L.K. Bennett Somerset Collection Store Brings Upscale London Style To Detroit (VIDEO)

Erdem Dress

LOOK 1: At the Trooping of Colours event in June 2012. LOOK 2: At a friend's wedding in September 2012. (Getty/Ikon Pictures)

Whistles Dress

LOOK 1: At the Diamond Jubilee Concert, June 4, 2012 LOOK 2: At the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony, August 12, 2012 (Getty photos)

Roksanda Ilincic Frock

LOOK 1: North American Royal Tour in Beverly Hills, July 8, 2011 LOOK 2: Arts reception during the 2012 London Olympics, July 30, 2012

Jane Troughton Brocade Coat

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At a wedding in London on August 14, 2009. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: At a celebration for Prince Philip's 90th birthday on June 12, 2011, wearing a Zara dress and L. K. Bennett shoes. (Getty photos)

Ted Baker Trenchcoat

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival in England on March 14, 2008, wearing a black fedora, scarf and boots. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Arriving at a hotel in Yellowknife on July 4, 2011, wearing navy pumps. (Getty photos)

Issa Dress

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Arriving at the Goring Hotel on April 28, 2011, wearing L.K. Bennett wedges. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Speaking with volunteers in Ottawa on June 30, 2011, wearing Pied ? Terre slingback wedges. (Getty photos)

Gold Sign Jeans, White Ten Gallon Hat

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At a rodeo demonstration in Calgary, Canada on July 7, 2011, wearing a blouse by Temperley. <br> <br> <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Watching a rodeo demonstration at the BMO Center in Calgary, Canada on July 8, 2011 in an Alice by Temperley blouse. (Getty photos)

Jane Troughton Gold Brocade Coat

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Worn with a feathered fascinator to the nuptials of Laura Parker Bowles and Harry Lopes. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Paired with an elaborate hat at Zara Phillips' wedding. (Getty photos)

L.K. Bennett Nude Pumps

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Arriving in Ottawa, Canada in an Erdem dress on June 30, 2011. <br> <br> <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Arriving at the Calgary airport in a Jenny Packham dress on July 7, 2011. (Getty photos)

DVF "Maja" Dress

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At the British Consul-General's residence in L.A. on July 8, 2011. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: At Zara Phillips' pre-wedding party. (Getty photos)

Reiss Dress

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Keeping it simple while posing for official engagement photos. (AP photo) <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Arriving at the Canadian Museum of Civilization for a Canada Day celebration in Quebec on July 1, 2011, wearing a Sylvia Fletcher/Lock and Co. hat. (Getty photo)

Sebago Shoes

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Attending a dragon boat race in Charlottetown, Canada on July 4, 2011, wearing J Brand twill pants. <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Boarding a sea plane in Yellowknife Canada, wearing J Brand pants on ?July 5, 2011. (Getty photos)

Pied ? Terre Slingback Wedges

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Speaking with volunteers in Ottawa on June 30, 2011, wearing an Issa dress. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Boarding a plane in Yellowknife, Canada on July 6, 2011, wearing a Smythe blazer and J Brand twill pants. (Getty photos)

Smythe Blazer

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Departing for Canada on June 30, 2011 in a Roland Mouret dress, carrying a Mulberry bag. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Boarding a plane in Yellowknife, Canada on July 6, 2011, wearing twill J Brand pants and Pied ? Terre wedges. (Getty photos)

Katherine Hooker Coat

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At the Cheltenham Races on March 17, 2006, keeping warm with a fur hat. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Launching a lifeboat in Wales on February 24, 2011. Catherine got the coat shortened (a look we much prefer!). (Getty photos)

J Brand Twill Pants

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Boarding a sea plane in Yellowknife, Canada, wearing Sebago boat shoes. <br> <br> <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Boarding a plane in Yellowknife, Canada on July 6, 2011, wearing a Smythe blazer and Pied ? Terre wedges. (Getty photos)

L.K. Bennett Black Wedges

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Arriving at the Goring Hotel the day before the Royal Wedding in a dress by Issa. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Leaving Buckingham Palace the day after the Royal Wedding, wearing a Zara dress. (Getty photos)

Zara Dress

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Leaving Buckingham Palace the day after the Royal Wedding, wearing L. K. Bennett wedges. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Celebrating Prince Phillip's 90th birthday on June 12, 2011 in a Jane Troughton brocade coat. (Getty photos)

Princess Diana's Repurposed Earrings

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Paired with a Temperley London frock at Wimbledon on June 27, 2011. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: On the last day of her North America tour, in a Whistles ensemble. (Getty photos)

Amanda Wakeley Suit

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Meeting with children at a soccer club in Darwen, north-west England on April 11 with a half-up hairdo. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Posing for the official North American Tour portrait on June 3 in London with a sleek, natural-looking coif. (Getty photos)

Natalie Handbag By L.K. Bennett

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Worn with a hand-painted, chinoiserie silk dress by Jenny Packham to a polo match in Santa Barbara on July 9, 2011. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Worn with a canary yellow Jenny Packham dress at Calgary Airport two days earlier. (Getty photos)

Queen Elizabeth's Maple Leaf Brooch

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: Stuck on a red Catherine Walker coat during the couple's last hours in Canada. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Pinned to a purple Issa dress on Canada Day. (Getty photos)

Suede Prada Pumps

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: At a welcome ceremony in Charlottetown, Canada on July 4, 2011, wearing an Alexander McQueen dress. <br> <br><strong>LOOK 2</strong>: Meeting participants in an Inner City Arts program in a Whistles skirt on July 10, 2011. (Getty photos)

Lavender Jenny Packham Dress

<strong>LOOK 1</strong>: The wedding of Emily McCorquodale and James Hutt on July 7th, 2012, paired with her bronze pillbox hat and a gray Katherine Hoooker coat. <strong>LOOK 2</strong>: At Kate Middleton and Prince William's Royal Canada & California tour, on July 9, 2011. (Getty photos)

Blue Tweed Coat Dress By Missoni

LOOK 1: Diamond Jubilee Event at Fortnum & Mason, March 1, 2012 LOOK 2: Diamond Julbille visit to Nottingham, June 13, 2012 (Getty photos)

Pink Pleated Dress

LOOK 1: Sovereign Monarchs Jubilee Lunch in Kensington, May 18, 2012 LOOK 2: Diamond Jubilee Party at Buckingham Palace, May 26, 2012 (Getty photos)

Alexander McQueen Sailor Dress

LOOK 1: Canada tour in Prince Edward Island, July 5, 2011 LOOK 2: Wimbledon, July 4, 2012 (Getty photos)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/lk-bennet-somerset-collection_n_2965098.html

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Wall Street dips on renewed euro zone worries

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, after a robust rally a day earlier, as limp demand at an Italian debt auction sparked concerns over the financial health of the euro zone.

The S&P 500 index, which rose to within striking distance of its record closing high on Tuesday, was now more than 10 points away from that peak.

Stoking concerns about the euro zone, Italy paid more to borrow over five years than it has since October at an auction Wednesday, as lack of progress in forming a new government and worries about Cyprus's bailout hurt demand.

"The overhang of the Cypriot bailout, and especially its implications for euro zone-wide banking depositors, along with a dip in confidence and lackluster Italian debt auctions have upset the apple cart for U.S. investors determined to assault record stock market highs," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

Cyprus is finalizing capital control measures to prevent a run on its banks by depositors anxious about their savings, after wealthy depositors were penalized under a rescue package agreed with international lenders. Cypriot banks are due to reopen on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 64.90 points, or 0.45 percent, at 14,494.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 7.39 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,556.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 18.37 points, or 0.56 percent, at 3,234.15.

As Boeing works to regain permission for its 787 Dreamliner to resume flights, it faces what could be a costly new challenge - a temporary ban on some long-distance, trans-ocean journeys the jet was intended to fly.

Boeing was the biggest decliner on the Dow index, shedding 1.6 percent to $85.24.

JPMorgan Chase & Co also weighed heavily on the Dow, falling 1.5 percent to $47.93 following a report that U.S. prosecutors are examining whether JPMorgan fully alerted authorities to suspicions about fraudster Bernard Madoff.

Short interest in BlackBerry was at record levels and has more than doubled over the course of the last year, according to industry data released on Tuesday. But shares were up 0.3 percent at $14.51 in early trading.

Data showed contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes fell in February, held back by a shortage of properties, but there was little to suggest that the housing market recovery was stalling. The market's reaction was muted.

Investors will be hearing remarks from several U.S. Federal Reserve officials throughout the day, including Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-opens-lower-euro-zone-concern-133742679--finance.html

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Researchers Identify 'Haul' of New Genetic Markers for Cancer Risks

What is being hailed as major news in the genetic science community this week -- the identification of more than 80 genomes that raise a person's risk of different cancers -- may receive a lukewarm reception from the general public until the ramifications of such discoveries is evident.

Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study, COGS

Learning the causes of cancer can only mean positive things in the development of screening, treatment, and perhaps, one day, prevention of those cancers. A consortium of more than 160 EU-based research groups working together in the Collaborative Oncological Gene-Environment Study, COGS, brought science and medicine one step closer to these positive outcomes with the discovery of more than 80 genome regions that can increase an individual's risk for prostate, breast and ovarian cancers, reported MedicalNewsToday.com .

The COGS research was submitted as 13 different scientific papers and published in five journals this week, including PLOS Genetics . (PLOS is the Public Library of Science , a non-profit and open access

group of scientific journals.)

COGS Research Team Members Weigh in on Genome Discovery Value

These discoveries, while important and providing potential for screening and treatment, represent 40 percent of the total genetic risk factors for the three types of cancer, according to the Telegraph . Even so, the discoveries are a "significant step forward" toward understanding inherited risk factors for breast, prostate and ovarian cancers.

Professor Ros Eeles of the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research explained to the Telegraph that this discovery is hoped to leading to simple saliva testing for these risk factors that primary care physicians will be able to interpret within the next five years.

The researchers caution that although the discovery of these genomes is important, there is more work to be done, first in research, then in application of the findings.

Understanding the Genetic Science Hoopla Over New Genome Discoveries

To the layman, the science behind genetic discovery and its uses is mystifying until the scientific terms and methods are broken down into concepts that are readily understandable: The discovery of these genomes associated with increased cancer risks in individuals may lead to simplified genetic testing for those risks within the next five years and potentially new therapies to thwart those cancers.

Breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society , led to more than 39,000 deaths in 2011, most of those in women age 50 years and older. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 14,000 women died from ovarian cancer in 2009. The National Cancer Institute estimates that prostate cancer will lead to the deaths of nearly 30,000 men this year.

When improved genetic screening is available to identify the increased risks for these cancer types, imagine the possibilities of increased life spans and hope for thousands of men and women.

Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/researchers-identify-haul-genetic-markers-cancer-risks-191600999.html

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Scientists examine nothing, find something

Two studies of vacuums suggest that the speed of light in a vacuum might fluctuate, pointing the way to a quantum mechanical explanation for why the speed of light and other so-called constants are what they are.

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / March 25, 2013

A young person attempts to navigate a laser maze during the grand opening ceremony for the Angry Birds Space Encounter at the Kennedy Space Center earlier this month. Researchers say that the speed of light in a vacuum, long thought to be a universal constant, may actually fluctuate.

Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today/AP

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Where did the speed of light in a vacuum come from? Why is it 299,792,458 meters per second and not some other figure?

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The simple answer is that, since 1983, science has defined a meter by the speed of light: one meter equals the distance light travels in one?299,792,458th of a second.?But that doesn't really answer our question. It's just the physics equivalent of saying, "Because I said so."?

Unfortunately, the deeper answer has been equally unsatisfying: The speed of light in a vacuum, according to physics textbooks, just is. It's a constant, one of those numbers that defines the universe. That's the physics equivalent of saying, "Because the cosmos said so."?

Or did it? A pair of studies suggest that this universal constant?might not be so constant after all. In the first study, Marcel Urban from the University of Paris-Sud and his team found that the speed of light in a vacuum varies ever so slightly.

This happens because what we think of as nothing isn't really nothing. Even if you were to create a perfect vacuum, at the quantum level it would still be populated with pairs of tiny "virtual" particles that flash in and out of existence and whose energy values fluctuate. As a consequence of these fluctuations, the speed of a photon passing through a vacuum varies, about?50 quintillionths of a second per square meter.

That may not sound like much, but it's enough to point the way toward a new underlying physics.

Before 1905, when?Albert Einstein formulated his special theory of relativity, scientists regarded space and time as composing the backdrop of the universe, the immovable stage upon which motion takes place. The only problem with this model is that light seems to move at the same speed regardless of the speed of the source, creating an apparent paradox. Einstein's theory resolved this paradox by replacing Newton's absolutes of time and space with a single absolute, the speed of light.

But if even that can vary, what's left for us to hang our hat on? Nothing, it turns out.

But, as we just noted, nothing is something. Urban's paper suggests that the speed of light and other constants "are not fundamental constants but observable parameters of the quantum vacuum." In other words, the speed of light emerges from the properties of particles in the vacuum.

In the other paper, physicists?Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. S?nchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, hypothesize how this emergence occurs. They suggest that the impedance of a vacuum ? another electromagnetic 'constant' whose value depends on the speed of light ? itself depends only on the electric charge of the particles in the vacuum, and not their masses.

If their hypothesis is correct, it answers our question of where the speed of light comes from: It emerges from the total number of charged particles in the universe.?

Time will tell if this hypothesis is correct. And of course, by "time," we mean "space and time," by which we mean "the speed of light," by which we mean "nothing," by which we mean "the properties of the quantum vacuum." But in the meantime ? or whatever ? you can thank us for informing you that, as the speed of light in a vacuum continues to fluctuate, so too does the length of the meter. Think nothing of it.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/JZLe20Gk_Iw/Scientists-examine-nothing-find-something

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Washington DC Leadership to Visit St. Paul on Hunger Impact Tour

Washington DC Leadership to Visit St. Paul on Hunger Impact Tour

Representative Betty McCollum to tour Neighborhood House with USDA Undersecretary Kevin Concannon.

St. Paul, MN, March 25, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Hunger Solutions Minnesota and Neighborhood House have invited Representative Betty McCollum and Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services to tour the food shelf and family center of Neighborhood House on Tuesday, March 26 at 2:00 ? 3:00 p m.

The food hardship rate in Minnesota remains high even though the economy is picking up steam. Nearly 14 percent of Minnesotans reported in 2012 not having enough money to buy food that they or their family needed. Hunger Solutions Minnesota leadership is concerned about the high level of need. Representative McCollum and Mr. Concannon were invited to the Twin Cities to discuss the local needs for hunger relief. Neighborhood House hunger relief programming is very comprehensive and is being shown as a model for the Midwest region. Emergency food providers and advocates from Illinois and Wisconsin will also participate in this tour.

?The rate of hunger is fairly stable from last year, but as with the traffic were are seeing at food shelves, it is unacceptable that so many people across Minnesota are struggling and cannot afford enough food to provide for their families,? said Colleen Moriarty, Executive Director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota. ?These numbers show us that we must make our state?s and nation?s safety nets stronger, not weaker. We can?t afford to leave these vulnerable people behind.?

More than 8,200 people a day seek assistance from food shelves in Minnesota. Food shelf visits have increased 164% in the last decade. There were over 3 million visits in 2012. Forty percent of those visits served children and 7 percent served seniors.

The Minnesota Legislature is considering bills that will add $1,000,000 in support to the Minnesota Food Shelf Program. Persistent unemployment and stagnant wages are driving more Minnesotans to their local food shelf as well as to their county office to look for assistance.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) use in Minnesota is also increasing. An estimated 545,000 Minnesota residents are enrolled in SNAP (formerly Food Stamps). More than 68% are in families with children, 26% are in families with seniors or disabled members, and almost 44% are in working families.

Neighborhood House Tour
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
2:00-3:00 pm
Neighborhood House @ the Wellstone Center, 179 Robie Street East, Saint Paul

Speakers: Representative Betty McCollum, USDA Undersecretary Concannon, Armando Camacho, Neighborhood House President, & Colleen Moriarty, Executive Director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota.

About Hunger Solutions Minnesota
Hunger Solutions Minnesota is a comprehensive hunger relief organization that works to end hunger in Minnesota. We take action to assure food security for all Minnesotans by supporting over 300 agencies that provide food to those in need, advancing sound public policy, and guiding grassroots advocacy. HSM advocates for the maximum use of all federal public nutrition dollars available and works to improve low income Minnesotans? access to all nutrition programs. The HSM Minnesota Food HelpLine (1-888-711-1151) helps enroll low-income Minnesotans in SNAP (Food Stamps) and helps callers find emergency food assistance in their area. For further information, visit http://www.hungersolutions.org/ or call 651-789-9843.

About Neighborhood House
Neighborhood House, a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, helps people, families and organizations develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to thrive in diverse communities. Neighborhood House has been a multicultural, multilingual resource network for immigrants, refugees, and low-income families since 1897. Housed in the Wellstone Center with six Family Centers located throughout the city, Neighborhood House provides basic needs resources, lifelong learning programs, and community-building opportunities to nearly 15,000 people each year. Learn more at www.neighb.org.

About USDA Food Assistance Programs
Food assistance programs increase food security and reduce hunger by providing children and low-income people access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition. SNAP serves as the first line of defense against hunger by helping low-income families buy nutritious food. The USDA also supplies 12 million pounds of high quality food via The Emergency Food Assistance Program to Minnesota food shelves every year. For more information visit: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=FOOD_ASSISTANCE&navtype=RT&parentnav=FOOD_NUTRITION

Source: http://www.pr.com/press-release/480913

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Showcasing San Rafael for business in a lean-budget environment ...

Marin County?s largest city and civic hub, San Rafael, wants to boost its appeal as a commercial center, and a number of interrelated local government and business group efforts are in motion with the goal of making that happen.

A key motivator for this is Sacramento?s dissolution of redevelopment agencies in San Rafael and in more than 400 other locales statewide in February 2012. Downtown San Rafael Business Improvement District lost $13,000 in annual redevelopment dollars, and the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, about $40,000 a year, according to Stephanie Lovette, economic development manager. Both were handling business retention and attraction functions for the agency.

?The BID and chamber are stepping up,? she said. Winding down of the agency has taken her time away from those functions and trimmed funds available for events and infrastructure improvements. Yet, the city has started a search for a full-time economic development specialist in business retention and recruitment as well as an administrative assistant for that department.

Nancy Mackie

Retaining businesses and attracting new ones will be part of a by presentation by San Rafael City Manager Nancy Mackle at the Business Journal?s 2013 Impact Marin conference on April 3. Two recent successes for the city on those fronts have been helping to keep personal care items maker EO Products in Marin and attracting BioMarin Pharmaceutical?s 400-employee headquarters to the downtown area.

In danger of folding after the current and looming loss of nearly three-quarters of its funding, the 33-year-old business improvement district on Tuesday officially proposed to the City Council its plan to restructure as a new nonprofit organization, expand its geographic area by several blocks and add more than 500 businesses to the assessment roll.

Carol Thompson

?The BID is taking the step toward more like a business would find in a mall, in getting security, promotions, marketing, parking and foot traffic,? said Carol Thompson, district director since August. ?Businesses locate here because they do not want to be in a mall, but they do not get those services.?

?Clean and safe? is the focus of many BIDs in the Bay Area and nationwide, and that?s the direction the reorganized San Rafael district wants to take, she said. Other focus areas are increased branding of the downtown area, balancing the mix of downtown businesses to have more that attract foot traffic and creating more events that do likewise.

Meanwhile, the chamber has been adapting joint business interviews done together with city economic development staff for more than a decade to the reality of less city staff time currently available for such interviews, according to Rick Wells, chamber president and chief executive officer.

Rick Wells

?These days, it?s all about making sure we?re maximizing limited resources,? he said.

The city manager?s office and the chamber still are working together to keep and attract businesses, but the chamber?s Economic Vitality Committee is filling in the intelligence gaps on business needs that had been gleaned through the interviews. The committee has mustered volunteers to interview and survey businesses.

The chamber also has had initial meetings with the BID and Marin Economic Forum to build a year-end report from responses to the standardized survey on business needs as well as how businesses downtown interact with those elsewhere.

A test survey of 1,110 chamber members gleaned 60 responses useful for a survey baseline, Mr. Wells said. Highlights from the survey is that San Rafael is a desirable place for business but key concerns are streamlining the city permitting process to reduce the time and cost of opening or expanding as well as improving the safety and positive reputation of downtown.

Timely permitting also was something city officials heard from talks with commercial real estate brokerages, according to Stephanie Lovette, city economic development manager. Other key impediments to business activity they expressed were delays in obtaining Marin County health permits for foodservice operations, which also delays issuance of city occupancy permits, and high fees from Marin Municipal Water District for new standby fire sprinkler water lines required under building code changes a couple of years ago. Those are matters matters outside the city?s control, and county staff also is short-handed, she said.

The water district board hasn?t revisited the standby-line issue because it charges a lower cost-recovery service charge for a standby fire line it supplies with water around the clock as for a same-sized standard meter, according to spokeswoman Libby Pischel. For example, a standard meter bimonthly charge for a 2-inch-diameter water line is $82.85, while the same-sized meter for a fire line is $27.52. And, the district doesn?t charge tiered water rates if standby lines are tapped during a fire, she added.

?The city has proven themselves receptive to suggests and interested in facilitating business and recognizing the importance of economic vitality to the overall health of the community,? Mr. Wells said.

The city two years ago, as the economic recession sent commercial property vacancies soaring and trimmed Community Development staff by three positions, revised zoning rules to eliminate certain discretionary review steps to speed analysis of projects and reduce staff time, according to Paul Jensen, department director.

?We?re going through a second round of changes to the Zoning Ordinance to reduce some level of discretionary review of planning permits to be business-friendly and reduce workload,? he said. Draft changes are set to be released in about two months.

The business improvement district on Tuesday presented a proposal to the City Council to expand the district area, encompassing five times more businesses and boosting available funds from about $58,000 a year to $100,175. That will be important because, the district learned recently that it will lose another $30,000 a year in revenue from a Lindaro Street parking lot between Second and Third streets. Property owner Pacific Gas & Electric plans to find a developer for the three-acre site in the next couple of years.

The first public hearing is set for May 6, then the City Council will decide whether it proceeds.

?We want to bring the shine back to downtown and think businesses are waiting for that to happen,? Ms. Thompson said. ?People love downtown San Rafael, but right now it needs a little support.?

Source: http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/70727/ramping-up-efforts-to-retain-attract-san-rafael-businesses/

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Cyprus now looks to take 25 percent from bank accounts of wealthy

By Michele Kambas and Costas Pitas, Reuters

NICOSIA -- Cyprus said on Saturday it was looking at seizing a quarter of the value of big deposits at its largest bank as it races to raise the funds for a bailout from the European Union and to avert financial collapse.

Finance Minister Michael Sarris said "significant progress" had been made in talks in Nicosia with officials from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

He confirmed discussions were centered on a possible levy of around 25 percent on holdings of over 100,000 euros (about $130,000) at Bank of Cyprus, and expressed hope that a package could be ready by the end of the day for approval by parliament.

Cyprus faces a Monday deadline to clinch a bailout deal with the EU or the European Central Bank says it will cut off emergency cash to the island's over-sized and stricken banks, spelling certain collapse and a potential exit from Europe's single currency.

Amid signs of momentum, Cypriot and EU officials said Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was expected in Brussels on Sunday to meet EU leaders including Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission President Jose-Manuel Barroso, as well as IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and the head of the ECB, Mario Draghi.

Protesters in Cyprus gather outside parliament as government officials try to strike a bailout deal with the European Union. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Van Rompuy and Barroso canceled a planned EU-Japan summit in Tokyo to tend to the Cyprus saga and euro zone officials told Reuters that the bloc's 17 finance ministers would meet on Sunday afternoon.

"Significant progress has been made in the direction of getting a deal, at least at the troika level," Sarris told reporters.

He said a number of issues were still outstanding, but that a package could be ready "late this afternoon or early evening" for approval by parliament.

Arriving at the troika talks, Andreas Artemi, chairman of Bank of Cyprus, was asked if a 25 percent haircut was being considered on uninsured deposits. He replied: "I don't know that yet."

A senior lawmaker told Reuters earlier on Saturday that parliament was not expected to convene until after the meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Sunday afternoon, taking the crisis right down to the wire.

The same legislature on Tuesday angrily threw out a proposed levy on bank deposits, designed to raise the 5.8 billion euros the EU wants in return for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout.

'Edge of an abyss'
The tax is unprecedented in Europe's handling of a debt crisis that has spread from Greece, to Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. It is by no means certain the tiny legislature will accept the measure this time around.

The turnaround came after Russia rebuffed Cypriot entreaties to help its banks, where Russian citizens and other foreigners have billions of euros at stake.

Significantly, the latest proposal would spare small depositors, who were outraged by the original plan to hit small holdings as well as large accounts, many of them held by rich foreigners including Russians.

Cypriot leaders fear the damage the levy would do to the country's offshore banking industry.

The tottering banks hold 68 billion euros ($88 billion) in deposits, including 38 billion ($49 billion) in accounts of more than 100,000 euros - enormous sums for an island of 1.1 million people which could never sustain such a big financial system on its own.

But much of the banks' capital was wiped out by investments in Greece, the epicenter of the euro zone debt crisis.

Racing to placate its European partners, Cypriot lawmakers voted in late-night session on Friday to nationalize state pensions and split failing lenders into good and bad banks.

They also gave the government powers to impose capital controls on banks, anticipating a flood of money from the island when banks are due to reopen on Tuesday after more than a week of lockdown.

The plan to nationalize semi-state pension funds has, however, met with resistance, particularly from Germany which made clear that tapping pensions could be even more painful for ordinary Cypriots than a deposit levy.

The pace of the unfolding drama has stunned Cypriots, who have besieged bank cash machines since the levy was first mooted a week ago.

"Our so-called friends and partners sold us out," said Marios Panayides, 65, a protester at the parliament. "They have completely abandoned us on the edge of an abyss."?

Related:

Europe, Cyprus locked in multi-billion-dollar game of chicken

Bernanke: Cyprus poses 'no major risk' to US banks, economy

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/29e74df1/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C230C174281780Ecyprus0Enow0Elooks0Eto0Etake0E250Epercent0Efrom0Ebank0Eaccounts0Eof0Ewealthy0Dlite/story01.htm

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WALL STREET ANALYST: Twitter Is Disrupting The Main Service That I Provide

Last week after the Cyprus story first exploded, we pointed out that Twitter proved to be a far more useful source of serious analysis on the topic than Wall Street, which was fairly slow in producing research on the subject. This was partially due to the fact that it was a weekend as well as the lack of expertise.

SocGen currency strategist Kit Juckes ? who is on Twitter and grasps the medium better than most ? has written a great post on his blog (who knew he had one?) about just this topic. He explains exactly what it is about Twitter that makes it so disruptive to the traditional model of Wall Street houses providing research and analysis to their trading clients:

The?tightening?up of?standards?and rules surrounding research published by investment banks, has left a gap which social media are filling enthusiastically. A traditional research?note?on the?impact?of?events in?Cyprus?this weekend can't clear compliance much before 9 a.m on?Monday?morning, too late for markets in search of instant gratification. But then, what market participants want isn't a traditional?research?note,?with?'buy' and 'sell' recommendations carefully vetted and caveats strewn around like confetti. "What has happened, and what does it mean?" is the first question, followed by a deluge of follow-ups "yes, but what if ..." and so on.

Whether you are ?a trader, a salesperson, a fund manager, a Master of the Universe to?indeed?an interested by-stander, ?what you want is information, opinion and debate and Twitter?gives?it to?you. For the?traditional?common-or-garden sell-side analyst, this demands a change of approach. The public?dissemination?of non market-moving?information?and?broad macro-economic views should not be subject?to restraint by?regulatory?authorities. At the same time, the analyst does not?necessarily?know for sure how markets will react to news. In the instance of Cyprus' woes, we have all known for a long time that a bailout was needed as a result of losses?incurred?by over-leveraged banks as the?Greek?crisis deepened. Whether?the terms of a bailout will cause further risk aversion and contagion is a matter of opinion, and the best way to?establish?how the mood in financial markets will?evolve, is to express an opinion and open it up to a wider debate.

There's a lot of meat there, but this is something that might not be well understood or appreciated by many people outside of the financial world. Analysts create a lot of value by providing good information and data. Investors managing billions of dollars crave that more than "recommendations" or the analyst's "take," although there are some individuals out there (Kit is one of them) that people actually want to read due to their unusual intelligence or insight.

In a case like Cyprus, there's just no way to beat the instant access to data, insight, and on-the-ground observations that can be attained through a well-curated twitter stream. In a fast-moving story that combines lots of moving parts (economics, markets, politics) no research shop could compete.

This story has legs for the industry, in part because regulations and guidelines will clash more and more. Just this week, a bank economist we spoke to expressed some of the same points Kit made above, that communicating through Twitter is just natural given end-user demands for information.

Watch this space.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-is-disrupting-sell-side-research-2013-3

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Sony Xperia J updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Good news for Sony Xperia J owners - the official rollout of Jelly Bean has begun. This will bump the Android OS up to version 4.1, bringing with it new features from Jelly Bean like Quick Settings in the notification area. A new version of Sony Select has also been packaged into the update. Xperia J users should be getting an update notification on their phones automatically in the coming days/weeks. If any users are unable to update over the air, they can check out Sony's official page for a manual install method.

Source: Sony; More: Sony Xperia J Forums

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Rgo2cjThwIM/story01.htm

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Raw Five-Point Preview: March 11, 2013

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2013-03-11/five-point-preview

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Computer Forensics in Military Intelligence | Careers Using ...

Have you ever played that game called Stratego? It?s a lot more fun than checkers, and not as mind taxing as chess, and it?s simpler than RISK, but the object of the game is to capture your enemy?s flag and you win. In the real world if you can capture your enemy?s computer, and decipher the cryptonics then you can win. The other day I was talking to a retired military intelligence officer, who stayed in the military after the Vietnam War and retired within a ten years, but has followed things closely ever sense.

We got on the topic of the treasure trove of intelligence captured from Osama bin Laden?s million dollar compound in Pakistan. Yes, going in and getting Osama bin Laden personally using special forces paid off didn?t it? Now then, it is quite possible we could have blasted him very easily with hellfire missiles from a drone, one after another until the compound was completely pulverized. Perhaps we could?ve sent in a Stealth fighter aircraft and put a 500 pound J-Dam on top of the compound.

However, collecting all that military intelligence was a great find. And it was noted that the amount of data collected was that of a small community-college library, wow, that?s a lot of information to go through. And the media explained that we had our intelligence people going through it, and I was talking to my acquaintance about this at Starbucks, and he said yes, but how much of it is pornography, as it was also reported that Osama bin Laden had a rather sizable stash of pornographic material.

Many might be surprised at this, but it is quite common in that region of the world, even for a man who claims he is a devout religious fellow. My acquaintance said that they were sure to get more volunteers to go through all the intelligence after making the statement that much of it was pornography. Indeed, I laughed, but it would be my guess that the best tactic moving forward would be to take all the kids at the Quantico, Virginia in FBI Academy, at US Marine Corps base, and at the CIA up the road, along with all the kids in Annapolis studying naval intelligence and divide them up into teams, to go through it all.

The amount of information collected, and deciphered, would tell us everything we need to know about the method of operations within the Al Qaeda organization, and perhaps the names of individuals in the hierarchy of the Taliban and other groups. In fact, the computer forensics from this military intelligence find with all those hard drives, and CD ROMs of data has put America back in the winner?s circle in the war on terror. Please consider all this and think on it.

This entry was posted on March 11, 2013, 4:59 am and is filed under Computer Forensics. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://www.efectuldesera.org/computer-forensics-in-military-intelligence.html

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Protection of Sharks and Rays Threatens to Divide CITES (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/290404975?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Home Improvement Tips That Any Novice Can Use ? DFW Design ...

When it comes to home improvement projects, knowledge is power. If you do not know exactly where to start on your project, take a look at these tips and see if you can find the assistance you need to get them done right.

Set a home repair budget to use to make improvements and repairs around your home. People will maintain their houses better if they set aside enough money for repairs and improvements. If money remains at year?s end, it can be put toward upgrades or major renovations down the road.

Work with friends and neighbors to create a tool borrowing network. Find a neighbor who enjoys home improvement projects, and borrow tools from him or her instead of purchasing tools for a single use. In addition to tools, you can also share tips.

Do you plan on doing some home improvement? Use your creativity to re-purpose existing items to form new types of artwork for your space. Look for frames that match the existing decor.

If you feel that the front exterior of your house lacks character or style, consider purchasing and installing a pergola. This fixture has gained quite a bit of popularity over the years, primarily because it has a nice, natural appearance and gives an area a romantic aura. Most home improvement centers sell complete pergola kits, which can be installed in a day or two with the help of a few friends.

Bathrooms can often fetch the most payback for money invested when remodeled properly. A buyer can easily personalize a living room or bedroom, but the bathroom needs to be in great shape. If the tub or sink are not in good condition, replace them right away. If you have linoleum flooring, install tiles instead.

If you use the tips laid out here, you will have a fuller understanding of all the things you can expect in every stage of your home improvement project. Also, you can use these tips to determine if you can do your improvements on your own or if you need assistance.

Source: http://dfwdesignguide.com/home-improvement-tips-that-any-novice-can-use/

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Apartheid death squad commander Coetzee dies in South Africa

By Jon Herskovitz

JOHANNESBURG | Thu Mar 7, 2013 7:32am EST

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Dirk Coetzee, who led an apartheid-era death squad and later sought protection from the resistance movement that brought down South Africa's white minority government, has died, a hospital said on Thursday.

Coetzee, 57, was a former police captain who blew the lid on his hit squad and fled the country in 1989, unleashing revelations that deepened the global isolation of the apartheid regime.

The commander of the covert police assassination unit based at Vlakplaas, a farm outside the capital Pretoria and a training base for hitmen targeting anti-apartheid leaders, eventually landed in London after exposing the group in an interview with a liberal Afrikaans newspaper.

Coetzee claimed responsibility for several killings of African National Congress (ANC) members. His group recruited among the ranks of blacks who left the liberation movement and turned them into killers.

But once he was in exile, he joined the ANC, became known as "Comrade Dirk" and turned to the group led by the likes of Nelson Mandela and O.R. Tambo for protection.

"They were the only people who could check my story and see if I was speaking the truth," he told Reuters in 1990. "For me, it was a hell of a risk to come over to the ANC," he said.

The decision to leave South Africa was not entirely an attempt to clear his conscience.

Coetzee, whose police career was in jeopardy just before he left, was also named by one of his hitmen as a co-conspirator in the killing of Durban human rights attorney Griffiths Mxenge in 1981.

Coetzee proved to be a treasure chest for the ANC, shedding a light on the brutality and dirty tricks the apartheid government used to stay in power. He became an assassination target for the white-minority government.

Coetzee later returned to South Africa and became a member of the post-apartheid spy service under then President Mandela.

In 1997, he was granted amnesty by the government's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the killing of Mxenge, who was stabbed 45 times.

The National Prosecuting Authority had been working with Coetzee to help find the body of ANC activist Sizwe Kondile, who was killed by his group.

In dramatic testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commision, Coetzee talked about how his band of assassins started barbecuing meat for a meal after separately setting the corpse of Kondile on fire.

Coetzee, died at Life Wilgers Hospital in Pretoria from kidney failure, a hospital spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Marius Bosch; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/worldNews/~3/m0-jJZjeRw0/us-safrica-assassin-idUSBRE9260L420130307

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Stone Age skeletons unearthed in Sahara

Mary Anne Tafuri

Archaeologists uncovered 20 Stone Age skeletons in the Sahara Desert. The burials spanned thousands of years, suggesting the place was a persistent cemetery for the local people.

By Tia Ghose
LiveScience

Archaeologists have uncovered 20 Stone Age skeletons in and around a rock shelter in Libya's Sahara Desert, according to a new study.

The skeletons date between 8,000 and 4,200 years ago, meaning the burial place was used for millennia.

"It must have been a place of memory," said study co-author Mary Anne Tafuri, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge. "People throughout time have kept it, and they have buried their people, over and over, generation after generation."

About 15 women and children were buried in the rock shelter, while five men and juveniles were buried under giant stone heaps called tumuli outside the shelter during a later period, when the region turned to desert.

The findings, which are detailed in the March issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, suggest the culture changed with the climate.

Millennia of burials
From about 8,000 to 6,000 years ago, the Sahara Desert?region, called Wadi Takarkori, was filled with scrubby vegetation and seasonal green patches. Stunning rock art depicts ancient herding animals, such as cows, which require much more water to graze than the current environment could support, Tafuri said.?

Tafuri and her colleague Savino di Lernia began excavating the archaeological site between 2003 and 2006. At the same site, archaeologists also uncovered huts, animal bones and pots with traces of the earliest fermented dairy products in Africa. [See Images of the Stone-Age Skeletons]

To date the skeletons, Tafuri measured the remains for concentrations of isotopes, or molecules of the same element with different weights.

The team concluded that the skeletons?were buried over four millennia, with most of the remains in the rock shelter buried between 7,300 and 5,600 years ago.

The males and juveniles under the stone heaps were buried starting 4,500 years ago, when the region became more arid. Rock art confirms the dry-up, as the cave paintings began to depict goats, which need much less water to graze than cows, Tafuri said.

The ancient people also grew up not far from the area where they were buried, based on a comparison of isotopes in tooth enamel, which forms early in childhood, with elements in the nearby environment.

Shift in culture?
The findings suggest the burial place was used for millennia by the same group of people. It also revealed a divided society.

"The exclusive use of the rock shelter for female and sub-adult burials points to a persistent division based on gender," wrote Marina Gallinaro, a researcher in African studies at Sapienza University of Rome, who was not involved in the study, in an email to LiveScience.

One possibility is that during the earlier period, women had a more critical role in the society, and families may have even traced their descent through the female line. But once the Sahara began its inexorable expansion into the region about 5,000 years ago, the culture shifted and men's prominence may have risen as a result, Gallinaro wrote.

The region as a whole is full of hundreds of sites yet to be excavated, said Luigi Boitani, a biologist at Sapienza University of Rome, who has worked on archaeological sites in the region but was not involved in the study.

"The area is an untapped treasure," Boitani said.

The new discovery also highlights the need to protect the fragile region, which has been closed to archaeologists since the revolution that ousted dictator Moammar el Gadhafi.

Takarkori is very close to the main road that leads from Libya into neighboring Niger, so rebels and other notorious political figures, such as Gadhafi's sons, have frequently passed through the area to escape the country, he said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose.?Follow?LiveScience?on Twitter?@livescience. We're also on?Facebook?&Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17224746-stone-age-skeletons-unearthed-in-sahara-desert?lite

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Catching Fire Portraits: Katniss! Peeta! Gale!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/catching-fire-portraits-katniss-peeta-gale/

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Worker Who Refused to Perform CPR on Leave | KTLA 5

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. ? The parent company of a Bakersfield senior living facility where a staff member refused to perform CPR? said the employee is on voluntary leave while the case is being investigated.

?This incident resulted from a complete misunderstanding of our practice with regards to emergency medical care for our residents,? Brookdale Senior Living said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Tennessee-based Brookdale Senior Living owns Glenwood Gardens, where a staff member who identified herself as a nurse refused to give 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless CPR as directed by a Bakersfield fire dispatcher, who begged her to do so.

The staff member said it was against the facility?s policy for staff to do so, according to a 911 tape released by the Bakersfield Fire Department. Bayless died Feb. 26.

Initially, Glenwood Gardens said the staff member followed protocol.

?In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives,? Jeffrey Tome, executive director of Glenwood Gardens, said in a statement.

?That is the protocol we followed,? he said. ?As with any incident involving a resident, we will conduct a thorough internal review of this matter.?

The staff member, who has not been identified, was ?serving in the capacity of a resident services director, not as a nurse,? said Christopher Finn, a regional director of operations for Brookdale Senior Living.

Glenwood Gardens ?is an independent living facility, which by law is not licensed to provide medical care to any of its residents,? Finn said in a statement.

Bayless? family said in a statement to the Associated Press that they do not plan to sue Glenwood Gardens.

Family members said they regret that ?this private and personal time has been escalated by the media,? according to the AP.

The 911 tape has garnered widespread attention and prompted an investigation by the Bakersfield Police Department.

?Our family knows that Mom had full knowledge of the limitations of Glenwood Gardens and is at peace,? the family?s statement read.

The Bakersfield property has multiple buildings with different state licenses. One is licensed by the state Department of Public Health as a skilled nursing facility and is able to provide medical care.

Another is licensed by the Department of Social Services as an assisted living facility, which does not provide medical care but assists with daily tasks.

Another portion of Glenwood Gardens is an independent living facility, which is not licensed by the state, does not provide medical care and operates like an apartment complex for senior citizens.

Glenwood Gardens officials have said Bayless lived in that building.

-Los Angeles Times

Source: http://ktla.com/2013/03/06/retirement-home-nurse-refuses-to-perform-cpr-on-dying-woman/

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Kerry talks Syria, Iran in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi and Gulf Arab officials expected to focus on the crisis in Syria and fears about Iran's nuclear program.

Kerry was meeting in Riyadh Monday with the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman as well as the Saudi crown prince and foreign minister. Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states are believed to be involved in shipping weapons to Syrian rebels, who have yet to receive lethal aid from the West. They share deep U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and increasing assertiveness in the region.

In Riyadh, Kerry will also be meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is visiting the Saudi capital. Kerry's working lunch with Abbas comes just two weeks before he will accompany President Barack Obama to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan to explore ways of restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Kerry is in Saudi Arabia as part of his nine-nation maiden overseas trip as secretary of state. He travels next to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before returning to Washington Wednesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-talks-syria-iran-saudi-arabia-065618950--politics.html

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About Apps And Autism | ALSC Blog

In recent months there?s been a lot of conversation in the Youth Services world about apps. Tablets loaded with pre-selected apps are available to users of some libraries, either on-site or for circulation. A long thread on the alsc-l listserv presented a number of strongly held opinions about the advisability of using apps during storytimes. Librarians are looking at the possibility of reviewing apps for developers and putting our expert imprimatur on their content and value, just as we already do for books and other formats. Regardless of where one stands on the issue of the best way to incorporate apps into services and programs for children, librarians seem to agree that they are important and they are here to stay.

I believe that this conversation is timely and useful, but incomplete unless we expand it to include a discussion of how librarians can use apps with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The popular media and the ASD blogosphere is full of references to the amazing ways in which children with ASD have embraced tablet computers and apps, and these devices are taking the place of more expensive and cumbersome assistive technology. A number of developers are creating high-quality apps that are specifically designed for children with ASD. Other apps, written for the general population, are appealing to and useful for these kids. With the incidence of ASD at 1 in 88, we all need to think about how we are working with these children in our communities, and apps can play an important role.

There are several ways to integrate apps for children with ASD in a public library setting:

1. Apps can be used in storytimes. For example, many children with ASD have tactile defensiveness and are not comfortable with finger paints, glue, or other craft supplies. Providing these children with a tablet device loaded with a doodle or drawing app can allow them to participate in a craft or art activity in an adaptive fashion.

2. Tablets for circulation or in-library use can be loaded with some appropriately labeled autism-specific apps, so families who don?t already own this technology will have access.

3. Librarians can offer programs that introduce tablets and specific apps to families in their communities who have a child with autism. In higher income communities this can help parents preview apps before they buy, in poorer areas this could introduce families to apps that are available on library-owned devices.

4. A brochure or program can describe the features to look for when previewing an app for a child with ASD. This approach empowers parents and helps them to assess the value of new apps as they appear on the market (and new ones appear every day). In addition to the features that make an educational app autism-friendly in the library, which I list below, parents should look for apps that can be customized with their child?s name or other information, and ones that keep data to track their child?s progress.

How do you identify apps that will work well for children with ASD?
The first thing to keep in mind is that apps for kids with ASD (just like apps for typically developing kids) are not one size fits all. The value of an app will depend in part on the skill that it teaches and its appeal to an individual child. However, there are some criteria that make for an especially autism-friendly educational app. Look for these elements when evaluating apps (thanks to Nicole Feeney, Assistive Technology Specialist at the NEAT Marketplace in Connecticut for her help with this):

? Does it have images as well as text?
? Are the images realistic pictures or photographs?
? Does it include video modeling (demonstrating the lesson with a video)?
? Does it provide reinforcement (rewards) and errorless learning?
? If you want to understand what this is and why it is important when teaching children with ASD, look at: www.gvsu.edu/cms3/assets/?/10?/7_errorless_learning.doc
? Can you set the difficulty level, the number of pictures on a screen or the space between pictures so it won?t be overwhelming for a child with autism?
? If there is a timer, can it be turned off? Can you turn off speech or other sounds?
Every app that is suitable for teaching kids with ASD will not have all of these features, but a good app will have at least some of them.
Where can you get recommendations?
In the Winter 2013 issue of Young Adult Library Services (YALS), YALSA?s official journal, YALSA board member Renee McGrath?s article entitled ?Autism? There?s an App for That? describes a number of apps she recommends for use with teens with autism in a library setting. Her article is especially useful because there are not many sources available for finding appropriate apps for teens with autism. However, there are a number of websites that are excellent resources for finding apps for younger children with ASD, including:

o www.babieswithipads.blogspot.com
o http://a4cwsn.com
o http://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/autism-apps
o http://www.squidalicious.com/2011/01/ipad-apps-for-autism-spreadsheet-of.html
o www.iAutism.info
o www.welcometotheirworldapps.blogspot.com
o www.touchautism/AutismApps.com
In addition to checking the recommendations on these sites, you can look at the products of developers whose work has been used successfully with many kids with ASD. Here are just a few:

o Brain Parade (www.brainparade.com)
o FizzBrain (www.fizzbrain.com)
o Project Injini (www.injini.net)
o Smarty Ears (www. smartyearsapps.com)
o Speech With Milo (www.speechwithmilo.com)
o Toca Boca (www.tocaboca.com)
Once you find a developer who creates products you think are good, you can ?like? them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Often these developers will offer special discounts and you will receive notice of these if you stay in contact. You?ll also be alerted to new apps that you might want to consider purchasing or downloading.

Of course, I have my favorite apps and I want to share a few of them with you. The ones I mention here are not from the developers I listed earlier (so be sure to look at some of their apps as well):

Which Go Together? (from Kindergarten.com) This is on of several apps from this developer that apply the principles of applied behavioral analysis (a therapeutic learning approach used with many children with autism). The pictures are photorealistic, there is a clear voice that asks the questions and describes the relationship between the paired objects, and there is reinforcement in the form of a musical interlude after several pairs are identified. The choices aren?t easy, so use this with higher functioning kids.

Another excellent app that deals with pairing objects is Things That Go Together (from GrasshopperApps)

Sort and Categorize Game (from Natural Learning Concepts) Players are given the opportunity to identify where an object belongs, given four possible groups. Sound effects let the child know if they?ve made the correct choice, but the sounds can be turned off. This game offers lots of opportunities for learning words and categories.

Autism Emotion (from Model Me Kids) Short stories, accompanied by photographs of real children and both written and spoken text, introduce situations that evoke a specific emotion. A short song can also be played to reinforce the lesson. Another app from this developer to consider is Going Places 2.

My PlayHome (by Shimon Young) All kids, not just those with autism, will get hours of fun and learning from this interactive app. Pour cereal, turn the TV or the CD player on and off, move the family members, and much more. Great for demonstrating cause and effect, labeling items in a home and discussing families and the activities families do at home.

Although there are some expensive autism-specific apps, most of the ones I mention or that the websites recommend are free or very low-cost (under $5.00). Making them available at your library or providing information that can assist parents to access them at home will be helpful to families who have a child with autism. It will also send the very important message that these families are welcome in your library and that you are open to finding ways to serve them and meet their needs.

***************************************************************

By Barbara Klipper: barbaraklipper.librarian@gmail.com
Barbara has been teaching librarians about working with children with autism since 2006. She developed a grant-funded Sensory Storytime program at The Ferguson Library in Stamford, CT in 2009, and has trained many children?s librarians in this program model through workshops and an ALSC webinar. Her book Serving the Spectrum: Programming for Children, Teens and Families With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is being published by ALA Editions. Barbara currently serves as the Priority Group Consultant (PGC) for Priority Group 1: Advocacy, which includes the Library Services for Special Populations Children and Their Caregivers committee. She is also a former chair of that committee.

Source: http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2013/03/about-apps-and-autism/

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Iditarod kicks off with festive ceremonial start

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Mushers and their dogs took a leisurely jaunt through Anchorage on Saturday in the ceremonial start of Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The 1,000-mile race kicked off in a festive mood as 66 teams posed with fans and sailed their sleds 11 miles on streets covered with trucked-in snow. Each sled carried an Iditarider, a fan who won the short ride at auction.

"Today is fun, with a capital F," said smiling veteran musher Aliy Zirkle, the runner-up in last year's race. "If you don't have a good time on Saturday with your dogs and all these fans, you're not in the right sport."

The event comes ahead of the real, competitive start of the race Sunday in Willow, 50 miles to the north. This is when teams leave the big crowds behind for remote terrain shared mostly with their dogs.

"Today we have fun. Tomorrow we're serious," defending champion Dallas Seavey, of Willow, said Saturday between chatting with spectators and signing autographs for fans, including Bunky Nistler of Beach, N.D.

Nistler said the Iditarod was on her bucket list following her husband's death of cancer a year ago.

"I've been in love with the Iditarod for over eight years," she said. "This was my dream of a lifetime."

From Willow, where the race clock starts ticking, mushers and their dog teams will begin making their way through unforgiving wilderness toward the finish line in the old frontier town of Nome on Alaska's western coast. Before reaching their destination, the teams will cross mountains, frozen rivers and forests before hitting the wind-pummeled coast. They'll sign in at village checkpoints, sometimes stopping for mandatory layovers.

The winner will get a new truck and $50,400. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split between the next 29 mushers to cross the finish line.

Participants in the 41st running of the race include six past Iditarod winners, including Seavey and his father, Mitch Seavey. Dallas Seavey also is among six past winners of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, held just weeks before the Iditarod.

Lance Mackey of Fairbanks ? the only musher to ever win both races the same year ? just scratched from the Quest in February because of a team of ailing dogs. He is going for a fifth win in the Iditarod, this time taking mostly young dogs and only four veterans from the Quest.

At Saturday's ceremonial start, fans regularly stopped by to wish him luck.

"This is like a pregame warm-up," Mackey said of the party-like atmosphere.

Sunday will bring a more highly charged approach among contenders.

"It's game time, and you get your game face on," Mackey said. "Put some blinders on ? and go race."

___

Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage contributed to this report.

___

Follow Rachel D'Oro on Twitter at https://twitter.com/rdoro

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iditarod-kicks-off-festive-ceremonial-start-190500240.html

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Gridlock: No budging at the budget-cuts deadline

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following his meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following his meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following a meeting with President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama pause as he speaks to reporters in the White House briefing room in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following a meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, after a meeting at the White House between President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders before billions of dollars in mandatory budget cuts were to start. The meeting ? lasting less than an hour ? yielded no immediate results. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio talks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Friday, March 1, 2013, following a meeting with President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Gridlocked once more, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders refused to budge in their budget standoff Friday as $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts bore down on individual Americans and the nation's still-recovering economy. "None of this is necessary," said the president after a sterile White House meeting that portended a long standoff.

Obama formally enacted the reductions a few hours before the midnight deadline required by law. Yet their impact had been felt thousands of miles away well before then. In Seattle, the King County Housing Authority announced it had stopped issuing housing vouchers under a federal program that benefits "elderly or disabled households, veterans, and families with children."

The president met with top lawmakers for less than an hour at the White House, then sought repeatedly to fix the blame on Republicans for the broad spending reductions and any damage that they inflict. "They've allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," he said, renewing his demand for a comprehensive deficit-cutting deal that includes higher taxes.

Republicans said they wanted deficit cuts, too, but not tax increases. "The president got his tax hikes on Jan. 1," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters, a reference to a $600 billion increase on higher wage earners that cleared Congress on the first day of the year. Now, he said after the meeting, it is time take on "the spending problem here in Washington."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was equally emphatic. " I will not be part of any back-room deal, and I will absolutely not agree to increase taxes," he vowed in a written statement.

At the same time they clashed, Obama and Republicans appeared determined to contain their disagreement.

Boehner said the House will pass legislation next week to extend routine funding for government agencies beyond the current March 27 expiration. "I'm hopeful that we won't have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we're dealing with the sequester at the same time," he said, referring to the new cuts by their Washington-speak name.

Obama said he, too, wanted to keep the two issues separate.

Under the law, Obama had until midnight to formally order the cuts. Barring a quick deal in the next week or so to call them off, the impact eventually is likely to be felt in all reaches of the country.

The Pentagon will absorb half of the $85 billion required to be sliced between now and the end of the budget year on Sept 30, exposing civilian workers to furloughs and defense contractors to possible cancellations. Said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, only a few days on the job: "We will continue to ensure America's security" despite the challenge posed by an "unnecessary budget crisis."

The administration also has warned of long lines at airports as security personnel are furloughed, of teacher layoffs in some classrooms and adverse impacts on maintenance at the nation's parks.

The announcement by the housing agency in Seattle was an early indication of what is likely to hit as the cuts take effect. It said it was taking the action "to cope with the impending reduction in federal funding," adding that it normally issues 45 to 50 vouchers per month.

After days of dire warnings by administration officials, the president told reporters the effects of the cuts would be felt only gradually.

"The longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage to our economy ? a slow grind that will intensify with each passing day," he said. Much of the budget savings will come through unpaid furloughs for government workers, and those won't begin taking effect until next month.

Obama declined to say if he bore any of the responsibility for the coming cuts, and expressed bemusement at any suggestion he had the ability to force Republicans to agree with him.

"I am not a dictator. I'm the president," he said. "So, ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have Secret Service block the doorway, right?" He also declared he couldn't perform a "Jedi mind meld" to sway opponents, mixing Star Wars and Star Trek as he reached for a science fiction metaphor.

Neither the president nor Republicans claimed to like what was about to happen. Obama called the cuts "dumb," and GOP lawmakers have long said they were his idea in the first place.

Ironically, they derive from a budget dispute they were supposed to help resolve back in the fall of 2011. At the time, a congressional Supercommittee was charged with identifying at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over a decade as part of an attempt to avoid a first-ever government default. The president and Republicans agreed to create a fallback of that much in across-the-board cuts, designed to be so unpalatable that it would virtually assure the panel struck a deal.

The Supercommittee dissolved in disagreement, though. And while Obama and Republicans agreed to a two-month delay last January, there was no bipartisan negotiation in recent days to prevent the first installment of the cuts from taking effect.

It isn't clear how long they will last.

Of particular concern to lawmakers in both parties is a lack of flexibility in the allocation of cuts due to take effect over the next few months. That problem will ease beginning with the new budget year on Oct. 1, when Congress and the White House will be able to negotiate changes in the way the reductions are made.

For his part, Obama suggested he was content to leave them in place until Republicans change their minds about raising taxes by closing loopholes.

"If Congress comes to its senses a week from now, a month from now, three months from now, then there's a lot of open running room there for us to grow our economy much more quickly and to advance the agenda of the American people dramatically," he said.

"So this is a temporary stop on what I believe is the long-term, outstanding prospect for American growth and greatness."

But Republicans say they are on solid political ground. At a retreat in January in Williamsburg, Va., GOP House members reversed course and decided to approve a debt limit increase without demanding cuts. They also agreed not to provoke a government shutdown, another traditional pressure point, as leverage to force Obama and Democrats to accept savings in benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Obama has said repeatedly he's willing to include benefit programs in deficit-cutting legislation ? as long as more tax revenue is part of the deal.

"I am prepared to do hard things and to push my Democratic friends to do hard things," he said at the White House on Friday.

Republicans speak dismissively of such pledges, saying that in earlier negotiations, the president has never been willing to close a deal with the type of changes he often says he will accept.

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Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Andrew Taylor, Jim Kuhnhenn and Darlene Superville in Washington and Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-01-Budget%20Battle/id-1cf49d55e639401895380b3039f0d9da

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