Jeffrey L. Wilson Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) Transformers: Fall of Cybertron builds on War for Cybertron by adding interesting environments, more fighting, and a robust online mode that lets you take custom 'bots into action.
Fast-paced shooting action. Tons of fan service. Peter Cullen's authoritative Optimus Prime voice work. Ability to take user-created Transformers into multiplayer battles.
Easy to get slaughtered by Decepticon grunts. Weak voice acting from non-Optimus Prime characters. Too many missions that require you to pull a level or plug in a computer part.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron builds on War for Cybertron by adding interesting environments, more fighting, and a robust online mode that lets you take custom 'bots into action.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, the sequel to 2010's hit Transformers: War for Cybertron, sees the peaceful Autobots continuing its war against the savage Decepticons, but the outlook is bleak. The title provides plenty of third-person shooting action, a thrilling multiplayer mode that lets you take user-created robots into battle, and plenty of fan service. Fall of Cybertron isn't without faults; it features uneven combat, some weak mission objectives, and ho-hum voice acting, but Trans-fans will eat it up. I reviewed the PS3 version, but it's also available on PC and Xbox 360.
Fall of Cybertron opens with an adrenaline-filled sequence worthy of a franchise that details brawls between giant robot factions. The benevolent Autobots have lost their long war with the Decepticons, and as such, use the last of their capabilities to flee their dying planet, Cybertron, in hopes of finding a new safe haven among the stars. It's not Shakespeare, but it sets the stage for plenty of pew-pew action.
The single-player campaign is an action-filled, multi-chapter story that puts you in control of several Transformers, ranging from heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime to robo-dino Grimlock. Each Transformer has a different play style. Grimlock, who fights with a sword and shield and lacks long range weaponry, cannot transform at will. Instead, he must fill a rage meter that lets him turn into a mechanical T-Rex to unleash big damage. Optimus Prime, on the other hand, can use his leadership role to call in airstrikes in outdoor areas. You even get to see the internecine battle in the Decepticon ranks when you step into the metallic shoes of the perpetual Johnny Turncoat known as Starscream. Continuing in this way, each chapter has its own feeling, which helps breaks potential tedium.
The third-person shooting is fast and satisfying—picking off enemy grunts from long range or bowling them over when you're in vehicle mode feels damned good. That said, it's unsatisfying to see Optimus Prime get slaughtered in a few shots by no-name Decepticons. He's the Autobots' tough-as-nails leader—he shouldn't be brought down so easily.
Another gripe: You're given missions to fetch this or repair that between explosions, which essentially boils down to simply pulling a lever or plugging in a computer part. It gets old fast.
There's no true cover mechanic—Gear of War this is not—but you get plenty of weaponry for transforming enemies into scrap. You can upgrade weapons by dropping a few shards (the game's currency) on supercomputer Teletraan 1. You can also use those shards to purchase perks that up your defense, offense, running speed, and more.
Fall of Cybertron's Unreal-powered visuals wonderfully capture the war's scope. Robots, both friend and foe, fill the screen as they fight, run, and jockey for position in a dark landscape that has seen far too many wars. There are the occasional graphics hiccups, but they're easily overlooked when you see one Transformer (no spoilers!) enter the fray for the first time. He's absolutely huge and serves as one of many fan service moments.
And speaking of fan service, nerd-god Peter Cullen returns to once again voice Optimus Prime, who is the easily the best-acted character in the game. Cullen's voice gives Prime the proper authority and regality one would expect from the Autobot leader. Unfortunately, some of the other voices are either too flat, or too human-like. Besides the single-player campaign, Fall of Cybertron also features Multiplayer and Escalation modes. Multiplayer mode lets you create your own Transformer from the Scientist, Infiltrator, Destroyer, and Titan classes (from there you can outfit weapons and choose an Autobot or Decepticon allegiance) and take it online to battle others in 12-person wars. Escalation is a multiplayer survival mode that pits you against increasingly difficult enemy waves. Both are fun diversions.
Transformers: The Fall of Cybertron isn't a revolutionary action game, but it's a very solid one designed to tickle TransFans' fancies. If you don't mind the rather simple gameplay mechanics, this game's a no-brainer purchase as it improves on War for Cybertron in nearly every way.
Bottom Line: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron builds on War for Cybertron by adding interesting environments, more fighting, and a robust online mode that lets you take custom 'bots into action.


A Staunton sheriff’s deputy has been named the city government’s employee of the year for 2007.
Darrell W. Carter Jr., a 17-year veteran of the department, was honored for his actions last summer in saving a young child from falling off a fourth-floor motel balcony.
Police dispatchers had been called to the Howard Johnson’s on Central Avenue last July to a report of a child playing alone on the fourth-floor balcony. The person who made the 911 call said that the child had climbed to the top of the balcony railing.
Carter happened to be nearby on other duties and overheard the call. He made it to the fourth-floor walkway and was able to grab the 4-year-old before he fell to the concrete below.
“His actions and his commitment to his community reflect well on the sheriff’s department, and on all other Staunton city employees,” Owen said.
The employee-of-the-year honor netted Carter a $1,000 savings bond and an extra week of vacation.


It cost him more than $13,000, but Marcus Peters said it was worth it.
Aaron Donald probably didn’t like his bill for about $20,000, but with a $131-million extension he can afford it.
Both Rams players were fined Friday for actions during the season-opening victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Peters was fined for his celebration, which featured him grabbing his crotch, after he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.
Donald was fined for a late hit on Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Peters, an Oakland native, provided an exclamation point to the 33-13 victory at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum when he picked off a Carr pass and ran 50 yards to the end zone. He leaped into the air and grabbed his crotch before falling to the turf.
After the game, Peters said he went “BeastMode” for his celebration as an homage to Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch, who like Peters grew up in Oakland and had been fined for similar celebrations.
Peters said Friday that Lynch was his cousin and that the celebration was “paying respect” and a symbol of “loving the game.” He also said that it might have been the last time to celebrate in Oakland because the Raiders are scheduled to move to Las Vegas after the 2019 season.
Rams coach Sean McVay supported Peters.
“He’s got a close relationship with Marshawn — this was something that he had discussed with him before, if he was going to be able to make a play like that,” McVay said. “So, I think it was a good way for those guys to kind of have an inside joke, laughing about it.
McVay said he was not concerned about players straying outside the bounds of his expectations.
Donald did not appear to be targeting Carr in an overly aggressive manner when he hit him Monday night. But he acknowledged that it was a low hit.
Receiver Mike Thomas had surgery for a groin issue, McVay said. Thomas is expected to be sidelined a few weeks. ... Linebacker Mark Barron (Achilles) did not participate in practice and is doubtful for Sunday’s game against Arizona. Ramik Wilson is expected to start again in his place.


ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands took to the streets of Athens as Greek unions launched a two-day general strike against planned austerity measures on Friday, a day after the country's crucial international bailout was put in limbo by its partners in the 17-nation eurozone.
Police said some 17,000 people were gathering for two separate protests leading to Syntagma Square, outside Parliament. They chanted slogans against the painful cutbacks, which include reducing the minimum wage by 22 percent and cutting one in five government jobs in a country which is in its fifth year of recession.
Bailout creditors say Greece has not yet met demands for all the austerity measures, however. Frustrated by days of dithering, they have given political leaders in Athens until the middle of next week to meet the full list of required reforms. Otherwise, the country will lose its rescue loan lifeline, go bankrupt next month and likely leave the euro.
"We are experiencing tragic moments," Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos told Parliament Friday. "These days are the last acts of a drama that we all hope will lead to a happy conclusion with a voluntary reduction in our public debt and implementation of a framework by 2015 that will allow the economy to stabilize."
The Greek coalition government, led by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos had hoped some of the heat had been taken out of the crisis after leaders agreed Thursday to a raft of austerity measures they hoped would pave the way for the euro130 billion ($173 billion) bailout package.
However, finance ministers from the other 16 eurozone states put up a roadblock later in the day by insisting that Greece had to save an extra euro325 million ($430 million), pass the cuts through a restive parliament and guarantee in writing that they will be implemented even after planned elections in April.
A Cabinet meeting has been called for the afternoon, while the majority Socialists and the conservatives were later to hold party meetings to discuss the cutbacks.
The new hurdles Greece has to clear to avoid a default that could send shockwaves around the global economy dented sentiment in the markets Friday. Stocks were down all over Europe, with the benchmark index in Athens 1.8 percent lower in early afternoon trading.
While facing intense pressure abroad, Greece is having to deal with another strike. The country's two biggest labor unions stopped railway, ferry and public transport schedules, and hospitals worked on skeleton staff while most public services were disrupted. Unions were planning protests in Athens and other cities around midday.
Prime Minister Papademos and heads of the three parties backing his government have already agreed to deep private sector wage cuts, civil service layoffs, and significant reductions in health, social security and military spending.
But the party leaders balked at demands for more cuts to already depleted pensions, later issuing nebulous assurances that a solution had been found.
"Unfortunately, the eurogroup did not take a final, positive decision," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said after Thursday's talks in Brussels. "Many countries expressed objections, based on the fact that we did not fully complete the list of additional measures required to meet our targets for 2012."
"The choice we face is one of sacrifice or even greater sacrifice — on a scale that cannot be compared," Venizelos added.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday offered hope a deal could still be struck.
"I am confident that a solution will be reached next week as this is critically important for Greece and the Greek citizens first and foremost but also for the whole euro area," he said during a visit to India. "I therefore call on the responsibility and the leadership of the Greek leaders and all members of the eurozone so that we can obtain this goal that is important for the euro area and indeed for the global economy."
France's central bank chief Christian Noyer also urged Greece to accept the "reasonable and indispensable" austerity plan.
"It's really important that this situation comes to an end and gets wrapped up. Greece needs to do what other countries are doing, countries that have been in difficulty but are completely in line with the recovery plans," Noyer said on Europe-1 radio Friday. "Greece has to accept all of this."
But on the streets of Greece, the mood is grim, after two years of severe income losses, repeated tax hikes and retirement age increases that failed to signally improve the country's finances. Unemployment is at a record high of 21 percent — with more than a million people out of work — while the economy is in its fifth year of recession and is expected to contract up to 5 percent in 2012.
The country's politicians have taken a lot of criticism for the situation, and polls show the majority Socialists, elected in a 2009 landslide are now languishing at around 8 percent.
A Greek Socialist lawmaker resigned his seat Friday to protest the new austerity, a day after the country's deputy labour ministry stepped down from his position for the same reason. But the resignation of Pavlos Stasinos will not affect the party balance in Parliament, as he will be replaced by another Socialist deputy.
"It is unacceptable that right now our politicians' petty political and public relations maneuvering should be leading the country to bankruptcy," respected Kathimerini daily said in an editorial. "The country is tumbling towards a cliff-edge, and a tough European establishment is putting out the view that Greece cannot be saved and lacks credible politicians. Our politicians back that view with their carryings-on."
Ta Nea daily accused Greek politicians of "theatrics and shilly-shallying," and urged lawmakers to back the new measures in the Parliamentary vote, tentatively planned for Sunday.
"Nobody can happily back the painful agreement with the troika," it said in an editorial. "But neither can anyone shoulder the burden of the consequences, if the agreement is not completed."
Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.


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Balloons are displayed near stores participating in Shop Your Community Day in downtown Traverse City on Saturday. Merchants participating in the event donate 15 percent of a purchase to the nonprofit organization of the customer's choice. This year's goal is to raise at least $25,000.


Use an energy-efficient fluorescent light bulb in a shower light fixture.
Unlike other light fixtures in a home, light fixtures for showers and tub-shower enclosures are vulnerable to moisture. If the light flickers or doesn't work at all, there's a good chance that it must be replaced. Surface-mount and recessed lights with watertight globes are available at home centers and lighting stores. Obtain a light fixture of the same type as the existing fixture and organize a few tools to do the replacement before starting to speed the job along.
Climb a stepladder. For a surface-mount fixture, loosen the setscrews at the upper rim of the globe with pliers and remove the globe. For a recessed fixture, loosen the screws at the face of the globe's rim with a screwdriver and remove the rim and globe. Unscrew and remove the light bulb.
Turn off the breaker for the bathroom circuit at the electrical panel. If the breakers aren't labeled, use an electrical tester to identify the circuit breaker. To do this, set the tester on "Volts" and touch the tip of one tester-wire to the rim of the light socket and the tip of the other wire to the contact inside the socket. If the tester shows a reading, turn off a breakers one at a time and repeat the test at the light socket each time until the tester doesn't show a reading. .
Loosen and remove the screws that secure the light fixture at the electrical box in the ceiling, and pull the fixture down to access the wires. Remove the wire nuts that connect the pairs of black and white wires, by twisting each nut counterclockwise. Loosen the screw that connects the end of the green wire, or ground, to the electrical box. Remove the old light fixture.
Pull off the short section of the insulation at the ends of the black, white and green wires. If the sections aren't precut by the manufacturer, strip off 3/4 inch of the insulation at the end of each wire with a wire stripper or electrical pliers.
Connect the bare end of the ground wire at the electrical box where the old wire was connected, using the short, green screw that came with the light fixture. Connect the ends of the black and white wires for the fixture to the corresponding black and white wires with the provided wire nuts for the light circuit. Screw the nuts clockwise and tighten them securely by hand.
Cut two, 3-inch-long strips of electrical tape, using a utility knife. Wrap a strip of tape around each wire nut and continue the wraps 1 inch onto the corresponding pairs of black and white wires.
Install the light fixture at the electrical box in the ceiling by driving one of the provided screws through each of the machined holes at the fixture and into the corresponding threaded holes at the box. Tighten the screws securely and install a bulb in the light socket.
Apply a uniform bead of clear silicone sealant around the upper rim of the new globe. Fit the provided circular rubber gasket at the rim and press it onto the sealant. For a recessed light, align the holes in the gasket with the holes at the rim of the globe. Install a surface-mount light globe by tightening the provided setscrews at the upper rim. For a recessed light, secure the rim of the globe with one of the provided screws at each hole at the rim.
Light fixtures and installation vary with the manufacturer. Always refer to the installation instructions beforehand and become familiar with the procedures.
Always use electrical tape at wire nuts and wire connections. Do not use masking tape or duct tape.
Do not remove or install a light fixture unless you are certain the electrical circuit is inactive. If necessary, turn off the main breaker at the electrical panel or enlist an electrician to identify the circuit for the fixture.
Machin, William. "How to Install a Shower Light Replacement." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/install-shower-light-replacement-58688.html. Accessed 22 April 2019.


Schmidt was the second woman killed in a domestic violence incident in four months in the Fox Cities.
APPLETON - Education, awareness and channeling anger into action were the focus of a vigil honoring the recent victim of a domestic violence shooting in Harrison.
More than 40 friends and supporters came together Friday night — exactly one month after her death — to honor Sara Schmidt, who was killed at the hands of her husband, Robert.
"Each of us at Harbor House and I'm sure all of you here are deeply affected by the murder of Sara Schmidt," said Beth Schnorr, executive director of Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs. "Shock, anger, grief, rage, I'm sure we've all felt the range of emotions because of her loss. Another life. Another life lost to domestic violence."
On Jan. 9, Schmidt was found dead in a car by police responding to a domestic dispute on Sweet Clover Drive in Harrison. She had at least one gunshot wound.
Robert Schmidt was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a short time later in the backyard of the residence.
The shooting followed a series of violent attacks against Sara Schmidt by Robert Schmidt, resulting in two felony charges for first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping. She had recently filed for divorce as well.
Schmidt was the second woman killed in a domestic violence incident in four months in the Fox Cities. Annie Ford of Appleton was killed in September by her recent romantic partner, Johnny O. Scott.
Domestic violence also contributed to recent shootings in central Wisconsin, including a January shooting in Abbotsford that left two people dead, and the shooting last March of a police officer, two bank employees and a family law attorney in Wausau.
Vigil attendees lit candles as they gathered on World Headquarters in Appleton.
"I hope that they leave with a sense of community," said Katie Huskey, the organizer of the vigil and creator of the Justice for Sara Facebook group. "It's a sense of being able to honor the lives we've lost and recognize that they're not their murder, that there's more to them than that. They were people loved by many."
Pam Seefeldt, a former neighbor of the Schmidts in Darboy, called Sara "a beautiful person."
"She was the most friendly, so happy go lucky and welcoming," Seefeldt said. "Her kids adored her and she adored them."
Heather Lawler, creator of Traja, an organization to help survivors of domestic violence, also called on attendees to not only learn about the signs of domestic violence and how to help, but to channel their emotions into action for victims of domestic violence.
"You can move mountains with that anger," Lawler told the group.
After Schmidt's death, a petition was circulated by Huskey online to limit bond options for perpetrators of domestic violence. The change.org petition asks state leaders to remove judges' ability to set any bond in cases of felony domestic violence and sexual assault.
"We demand change of the laws to keep abusers with charges of a violent nature behind bars until they have their day in court," the petition states. "Not only does the (sic) protect the community, it more importantly protects the brave survivors who come forward to report their abuse."


Find Glaziers in Belfast on the Belfast Newsletter directory. Get reviews and contact details for each business including phone number, postcode, opening hours and photos.
We Wont be Beaten on Price Or Quality.


Anna Hepler is captivated by the way pieces come apart when freed from their moorings.
Anna Hepler's art is a triumph of opposites: Though it looks fragile, it also gives an impression of tensile strength. And although she captures the moment of an object's dissolution, she celebrates the charged particles that remain. From installations of string and colored tape to a series of delicate three-dimensional spheres made of covered florist's wire to ink drawings on stacks of Plexiglas, Ms. Hepler tries to convey the moment of controlled explosion. She takes her cue from nature, tapping natural phenomena from tiny dandelion-seed puffs to night-arcing fireworks as inspiration.
Hepler is captivated by the way pieces come apart when suddenly freed from their moorings, like a nebula in space or the flight of birds when a flock simultaneously wheels into the sky. This rearrangement of particulate matter recurs in her work like a theme and variation in music.
The sphere holds ongoing fascination for Hepler, whose recent work is on display – along with that of 12 other New England artists – at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Mass. The 30-something artist articulates her ideas as readily in words as she does in art.
"My work has always had a quiet aspect to it," Hepler explains to a visitor to her studio in Portland, Maine. "There's almost nothing more restful than the perfect circle. The sphere is one of those perfect forms that allows you to appreciate the chaos without being overwhelmed because you're constantly held in stillness by the overall shape."
Hepler has spent a good part of the past decade observing spheres in nature and attempting to translate the range of emotions they engender in her. She built crude three-dimensional models of spheres out of wire and then moved to florist's wire for its softer, more stringlike look. She drew these shapes repeatedly in pen and ink, sometimes on paper, often on Plexiglas plates. Certain pieces achieve the precision of mechanical drawings, and others feel more free-form.
Hepler's methods are purposefully labor-intensive. In the DeCordova exhibition, a series of large scrolls, titled "Conduit," features row upon row of panels enclosing white bubble shapes with brightly painted squiggles, knots, and dot formations inside. Hepler painted the scrolls while in South Korea on a fellowship in 1999. She laughs now at what she describes as the obsessive process involved, which brought her to the point where, in bed at night, she would see rows of panels marching behind her closed eyes.
The time spent in Seoul proved to be a turning point. Before winning the fellowship, she had gone straight from graduate school into teaching at the college level.
"The year in Korea came along and 'undid' me in the best possible way," Hepler says. "The scrolls are evidence of that undoing; they're a remnant of this very academic mind-set."
Exposure to Korean pop culture brought hot pink and orange into her palette, supplanting the blues and blacks typical of her New England work. She appropriated the tools, but not content, of traditional Korean calligraphy, using brushes and the thick watercolor known as gouache. She eventually chose the scroll format (paper mounted on silk) so she could learn the technique.
Hepler found her greatest inspiration in observing the daily lives of Koreans. She was intrigued by the ways people improvised everything from their living quarters to office buildings. "The West is a culture of experts and regulations," she says. "Korean architecture is rigged in all different ways; no building codes, everybody innovates. I became aware, in a microscopic way, how people would just fix things, particularly with tape."
This flexibility and glorious impermanence of tape led directly to her installation for the DeCordova show that's called "Fall, Scatter, Float."
Over the stairwell leading to one of the galleries, she stretched lengths of string adorned with small pieces of colored tape that seem to flutter like confetti overhead. The installation fairly vibrates with microwaves of magenta and orange fragments.
On the wall, visitors can see the transparent strips of tape that anchor each string in place. Hepler makes no pretense of hiding the tape. She is confident enough to display the process, like the Koreans whose enterprise she admired. "I like the nakedness of those decisions. You can see their minds at work," she says.
The artist has returned to South Korea since then, and she says going back always throws off her comfortable Western rhythm. "None of [my] intuitions or first instincts are usually right. So I have to go with the flow. Every time I've been forced to do that, it's always been a great moment of epiphany or growth."
• The 2006 DeCordova Annual Exhibition continues through Aug. 20. To see more of Hepler's work, go to www.annahepler.net.


The U.S. government is a complete mess. Congress could not even perform its basic constitutional duty to fund the government and had to shut down most of the public system. Amid the partisan spectacle, the White House promised that the shutdown would not interfere with a new website for comparing health insurance prices, which is now mandatory under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Unfortunately, the comparison site, the Insurance Marketplace, is a rash of glitches and delays: parts of the website intermittently crash, some states don’t have the promised calculator for comparing prices, and at least a few states and demographics don’t even have access to the marketplace.
Regardless whether you’re a libertarian, it is exceedingly difficult right now to have faith that government can follow through on its promises.
Since the summer, the Obama administration has been prepping the American people for the introduction of the new healthcare law. A major part of getting everyone to sign up for (mandatory) health coverage is a new website that, for the first time, permits Americans to easily compare prices and plans.
Yet, starting a month ago, the plan started to unravel. The exchange for small businesses has no launch date. The entirety of Washington, D.C. is also delayed. Last night, I couldn’t access Oregon’s Internet Marketplace, which, ironically, was a White House case study in how transparency could lead to more competitive pricing.
Today, the website appears functional, but the most important part, the insurance calculator, has crashed.
Oregon isn’t the only failed website: For at least part of the morning, the main site, healthcare.gov, was down; Florida residents couldn’t finish the login process; Nevada’s Spanish-language site isn’t ready; Healthcare.gov’s live help chat system was down; Maryland residents were reportedly unable to sign up; and Colorado’s website can’t properly calculate subsidies.
“These problems can have costly consequences. At least a half-dozen states, including Colorado and Oregon, have said that they won’t offer full online enrollment through their exchanges because the federal hub that is supposed to link to help them determine the subsidies people are eligible for isn’t working properly,” writes American Enterprise Institute fellow Scott Gottlieb, for the Wall Street Journal.
Now, President Obama is warning of months of glitches.
Yet, even under the best scenario, where the government can maintain a website, the pricing information is misleading.
“People may be totally motivated by the cost of the policy and spend not an adequate amount of time looking at the deductibles and the co-pays and what is covered,” Kenneth Davis, CEO of Mount Sinai hospital, tells me.
Consumers, especially those who have never had health insurance, lack the knowledge to properly understand all the potential costs down the road. A high deductible may mean poverty-threatening costs for those who choose the cheapest plan. When the health insurance exchange eventually rolls out, the average consumer will be inundated with 52 options. Under that combinatorial nightmare, many will select on price alone, potentially under covering themselves.
Worse, few actually know the costs of the medical procedures. Adjacent hospitals are known to charge radically different prices for exact same service.
Ezekiel Emanuel, President Obama’s former healthcare advisor, told me that he expects a cottage industry of private comparison sites that better tailor a consumer’s options to their individual needs. But, he predicts they won’t be around until the end of 2014.
Why wait till 2015? For some inexplicable reason, the comparison websites are run entirely by the states. I reached out to Health And Human Services a week ago to explain why they didn’t open up the pricing data to individual entrepreneurs, and have yet to receive a response.
In short, my government is a colossal failure right now.


For lease! Great location! Large piece of land almost an acre!


The Iosco County towns of Tawas and East Tawas, Michigan, which are located on Tawas Bay, a part of Lake Huron, offer year-round recreational opportunities. The towns also provide close access to some of the natural wonders of the heavily wooded Huron National Forest, one of only two national forests in Lower Michigan.
Both the cities of Tawas and East Tawas offer public swimming beaches with various amenities, such as playgrounds and picnic areas. The camping areas at City Park in East Tawas are on the beach. Nearby Tawas Point State Park includes a few miles of sandy beaches, either next to the warmer waters of Tawas Bay or the cooler waters of Lake Huron. The park can accommodate either RV or tent campers.
As a fishing spot, Tawas Bay has the advantage of being located at the meeting of the warm waters of Saginaw Bay to the southwest and the cool waters of Lake Huron to the northeast, which help support a diversity of species. Golfers have a number of courses to choose from, including the public Singing Bridge Golf Course (no website; 1920 Noble Road, Tawas City; 989-362-0022) and the public Tawas Creek Golf Course (golftawascreek.com), both 18 holes. The Tawas area is also a mecca for kiteboarders -- an extreme sport that involves being pulled across the water or into the air on a board pulled by a large kite.
During the cold months of the year, Iosco County's 94 miles of snowmobile trails are groomed and ready for action. For cross-country skiers, the Tawas area includes two major trail systems. The Corsair Ski Trails, one of the largest groomed systems in the state, passes through the heavily forested Silver Valley area. The ungroomed Highbanks Trail runs along a bluff over the AuSable River Valley, with views of 20 miles or more.
The Tawas area is at the doorstep of Huron National Forest (fs.usda.gov), which offers a wealth of recreational activities, such as camping, hiking, fishing, hunting and horseback riding. Some of the national forest's attractions are close to Tawas, such as the Lumberman's Monument Visitors Center, which details the history of the area's timber industry, and the Tuttle Marsh Wildlife Area (dnr.state.mi.us), home to thousands of birds of dozens of species during spring and fall migrations.
Stribling, Dees. "Things to Do in the Tawas, Michigan, Area." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/things-tawas-michigan-area-59737.html. Accessed 20 April 2019.


For years MobileIron has been known for its enterprise mobility management suite, allowing CISOs to secure mobile devices, applications and content. Now it has become one of the earliest vendors to take advantage of a change in Windows 10 to include management of PCs running that operating system.
On Tuesday the company announced MobileIron Bridge, which it says allows IT to manage several platforms from one console.
The company said Bridge can help organizations to reduce desktop total cost of ownership by up to 80 per cent compared to their existing solutions.
Through Bridge administrators can enforce actions from existing Windows Powershell scripts, edit and manage the Windows registry, deploy non-MSI applications through an enterprise app store and view and manage the file system.
MobileIron will still continue to sell its standard EMM suite, although for customers who want Bridge there is an integrated console.
Competing mobile device-only suites include BlackBerry Good Secure EMM Suite, Mississauga, Ont.’s SOTI, Citrix Xen Mobile, IBM MaaS 360, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite and VMware Airwatch, The closest competitor to MobileIron Bridge is the Microsoft suite, a cloud solution which manages user devices, Windows servers, Linux servers and Mac OS X as well as Office 365.
Bringing together mobile and desktop devices under one management system isn’t easy, Rege argues. Mobile devices running iOS and Android have different file systems from Windows, including protected OSs. Until recently enterprise Windows desktops usually — at least in mid to large sized organizations — had hardened images that were locked down. However, that doesn’t support “bring your own device” policies. Microsoft changed that with Win10 to allow enterprise mobility management suites to oversee its new desktop OS — there are no hard images, no need to domain-join a PC to apply existing scripts, Rege said. One advantage is Win32 applications and Microsoft modern apps can be distributed safely through an EMM architecture because they include sandboxes, Gartner says.
Users who primarily access software as a service applications are well suited to the EMM approach, Gartner adds, as well as organizations that allow employees and contractors to bring their own devices.
Earlier this year Gartner predicted that by 2018 40 per cent of organizations will manage a portion of their PCs and Macs with an EMM architecture, up from five per cent today.
Unlike other EMM suites, Rege said, Bridge allows replication of existing group policy objects (GPOs) on all devices, edit and manage a Win10 registry through secure access, and deploy legacy applications through an enterprise app store.


A scene for a non-canon Batman movie being produced by a local fan of the comic hero was shot at Morrisson-Reeves Library on Tuesday evening.
RICHMOND, Ind. – The Caped Crusader spent some time in Richmond this week during filming for a new movie.
While the film can't be sold or marketed for a profit because the characters being used aren't licensed for the movie by DC Comics, the director said he hopes other Batman fans, and possibly some in Hollywood, might have an appreciation for the final product.
David Carpenter, 32, is the director of the film, and said the idea came to him after dressing up as longtime Batman villain The Joker for Halloween a few years ago. He said from there, he decided he'd like to make a movie focused on the pernicious relationship between the antagonist and Batman himself.
Carpenter said he takes something of a method-acting approach to his portrayal of the Joker, whom he plays in the movie. He said his concept is less about putting on a costume and playing a part than it is giving the villain a unique voice throughout the film.
"I didn't want to just be a person that's putting on the costume," Carpenter said. "I really wanted to go in-depth. I found I could create a voice for the character outside my own, so that way when I became the Joker, you'll have a little of that dynamic in there ... it really seems like it's transforming into the character."
The scene filmed at the downtown Richmond library was focused the titular character, played by Carpenter's brother, Michael Gifford, researching bats and their behaviors, he said. Filming for the scene lasted about half an hour.
The director has already filmed scenes on a train, at the Indianapolis city/county building — Indianapolis and Cincinnati are expected to share the spotlight as Gotham City in the film — and at a mansion. He said there are plans to shoot footage on a private plane and at the Indiana Caverns in the coming months.
Carpenter is using an early 2000s Quasar Palmcorder videotape recorder to produce the film. He said aside from having a limited budget, he has a greater appreciation for the image quality the camera can produce.
"I'm one of those filmmakers who's very particular about how it looks," he said. "One thing I don't like about these digital cameras is when you zoom in, it's very pixelized. You don't get that type of distortion. It was from that aspect alone that led me to stay to that format."
Carpenter said once filming is complete — he has not put a completion date on the project — he plans to have the video professionally transferred to digital and hopes to hire a professional who can edit the film into the final product and add effects and sound.
"Budget wise, we're almost next to (nothing)," he said. "I mean, I'm a guy who works at McDonald's, so there's not a lot there."
He said he scrapes together money from each paycheck to put toward his film; his next part of filming, Carpenter said, could see interior replicas of the Batwing and the Batmobile. He said if he does a sequel to the film he might consider building his own full-size version of the Batmobile.
In addition to the Joker, The Riddler is also expected to make an appearance in the film. Other characters, such as Alfred the butler (who is not expected to be seen in the movie), have had their backstories and pathology altered in a way to help tell the story with something of a twist, he said.
He said he considers the film to be almost an internship in filmmaking and is hopeful the final product might cause some in the film industry to take notice.
"If I can produce a not-too-bad of a movie, on a camera like that, maybe people ... say 'Wow, he made all these effects, he made all these props, and he has no budget. What could he do if he had equipment, if he actually had stuff?'" Carpenter said.
A representative for Morrisson-Reeves Library was not available for comment.


According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most effective method to prevent West Nile infection is to wear insect repellent, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and take steps to control osquitoes indoors and outdoors, including emptying stagnant water in planters, birdbaths, and trash containers.
Symptoms can include fever and flu-like illness but while people older than 60 years old are at greater risk, severe illness can occur in people of any age. Those with the highest medical risk are those with medical conditions that include cancer, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and who have received organ transplants. The CDC reports one in 10 people who develop severe illness affecting the central nervous system die.
The latest Massachusetts statistics are a marked increase over previous years. Last year, there were six reported cases in the Bay State and 17 in 2016. In 2012, Massachusetts reported 33 cases, its greatest number of cases in a single year, since data collection began in 1999.


CHIANG RAI, Thailand - As a search in northern Thailand for 12 boys and their football coach missing inside a flooded cave entered a sixth day on Friday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha visited the site, offering encouragement to rescuers and comfort to relatives.
The boys, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year old assistant coach went missing on Saturday after they decided to explore the Tham Luang cave complex in Chiang Rai province, despite a sign warning visitors that the maze of passages and chambers was prone to flooding.
Bicycles and football shoes belonging to the boys were found near the entrance, and rescue workers think handprints inside the cave could have been left by the group. But the search has so far yielded no other trace.
The race to find the boys has gripped the Southeast Asian nation, and Prayuth spoke to rescue workers before going inside the cave.
"Whatever can be done, do it, the government will back it," said Prayuth. "I'm not worried about the work of the staff but I'm worried about time elapsed for those lost inside the cave," Prayuth told officials.
"I've come to give everyone encouragement," he added.
"We were able to drill on the side," Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn, told reporters.
A man who got lost inside the cave in 2002 along with four friends recalled his experience inside the "labyrinth", saying it was a miracle he got out alive.
Prayuth spoke to family members after visiting the cave.


WASHINGTON — The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews.
The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts view as almost certain within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the East Coast early next week.
The endangered satellites fly pole-to-pole orbits and cross the Equator in the afternoon, scanning the entire planet one strip at a time. Along with orbiters on other timetables, they are among the most effective tools used to pin down the paths of major storms about five days ahead.
All this week, forecasters have been relying on such satellites for almost all the data needed to narrow down what were at first widely divergent computer models of what Hurricane Sandy would do next: hit the coast, or veer away into the open ocean?
Right on schedule, the five-day models began to agree on the likeliest answer. By Friday afternoon, the storm’s center was predicted to approach Delaware on Monday and Tuesday, with powerful winds, torrential rains and dangerous tides ranging over hundreds of miles.
New York and other states declared emergencies; the Navy ordered ships to sea to avoid damage. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City warned that no matter where or when the storm landed, the city would not escape its effects. And from the Carolinas to New England, public safety officials were urgently advising tens of millions of residents to prepare for the worst, including the possibility of historic flooding, power failures and snow.
Experiments show that without this kind of satellite data, forecasters would have underestimated by half the huge blizzard that hit Washington in 2010.
“We cannot afford to lose any enhancement that allows us to accurately forecast any weather event coming our way,” said Craig J. Craft, commissioner of emergency management for Nassau County on Long Island, where the great hurricane of 1938 killed hundreds. On Thursday, Mr. Craft was seeking more precise forecasts for Sandy and gearing up for possible evacuations of hospitals and nursing homes, as were ordered before Tropical Storm Irene last year. “Without accurate forecasts it is hard to know when to pull that trigger,” he said.
Experts have grown increasingly alarmed in the past two years because the existing polar satellites are nearing or beyond their life expectancies, and the launch of the next replacement, known as J.P.S.S.-1, has slipped to 2017, probably too late to avoid a coverage gap of at least a year.
Prodded by lawmakers and auditors, the satellite program’s managers are just beginning to think through alternatives when the gap occurs, but these are unlikely to avoid it.
This summer, three independent reviews of the $13 billion program — by the Commerce Department’s inspector general, the Government Accountability Office, and a team of outside experts — each questioned the cost estimates for the program, criticized managers for not pinning down the designs and called for urgent remedies. The project is run by the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.
In response, top Commerce and NOAA officials on Sept. 18 ordered what they called an urgent restructuring — just the latest overhaul of the troubled program. They streamlined the management, said they would fill major vacancies quickly and demanded immediate reports on how the agency planned to cope with the gap. They have moved quickly to nail down the specific designs of the J.P.S.S.-1’s components, many of them already partly built. And they promised to quickly complete a new independent cost estimate to verify the program’s budget.
Ciaran Clayton, NOAA’s communications director, said in a statement that the agency’s top priority was to provide timely, accurate forecasts to protect the public, and that it would continue to develop and update plans to cover any potential gap.
“It is a long, sad history,” said Dennis Hartmann, the chairman of a broad review of earth-observing satellite programs released in May by the National Research Council. The report projected a dismal decline in what has been a crown jewel of modern earth and atmospheric science.
The Joint Polar Satellite System also includes important sensors for studying the global climate, and these too are at risk.
Polar satellites provide 84 percent of the data used in the main American computer model tracking Hurricane Sandy.
For years, as the accuracy of this kind of forecasting has steadily improved, NOAA’s p.m. polar satellites have been a crucial factor, like the center on a basketball team.
But all the while, despite many warnings, the coverage gap has grown ever more likely.
The Government Accountability Office, which views a gap as “almost certain,” has been urging NOAA to come up with alternatives, like leaning on other commercial, military or government satellites for helpful data. But it said it would take a long time and more money to get any such jury-rigged system running.
For now, the agency is running on a stopgap bill that allows it to redirect money from other projects to the polar satellites. In approving it, Congress demanded a plan by next week showing how NOAA intended to stay on schedule and within a strict limit — about $900 million a year.
The program’s problems began a decade ago with an effort to merge military and civilian weather satellites into a single project. After its cost doubled and its schedule slipped five years, that project was sundered by the Obama administration.
As its existing satellites aged and the delays mounted, NOAA finally put a new model named Suomi into orbit a year ago that now helps bridge the gap until the next launchings, in 2017 and in 2022 — two and four years late, respectively.
But there are lingering concerns that technical glitches have shortened Suomi’s useful lifetime, perhaps to just three years. Predicting a satellite’s lifetime is like trying to guess when a light bulb will go out. The most likely timing of a gap in coverage is between 2016 and 2018, according to the best official estimates.
That would “threaten life and property,” the independent review team warned.
An earlier version of this article misstated the name of one of the government agencies running the project. It is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, not the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.


On the eve of their season opener, the Arizona Cardinals signed a six-year contract agreement with their first-round draft pick, Andre Wadsworth, yesterday.
The defensive end from Florida State, picked No. 3 in the draft behind quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, had threatened to sit out the season. He is the last draft choice to sign.


Midlothian’s Memorial Park is the new home for the World Wiffle® Ball Championship, taking place this summer July 14 –15. This four-decade bat and ball operation has grown the sport resulting in a move from South Bend, IN, which has been their home for 33 years to Skokie, IL and now settled in the Chicago Southland. The sheer size of Midlothian Park District’s Memorial Park will allow for growth of the World Wiffle® Ball Championship, which was chosen for its modern six-ball field complex, its proximity to downtown Chicago and two major airports. Lastly, there is a strong Wiffle® following in the Chicago metro area.
Coordinator John Premetz wants to have as many teams as possible, and why not? This sport can be played by a wide range of ages from 12 to 70, playing with perforated plastic Wiffle® Balls, on miniature ball fields with four-foot home run fences. Teams from around the world play annually in the two-day world championship, an open event for male and female wiffleballers. A team can be almost any group of five people you can think of, office workers, church team, family members, PTA and the list goes on. There are no umpires and after a four-game round robin tournament on Saturday, teams that qualify play a single-elimination tournament on Sunday.
The sport is increasing in popularity and has been featured on ESPN as well as many other news outlets. Wiffle has a cult-like following that is fun and refreshing due to the clear rules of the game, making this a perfect outlet for the kid in everyone. Competition is there at any stage of the game, but in the end, it’s the fun of the event with the possibility of winning the plastic-bat trophy that makes this the perfect amount excitement with a touch of kitsch.


We sit down with Michael Simeone, the Director of Data Science and Analytics for the ASU Library, and discuss the opportunities available to students interested in working with data. Michael Simeone is in charge of Data Science Week, an event put on by the Library to encourage student interaction and engagement with information and technological resources.
We sit down with computer science senior, Stephen Lockhart, to discuss how he and his team hope to use robotics and computer programming to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
Technology is advancing every day, and with it a need for more powerful systems. As our needs and wants of the digital world expand, the ability for our systems to handle those requests must stay one step ahead. To do this, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working with universities to develop new computing technology.
Griffin Sandidge follows science and tech reporter Jessica Myers as she interviews associate professor Dan Bliss from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering about the future of transportation.
ASU senior business sustainability major Tad Crother and his team discusses the benefits of downloading their app Shlacker, which is designed to help students stay on top of their assignments. Tad, joined by his marketer and junior public service and public policy major, Brian Hunter and the developer and senior computer science major, Daniel Pilgrim, brings us the latest on what we can expect with the newest version of the app. Coming this fall, Shlacker will be available on iOS and Android.


The Bengal cat breed resulted from cross breeding an Asian Leopard Cat (ALC-Felis bengalensis) with the domestic cat (Felis catus). The first three filial generations (F1 - F3) of these hybrid animals are referred to as the "foundation" generations.
Someone freed or took the wolf-dog hybrid captured late last month on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
Hercules the liger, who at the age of six stands 11.4 feet tall on his back legs and weighs an astonishing 950 pounds (431kgs) till date. Hercules has featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest living mammal of the cat species in the world.


The Seattle Mariners have suspended catcher Steve Clevenger for the remainder of the season without pay, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.
Clevenger is being suspended for a pair of tweets that were critical of Barack Obama and black people, saying all those involved with the Black Lives Matter movement should be "locked behind bars like animals."
"As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team. Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the reminder of the season without pay."
Clevenger, who has been sidelined since June with an injury, has a salary this season of $516,500.
There are ten days left in the season which means Clevenger stands to lose approximately $29,000.
Clevenger has played in the big leagues in parts of six seasons with the Cubs, the Orioles, and the Mariners.
"First and foremost I would like to apologize to the Seattle Mariners, my teammates, my family and the fans of our great game for the distraction caused by my tweets on my personal twitter page that went public earlier today. I am sickened by the idea that anyone would think of me in racist terms. My tweets were reactionary to the events I saw on the news and were worded beyond poorly at best and I can see how and why someone could read into my tweets far more deeply than how I actually feel.
"I grew up on the streets of Baltimore, a city I love to this very day. I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there. I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character. Any former teammate or anyone who has met me can attest to this and I pride myself on not being a judgmental person. I just ask that the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet.
"I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive. With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are. I, like many Americans, am frustrated by a lot of things in the world and I would like to be a part of the dialogue moving forward to make this a better world for everyone.
"I once again apologize to anyone who was offended today and I just ask you not judge me off of a social media posting. Thank you and God bless everyone."


Chicago`s Joey Ruiz scored his 20th victory against one loss Wednesday, knocking out Ricky Kaiser in 30 seconds of the first round at the Holiday Star Theatre in Merrillville, Ind.
In notching his ninth knockout, the 19-year-old Ruiz jabbed and then feinted with his left before sending Kaiser (13-3) to the canvas with a short right.
In other fights, Brian Brunette scored a second-round technical knockout over Ken Larson of Beverly Shores, Ind., and undefeated Jack Callahan of Hammond took a unanimous decision from Jesse Abrahams of Indianapolis.


The young Turnbull said the system could cause "great injustice and great hardship".
Back in 2005, future prime minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered an impassioned speech, calling for hardliners in his own party to have a "compassionate and humane" approach to asylum seekers.
Australia's immigration policy has a heavy responsibility - it has to balance the need to secure our borders and ensure the protection of the integrity of our immigration policy with the need to deal with those seeking asylum in a compassionate and humane fashion.
Turnbull said delays in processing asylum-seekers caused "great injustice and great hardship", in some cases to "Dickensian proportions".
Fast forward 11 years and Turnbull has given his unqualified support to immigration minister Peter Dutton who is being criticised for claiming refugees are uneducated and take Australian jobs.
"For many people they won't be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English," said Dutton.
"These people would be taking Australian jobs and there is no question about that."


A man filmed kicking an elderly homeless woman in the face on a train was found and arrested, police said.
Marc Gomez, 36, was taken into custody in New York City on Saturday after video captured him allegedly attacking the 78-year-old woman, leaving her bloodied on a subway train in the Bronx in the early morning of March 10.
The New York Police Department released surveillance photos and video of the ‘unprovoked’ attack Friday and Gomez was arrested the following afternoon.
According to police, the victim is homeless and did not knew Gomez before the incident. She suffered swelling, bleeding, and cuts to the face.
‘Thank you to the worldwide community for the tremendous assistance,’ Shea wrote. He did not say how they tracked down the suspect.
Edward Delatorre, New York Police Chief of Transit, first acknowledged the attack on Twitter on March 22. A police spokesperson did not know if the department was aware of the attack between March 10 and March 22, People reported.
Gomez was charged with assault and harassment and is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail at the Vernon C Bain Center after prosecutors said he has a prior conviction for gun possession, according to the New York Post.
He is set to appear in court on March 29.
Gomez’s lawyer, Steven Mechanic, insists that the woman came at his client with a knife, which sparked the attack.
‘She was homeless and lying across the seat and wanted all other passengers to move. She said, at that point, “I have a knife and I’m going to stab you,” and flashed “a sharp instrument,’ Mechanic said.


Mother: Why doesn't the state limit restraint of children in child care centers?
DENISON, Ia. — Reward the good behavior; give minimal attention to the bad.
That’s the plan Sarah Lundin, a mother of two boys, worked out with caregivers at Children’s Imagination Station in Denison to deal with the boys' sometimes challenging behavior.
One of the brothers was 10, the other 8. Both were diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder. The older boy had anxiety and PTSD. The youngest, ADHD. The behaviors, she said, began after both boys were traumatized in their earlier years.
But last year, a new day care director was hired and everything changed, according to Lundin, an OB-GYN surgeon.
In a civil lawsuit rare in Iowa, the mother alleges director Kim Larson and assistant director Amanda Musfeldt used physical restraint, assault and intimidation to control her children. She has accused them of negligence, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
A trial date for the case has yet to be set.
Lundin contacted Watchdog because she says she’s been trying to get state leaders to limit the use of restraint in private day care centers and require better training for center workers.
She’s written to legislators, several top officials in Iowa’s Department of Human Services, Iowa Area Education Agencies, the Harkin Institute and others.
Lundin says her 10-year-old could have been seriously injured after he was restrained twice last fall. Another parent, she says, told her her son was being mistreated, so she reviewed video at the day care.
At one point, Larson placed her whole body on Lundin's 10-year-old while he was lying on the floor, her Crawford County lawsuit alleges.
Iowa is one of only a handful of states that allows the use of seclusion and restraint in schools when the safety of others is not threatened.
Many districts, including Des Moines Public Schools, have used seclusion rooms — often padded, 6-by-6-foot wooden boxes — to restrain children, typically following violent outbursts.
But the use of restraint for troubled youth in residential homes and public schools has generated controversy in recent years and drawn attention from both the U.S. and Iowa departments of education.
In 2017, Iowa’s education department determined that the Iowa City school district violated state and federal law in its use of seclusion rooms. School officials there stopped using the rooms, focusing instead on other behavioral interventions.
Use of seclusion and restraint in Iowa homes for troubled youth, meanwhile, have led to federal lawsuits with big payouts by the state.
Iowa’s Department of Education initiated changes this year to state administrative code after several school districts were accused of excessive restraint. The changes require all school employees to be trained in the use of seclusion and restraint and banned prone, or facedown, restraint altogether.
The rules also require that parents be notified of the use of seclusion or restraint within 24 hours and that schools document each time seclusion or restraint is used.
The use of any restraint in a child care setting is widely discouraged by child development experts. But it is not prohibited in state law or rules for licensed centers, according to lawyers at the Iowa American Civil Liberties Union.
State code does require licensed child care centers to have written policies on the discipline of children, which provides for positive guidance to redirect kids. Corporal punishment, including spanking, shaking or slapping, is prohibited, as is locking children in rooms.
Staff members who use restraints as part of a treatment plan for a child with a disability are required to have training.
It’s unclear whether Larson and Musfeldt had that training, however. Watchdog stopped at Children's Imagination Station in Denison last week and left a message for Larson. She did not return the message.
Lundin says her son's treatment at the center led his behavior to decline, and he was placed in Four Oaks, a residential treatment center in Mason City.
Matt Highland, a spokesperson for the Department of Human Services, did not return two requests for comment.
In a February letter to Lundin, however, DHS Director Jerry Foxhoven said the agency has been working to expand training to all settings where children are in the state.
DHS is working on a pilot project that would expand training to child care centers through Child Care Resource and Referral, a contractor that provides training for child care employees, he said.


Roz McGregor from London, took her own life earlier this summer, following the May 26 death of Gaetan Mootoo, a well-known researcher for West Africa.
McGregor was a paid intern working for a team that lobbied at the United Nations in Geneva.
Rights group Amnesty International said on Monday it will conduct "full and independent external inquiries" into the suicides of two of its staff in the last three months.
Roz McGregor, 28, from London, took her own life earlier this summer, following the May 26 death of Gaetan Mootoo, a well-known researcher for West Africa.
"We are treating these tragedies with the gravity and priority they deserve, and will be holding full and independent external inquiries," Colm O Cuanachain, Amnesty's acting-secretary general, said in a statement.
"We can never compare the impact the two tragedies have on the families to our reactions within Amnesty.
"But we too are shocked and devastated at the loss of our beloved colleague Gaetan Mootoo, and a brilliant and inspiring young woman, Roz McGregor, who made a great impact in her short time with us," he added.
She had developed insomnia and become troubled by anxiety in the final weeks of her life, according to Britain's The Times newspaper.
Mootoo -- a well-respected researcher who had been with Amnesty for more than 30 years and was known across Africa for his tireless dedication to his work -- worked for its international secretariat.
It is responsible for the majority of research and leading campaign work.
He was found dead in the organisation's Paris offices, where he worked.
Mootoo had left a suicide note allegedly "outlining his previous request for help because of the heavy and additional workload; help which was never forthcoming".
Following the death, friends and colleagues called on the NGO's board in London to look into the circumstances around it "in order to prevent other tragedies".
"We believe that this serious and unprecedented event in the history of the organisation requires the greatest transparency and accountability from Amnesty," they said in a letter to the board.
"Working conditions at Amnesty International have been thoroughly transformed by recent restructuring, and Gaetan was deeply affected by it," it added.
Cuanachain said on Monday the NGO had established programs "to ensure the well-being of all staff".
They included appointing external health and well-being screenings, a peer-to-peer support group and a 24-hour counselling service, he added.
"We recognise that we absolutely must apply the learnings arising from the inquiries to look after our people," said the acting-secretary general.


Police charged April Martineau, 28, with fourth-degree grand larceny — a class E felony — and third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor, after she allegedly lied about a burglary at her home and later admitted to keeping more than $2,000 worth of cash and checks raised during a fall 2008 Girl Scout cookie sale.
It’s one thing to get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but it’s a lot more serious if the jar turns up missing entirely.
Bath-based state police on Monday charged April Martineau, 28, of Troupsburg, with fourth-degree grand larceny — a class E felony — and third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor, after she allegedly lied about a burglary at her home and later admitted to keeping more than $2,000 worth of cash and checks raised during a fall 2008 Girl Scout cookie sale.
According to troopers, Martineau allegedly reported a burglary at her home on Dec. 8, 2008, and claimed $1,200 in cash and $1,000 in checks raised for the Girl Scouts had been stolen. When Martineau repeatedly dodged a state police investigator who was trying to follow up on the initial report, authorities began to question the legitimacy of her burglary claim.
“She was avoiding me for two months. It was strange. She was reporting a burglary to her home and I thought it was odd that the homeowner who was reporting a burglary to her residence was not availing herself to me for an interview,” said Inv. Marci Trimble.
Trimble said several details of the alleged burglary were suspicious.
Trimble said when she stopped at Martineau’s home earlier this week, Martineau confessed to keeping the money and cooperated with the investigation. Trimble said before the confession was made, she already reviewing large purchases Martineau had recently made.
Trimble said Martineau had spent the money on “family items” but would not identify specifically what the items were.
A state police press release said Martineau had briefly been a Scout leader in the Troupsburg area.


ozens in what authorities described as terrorist attacks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15 points, or 0.1%, to 17639 after falling early in the session. The S&P 500 gained 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell more than 1.3% before paring losses to 0.2%.
In recent years, financial markets have reacted swiftly to attacks in Western cities before quickly recovering. Markets from equities to bonds and gold were little disrupted by the killing of at least 129 people in Paris last November.
The market "has largely grown numb to them and shrugged them off," said Keith Bliss, senior vice president at brokerage Cuttone & Co. "Unless we see another attack on the heels of this or another attack in a major metropolitan center...I don't think the market's going to react."
Travel and leisure stocks, however, fell after the explosions hit Brussels' international airport and a subway station near European Union institutions. Belgian officials shut down the entire public transport network in Brussels and raised the terror alert across the country to its maximum level.
In the U.S., Delta Air Lines shares fell 0.9%, while American Airlines Group dropped 1.2%. Cruise operator Royal Caribbean Cruises lost 3%, while competitor Carnival fell 2.3%. In Europe, shares in Air France-KLM fell 4%, and Thomas Cook Group dropped 4.3%.
"It's hard to say what the long-term impact is, but it's not good," said Sanjiv Shah, chief investment officer at Sun Global Investments. "There are worries about security, the impact on growth, greater restrictions on travel."
Investors appeared to take heart in the market's largely muted reaction to the attacks, particularly because it occurred amid relatively low trading volumes, which tend to exacerbate market moves, said Peter Costa, president of trading firm Empire Executions.
Trading volumes have been light in recent sessions. On Monday, fewer shares traded hands than any other day this year. The holiday-shortened week is also contributing to light trading, said Mr. Costa. The U.S. stock market will closed for Good Friday.
Stocks have steadily climbed from steep losses at the beginning of the year, spurred by improvements in U.S. economic data, a rebound in commodities prices and a more dovish stance from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.
As volatility recedes, investors are now assessing whether the rally has further to go.
"Central banks have created a bit of a buffer for markets, but we think there are still sufficient uncertainties that will keep markets volatile this year," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, pointing to questions around China's economy, commodity prices and the U.S. labor market going forward.
In commodities, gold rose 0.4% to $1,248.20 an ounce, while U.S. crude oil fell to $41.45 a barrel in a choppy session.
The yields on 10-year German and U.S. government bonds fell slightly as prices rose.
In economic news, a reading of the U.S. manufacturing sector this month rose slightly from February.
The composite purchasing managers index for the eurozone rose in March, beating investors' expectations, while German business sentiment brightened as companies grew more upbeat about the country's outlook.
Despite the recent pickup in data, "We're experiencing a slow growth world, and I can't see that changing," said Gary Greenberg, head of emerging markets at Hermes Investment Management.
The Shanghai Composite Index snapped a seven-session winning streak, falling 0.6% after Chinese authorities tempered a pledge to accelerate the development of China's capital markets and guided the yuan weaker.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.9% higher as it reopened from a holiday.


MANILA, January 12, 2004 (STAR) By Marianne V. Go - In his first press conference as Trade and Industry Secretary, Cesar A.V. Purisima assured that in the short six month time frame that he has initially set for himself, he would basically adhere to President Arroyo’s 8-Point Agenda concentrating on four of the eight points and follow through on programs started by his predecessor, Manuel A. Roxas II.
The four points which Purisima would concentrate on are job creation, stabilizing prices, improving infrastructure to encourage more businesses and improving health through the cheap medicine program.
Purisima admitted that he has no "preconceived notions" about his new position and that he has no intention of making any "earthshaking changes" in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the six months that he may hold is office.
However, Purisima noted, there is still a lot of things he can do and he would thus focus on execution or getting things done.
First and foremost, Purisima said, he would like to encourage more entrepreneurs as "entrepreneurship is close to my heart."
Unfortunately, Purisima observed," a lot are survival entrepreneurs."
The approach Purisima wants to take to nurture the country’s entrepreneurs would be a "Big Brother, Small Brother approach" wherein large companies could help start up new entrepreneurs.
Thus, Purisima said, he would work with various institutions to implement such an approach.
Second, Purisima said, he would continue to push information and communications technology (ICT).
He noted that the government has already done well in promoting the ICT sector and now follow-through is needed.
Purisima, thus, intends to convince ICT firms already in the country to invest more in their existing operations.
His third goal, Purisima said, is for investment retention. This involves "making sure that those already here stay here and continue to put money here."
His other goals, Purisima said, is improving infrastructure and technology "because it is important to exports and makes it easier for businesses to operate in the country."
Helping consumers, Purisima concluded, would also be a priority in his six months at the DTI.


Couldn't make it to E3? Don't worry! Ubisoft made this nifty interactive booth tour just for you.


ATTN: All Investors or Builders! This 4BR/1BTH has over 2400 sq ft of living space, sits a very large lot (.34 acres) on a cul de sac. The kitchen comes with brand new corian countertops and kitchen cabinets overlooking a lush oversized back yard, which includes a swing set/playhouse with a couple of sheds for additional storage. Brand new roof (2017), hot water heater (2014) and new air duct system. The home has a very large unfished bedroom and bath on the back of the home. You are just minutes away from downtown Tampa, A rated hospitals, I-275 and a short walk to Chamberlian High School. Come check out this home as the potential is unlimited as you can do a complete rehab or build your dream home!
Listing Agent: Joseph Kipping P.A.
4/2 Home with great potential! Needs TLC. House will require new flooring throughout. Centrally located.


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Thursday signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on industrial cooperation under much trumpeted China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during JCC meeting held at Beijing.
Informed sources told The News on Thursday night that size of the CPEC would remain at $46 billion for the moment but both sides agreed to include socio-economic development framework and execution of Gwadar projects in accordance with agreed timelines.
According to official statement saying that Federal Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar has reiterated Pakistan’s firm commitment to CPEC which he termed as the heart and soul of Pakistan-China economic cooperation.
Bakhtiar made these remarks in Beijing at the 8th meeting of the CPEC JCC which he co-chaired with Chinese Vice Chairman of NDRC Ning Jizhe. Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Chairman Board of Investment Haroon Sharif, and representatives of provincial governments and officials of both sides attended the meeting.
Highlights of the JCC included conclusion of a MoU on Industrial Cooperation and establishing a cooperation framework on socio-economic development. The MoU of industrial cooperation would include cooperation in diverse industries such as textiles, petrochemicals, iron and steel, and mines and minerals.
Minister for Planning said that cooperation in industrial sector would help attract investment in special economic zones and encourage relocation of Chinese industry. Both sides agreed to cooperate to develop Special Economic Zones in a speedy manner. In the next phase of CPEC, two sides also agreed to cooperate in maritime sector, port development and automobile sector.
Two sides discussed promoting joint ventures and industrial relocation from China to harness Pakistan’s export potential. They also held the first meeting of the recently established Joint Working Group on socio-economic cooperation which discussed a detailed action plan in six areas for future cooperation such as education, agriculture, poverty alleviation, skill development, healthcare, water supply and vocational training projects.
The two sides agreed on poverty alleviation demonstration projects in all regions of Pakistan. The first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Agriculture will take place early next year. In his remarks, Ning Jizhe, Vice Chairman NDRC said that CPEC serves the fundamental interests of two countries and their peoples. Calling the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China as “phenomenal success” he expressed confidence that the Pakistan-China relationship would continue to grow and prosper.
While undertaking review of areas of cooperation under CPEC, the two sides expressed satisfaction and showed willingness to expedite work on all projects including Gwadar. Minister Bakhtiar said that Gwadar is the jewel of CPEC and with the development of its auxiliary projects, it is poised to become the next big economic and transshipment hub of the region.
Following the JCC meeting, NDRC Chairman He Lifeng hosted a banquet in honour of Minister Bakhtyar at Diaoyutai State guest house. This was followed by a signing ceremony in which the MoU on Industrial Cooperation was signed.


Meet Lentil, a 5-month-old French bulldog who was born with a severe, double sided cleft in his hard and soft palate, lip and nose.
Lentil now works as an "ambassadog," helping adults and children with cranial and facial deformities.
Lentil was born with the congenital defect. His breeder decided to give him away, and he was soon fostered by Lindsay Condefer, a former technician at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine who volunteers with the French Bulldog Rescue Network of Philadelphia.
Cleft palates and lips happen to dogs, just like humans.
"Many people assume this is a breed issue. While it is true we see broad-faced and short-faced dogs, they can occur in any breed. It's not necessarily a genetic issue," Dr. Alexander Reiter, the chief of the dentistry and oral surgery service at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, told CBSNews.com.
Dogs typically present with a unilateral cleft on the left side of the snout. What made Lentil's case different is he had a cleft on both sides of his face and it extended through the hard and soft palate.
Lentil poses with kids from the Children's Craniofacial Association.
The hard palate cleft was the most concerning for doctors because it could potentially cause life-threatening injuries.
Lentil helps children with facial defects feel better about themselves.
Because his hard palate was open, Lentil's nasal passageways were susceptible to infection. Food and liquid could easily go down the his windpipe and not his esophagus, which could cause him to choke to death.
Lentil brings smiles to kids, courtesy of the Children's Craniofacial Association.
Lentil had to be tube-fed every three hours in order to make sure the pup got the right nutrients.
When Lentil reached four months old, doctors decided it was time to fix his cleft hard palate issues.
Dr. Alexander Reiter was the lead surgeon on the case. He determined that while the hard palate issues were necessary to fix, the soft palate and facial issues were just cosmetic and should be left alone.
"In a human, if a child has a cleft lip, this is something that stands out," Dr. Alexander Reiter said. "You want to give that child the best chance that it can have to be accepted into a society and not suffer from psychological problems. Dogs and cats do not know what they look like. They don't have a perception of themselves."
Dr. John Lewis, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine who assisted with Lentil's surgery, had just come back from giving a talk at the Center for Human Appearance at the University of Pennsylvania, and realized that Lentil could become a valuable teaching tool in helping patients, especially children, deal with facial defects.
The team decided to create a program that would connect canines and people with cranial and facial deformities.
"We do have a number of dogs that have cranial/facial abnormalities that could be part of this program, but the fact that he [Lentil] has a congenital defect, the children patients relate to him in a different way," Dr. John Lewis explained.
Lentil prepares for his hard palate surgery.
Lentil during his hard palate surgery.
Lentil works with organizations like the Children's Craniofacial Association (CAA) to show people that looking a little different is okay.
Lentil with some of the kids from the Children's Craniofacial Association.
"Lentil has become more than just a patient. He has become an 'ambassadog' for less fortunate people in the world that suffer from cranial defects, especially children," Dr. Alexander Reiter said.


"When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough. Just go get them." Oh, OK. "Get the best people (as advisers) and don't trust them. Work with them, but they have to have respect for you." Right. Thanks. This sage advice, dispensed by Donald Trump at a cost of $25,000 per minute during a packed Sunday lecture, netted the capitalist par excellence a cool $1.5 million for an hour behind the podium. Here's some more advice: Find a bunch of people dumb enough to pony up the 500 bucks required to hear this meaningless bombast, and you've got it made.


The Ghana Football Association has announced the technical team of the senior national female team, the Black Queens ahead of the upcoming WAFU tournament to be held in Cote D’Ivoire next month.
Coach Mercy Tagoe who led the Black Queens to win gold at the last edition of the competition has been appointed once again as head coach of the team for the WAFU tournament.
Ampem Darkoa coach Nana Joe Adarkwah will assist Madam Tagoe with Raymond Fenny as Goalkeepers trainer.
Other members of the team’s technical team include Kate Boachie Agyeman(Team Doctor), Margaret Foli (Physiotherapist) and Rosemary Asiedua (Team Nurse).
Ex Ghana international Anita Wiredu is the new Welfare manager for the Black Queens with Patience Quarshie as the Kits manager.
The team will begin camping in Cape Coast from Monday April 15 ahead of the tournament which will be staged from May 8- 18 in Abidjan.
Ghana won the last edition after beating current Ivory Coast by a lone goal in the final match.
GFA DC to adjudicate Misconduct cases on Wed.


Ken Fontal was a championship runner at Wilmington University as well as at Newark High School.
NEWARK - Police in Delaware have identified the jogger who was struck and killed by two cars as a former Wilmington University cross-country runner.
WDEL-FM cites a Newark police release that says 24-year-old Ken Fontal was killed Wednesday night. Fontal was struck by two vehicles whose drivers remained at the scene. Impairment isn't believed to have been a factor.
Fontal was a championship runner who finished fourth in the Delaware Division I championships as a Newark High School senior in 2012. He also helped his relay team set Delaware's indoor track state record in the 4x800-meter relay. At Wilmington University, he was named Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference rookie of the year as a freshman. He was the conference's champion as a senior and was named runner of the year.


Joe Slaughter of Itasca spent 10 days in Los Angeles recently, but he wasn't on vacation. He was auditioning for stardom.
Slaughter, 20, auditioned for the Fox reality show "So You Think You Can Dance."
The judges for the show chose dancers from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, who will compete in a "dance-off" for 12 weeks. Viewers ultimately choose the winner.
Slaughter earned the trip to the West Coast after passing an audition at the Chicago Theatre. He tried out with other dancers from his dance company, Xtreme Dance Force, based out of Shelly Mack's Dance Experience in Naperville. He was among about 30 other Chicago-area dancers to make it to L.A. but was cut after 10 days. "We danced like seven hours a day," he said. "But it was some of the best dancing I've ever gotten, and I learned there's a lot of awesome talent and choreography out there."
Although Slaughter teaches dance at three studios and will be attending College of DuPage in the fall to study business and real estate, he said he will be going back to Los Angeles next summer to get some professional dance experience.
"Being in L.A. gave me a taste of what's to come, and I want it more," he said. The show premiered July 20 and airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox.


WINNIPEG — Caroline Hunter just can’t keep herself away from the microphone.
The veteran radio broadcaster is coming out of retirement to join the on-air team at 99.9 BOB FM.
Hunter spent 16 years at QX 104 before resigning from the morning show in 2011. Winnipeggers have still been able to hear Hunter’s voice at Winnipeg Blue Bombers games in her role as stadium announcer.
She has also worked with Winnipeg Harvest in communications and development since 2013.
Hunter will begin at BOB on October 11 and will make periodic on-air appearances leading up to her midday show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.


Airbnb is tackling privacy concerns after several customers found hidden cameras at their rental properties. The company told CBS News it "takes privacy extremely seriously and there is absolutely no place in our community for this kind of behavior."
Airbnb requires hosts to disclose to guests prior to their stay if they have any cameras on their property. The company says cameras are "never allowed in bathrooms or bedrooms" but that doesn't always stop ill-intentioned hosts from hiding them, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.
"I was like this could be like the day that I get killed or worse, I don't know," said Meghan Hilden.
The 22-year-old from Washington State was in Switzerland in 2016 when she says a friend discovered a cellphone under the sink in the bathroom at their Airbnb.
"We saw that the phone was filming and we were whispering and trying to be very quiet. We weren't sure if it was being live streamed," Hilden said.
Soon after, Hilden says they found an iPad also recording. They quickly left, and reported the incident to the company.
There have been other similar incidents. In late November, activist and filmmaker Jason Scott tweeted his colleague found a camera disguised in a motion detector at an Airbnb. The company called the discovery "incredibly rare," and said the host was banned. In October, an Indiana couple said they found a camera in a smoke detector in the bedroom at their Airbnb in Florida. The home owner was arrested for "video voyeurism."
"Simply put, property owners can be 'peeping toms,'" said Cameron Russel, a professor at Fordham University School of Law.
Russel said someone could legally do this this if they give written notice.
"It's conceivable if they gave you enough specific notice that they were going to do this," he said. "Written notice, notice as to the locations of the camera and that you willingly consented to them."
In June, a German tourist settled with Airbnb for an undisclosed amount after allegedly finding a hidden "remote-controlled camera" at a property in California.
Hilden said while Airbnb refunded her for the Switzerland stay, and reimbursed her for other travel expenses, she still felt it wasn't enough.
"I think that that was probably the bare minimum of what they could have done to help us out. For all we know he still has the videos that were on the iPad," Hilden said.
The company told CBS News about two million people use Airbnb on any given night, and they are always willing to work with law enforcement when complaints are made. Experts say there are a few things consumers can do to protect themselves: invest in a digital device detector, search rooms and use a flash light to try and spot lenses.


The battle may not be avoidable. The current GOP platform is a 100-page document, and all but nine pages mention Bush's name. Virtually the entire platform will have to be rewritten to lessen the imprint of the president, who has the highest disapproval rating of any White House occupant since Richard M. Nixon.
And in the need for the re-write comes the problem, since it seems Republican Party activists are looking to stop McCainified "views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles." A fight like that will probably be embarrassing for the McCain campaign since, at the end of the day, anything that underscores the hard-right's dislike for the guy is going to help him in this climate. By contrast, the inevitable speech by George W. Bush seems destined to be a disaster for McCain's quest for the White House.


The Good Sharp new design; tons of business-friendly features; highly configurable; excellent battery.
The Bad Merely average performance; somewhat heavy.
The Bottom Line A total revamp of Dell's ubiquitous business laptop line, the Latitude E6400 offers Intel's latest Centrino 2 mobile platform and introduces a brushed-metal design that works at home or office, but the real highlight here is the long battery life.
Now the Latitude line is getting a long-deserved makeover, and the most striking break from the traditional gray look is the new black brushed metal design. In a Latitude first, select models will soon be available in Regatta Blue and Regal Red (but not at launch).
The E6400 is powered by Intel's Centrino 2 platform, and our $2,007 review unit was packed with extras, from a backlit keyboard to a desktop-speed 7,200rpm hard drive. In typical Dell fashion, the starting price is a very reasonable $1,139, but almost everything, from the fingerprint reader to the Webcam, to a built-in modem costs extra. That makes the starting price illusory for most buyers, but also lets you customize the system to an incredible degree.
Still, if you don't need business-friendly features such as Intel's vPro platform, a TPM chip, or a contactless Smart Card reader, Dell's Vostro line might be more suited for your needs. And if you do need such features, it's more than likely your IT staff will pick and configure a laptop for you. That being said, Dell has done an admirable job of updating its stodgy Latitude brand, and creating a business laptop that's smart-looking enough to pull double-duty as your personal machine.
The new E series is a stark departure from the familiar Latitude look, trading the tapered gray lid for a sharply squared-off design with an industrial brushed metal surface. The result is a much more modern feel, and it fits in with the usage model of a work laptop being your main machine and frequently traveling from home to office to cafe--the E6400 still has a professional look but can also fit in with high-end designer consumer laptops.
At just less than 6 pounds, the E6400 is a bit heavier than some other 14-inch laptops we've looked at recently, but the solid metal construction gives it an impressively dense feel, and feels like it could stand up to some serious road abuse.
They keyboard's keys felt tight and responsive, and the keyboard didn't flex under our fingers. The optional backlit keyboard ($49) is great, and we wish more laptops were available with backlit keyboards. Perhaps to assuage older business laptop users, there's a ThinkPad-like trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard, along with a traditional three-button trackpoint control set above the regular touch pad (there are also regular left and right mouse buttons below the touch pad). We're still convinced that trackpoints are a legacy product and about as useful to most people as a serial port, but someone must still be using them if Dell made sure to include it in the redesigned Latitude.
Our review unit included several business-friendly features, such as a Trusted Platform Module chip, a contactless Smart Card reader (which lets you just tap your card on the wrist rest, rather than sliding it into a slot), and a fingerprint reader (a $29 option). For many corporate IT departments, these are must-haves. Dell's custom ControlPoint software widget offers a clean, simple one-stop interface for accessing security, power, and networking settings. Other business laptop makers such as Lenovo offer their own similar versions of catch-all administrative applications, and both the Dell and Lenovo versions are reasonable useful and easy to use.
The 14.1-inch wide-screen LCD offers a 1,440x900-pixel native resolution, which is our preference for 14- and 15-inch screens. This is an LED-backlit display, which is thinner, lighter and uses less power than traditional laptop screens, but Dell also offers a non-LED 1,280x800-pixel resolution option, which knocks $129 off the price.
Dell is known for offering highly configurable systems, and the Latitude E6400 is no exception. The base model, about $1,100, still includes the same 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU, but trades down to Vista Basic, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB 5,400rpm hard drive and leaves out options such as the fingerprint reader, Webcam, Bluetooth, and even the modem. Dell would probably charge an extra $10 for the right mouse button if it could, but at the same time, it's nice to not be forced to pay for accessories you'll never use.
Our review unit had a Verizon mobile broadband antenna, but AT&T and Sprint versions are also available, each for about $150.
While the Latitude E6400 has the same Core 2 Duo P8400 processor as some other Centrino 2 laptops we've tested, such as the Lenovo SL400, its faster 7,200rpm hard drive helped it get a slight edge in our performance tests. But all the extra security features running on a business laptop can also eat up CPU cycles, so in terms of pure performance, you can take an older CPU and add a ton of RAM and get faster scores--as in the case of the Dell Studio 1535-125B, which has a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 and 4GB of RAM, twice the memory of the E6400. In hands-on testing, we had no problem multitasking on the Latitude, working on office documents, surfing the Web, and playing back media files simultaneously.


Listing videos are automated via data connection with agent's CRM to pull in property data.
In addition to new templates and sharing tools, HomePrezzo includes customization of videos for CMAs.
Australia-based HomePrezzo has updated its video marketing tools with automated listing videos, templates and CRM integrations. The company will announce services in the U.S. at Inman Connect San Francisco 2018.


Aspen resident Monte Love reveled in Monday's ecliptic event put on by Aspen Science Center and Pitkin County Library in the Galena Plaza.
Mary Virginia, Cooper and Mary Tarver Reid display an Aspen Times while in Casper, Wyoming, immediately after Monday's eclipse. Email your "Where's Your Aspen Times" to rcarroll@aspentimes.com.
Guy DeCarlo and John Philips, ski pros with Aspen Ski and Snowboard School, recently visited Portillo, Chile for some fun skiing as well as training for upcoming season.
Aspen High School's IB physics students made the trip to Wyoming and found a flat, open area to watch Monday's solar eclipse.
Aspen High School's IB physics students made the trip to Wyoming to spread out on the ground and watch Monday's solar eclipse.
From the Great American Eclipse to skiing down south, here’s Aspen Miscellaneous from Aug. 27, 2017, Aspen Times.