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The majority of the best frequented nations tend to be about the Western region combined with the Usa as well as The far east. Because the majority of the vacationers tend to be individuals with higher level associated with throw away earnings, using a well-liked visitor website significantly advantages the actual nation?s economic climate. With this particular truth understand, numerous nations provide less expensive as well as less complicated method of journey inside their nation as well as a collection plan with regard to vacationers. Together with which, the actual improvement associated with technologies within transport, for example creating a larger as well as quicker plane, leading to numerous low-cost air carriers together with simpler use of purchasing seats on the internet created many types associated with travel and leisure less expensive and much more obtainable. Although there?s been arranged shells from particular visitor appeal websites because of terrorist risks as well as environment problems, the actual travel and leisure marketplace nevertheless appears among the most powerful marketplace on the planet.
These days, using the simpler use of journey, many types as well as types of journey surfaced. Although this nevertheless bears the standard type of vacationing to another location, the typical reason for website viewing is becoming much more specific. There?s some thing known as a good Eco-tourism exactly where individuals journey to search out a brand new life-style, mainly pro-nature kind of existence, exactly where they?ll be much more useful for the atmosphere. Another kind of travel and leisure is actually Healthcare travel and leisure. There are various reasons for this kind of travel and leisure.
The majority of the healthcare vacationers journey since they?re looking for the less expensive treatment together with a few sightseeing too. The majority of this particular is a result of the various health care insurance plan world wide. Individuals through nations that provide open public medical care insurance visit nations without having open public healthcare given that they obtain exactly what these people purchase, however individuals through nations without having healthcare journey to obtain a less expensive as well as inexpensive remedy and also a much better regulating program.
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Health officials say at least 24 people have become sick from an outbreak of E. coli infections linked to frozen snack foods marketed to children.
No one has died, but eight people, mostly kids or teens, were hospitalized.
An investigation detected E. coli in an open package of Farm Rich brand frozen chicken quesadillas at an ill person's home.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported illnesses in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
The Buffalo, N.Y.-based Rich Products Corp. has recalled quesadillas, mozzarella bites and other frozen products made in November.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama attended one of the weekend's big college basketball games after playing a round of golf Saturday.
Obama's motorcade took him directly from a golf course at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to Washington's Verizon Center to watch Syracuse and Marquette play for a berth in the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament. He left shortly before the end of the game, which Syracuse won 55-39.
With less than 11 minutes remaining in the first half of the East Regional final, Obama appeared on the Jumbotron suspended above the Verizon Center court. He sat with Reggie Love, his former personal aide at the White House and a member of the Duke team that won the NCAA championship in 2001. At least one other friend, Marty Nesbitt, also sat with the president. Also joining Obama was NCAA President Mark Emmert.
The audience responded with loud applause when Obama was shown on the huge screen, and he smiled and waved.
In the men's tournament, Obama picked Indiana and Louisville to meet in the championship game in Atlanta, with Indiana claiming the title. But it's not meant to be ? Indiana was defeated by Syracuse. Louisville is scheduled to play Duke on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Obama said earlier this week that "my women's (NCAA tournament) bracket is doing much better than my men's bracket."
Earlier Saturday, Obama played golf for the first time since automatic spending cuts known as the sequester went into effect on March 1.
Some conservatives have called on Obama to give up golf since popular public tours of the White House have been canceled because of the budget cuts. The White House has said the tours were canceled to keep Secret Service agents from being furloughed because of the spending reductions.
Obama played golf with Nesbitt and two White House aides.
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Witness the shared beauty of the people of Bangkok and Los Angeles and celebrate the diversity of Los Angeles through the?City of Angels?exhibition in Thai Town on Saturday, April 6 from 7pm to midnight. Also view it at the same place the next day on Sunday, April 7, during Thai New Year celebration Song Kran, from 11am to 4pm. Come see a body of photographic art that explores the similarities between the two cities that possess the name,?City of Angels. The images reveal the striking similarities between two vastly different cultures and provide the viewer with the understanding that we are all the same, regardless of where we live.
This exhibition has already toured Thailand through the US State Department's program called Visual Arts Initiative. (All information regarding this exhibition can be found at.. ?http://www.angelsofthecity.com.) ?Through the generous support from the, Royal Thai Consular General, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Community Development Center, Singha Beer and other anonymous donors, all can celebrate an evening of art and entertainment.
On April 6th, Groove to the sounds of KCRW's Raul Campos and Mark Kates, imbibe in the tastes of Singha beer, observe the blending of tradition and contemporary Thai dance and sample the flavors of Thailand by http://www.streetsofthailand.com/. ?
On April 7th is Thai New Years and is packed with another eventful day of fun as Hollywood Blvd is shut down between Western and Normandie. That day will mark the unveiling of the Kinarra Lamp Posts, Muay Thai wrestling, a beauty pageant and more. ?Over 100,000 people are in attendance of this event.
More information can be found at... http://www.angelsofthecity.com
Last week I let out a bit of a rant on social media sabbaticals. You might not have found it funny? you just might have seen yourself in the characters ? maybe you?ve had your own social media sabbatical.
You might have asked yourself, ?Why is Yolanda so mean and angry about social media sabbaticals??
Well to be fair it?s not just social media sabbaticals?
But today I?m just going to talk about social media sabbaticals.
I see these happening all over the Internet. Sabbaticals from a website, from email, from twitter, etc. Here?s why I think it?s ridiculous? because most of the people taking these sabbaticals are online business owners. If you are primarily an online business then you get your customers from online sources.
If you go off-line how are you going to communicate with your customers? How are you going to get new customers? How are you going to engage? If you plan to spend the month going local that?s great but there?s still no reason to ignore your primary source of marketing leverage.
If you are taking a sabbatical because you just ?don?t have the time? well I?m here to tell you this ? get out of business now. If you don?t spend time marketing your business you won?t have a business. The reality is that most of what you should be doing in your business is talking about your business, engaging with potential customers and reaching out to existing customers. Businesses don?t operate in a bubble. If they did we?d never see another television ad for BMW? ever again.
Repetition works, getting your name and face out there works, that?s why it?s done.
If you feel like using social media is too overwhelming then you need to step back and assess.
Here are some questions you should be asking:
Why isn?t it working for me?
Why does it feel overwhelming?
Why does it take so much time?
And be specific and honest.
If you get ?stuck? sitting on Facebook then the problem isn?t Facebook. If you keep checking your RSS feed reader the problem isn?t the feed reader. If you stay on Twitter too long? it?s you not the media.
Now, how do you fix it?
Step one is to figure out the problem through assessment as we covered above.
Step two is to create a process for dealing with issues that come up in your assessment. For instance, if you are spending ?too much time? using social media then, for business purposes, you?re doing it wrong. The right way includes:
Carving out specific times that you will use the media and stick to those times.
Setting specific amounts of time to engage with the media. This could be getting on Twitter for 10 minutes two times a day. Or checking Facebook at lunch only.
Using apps to help you share faster. Buffer is the best thing out there for me. I read something share-worthy and I can instantly add it to Buffer and Buffer does the rest. PostRocket is another great share platform for Facebook.
Have a system and stick with it. My system involves doing my social media work first thing. As soon as I get to my desk I skim my email. During the evening before while scanning blogs on my iPad I send anything share-worthy to my email so in the morning I can quickly open the links and add them to Buffer, I?m done in less than 10 minutes. I try to share 3-5 items using that method. Then I spend 10 minutes skimming my ?favorites? feed in Tweetdeck, anything shareable I add to Buffer. Then I move to Facebook. I skim down the newsfeed and quickly ?like? things. Share-worthy stuff gets added to Buffer. Then I head over to PostRocket and add something for the day. I generally share only one item on my Facebook page per day. In about 30 minutes I?m done. Then when I have or need a quick 10-minute break during the day, like during lunch, I skim Twitter and Facebook, do some engaging and move on.
The key here is all about how you think about social media. Sure you can spend all day on it but why? If it?s for your business, who has that kind of time? If it?s just because you are avoiding work? then put systems in place to prevent that practice.
There are countless online timers and apps that block sites. If that?s what it?s going to take then do it.
The reality is that willpower is easily enhanced through deliberate practice. First, figure out why you are using the social media platforms you are using. Eliminate the ones that don?t make sense and keep the ones that do.
Beyond that practice makes perfect. Denial by using a sabbatical corrects nothing. When you come back to it you are exactly where you left it. And if you?ve taken more than a week off? you are going to be working twice as hard to re-engage your audience. If that audience is comprised of customers? you?re definitely going to need to step it up to keep them coming back for more.
Ignoring your customers, and that?s what you are doing when you ignore your sources of customer communication, is a recipe for disaster.
Growing your business means taking constant action towards marketing your business. You?ve got to talk to your people.
And that?s why I don?t like social media sabbaticals? but that?s just me.
Corporate Office Properties Trust, a Columbia-based office real estate investment trust, announced that Jay H. Shidler and Clay W. Hamlin III will step down from their respective positions as chairman and vice chairman of the company?s Board of Trustees, effective at the upcoming shareholders? annual meeting on May 9. They will remain as board members if elected by the shareholders. Shidler has been board chairman of COPT since 1997. He will be succeeded by Thomas F. Brady, a board member since January 2002. Brady was formerly chairman of the board of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and executive vice president ? corporate strategy at Constellation Energy Group before it was acquired by Exelon Corp.
Baltimore County seeks public input for bike, pedestrian plans
Baltimore County?s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) is seeking community input as they begin to move forward on implementing a number of projects identified in the recently adopted Eastern and Western Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plans. (The plans are available online at www.baltimorecountymd.gov/bikeped as PDF files.) Members of the public are invited to voice their preferences on which projects to fund first at a citizen input meeting on Tuesday, April 16 at 5 p.m. in the Jefferson Building Hearing Room (Room 104), 105 West Chesapeake Avenue, Towson, MD 21204. The PBAC plans to take a closer look to identify initial projects that will provide county citizens with the greatest benefit at the lowest cost, using state, federal, and private grants. For more information, contact Kathy Schlabach, Baltimore County Department of Planning, at kschlabach@baltimorecountymd.gov or call 410-8873521.
Francesca?s opens women?s boutique at Hunt Valley Towne Centre
Francesca?s, a trendy women?s apparel and gift shop, will open a new boutique on Saturday at Hunt Valley Towne Centre. The new, 1,225-square-foot boutique will be located on the retail center?s ground level, next to Claire?s and Pearl Vision, according to landlord Greenberg Gibbons. Francesca?s offers an eclectic, hand-picked collection of upscale clothing, handbags, jewelry, accessories and other one-of-a-kind treasures.
Renovated apartments open at Charlestown retirement community
Erickson Living, the developer and manager of the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville, announced the opening of the Edgewood, an apartment building containing 55 renovated apartments ranging from 756 to 1,365 square feet. The Edgewood has 10 different floor plans in a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartment units. Upgraded standard features include granite countertops, lighting and plumbing fixtures and stainless appliances. Many of the apartments feature screened-in porches overlooking a nature trail or courtyard. Refundable entrance deposits for the building start at $217,000, and monthly service packages start at $1,975. A 360-degree tour of three of the floor plans is available online at www.EricksonLiving.com. For information, call 410-737-8830.
Applications being accepted for Howard County Housing program
Howard County Housing will begin accepting applications for the April enrollment period for the county?s Moderate Income Housing Unit program on Monday. The open enrollment period will end on April 30. The MIHU program is an inclusionary zoning program that requires developers of new housing in certain zoning districts to sell or rent a percentage of the new dwelling units to households of moderate income. The program offers quality new homes at reduced sale prices and rents to income-eligible families. HCH will hold two Buyers and Renters Workshops to explain the program?s eligibility requirements and application process for prospective homebuyers and renters. One workshop will be on April 13 at 10:15 a.m. at Long Reach High School in Columbia, and the second will be on April 24 at 6 p.m. in the Gateway Building in Columbia.
Hot Air Blow Dry Bar opens in Owings Mills
Kate Boyle Taylor, left, and Joy Robinson Singer are the co-owners of the new hair-styling salon.
Valley Village Shoppes in Owings Mills is the setting for an unusual new store: the Hot Air Blow Dry Bar, a new-concept hair boutique that offers premium washing and blow-drying services. Jointly owned by Joy Robinson Singer and Kate Boyle Taylor, the hair salon provides ?quick-fix? hair styling for women, men and children, and is positioned as an alternative for expensive and time-consuming appointments at traditional hair studios. Prices for hair washing and blow-drying are $35 for women and $25 for men and children. Each appointment lasts approximately 45 minutes. Valley Village Shoppes at 9101 Reisterstown Road in northwest Baltimore County is a 48,000-square-foot retail center managed by David S. Brown Enterprises Ltd.
Merritt Properties wins award from ABC?s Baltimore chapter
Merritt Properties LLC?s Schilling Green II office building has won a Green Project of the Year award from the Baltimore Metro chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. Completed in June 2012, Schilling Green II is a four-story, Class A office building located in Hunt Valley ? the final installment of Merritt?s Schilling Square office park. Merritt is currently pursuing LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the building. The Platinum certification is the highest level of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard conferred by the USGBC.
SECU takes top spot in Md. on list of first-mortgage grantors
SECU, Maryland?s largest state-chartered credit union, has been ranked first in the state and 29th nationally on a list of the Top 300 First Mortgage Granting Credit Unions. The Linthicum-based financial cooperative SECU jumped four places from 2012?s 33rd place ranking on the annual list of mortgage-granting credit unions compiled by the American Credit Union Mortgage Association. According to data compiled by ACUMA, SECU originated $469.5 million in 2,250 fixed and adjustable first mortgages through the third quarter of 2012. SECU also sold $175.7 million in first mortgages over the same period. Outstanding fixed and adjustable first mortgages totaled $969.9 million, while real estate loans sold but serviced by SECU topped $522.6 million. The new ranking came only a few weeks after SECU was named to a list of the 50 largest credit unions in the U.S. compiled by SNL Financial.
Mahan Rykiel wins award for work on Pierce?s Park
Mahan Rykiel Associates, a Baltimore-based landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm, has won an Honor Award from the Maryland and Potomac chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects for its work in designing Pierce?s Park, a waterfront park that occupies a 1-acre site at Baltimore?s Inner Harbor. The park, located between the Columbus Center and Eastern Avenue, is dedicated to the memory of Baltimore contractor and civic leader Pierce J. Flanigan III, and was built with the help of donated services and $2 million raised by Susan Flanigan, wife of Pierce Flanigan, and her team. Pierce?s Park was built as a sustainable space that includes indigenous trees and native plantings, as well as bio-retention facilities that will educate children about the benefits of capturing runoff. There are sculptures by local artist David Hess, and landscape features that promote play and imagination. Mahan Rykiel will receive the award on May 10 at the ASLA Annual Banquet at Historic Savage Mill.
C&W tapped to lease Longview Executive Park
Liberty Property Trust has retained Cushman & Wakefield as the exclusive listing agent for Longview Executive Park?s three office buildings at 307, 309 and 311 International Circle in Hunt Valley. C&W?s Tim Jackson, Courtenay Jenkins, and Matt Melnick will market the property for lease on behalf of the owner and landlord. The three buildings contain 256,961 square feet of office space, of which 45,200 square feet is currently available for lease. 307 International Circle, a six-story office building, was fully renovated in 2005; 309 and 311 International Circle are single-story office buildings. The business park is located near the Hunt Valley light rail station and Park and Ride, and a half-mile from Interstate 83.
Home2 Suites opens hotel at White Marsh
Home2 Suites by Hilton, an all-suite hotel brand designed for business travelers and extended-stay guests, has opened its third property in Maryland, the Home2 Suites by Hilton Baltimore/White Marsh. The four-story, 108-suite hotel is owned by White Marsh Hospitality I LLC and managed by Baywood Hotels Inc. Located at 10465 Philadelphia Road, the Home2 Suites by Hilton Baltimore/White Marsh is positioned close to Interstate 95 in the White Marsh business district. The property is located minutes from the White Marsh Mall, and close to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the National Aquarium and The Avenue at White Marsh. Amenities include an indoor swimming pool, a combined laundry and fitness area, a free continental breakfast, and an outdoor walking trail. Home2 Suites by Hilton currently operates 17 hotels and has nearly 70 properties in its development pipeline.
Federal Home Loan Bank to award grants
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta announced that it will award $21.3 million in grants to its member financial institutions and their community housing partners through its 2013 Affordable Housing Program. Up to $500,000 will be awarded per project through a competitive application process. Grants can be used to help finance the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and development of affordable rental and ownership housing. Potential applicants should work with an FHLBank Atlanta member financial institution to complete the AHP Competitive program application. To view the list of member financial institutions, go to www.fhlbat1.com. The application deadline is April 8.
REIT to acquire Baltimore?s Wexford
Baltimore-based Wexford Science & Technology LLC, a privately held real estate investment and development company, is being acquired by BioMed Realty Trust Inc., a San Diego-based real estate investment trust, for approximately $640 million. Wexford will become a wholly owned subsidiary of BioMed, according to the announcement of the deal. Wexford owns about 1.6 million square feet of space, and is developing an additional 935,000 square feet, in university-affiliated research parks and health care systems. Among Wexford?s holdings are two research buildings and a parking garage at the University of Maryland, Baltimore?s BioPark in the 800 block of West Baltimore Street. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.
Second round of energy grants available
The Maryland Energy Administration announced the second round of funding for its ?Game Changer Competitive Grant Program,? a program created to provide cost-sharing grants for innovative clean energy generation technologies and market strategies in Maryland. This round of funding is focused on geothermal heating and cooling as well as bio-energy projects. Applicants will be evaluated on the merits of their energy production, cost-effectiveness, market potential, project viability, cost share, project performance measurement and verification methodology, and project visibility. Applications are due by April 22. Most grants will range from $25,000 to $250,000. Funding comes from public auctions of carbon credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
BDC OKs tax break for Harbor Point
Directors of the Baltimore Development Corp. on Thursday approved a developer?s request for a tax break valued at $107 million to help develop the local headquarters of Exelon Corp. at Harbor Point. The BDC?s board of directors sent the request by Harbor Point developer Michael Beatty for the tax-increment financing, or TIF, on to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the City Council. A BDC spokesperson said details of the TIF were not being made public. Beatty had said earlier he would request $150 million for the TIF. A council committee will hold hearings on the TIF request later this spring.
MacKenzie gets Hunt Valley listings
MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services, of Lutherville, has been selected by Liberty Property Trust as the exclusive listing agent for a significant portion of Liberty?s Hunt Valley portfolio. MacKenzie?s Senior Vice President/Principal Wiam W. Whitty Jr., Vice President F. Joseph Bradley III and Vice President Matthew B. Mueller will represent the $6.9 billion real estate investment trust?s Class A office buildings at the North Park Business Community. The team will provide leasing advisory services for three buildings containing 296,370 square feet of space, located adjacent to the Hunt Valley Towne Centre.
PERSONNEL
Marie Gerwig
Marie Gerwig has been promoted to vice president, senior portfolio manager at Manekin LLC. Gerwig joined the Columbia-based, full-service, commercial real estate firm in 1996. She has more than 23 years of commercial real estate management experience, including operations, budgeting, financial reporting, contracting, construction, project management, leasing and tenant relations. Gerwig currently oversees property managers, administrative staff and maintenance staff in managing the physical property, operations and financial management of a portfolio that includes 2.5 million square feet of Class A office, medical office, flex and retail properties located throughout Central Maryland.
LEASES?
Cushman & Wakefield has been selected to lease space in two office buildings in Glen Burnie. C&W?s Karen Cherry and Matt Melnick are the agents in charge of leasing Empire Towers and Crain Towers. Empire Towers, at 7310 Ritchie Highway, is a 10-story, 146,000-square-foot office building with a variety of suite sizes available up to 13,000 square feet for a full floor user. Sawhney Commercial LLC, which purchased the building in December 2012, is planning major renovations, including new lobby, restrooms and common area finishes, as well as exterior improvements. Crain Towers, at 1600 Crain Highway, is a six-story, 74,000-square-foot medical office building whose current tenants include an on-site pharmacy, radiology office, physical therapists, orthopedists and optometrists. Both buildings are managed by Attman Properties Management Co.
Merritt Properties LLC reported the following recently signed leases:
* Mr. Roofer, a plumbing contractor, leased 3,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at the Beltway Business Community, 3701 Commerce Drive, in Arbutus. Mr. Roofer was represented in lease negotiations by Jos? Santana of the Segall Group.
* Mr. Basement LLC, specialists in basement waterproofing and crawl spaces, leased 6,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at 832 Oregon Ave. in Linthicum. Lindsay Summerfield of Colliers International handled lease negotiations on behalf of the tenant.
* J.A. Lee Cos. Inc., a full-service general construction, electrical and telecommunications company, leased 2,550 square feet of space (1,914 s.f. warehouse, 636 s.f. office) at 152 Blades Lane, Suite P, in Glen Burnie.
* Ward Recycling Inc., a used clothing shipping warehouse, leased 12,500 square feet of warehouse space at 821 Oregon Ave. in Linthicum.
In all four deals described above, Merritt Properties LLC was represented by its in-house leasing team consisting of Jamie Campbell, Liz Tarran-Jones, Vince Bagli and Steve Shaw.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A federal judge says actress Angelina Jolie didn't steal the story for her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" from a Croatian author.
City News Service reports Friday's tentative ruling in Los Angeles will throw out the suit accusing Jolie of copyright infringement.
In 2011, author James Braddock sued Jolie and the film company that made the film, saying it was partly based on his book "The Soul Shattering."
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee wrote in a tentative ruling that the plots, characters and themes in the two works were not "substantially" similar, though both centered on war romances.
Jolie wrote, directed and co-produced the film.
Braddock has been ordered to tell the court why his complaint should not be dismissed with prejudice.
PHOENIX, AZ -- These reader questions were answered by veterinary experts attending the annual American Animal Hospital Association Conference March 14-17, attended by over 2,100 veterinary professionals. AAHA is the only organization that accredits small animal hospitals throughout the U.S. and Canada. AAHA-accredited hospitals are evaluated regularly on approximately 900 quality-of-care standards defining excellence in veterinary medicine. Learn more HERE.
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Q: I've begun to notice that our 10-year-old Shih Tzu's leg quivers when she lifts it to go to the bathroom. Is this a warning that something is wrong? -- R.M., Fort Lauderdale, FL
A: "Your observation is astute," cheers Dr. Kate Knutson, AAHA President. "Anytime, there is a change in your pet's behavior, contacting your veterinarian is the right thing to do. In this case, the leg quivering could be an indication of pain."
Since your dog isn't likely to replicate this particular behavior at the veterinary clinic, try to capture it on video, suggests Knutson, of Bloomington, MN If indeed your dog is in pain, the next step, of course, is to determine why, which can only be done with a thorough examination.
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Q: We took home a sweet kitten and nursed her back to health. She didn't even have a tail. However, when my grandson brought another kitten home a month later, the "sweet" kitten began attacking people. She became so mean that all the pets in the neighborhood are afraid of her. Could her meanness come from being spayed, or is this just her nature? -- C S., Mechanicsville, VA
A: "It's wonderful you took in these kittens, and spaying is the right thing to do," says feline veterinarian Dr. Ilona Rodan, of Madison, WI, past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Spaying doesn't cause a cat to become mean. However, pain related or unrelated to the procedure might cause aggression. Some cats just don't like to be held and restrained. And most cats don't like to be forced to do anything they don't want to do. Cats prefer to be in control of their environments."
Depending on how the second kitten was added to the household, the first kitten may have taken offense. This first kitten may also be persistently on edge or anxious, leading to the aggressive behavior.
A medical checkup seems prudent, and you may need to consult a certified cat behavior consultant (www.iaabc.org), a veterinarian interested in behavior (www.avsabonline.org), or a veterinary behaviorist (www.dacvb.org) to pinpoint what's going on, or at least hear a more detailed description.
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Q: Our 15-year-old Basenji-Labrador mix eats well, and seems lively in the morning, but he becomes sluggish later in the day. I'm also concerned that he's losing gobs of hair. What might be causing this? -- J.M., New Haven, CT
A: "It's hard to say for sure what's going with this dog, but definitely ask your veterinarian about a thyroid panel," says AAHA Board Member Dr. Aman Sukhija, of Ormond Beach, FL. "Hypothyroid dogs may lose hair, as you describe, and often do slow down during the day. Other possibilities include diabetes or kidney disease (which blood tests can also help determine). The sluggishness could also be attributed to arthritis and/or cardiac disease.
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Q: We got Bunny, our long-haired cat, from a rescue organization. She's not as shy as when we first adopted her (after working with her), and we're proud of that because she was originally found in a home with about 100 other cats. We think her unusual eating habits are the result of being in that environment, as she gorges herself. We've begun to feel her a quarter cup of food twice a day. Any advice about this problem? -- S.B., St. Paul, MIN
A: "You're right, there has always been competition for food," says Dr. Elizabeth Colleran, past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. "Do attempt to slow down her eating."
For starters, if there are other cats in the home, start feeding each one individually. If possible, feed Bunny three to five times a day (smaller meals, the same total amount of food). Also, speak with your veterinarian about gradually introducing moist food into her. Also, place the food on plastic food lids at different locations (above dog level, if there's a dog around). When you feed your cat kibble, put it on a plastic dinner plate (so the food is scattered) or in an egg carton (dropping some kibble into each hole). The idea is to slow down Bunny's eating.
Also, a wide variety of food-dispensing toys are available online and in pet stores. Examples include the Play 'n Treat Ball, Eggsercizer and the Slim Cat. One or two pieces of kibble fall from the toys at a time, forcing cats to eat slower. Some cats also enjoy ?working? for their meals.
??Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
Filed under: American Animal Hospital Association, cats, dogs, pet behavior, pets, veterinary health
Tags: AAFP, AAHA, agressive cat, American Animal Hospital Association, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, AVSAB, cat eats fast, cat throws up, certified cat behavior consultant, dog's leg quivers, Dr Ilona Rodan, Dr. Aman Sukhija, Dr. Elizabeth Colleran, Dr. Kate Knutson, hypothyroid dog, International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, Steve Dale archives
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's biggest banks won a major victory on Friday when a U.S. judge dismissed a "substantial portion" of the claims in private lawsuits accusing them of rigging global benchmark interest rates.
The 16 banks had faced claims totaling billions of dollars in the case, which had been considered the biggest legal threat that they faced aside from investigations being pursued by regulators in the United States, Europe and Britain.
The banks include: Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc , Credit Suisse Group AG , Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC , JPMorgan Chase & Co , Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland and WestLB AG .
They had been accused by a diverse body of private plaintiffs, ranging from bondholders to the city of Baltimore, of conspiring to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), a key benchmark at the heart of more than $550 trillion in financial products.
In a significant setback for the plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan granted the banks' motion to dismiss federal antitrust claims and partially dismissed the plaintiffs' claims of commodities manipulation. She also dismissed racketeering and state-law claims.
Buchwald did allow a portion of the lawsuit to continue that claims the banks' alleged manipulation of Libor harmed traders who bet on interest rates. Small movements in those rates can mean sizable gains or losses for those gambling on which way the rates move.
The ruling comes at a time when the banking industry is facing legal and regulatory challenges on multiple fronts, including how they originated and sold mortgage loans, as well as questions of whether some have become so big they pose a systemic risk to the global financial system.
While the door was left open for private litigants to refile lawsuits, Buchwald's decision may make it more likely that banks will talk settlement with a significant win in their pocket. The decision also could cast doubt on some of the highest analyst projections about potential Libor damages, and quell some concerns that the banks have not reserved enough for litigation expenses.
The judge's decision comes amid a sprawling regulatory probe in the United States, UK and Europe that has resulted in three banks ? Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Barclays Plc and UBS AG ? agreeing to a $2.6 billion settlement. More banks are expected to settle in the coming months. Those settlements yielded a trove of internal bank emails that Judge Buchwald said could be used if the plaintiffs want to revise their claims.
As of March 5, at least 22 lawsuits had been consolidated before Buchwald. Several had sought class action status. Others such as Charles Schwab Corp were asserting claims directly on their own behalf.
In a 161-page opinion, Buchwald said she recognized her ruling might be a surprise since several defendants had paid billions of dollars in penalties to government regulatory agencies.
"We recognize that it might be unexpected that we are dismissing a substantial portion of plaintiffs' claims, given that several of the defendants here have already paid penalties to government regulatory agencies reaching into the billions of dollars," the judge said.
But she said unlike government agencies, private plaintiffs needed to meet many requirements under the statutes to bring a case.
"Therefore, although we are fully cognizant of the settlements that several of the defendants here have entered into with government regulators, we find that only some of the claims that plaintiffs have asserted may properly proceed," she wrote.
Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, noted the judge had granted the parties the ability to amend and refile their lawsuit.
"We have the decision under evaluation," he said. "We are considering filing an amended complaint or taking an appeal, but we haven't decided yet."
Representatives for the various banks either declined comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ALLEGED MANIPULATION
The plaintiffs' lawsuits, like the regulatory probes, center on the way the London interbank offered rate is set?and whether the plaintiffs were harmed by the alleged manipulation of Libor.
Libor, a family of benchmark rates, is set every day in London by a panel of international banks. Banks submit what it costs to borrow from one another for durations ranging from overnight to one year. The rate underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars of investments and trades.
The plaintiffs alleged that the banks on the Libor panel conspired to send in artificial rates.
Three banks have reached settlements with authorities to date. Most recently, Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay $612 million to U.S. and British authorities. UBS agreed in December to pay $1.5 billion. Barclays agreed to pay $453 million in June.
The three settlements appeared to do little in convincing Judge Buchwald that the plaintiffs' case should proceed.
But the judge left the door open for the plaintiffs to use information that has emerged in the regulatory settlements. In the Barclays case, for example, one trader asked another to submit a three-month dollar Libor rate of 5.36 percent or higher. The next day, Barclays' submission was 5.36 percent.
"Because the Barclays settlements brought to light information that plaintiffs might not previously have been able to learn, we grant plaintiffs leave to move to amend their complaint," she said.
The cases are In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-md-2262.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York, additional reporting by Luciana Lopez; editing by Leslie Gevirtz, G Crosse)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Embarrassed by how the last presidential election exposed their yesteryear technology, Republicans are turning to a younger generation of tech-savvy social media experts and software designers to improve communications with voters, predict their behavior and track opponents more vigorously.
After watching President Barack Obama win re-election with help from a technology operation unprecedented in its sophistication, GOP officials concede an urgent need for catch up.
"I think everybody realized that the party is really far behind at the moment and they're doing everything within their realistic sphere of influence to catch up," said Bret Jacobson, a partner with Red Edge, a Virginia-based digital advocacy firm that represents the Republican Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Heritage Foundation.
Democrats began using related technology years ago, giving Obama a significant advantage last fall in customizing personalized fundraising and get-out-the-vote appeals to prospective supporters. With the blessing of party leaders, a new crop of Republican-backed outside groups is developing tools to do the same in 2014 and 2016.
Alex Skatell, former digital director for the GOP's gubernatorial and Senate campaign operations, leads one new group that has been quietly testing a system that would allow Republicans to share details about millions of voters ? their personal interests, group affiliations and even where they went to school.
With no primary opponent last year, Obama's re-election team used the extra time to build a large campaign operation melding a grass-roots army of 2.2 million volunteers with groundbreaking technology to target voters. They tapped about 17 million email subscribers to raise nearly $700 million online.
Data-driven analytics enabled the campaign to run daily simulations to handicap battleground states, analyze demographic trends and test alternatives for reaching voters online.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, in contrast, had only a few months after a lengthy primary fight to try to match Obama's tech advantage. He couldn't make up the difference. Romney's technology operation was overwhelmed by the intense flow of data and temporarily crashed on Election Day.
A 100-page report on how to rebound from the 2012 election, released last week by Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus, includes several technology recommendations.
"The president's campaign significantly changed the makeup of the national electorate and identified, persuaded and turned out low-propensity voters by unleashing a barrage of human and technological resources previously unseen in a presidential contest," the report said. "Marrying grass-roots politics with technology and analytics, they successfully contacted, persuaded and turned out their margin of victory. There are many lessons to be learned from their efforts, particularly with respect to voter contact."
Skatell, 26, is leading one new effort by Republican allies to fill the void. His team of designers, software developers and veteran Republican strategists is now testing what he calls an "almost an eHarmony for matching volunteers with persuadable voters" that would let campaigns across the country share details in real time on voter preferences, harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Other groups are working to improve the GOP's data and digital performance.
The major Republican ally, American Crossroads, which spent a combined $175 million on the last election with its sister organization, hosted private meetings last month focused on data and technology. Drawing from technology experts in Silicon Valley, the organization helped craft a series of recommendations expected to be rolled out later this year.
"A good action plan that fixes our deficiencies and identifies new opportunities can help us regain our advantage within a cycle or two," said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio.
A prominent group of Republican aides has also formed America Rising, a company that will have a companion "super" political action committee that can raise unlimited contributions without having to disclose its donors. Its purpose is to counter Democratic opposition research groups, which generated negative coverage of Romney and GOP candidates last year.
America Rising will provide video tracking, opposition research and rapid response for campaign committees, super PACs and individual candidates' campaigns but does not plan to get involved in GOP primaries. It will be led by Matt Rhoades, who served as Romney's campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, the research director for the Republican National Committee. Running its super PAC will be Tim Miller, a former RNC aide and spokesman for former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.
Romney and several Republican candidates were monitored closely by camera-toting Democratic aides during the campaign, a gap that Miller said American Rising hopes to fill on behalf of Republicans.
Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said his party has "a several years' lead on data and analytics infrastructure and we're not standing still."
Of the GOP effort, Woodhouse said, "We don't see them closing the gap anytime soon."
In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this March 24, 2013 photo, veterans' liaison Marshall Archer, a former Marine Corps corporal, poses for a photo in Portland, Maine. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.
Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.
Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.
"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."
Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.
But the veterans groups point out that their members bore the burden of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past month, they've held news conferences on Capitol Hill and raised the issue in meetings with lawmakers and their staffs. They'll be closely watching the unveiling of the president's budget next month to see whether he continues to recommend the change.
Obama and others support changing the benefit calculations to a variation of the Consumer Price Index, a measure called "chained CPI." The conventional CPI measures changes in retail prices of a constant marketbasket of goods and services. Chained CPI considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased as well as the prices of those goods. If the price of steak goes up, for example, many consumers will buy more chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.
Supporters argue that chained CPI is a truer indication of inflation because it measures changes in consumer behavior. It also tends to be less than the conventional CPI, which would impact how cost-of-living raises are computed.
Under the current inflation update, monthly disability and pension payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under chained CPI, those payments would have increased 1.4 percent.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that moving to chained CPI would trim the deficit by nearly $340 billion over the next decade. About two-thirds of the deficit closing would come from less spending and the other third would come from additional revenue because of adjustments that tax brackets would undergo.
Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said she understands why veterans, senior citizens and others have come out against the change, but she believes it's necessary.
"We are in an era where benefits are going to be reduced and revenues are going to rise. There's just no way around that. We're on an unsustainable fiscal course," Sawhill said. "Dealing with it is going to be painful, and the American public has not yet accepted that. As long as every group keeps saying, 'I need a carve-out, I need an exception,' this is not going to work."
Sawhill argued that making changes now will actually make it easier for veterans in the long run.
"The longer we wait to make these changes, the worse the hole we'll be in and the more draconian the cuts will have to be," she said.
That's not the way Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs said he recently warned Obama that every veterans group he knows of has come out strongly against changing the benefit calculations for disability benefits and pensions by using chained CPI.
"I don't believe the American people want to see our budget balanced on the backs of disabled veterans. It's especially absurd for the White House, which has been quite generous in terms of funding for the VA," said Sanders, I-Vt. "Why they now want to do this, I just don't understand."
Sanders succeeded in getting the Senate to approve an amendment last week against changing how the cost-of-living increases are calculated, but the vote was largely symbolic. Lawmakers would still have a decision to make if moving to chained CPI were to be included as part of a bargain on taxes and spending.
Sanders' counterpart on the House side, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, appears at least open to the idea of going to chained CPI.
"My first priority is ensuring that America's more than 20 million veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned, but with a national debt fast approaching $17 trillion, Washington's fiscal irresponsibility may threaten the very provision of veterans' benefits," Miller said. "Achieving a balanced budget and reducing our national debt will help us keep the promises America has made to those who have worn the uniform, and I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to do just that."
Marshall Archer, 30, a former Marine Corps corporal who served two stints in Iraq, has a unique perspective about the impact of slowing the growth of veterans' benefits. He collects disability payments to compensate him for damaged knees and shoulders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He also works as a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, helping some 200 low-income veterans find housing.
Archer notes that on a personal level, the reduction in future disability payments would also be accompanied down the road by a smaller Social Security check when he retires. That means he would take a double hit to his income.
"We all volunteered to serve, so we all volunteered to sacrifice," he said. "I don't believe that you should ever ask those who have already volunteered to sacrifice to then sacrifice again."
That said, Archer indicated he would be willing to "chip in" if he believes that everyone is required to give as well.
He said he's more worried about the veterans he's trying to help find a place to sleep. About a third of his clients rely on VA pension payments averaging just over $1,000 a month. He said their VA pension allows them to pay rent, heat their home and buy groceries, but that's about it.
"This policy, if it ever went into effect, would actually place those already in poverty in even more poverty," Archer said.
The changes that would occur by using the slower inflation calculation seem modest at first. For a veteran with no dependents who has a 60 percent disability rating, the use of chained CPI this year would have lowered the veteran's monthly payments by $3 a month. Instead of getting $1,026 a month, the veteran would have received $1,023.
Raymond Kelly, legislative director for Veterans of Foreign Wars, acknowledged that veterans would see little change in their income during the first few years of the change. But even a $36 hit over the course of a year is "huge" for many of the disabled veterans living on the edge, he said.
The amount lost over time becomes more substantial as the years go by. Sanders said that a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating who begins getting payments at age 30 would see their annual payments trimmed by more than $2,300 a year when they turn 55.
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu says that if the NFL is going to keep passing rules designed to protect the players, the players should get a vote in those rules.
?There?s rule changes every year,? Polamalu said in an interview on SportsCenter. ?I do wish, however, that the NFL did have a voice from the players? side, whether it?s our players? union president, or team captains, or our executive committee on the players? side. Because we?re the guys that realize the risk, we?re the guys on the field.?
Polamalu made his statements within the context of a discussion of the new rule against delivering forcible blows with the top of the helmet outside the tackle box ? a rule change that the Competition Committee did, in fact, ask for player input on before presenting the change to the owners, who approved it by a vote of 31-1. Polamalu said that while he?ll learn to live with the rule, he worries that the game is changing too much.
?We?re professional athletes, so we can adjust, but we grow up understanding instinctively how to play the game of football, and it?s really hard to say, ?OK, eventually I?m not going to be able to use my head, or wrap with my arms? or whatever it may be,? Polamalu said. ?I think you can only do so much to the game before you really start to change the essence of our sport. Our sport is not made for anybody to be able to play it, especially at the NFL level, so there?s obviously some risk that we all take knowingly.?
In Polamalu?s view, there?s a point at which rules designed to make the game safer in reality just make the game softer.
?Football is a very physical sport, and a lot of what separates the good from the great [is] the ability to receive contact, to give contact, to overcome the mental block of injury when you have contact,? Polamalu said. ?I understand that they want the sport to be safer but eventually you?re going to start to take away from the essence of this game and it?s not really going to be the football that we all love and have a passion for.?
And so Polamalu joins the list of players who respond to the rules designed to protect them by saying they don?t want to be protected.
U.S. consumer spending rose in February and income rebounded, further signs economic activity accelerated in the first quarter, even though part of the increase in consumption reflected higher gasoline prices.
The Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spending increased 0.7 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.4 percent rise in January. Spending had previously been estimated to have increased 0.2 percent in January.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, to increase 0.6 percent last month.
After adjusting for inflation, spending was up 0.3 percent after advancing by the same margin in January.
While Americans paid 35 cents more for gasoline last month, they also bought long-lasting goods such as automobiles and spent more on services, thanks to a bounce-back in income growth.
Income increased a healthy 1.1 percent after tumbling 3.7 percent in January. A sustained pace of steady job gains is starting to boost wages, which should help to provide some cushion for households from higher taxes and support economic growth.
Personal income in December was sharply higher because of a rush to pay dividends and bonuses before tax hikes took effect this year. That also skewed data for January.
A 2 percent payroll tax cut expired on January 1 and tax rates for wealthy Americans also went up. Data ranging from employment to factory activity has so far shown little sign the tighter fiscal policy has been a major drag on the economy.
First-quarter GDP growth estimates currently range as high as a 3.2 percent annual rate. The economy grew at only a 0.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter.
Last month, the income at the disposal of households after inflation and taxes increased 0.7 percent in February after dropping 4.0 percent in January.
With income growth outpacing spending, the saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - rose to 2.6 percent from 2.2 percent in January.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A quarter of firms that are members of a leading U.S. business lobby in China have been victims of data theft, a report by the group said on Friday, amid growing vitriol between Beijing and Washington over the threat of cyber attacks.
Twenty-six percent of members who responded to an annual survey said their proprietary data or trade secrets had been compromised or stolen from their China operations, the American Chamber of Commerce in China report said.
"This poses a substantial obstacle for business in China, especially when considered alongside the concerns over IPR (intellectual property rights) enforcement and de facto technology transfer requirements," the Chamber said.
A U.S. computer security company, Mandiant, said in February a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks that targeted the United States and stole data from more than 100 companies.
That set off a war of words between Washington and Beijing.
U.S. Representative Dutch Ruppersberger said last month American companies suffered estimated losses in 2012 of more than $300 billion due to trade secret theft, much of it the result of Chinese hacking.
China says the accusations lack proof and that it is also a victim of hacking attacks, more than half of which originate from the United States.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called the survey a "completely irresponsible action".
"We hope the relevant side doesn't politicize financial and trade problems, does not exaggerate the so-called issue of online leaks and does more conducive things for China and the United States," Hong told reporters.
The Chamber's survey was conducted among 325 members across China late last year, before the release of Mandiant's report.
Only 10 percent of companies in the survey said they would use China-based cloud computing services, with most citing cyber security concerns as a reason. Blocked Internet searches in China had impeded business for 62 percent of respondents.
U.S. officials have pressed China to address Internet attacks and cyber spying against American companies. U.S. President Barack Obama raised hacking concerns in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier in March.
A recent assessment by U.S. intelligence leaders said for the first time cyber attacks and cyber espionage had supplanted terrorism as the nation's top threat.
INVESTMENT STAGNATION
Most firms expressed optimism about the business outlook in China, with many reporting higher margins for their China units.
But companies gave lower expectations for investment and cited rising labour costs as a top concern. Perceptions that China's investment environment is stagnating are increasing, according to the survey.
"Members ... have not felt over the last four or five years that there have been commercially significant positive changes in the business environment or the investment environment," Chamber president Christian Murck told reporters.
"When you have an economy which is making a transition to a market economy, but which is not yet there, there is a feeling that if you are not moving forward with an indicated path of future policy that you are effectively moving backward," he said at a briefing on the survey.
The Chamber's survey also cited a steep rise in concerns over IPR enforcement, with 72 percent of respondents saying enforcement was ineffective or totally ineffective, an increase of 13 percentage points over last year.
Perceptions that technology transfer was increasingly a requirement for access to China's market also jumped 10 points to 37 percent, the Chamber said, with higher rates of concern reported in the aerospace, automotive, chemical in information technology sectors.
(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Paul Tait and Miral Fahmy)
44650 Garfield Rd, Clinton Township, MI | Get?Directions?? $20.00
Local Wheelchair Basketball Team Bowling Fundraiser on Sunday, April 14th. ?Check in at 4:30 p.m. and Games begin at 5:00 p.m. at Imperial Lanes in Clinton Township, 44650 Garfield Road - Just South of Hall Road (M-59) on East side. $20.00 per ticket includes 2 Games with Shoes and 2 Slices of Pizza and Pop. All proceeds of this Fundraiser will go to the Fusion Firestorm. The funds will be used to help cover all sorts of the team?s expenses, such as travel, tournament fees, NWBA fees, equipment, team apparel, etc.
Please e-mail firestormfundraising@gmail.comto reserve tickets or call Nicole at (586) 292-4307 to reserve tickets.? *If e-mailing, please include your name, phone number and the number of tickets you would like to reserve. Tickets will be available for pick up the day of the fundraiser with lane assignments pre-arranged (4-5 people per lane depending on the reservation size) and tickets can be paid for at the door.
Donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. Please make check payable to: ?Arcangeles USA? - a Tax Deductible 501(c)(3) corporation and can be mailed to 15644 Hemlock Drive, Macomb Twp., MI 48044. Please write:? ?Firestorm Fundraising? in the memo section. Tax ID No.: 26-4793441.
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Five fire departments responded to a kitchen fire that destroyed a home at 340 Shields Road Thursday night.
Madison County Fire Marshall Bobby Rollins said two women and two children were able to escape the house before firefighters arrived around 7 p.m. Firefighters from Moores Mill, Central, New Market, BoBo and Hazel Green helped to extinguish the blaze.
Rollins said a woman was cooking on her stove and thought she turned it off when she accidentally turned up the heat. He said the two-story house will be a full loss and that the American Red Cross is providing temporary placement for the family.
Frank Foster said he was about to drive his daughter to the store to get milk for her 7-month old son when she told him there was a grease fire inside the home.
"I got out the car to go in the house to see if I could try to put it out and by the time I got to the door it had spread. It caught the curtains and the kitchen, and they said it was gone," Foster said. "I'm blessed that I got my family out."
Foster, a Vietnam-era veteran and pastor, said he had been renting the house for three years and was recently considering renter's insurance.
Rollins said the house fire happened next door to the training center where three agencies were training volunteer firefighters.
"It shows how fast you can go from training to real life," Rollins said.
Liberty Property Trust has retained Cushman & Wakefield as the exclusive listing agent for Longview Executive Park?s three office buildings at 307, 309 and 311 International Circle in Hunt Valley. C&W?s Tim Jackson, Courtenay Jenkins, and Matt Melnick will market the property for lease on behalf of the owner and landlord. The three buildings contain 256,961 square feet of office space, of which 45,200 square feet is currently available for lease. 307 International Circle, a six-story office building, was fully renovated in 2005; 309 and 311 International Circle are single-story office buildings. The business park is located near the Hunt Valley light rail station and Park and Ride, and a half-mile from Interstate 83.
Cushman & Wakefield has been selected to lease space in two office buildings in Glen Burnie. C&W?s Karen Cherry and Matt Melnick are the agents in charge of leasing Empire Towers and Crain Towers. Empire Towers, at 7310 Ritchie Highway, is a 10-story, 146,000-square-foot office building with a variety of suite sizes available up to 13,000 square feet for a full floor user. Sawhney Commercial LLC, which purchased the building in December 2012, is planning major renovations, including new lobby, restrooms and common area finishes, as well as exterior improvements. Crain Towers, at 1600 Crain Highway, is a six-story, 74,000-square-foot medical office building whose current tenants include an on-site pharmacy, radiology office, physical therapists, orthopedists and optometrists. Both buildings are managed by Attman Properties Management Co.
