits - Nashville Business Journal:

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But she doesn’t, and she credits her father for When Williams was 4years old, her parents bega n adopting children and didn’t stop, eventuall y bringing home 14 adopted brothers and sistersw from the Philippines, Korea, Brazilk and Romania. (She also has four biological During her oftenhectic childhood, the Nashville singer-songwritefr forged an unusually closew relationship with her Pat Williams, senior vice president with the basketballl team, that she says helped her develop the confidence to become a performer. Now the two have written a bookcallefd “The Takeaway: 20 Unforgettable Life Lessonss Every Father Should Pass On To His Child.
” The idea for a book came abou when she decided to move from Orlando to Nashvillr two years ago. She wrote her father a long card thanking him for all thewisdojm he’d imparted and listing the lessons she’d taken from him. It inspire d a book proposal that was picked upby , publisherr of the “Chicken inspirational series. Pressed to name a favoritre lesson, Williams says “Dare to Live Big” encapsulatexs the message of the “It says, ‘Don’t limit your thinking. Take thoswe limits off and put yourselfout there,’ ” she “That’s what I try to do as a singetr and songwriter.
” Karyn and Pat Williams will appear together — NBA playoffz permitting — at 6 p.m. May 28 at a book release partyh at The Listening Room inCummins Station. Jeannie Naujeck Need your afternoon pick-me-uop but can’t get out of the office? A Germantowb coffee house will bring their brewto you. has partnerex with , a bicycle courier servics owned byAustin Bauman, to deliver its mochas, muffins and more to homes or offices. Launched this the beverage delivery is availablw weekdays from1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for downtownj areas. It costs $4, with a minimum ordef of $20. DrinkHaus owner Kat Roos says it’s anothed step to be green.
The coffee and tea shop primarilhy uses local vendors and sells organicx and natural foodsand beverages, includingy its organic, fair trade “Organic beverages delivered straight to your office via earth-friendly that’s a pretty great solution to our customers’ Roos says. Belmont professor joins boardf of directors for A professod was elected to the board of director for Publix Super Jane Finley, an accounting professor at Nashville-based Belmont, will serve on the audiy committee of the Florida-based grocer. “Dr.
Finleyu has an impressive background in finance and informatiom technology that will complimentt our current boardof directors,” Publidx spokeswoman Maria Brous says. Finleyu has taught at Belmont since 1995, serving in roles of associat e dean of the graduate businesds program and coordinator of theaccounting “Anyone who knows me knows that for many years Publixx has been my most favoritee company,” Finley says. “Publix is known for outstanding customed service delivered byoutstanding people.” Publix is privatelu owned and operated by its 140,500 employees, with 2008 saless of $23.9 billion and 1,003 stores in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Steel Dynamics plans $40 million Jeffersonville expansion - Business First of Louisville:

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Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) is seeking a 10-year tax abatement wortuh an estimated $2.35 million for the project, Cahillk said. The company bought the steel coatinh plant from GalvProII LLC, in 2003. It currentl y is capable of producingt 300,000 to 350,000 tons of light-gauge hot-dipped and cold-rolle galvanized steel a year. The expansion could create up to 37 jobs at an averagwe salaryof $12 an Cahill said. The company currently employsx42 people. Steel Dynamics officials could not immediately be reacherdfor comment.
Greg Fitzloff, president of the Souther n Indiana Chamberof Commerce, said that after meetingb with Steel Dynamics officials about the planne d expansion, he is convinced the company is worthy of the incentives. "The are a real strong performer," Fitzlofg said. "They are very confident that if they can make this it will lead tofuture (expansion) Cahill said city officialss also believe the expansion will benefiy the community. "Although this isn't a huge amount of jobs, we think of thesee as being good jobs," Cahill said. "This company has a lot of propertyt (at Clark Maritime), and this (expansion) hardly makesd a dent in that land.
We believe therre will be more to come inthe future." Steelp Dynamics last month said revenue for 2005 rose to $2.2 billiom from $2.1 billion in 2004. But net income for 2005 fell to $221.76 million, or $4.97 a share, from $295.3 or $5.99 a share, in 2004. The companu has additional plantsin Butler, Ind.; Columbia City Pittsboro, Ind.; and Lake City, Fla. It said its stee shipments rose 5 percenttin 2005, to 3.6 million tons. The companyh previously announced it would mergewith Roanoke, Va.-based Roanokwe Electric Steel Corp. in a deal that is expecte to close by the end of the first quarter.
Steel Dynamics' Butler-based Flat Roll which includes theJeffersonville facility, contributed the largest portion -- 2.4 millionn tons, or 67 percent -- of the company's total steel shipments in 2005. That productio n is expected to increase toabout 2.7 million tons in 2006 and 3 millionj tons in 2007, the company "2005 was a very stron year for Steel Dynamics," Steel Dynamicd president and CEO Keith Busse said in the earnings release. though, we were able to maintain strong profit marginz for the year in spite of selliny prices and steel scrap costs fluctuating dramaticallh throughoutthe year.
" Busse explained that stee demand decreased in the first half of the year but picke d up in the second half, with production backloges carried into 2006. "We are optimistic about the sustainability of favorabled domestic steelmarket conditions, especially for construction steelsw and bar products," Busse added in the "The U.S. economy remains strong, which suggests steel demand should continue to be strong acrossmost steel-consuminh market sectors.
"

Friday, May 6, 2011

Crist signs controversial health care bill - South Florida Business Journal:

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SB 1122 changes the way insurance companies pay for coveragwe of patients ininsurance networks. It will allos doctors who are not memberes of a preferred provider organization to be paid directlyg by insurance companies when they treat patients who belong to such a Last month, a groupp of advocates for workers, consumers and employers joinedc forces to ask the governor not to pass the bill, whicy they claim will result in higher and unexpected out-of-pocket health care costs.
“We believe this legislatiomn would raise costs systemwide by undermining the ability of insurers to negotiate reasonable fees with causing higher insurance rates andhigheer out-of-pocket medical bills for Floridaz patients,” Florida PIRG’s Brad Ashwell said at the However, the is applauding the governor’s decision to sign the bill. “Whilr routing the payment through the patient may seem like aminor unfortunately, this practice is driving up the cost of healthj care, imposing hidden fees and limitingt access,” said Timothy J. Stapleton, FMA’xs executive vice president, in a news release.
“Thisa common-sense legislation will put a stopto this, and allowq physicians to spend more time and resourcesd on direct-patient care.”

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Beyonce, Michelle Obama team up to get kids moving - CBS News

http://metooyoutoo.org/?p=65


New York Times (blog)


Beyonce, Michelle Obama team up to get kids moving

CBS News


First lady Michelle Obama dances with students at Alice Deal Middle School in northwest Washington, May 3, 2011. (CBS/AP) Singer Beyonce surprised a group of Harlem public school students who were working out Tuesday to her hit "Get Me Bodied. ...


Dancing with the ... First Lady? Michelle Obama Dances The Running Man and The ...

ABC News (blog)


Michelle Obama does the Dougie with students as part of Let's Move

Los Angeles Times


The Caucus: Moving Students, Honoring Teachers

New York Times (blog)


Houston Chronicle (blog) -Politico -NPR (blog)


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Monday, May 2, 2011

Details begin to emerge on health-care reform - South Florida Business Journal:

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percent of the cost of healtb insurance premiumsfor full-time employees under the health care reform bill being considere d by the House. They also would be requireds to pick up at least some of the tab forinsuring part-tim e employees. Businesses that don’t provide this minimujm level of coverage would be requiree to pay the federal governmeng a fee based on 8 percentt oftheir payroll. Small businesses under a yet-to-be-determined threshold wouldr be exempted fromthis “play or pay” requirement.
The chairmenb of three House committees with jurisdiction over healtu care introduced draft legislationJune 19, offeringb the most details yet on how health care reform coulde affect small businesses. Under the bill, smal l businesses and individuals could shop for insurancer through anational exchange, which would include a government-rum plan and private insurers. Tax credites would be available to help small businesses afford the Health insurance premiumsfor U.S. businesses increasef by 9.2 percent this year, and are expecter to increase another 9 percentnext year, according to . Smalpl businesses often face much higherrate hikes.
While most small businessese agree the current health insurance marketis dysfunctional, there’z a lot of disagreemengt over whether the House bill woul cure the problem or just make it Mike Draper, who owns a retail clothing store and design business called Smas in Des Moines, Iowa, likes what he sees in the Draper thinks adding a public plan would hold down premiums by creating more competition in the marketplace. Draperf doesn’t offer health insurance to itsseven full-time workers, but reimburses them for the cost of policiea they buy on their own. That’s fine with his who are single and intheir 20s.
The reimbursements now accounty for 6 percentof Smash’s but that could jump to 22 percent in four years, when Draper expectws everyone on his management team to have creating the need for family plans. His business couldn’g handle that expense, he said. If the House bill were he would consider buying insurance througnh the exchange if it were easyto use. But he mightg decide to pay the 8 percen t payrollfee instead, then reimburse his employees for some of the cost of the policiesz they purchase through the exchange. Drapee thinks employers should be required to help pay forthei employees’ health insurance.
Like Social Security contributions, this sort of responsibilitty is “kind of what you signed up when you become abusiness owner, he Other small business owners, think the House bill imposes too toughh of a standard on small businesses. The requirement to pay 72.5 percentf of an employee’s premium for individual coverags “is much too high for many smalpl businesses,” said Karen Kerrigan, presidenf and CEO of the SmallBusiness & Entrepreneurship Council. The only way many small businessees can afford coverage is by making employee s pick up more ofthe cost, she Arlington, Va.
-based Company Flowers & Gifts for example, pays 50 percent of the cost of health insuranc e for seven full-time employees. Even that may not be affordabldnext year, because “oud rates are going to skyrocket,” co-owneer John Nicholson told the House Small Businessa Committee earlier this month.