Thanks to George Bush's amazing deficit reduction plan, the budget deficit is now only 1.2% of GDP. If this trend continues, by the time George Bush leaves office, the budget will be within a hair's breath of being balanced. I can only hope that Democrats don't squander this precious legacy of fiscal responsibility.
Just kidding! Not about the budget deficit, I mean, but about the reason for it. The reason the budget deficit has closed is a combination of economic growth and increasing inequality, which has allowed the government to collect more revenue on a smaller base. The rich really are different--they pay higher tax rates.
These are the perils of attributing economic activity to presidential will. Democrats who got angry when they read the first paragraph should note that the budget deficit is closing whether or not George Bush wants it to; broad trends in the economy dominate even large changes in tax rates. Likewise, the fact that Bill Clinton wanted to close the budget deficit doesn't mean he did; in fact, broad changes in the economy were a much more important driver of change.
Yes, one could argue (and Bob Rubin has) that closing the budget deficit a little made for amazing economic growth, thus raising tax revenues and allowing for even more deficit reduction. But the behavior of tax revenues under George W. severely undercuts this story. For reasons we still don't understand, though inequality clearly plays a large part, tax revenues started rising faster than the rate of economic growth under Clinton. This trend has continued under Bush. That--and neither Rubinomics, nor supply side magic--is why tax revenues in both administrations keep delivering huge upside surprises, regardless of whether the administration cut taxes or raised them.


John Stanley Hedden I, 48, Independence, Missouri, passed away unexpectedly September 24, 2011.
Services will be at 10 a.m., Thursday, September 29, 2011, at Carson-Speaks Chapel, 1501 W. Lexington Ave., Independence, MO; interment at Mt. Washington Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, at the chapel.
In lieu of flowers, the family is establishing a memorial fund in John’s memory.
Condolences may be sent to the family at Carson-Speaks Chapel, 816-252-7900.


BOCA RATON — On the heels of a vicious debate, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum on Thursday decried the nasty nature of the nationally watched Florida race but at the same time likened his Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, to a temperamental child.
Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, kicked off a bus tour in Miami, visited three college campuses and appeared at a temple in Plantation, with early voting underway and the clock winding down on the Nov. 6 election.
Speaking to a crowd of several hundred students and supporters Thursday afternoon at an auditorium on the Florida Atlantic University campus, Gillum mocked DeSantis’ performance during Wednesday’s second debate, during which the Republican exploded during questioning from moderator Todd McDermott.
DeSantis, whose endorsement by President Donald Trump helped the former congressman coast to victory in the August GOP primary, lost his cool when McDermott asked him about his relationship with conservative author David Horowitz.
DeSantis “came a little undone yesterday,” Gillum began, after asking the crowd if they had tuned into the debate, which was the final face-to-face matchup between the candidates.
“He fell into the category of demonstrating the temperament of about a 4-year-old. I’m trying not to offend my kids, because I’ve got twin 4-year-olds. I certainly don’t want them to take their example from him,” Gillum said.
DeSantis “collapsed under the pressure” of being asked about “racist conferences that he’s attended” and about his facilitation of a Facebook group accused of being anti-Semitic and “tinged with racism,” Gillum said.
DeSantis said, as a prosecutor, he “stood up for victims of every race, color and creed” and will “represent all the people” as governor.
“Everyone will get a fair shake. But I’m not going to bow down to the altar of political correctness. I’m not going to let the media smear me,” he angrily continued.
Gillum, who is black, and his supporters have made racism a major theme of the Democrat’s campaign. The day after the Aug. 28 primary, DeSantis drew widespread criticism after warning supporters “not to monkey this up,” referring to the state’s success under Gov. Rick Scott, by electing Gillum. DeSantis has also been blasted for refusing to return a campaign contribution to a donor who used the “n-word” in reference to former President Barack Obama.
During his 30-minute stump speech Thursday, Gillum reminded the audience about his opponent’s “monkey this up” comment, adding that there’s been “a lot more of the same” throughout the race.
DeSantis and his supporters, meanwhile, have accused Gillum of being dishonest and corrupt for accepting a ticket from an undercover FBI agent to the popular Broadway show, “Hamilton,” and traveling to Costa Rica and other places with lobbyist Adam Corey. Gillum said he paid cash for his share of a rental house shared with Corey and others in the 2016 Costa Rica vacation.
The trips and the ticket are part of an ethics investigation into Gillum, and Corey is at the heart of a federal probe into Tallahassee city government. Gillum has repeatedly denied he is the subject of the FBI inquiry and has steadfastly maintained he hasn’t done anything wrong.
But when asked by a reporter Thursday whether he regretted taking the Costa Rica trip with Corey, a former close friend with whom the mayor has publicly severed ties, Gillum said no.
“Adam’s somebody I’ve known for 20 years. We vacationed together plenty of times. He was at my wedding, have been extremely close acquaintances and friends for over 20 years. The same is true for the folks who we traveled with. No. I don’t have regrets about that,” Gillum said.
Corey maintains that Gillum hasn’t reimbursed him for nearly $1,000 in expenses related to the Costa Rica trip.
“Unfortunately, I think Adam’s a little offended because I’ve had to sever ties. Again, I regret, unfortunately, that that has had to happen, but I do still wish him well,” Gillum said when asked about the costs of the trip.
Gillum also said political leaders “have to become extremely highly responsible with our rhetoric and what we say,” following the delivery of numerous pipe bombs to Democratic leaders across the nation over the past few days.
“This rhetoric is becoming extremely heated. It is dangerous, not only for elected officials and their family. It is dangerous for society. So my hope would be, in these closing weeks --- across the country, not just here in Florida – but in these closing weeks, that we all exert a little bit of restraint and greater responsibility to ensure that we’re not putting each other in harm’s way,” he said.
The mayor also encouraged students to make their voices heard at the polls, saying they could determine the outcome of the governor’s race and statewide Cabinet elections.


The FBI has disclosed a year-long investigation into the questionable practices of high-frequency trading less than 24 hours after the rest of the world discovered how suspect the practice can be.
The Wall Street Journal reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into high frequency trading on Wall Street about a year ago. "Trading ahead of other investors based on information about orders that other investors can't see could violate insider-trading laws," an FBI spokesperson explained to the Journal. The FBI joins investigations into high-frequency trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Attorney General's office. CBS News and various others have confirmed the existence of the FBI's investigation.
In a report on 60 Minutes last night, based on an excerpt from his latest book published in The New York Times Magazine on Monday, author Michael Lewis explained a not-so-frequently discussed Wall Street practice of electronically trading shares at a rapid pace to take advantage of the daily ebbs and flows of the market, commonly known as high-frequency trading. The practice is the focus of Lewis' latest book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. In theory, traders react to moves made by others in the market, buying and selling stock accordingly as prices go up and down. But some, like the Royal Bank of Canada, accuse high-frequency traders of using advanced computer algorithms and ultra-high speed data network to manipulate stock prices through the millisecond advantages they have over humans, and even other computer networks. The practice even allows for a technique called "front-selling," where traders place an order to purchase a stock, and HFT computers using their speed advantage to start buying the same stock before the original order is even processed. The legality of this practice was questionable well before the FBI investigation.
The FBI says it has dedicated a large number of agents to the investigation. They are looking at proprietary-trading outfits as well as fast-trading operations at brokers who buy and sell orders on behalf of clients, such as mutual funds and pension plans. FBI officials are looking into whether some brokers trade on information about clients orders before executing on behalf of the client and whether brokers use information about after-hours trading to beat the market when it opens the next morning.
"There are many people in government who are very focused on this and who are concerned about it and who think it breaks the law," an FBI spokesman said.


When Zuma appointed Magashule as premier of the Free State in 2009, the doors to the provincial treasury were flung open and "King Ace", as some in the province refer to him, finally had unfettered access to the poor province's largesse, writes Adriaan Basson.
There is a reason why former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki both side-lined Ace Magashule to become premier of the Free State during their presidencies.
Although Magashule was the most popular politician in that province, both Mandela and Mbeki knew enough about him to keep him away from the keys to the top office in the Free State and, by extension, the provincial fiscus.
Yes, this feels long ago, but there was a time in the ANC when having corruption clouds hanging over your head actually disqualified you from being promoted by the organisation.
All of this changed in December 2007 when Jacob Zuma was elected party president in Polokwane with the help of rogues like Magashule who saw Msholozi as a get-out-of-jail ticket. They were right.
When Zuma appointed Magashule as premier of the Free State in 2009, the doors to the provincial treasury were flung open and "King Ace", as some in the province refer to him, finally had unfettered access to the poor province's largesse.
He became untouchable and pulled-off what some call the first capture of a state – the Free State.
When I visited Bloemfontein over the years to interview sources about allegations that Magashule was robbing the province blind, I was met with complete unsurprise. Yes, nothing gets done in this place without Ace's approval or involvement, I was told.
Shortly after his appointment as premier, I received a tip-off that he demanded a R10m bribe to approve a transaction through the Free State Gambling Board. Although Magashule had no business involving himself in the transaction, the affected businessman was summoned to his office and had to elicit the assistance of Zuma ally Vivian Reddy to get his deal approved.
Opaque meetings at the Shell Ultra City in Kroonstad, bogus contracts typed on a laptop to formalise "facilitation fees"… it was all part of the reign of King Ace.
There was a tacit acceptance of the rotten state of affairs and a hopelessness that there was no chance for you to prosper as a businessperson or government official if you weren't prepared to have your palms greased or do the greasing.
And this was before the Guptas arrived on the scene.
One of the saddest aspects of Magashule's decade of Free State capture was the weak reporting on the province by the provincial and national media. Partly because of the declining media industry, including a weakened SABC, and partly because of Magashule's active and aggressive attempts to influence and even purchase journalists and publications in Bloemfontein, the full extent of his activities remained largely under the radar.
Was it not for the reporting of Volksblad, the Afrikaans daily newspaper in the city, much of what Magashule and his gang were up to would have remained completely unreported.
I am exceptionally glad that former News24 investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh took the time and effort to produce his excellent book Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule's Web of Capture, that finally blows the lid off Magashule's reign of looting and deceit.
The book is a horror story of what happens to a province, particularly one in the rural parts of South Africa with little media attention, when a crooked politician takes the reins.
Coupled with evidence that is expected to be delivered to the Zondo Commission over the next few days and weeks, the truth about Magashule's term as premier of the Free State is finally coming out.
Ironically, Magashule's elevation to secretary-general of the ANC has weakened his grip on the Free State. He can no longer keep things under wraps from Luthuli House.
As the chief driver of the ANC's election machine, these revelations will further damage the governing party's chances to breach the 60% mark on May 8.
Voters would be justified to ask who exactly they are voting for if they put their crosses next to the ANC on the ballot paper. The "new dawn" of President Cyril Ramaphosa or the gangster state of Ace Magashule?


The final piece of a high-profile border security package got moving Tuesday when a House committee heard House Bill 12 by state Rep. Oscar Longoria, which would elevate the state's Border Prosecution Unit into an official statutory being.
Dope smugglers are smart enough to know when and where local prosecutors have the resources to go after them, especially in rural areas. That’s just one of the reasons district attorneys in counties along the Texas-Mexico border say they are backing a bill that would take an existing consolidated border prosecution agency and turn it into an official state unit.
House Bill 12, by state Rep. Oscar Longoria, D-Mission, would put into statute the structure and duties of the state’s current Border Prosecution Unit, which was formed in 2010 after the Legislature appropriated $2 million per year to help border district attorneys handle swelling caseloads. It is made up of 17 jurisdictions including all of the counties on the border and their surrounding areas.
In its current form, an assistant district attorney from each DAs office is assigned to handle the additional prosecutions of border crimes — smuggling, violent crimes, money laundering and gang activity associated with cartels. State grants pay for the unit, which works with the Texas Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute cases.
Longoria’s proposal would codify the unit’s practices and fine-tune some of its policies, including how its members elect a governing board and who has prosecuting powers in each county. It was heard before the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
“[The bill] establishes what the unit does, how it encompasses DPS and local law enforcement, local district attorneys, within the 17 jurisdictions that they serve,” he said. “This puts more rules and protocol on how each” region operates.
Former Republican state Rep. Jose Aliseda, now district attorney for Bee, McMullen and Live Oak counties, said the bill would expand his office’s ability to prosecute people federal agencies can’t because the alleged crimes don’t qualify as federal violations.
The measure is one of three high-profile border security bills introduced by House leadership this month. The trio also includes HB 10, by state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, which addresses human trafficking, and HB 11 by state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, a sweeping measure that seeks to beef up the DPS presence on the border and study the feasibility of southbound checkpoints. Both those measures have been voted out of the Texas House. Longoria’s proposal was left pending in committee, but will likely be voted out soon because the issue is considered a priority item by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Longoria said he wanted to investigate adding more gambling offenses to the bill’s list of border crimes.
“I am a firm believer that a lot of these gambling establishments are there for the mere fact of money laundering,” he said.


The eight “Dogs of the Dow” for 2019 had an aggregate year-to-date gain of 10.7% in March, up from 8.8% at the end of February led by a gain of 24.6% for Cisco Systems, 24.1% for IBM and 18.5% for ExxonMobil. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended March with a year-to-date gain of 11.2%, up slightly from 11.1% at the end of February.
Buy weakness to my semiannual and annual value levels of $41.70 and $39.84, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my monthly risky level at $55.58. My quarterly pivot is $52.67.
Chevron (CVX) ended March with a dividend yield of 3.93%, down from 4.27% in December, ranked fourth. The weekly chart for Chevron is positive but overbought with the stock above its five-week MMA at $121.77 and above its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $107.81. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is above the overbought threshold of 80.00 at 85.61.
Buy weakness to my monthly and semiannual value levels of $109.44 and $106.15, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my quarterly and annual risky levels at $129.28 and $131.43, respectively.
International Business Machines (IBM) ended March with a dividend yield of 4.65%, down from 5.71% in December, still ranked first. The weekly chart for IBM is positive but overbought with the stock above its five-week MMA at $137.81 but below its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $149.23. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 93.45 this week as an inflating parabolic bubble.
Buy weakness to my semiannual, monthly and quarterly value levels at $126.75, $123.03 and $113.89, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my annual risky level at $166.09.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) ended March with a dividend yield of 3.50%, up from 3.45% in December, now ranked fifth. The weekly chart for our nation’s largest bank is neutral with the stock above its five-week MMA at $103.04 and above its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $86.81. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to decline to 55.29 this week.
Buy weakness to my monthly value level at $97.40 and reduce holdings strength to my semiannual and quarterly risky levels at $110.75 and $116.81, respectively. My annual pivot remains at $102.64.
Coca Cola (KO) ended March with a dividend yield of 3.44%, down from 3.46% in December, now ranked seventh. The weekly chart for Coke is positive with the stock above its five-week MMA at $46.40 and above its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $44.10. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 27.85 this week.
Buy weakness to the 200-week SMA at $44.10 and reduce holdings on strength to monthly, quarterly and annual at $47.50, $48.74 and $51.51, respectively. My semiannual pivot at $46.28 is a magnet.
Pfizer (PFE) ended March with a dividend yield of 3.44%, up from 3.30% in December, now ranked sixth. The weekly chart for Pfizer is positive with the stock above its five-week MMA at $42.35. The stock is well above its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $35.59. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 56.74 this week.
Buy weakness to my semiannual value level at $41.49 and reduce holdings on strength to my monthly and annual risky levels at $46.57 and $48.44, respectively. My quarterly pivot is $43.55.
Verizon (VZ) ended March with a dividend yield of 4.12%, down from 4.31% in December, ranked third. The weekly chart for Verizon is positive with the stock above its five-week MMA at $57.94. The stock is above its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $50.38. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 77.71 this week.
Buy weakness to my quarterly and semiannual value levels at $56.38 and $55.97, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my monthly and annual risky levels at $62.05 and $62.95, respectively.
ExxonMobil (XOM) ended March with a dividend yield of 4.31%, down from 5.03% in December, ranked second. The weekly chart for Exxon is positive but overbought with the stock above its five-week MMA at $79.18 and testing its 200-week SMA or reversion to the mean at $81.66. The 12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 88.42 this week above the overbought threshold of 80.00.
Buy weakness to my monthly, semiannual and quarterly value levels at $75.48, $69.47 and $77.66, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my annual risky level at $94.26.


"We will continue to provide regular updates and security patches to Chrome on XP through the end of 2015," said Mark Larson, Chrome's director of engineering, in a short blog post Thursday.
A year and a half ago, Larson pledged to support Chrome on the even-then-aged operating system until "at least April 2015."
"We know that not everyone can easily switch to a newer operating system," Larson said of Google's decision to continue supporting Chrome on XP after the latter's retirement. "Millions of people are still working on XP computers every day [and] we want those people to have the option to use a browser that's up-to-date and as safe as possible on an unsupported operating system."
But enough was apparently enough.
Because Microsoft halted security fixes for IE on Windows XP on April 14, 2014, security professionals urged the OS's users to switch to another browser. Dropping IE for Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox or Opera Software's Opera was one way to minimize -- but not eliminate -- risk, they said.
Neither Mozilla or Opera have publicized end-of-support dates for their browsers on Windows XP.
According to Web metrics vendor Net Applications, approximately 18.5% of all Windows PCs ran XP in March, slightly more than half the 34.5% the OS accounted for in October 2013, when Larson set Chrome's earliest support demise at this month.


AP -- G.E. Patterson, the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ and a minister for almost 50 years, died of heart failure Tuesday, the church announced. He was 67.
The predominantly black Protestant denomination, headquartered in Memphis, claims 6 million members worldwide and traces its origins to the 1870s.
Patterson was hospitalized in January for an undisclosed illness. He told his followers in 2005 that he suffered from prostate cancer.
At the 99th annual COGIC Holy Convocation in November, he said he had considered stepping down from the post he held since 2000, but changed his mind after receiving an outpouring of support.
"If my body being afflicted can get us back to where God wants us to be, then I'm willing to suffer," Patterson said at the time. Following his comments, Patterson received a standing ovation.
"It was a direct result of his work, such as his TV ministries, that allowed people to see COGIC as it should have been projected," said jurisdictional Bishop Jerry Maynard, the chief operating officer of the national church who had worked with Patterson since 1992.
"He always said if you represent God, you should represent him in a very positive way and not in a way that cause people to question God or his ways."
Maynard said the church would begin selecting a successor after memorial services are completed.
"Many people know him because of his worldwide telecast and the kind of compassion and love and faithfulness that he demonstrated," said San Diego jurisdictional Bishop George D. McKinney, a member of the COGIC General Board.
"America lost an angel today," former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. said in a statement. "He was favored by the Almighty and he used his favor to instruct us all on how to be better servants."
He was born in Humboldt, Tenn., and was ordained as an elder in COGIC in 1957 in Detroit.
Patterson attended Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Detroit Bible Institute and held an honorary doctorate from Oral Roberts University.
Patterson is survived by his wife, Louise Patterson. The couple had no children. Funeral arrangements were pending.


Even Windows users can run this free Linux hard drive utility. We show you how.
Hard drive capacities are quickly expanding, with internal desktop drives approaching the half-terabyte mark. The amount of data you can store on today's consumer hard drives was unthinkable even a decade ago, but huge apps and multimedia files have pushed this expansion. As the amount of data stored increases, so does the need to organize it. This usually means setting up a number of directories, but multiple partitions are another great way to manage high-capacity drives. A number of tools exist to make this easy, such as Norton PartitionMagic 8.01, our Editors' Choice (see our review at http://go.pcmag.com/partitionmagic801 ) among partitioning programs. But whereas PartitionMagic costs $70, the open-source community has a free graphical partitioning tool with many advanced functions: QTParted. Running QTParted from a bootable Linux CD-ROM or DVD is the safest way to use the program, and a method that lets even Windows users run it.
Partitions split a hard drive into sections. Desktop computers generally come configured with only a single partition, usually labeled C: in Microsoft Windows. Think of such a drive as a large house with no interior wallsjust a single general-purpose room. Nearly all houses separate different sections into special-purpose areas, such as bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms, to make better use of the space. Hard drive partitions operate on the same principle.
One common reason for partitioning is to install several operating systems on the same drive. The first partition might have Windows XP; the second, Windows 2000; and a third, Linuxeach OS in its own container. Some PC vendors use multiple partitions for system recoverythe first partition fills most of the drive and holds the operating system, while the second contains a recovery image. Another common use for partitioning is to separate out data. The first partition is devoted to the core operating-system files; the second is for programs, games, or general storage. This has the extra advantage of protecting you in case of file-system errors. Should an error or hard reset corrupt the second partition, the first may remain intact.
Repartitioning, resizing, or moving a partition is risky, whatever tool you use. Back up any crucial data on a partition before you resize it.
According to the Web site ( http://qtparted.sourceforge.net ), QTParted is designed as a Linux-based clone of PartitionMagic. The utility provides a simple interface for you to create, delete, move, resize, format, and otherwise manage partitions. Probably the best way to use QTParted is from a bootable Linux disc, since resizing or moving partitions you're currently booted into is risky. Many bootable Linux distributions, Knoppix among the most notable, include QTParted.
After Knoppix boots (type knoppix at the boot prompt), start at the large letter K at bottom left. Select K | System | QTParted to launch the utility. The main window is split into left and right panes. The left lists any hard drives (and possibly optical drives) that QTParted detects. Click the drive you want to edit (your firstor C:drive will most likely be labeled /dev/hda, your second /dev/hdb, and so on), and QTParted will scan it for partition information, displaying the details in the right pane. The top section of the right pane displays the hard drive and any partitions in graphical form. Below you'll see detailed information on each partition, including file-system type, size, space used, and where the partition starts and ends on the drive. To see the list of changes you can make, either right-click a partition or select it and click the Operations menu.
Since the default on many systems is a single partition for the complete drive, to create extra partitions you must first resize the existing one to make room. Before resizing a Windows partition, be sure to boot into Windows and defrag the drive. After you've completed these preparations, select the partition and choose the Resize operation. The window that appears will let you drag on the partition's representation from either side to shrink or grow it, or you can manually set the size. Click on OK, and the main window will display your new partition and the free space you've created.
To make a new partition from free space, select the space and choose the Create operation. Set the partition type and size, and tell QTParted whether to put it at the start or end of the free space. To move a partition within free space, choose the Move operation and drag the partition or manually enter its start and ending locations in the window that appears.
Athough the utility will now show changes, you haven't changed the actual drive yet-QTParted is only showing you the potential results of the operations. The tool keeps track of your changes and lets you undo them at any time until they are committed. To write the changes to the drive, click on File | Commit. A confirmation window will appear, and once you click on OK, the program makes the changes. Many require a reboot to take effect; click on K and choose Logout to reboot. If you resize a Windows partition, run Chkdsk on it at the next reboot if Windows doesn't do so automatically.
QTParted lacks some features that PartitionMagic has, such as merging partitions; converting between FAT, FAT32, and NTFS file systems; copying individual files between partitions; and managing boot options. Still, for resizing and creating new partitions, QTParted is an easy-to-use, free tool that is as reliable as commercial tools.
Kyle is a systems administrator for The Green Sheet, Inc., the current president of the North Bay Linux Users' Group North, and the author of Knoppix Hacks. Kyle has been using Linux in one form or another since early 1998. In his free time he does pretty much the same thing he does at work -work with Linux.


It's anyone's guess as to who uses the motel part of this place -- exclusively truckers we'd imagine -- but the restaurant attracts denizens of all colors and creeds at all hours of the day for all purposes. Hungover? Make this your a.m. resuscitation spot. Trying to break things off with that persistent lover? Take him or her to the Beltway. Expect to see this place in a monochromatic indie film sooner rather than later.


Children born to middle-aged men are more likely than those born to younger fathers to develop any of a range of mental difficulties, including attention deficits, bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia, according to the most comprehensive study to date of paternal age and offspring mental health.
In recent years, scientists have debated based on mixed evidence whether a father's age is linked to his child's vulnerability to individual disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Some studies have found strong associations, while others have found weak associations or none at all.
The new report, which looked at many mental disorders in Sweden, should inflame the debate, if not settle it, experts said. Men have a biological clock of sorts because of random mutations in sperm over time, the report suggests, and the risks associated with later fatherhood may be higher than previously thought.
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
"This is the best paper I've seen on this topic, and it suggests several lines of inquiry into mental illness," said Dr. Patrick Sullivan, a professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina, who was not involved in the research. "But the last thing people should do is read this and say, 'Oh no, I had a kid at 43, the kid's doomed.' The vast majority of kids born to older dads will be just fine."
Dr. Kenneth Kendler, a professor of psychiatry and human molecular genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, also urged caution in interpreting the results.
The research team, led by Brian D'Onofrio of Indiana University, analyzed medical and public records of some 2.6 million people born in Sweden from 1973 to 2001. Like many European countries, Sweden has centralized medical care and keeps detailed records.
Compared with the children of young fathers, ages 20-24, those born to men age 45 and older had about twice the risk of developing psychosis, the signature symptom of schizophrenia; more than three times the likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of autism; and about 13 times the chance of having a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. Children born to older fathers also tended to struggle more with academics and substance abuse.
The researchers controlled for every factor they could think of, including parents' education and income. The researchers say that any increased risk due solely to paternal age is most likely a result of the accumulation of genetic mutations in sperm cells.
"It's a plausible hypothesis at this point," Sullivan said.
Experts say the numbers in the study look more alarming than they probably are. For example, Sullivan said, the overall prevalence of autism is 0.5 percent to 1 percent of the population, depending on the estimate and the location.
But for the children of healthy parents in their 20s, the rate is perhaps 1 in 300, or even lower. A threefold increase would put the odds at about 1 in 100, still very low.
The same goes for the risk of psychosis. The baseline rate is tiny for the children of young, healthy parents, and remains quite low even when doubled.
The researchers found much larger increases in risk for attention deficits (13-fold) and bipolar disorder (25-fold) associated with late fatherhood.
"I don't know what to do with those numbers," Sullivan said, noting that two recent genetic studies found that the contribution of de novo mutations to the risk of mental disorders was "probably pretty low" compared with other factors.


Human Rights Lawyer and activist J C Weliamuna said the amendment to the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) legislation target money laundering, cyber crime, corruption and drug networks countering JO claims that the amendments would pave the way for a manhunt against ‘war heroes’.
He told the Sunday Observer that the amendment does not grapple with war crimes or assisting prosecutions with regard to human rights violations.
“The existing MLA provisions do not empower the law enforcement to properly use information available from other countries because we don’t have enabling domestic legislation to make use of the international conventions the country is signatory to,” Weliamuna explained. The MLA was listed in the order paper in order to be taken up in parliament. However, it had to be taken out as there were petitions filed against the amendments to the Bill. “They are talking about evidence on alleged war crimes coming into the country through this although it is the opposite of that is happening with regards to the prosecution. What they are really afraid has nothing to do with war crimes but everything to do with evidence relating to corruption reaching the country,” an official of the Attorney General’s Department told the Sunday Observer. Today, Sri Lanka has become a money-laundering centre and a centre for the drugs network because domestically our laws are not strong enough to charge offenders even though they may be in violation of international conventions.” said Weliamuna.
Amendments will give effect to the UN Convention on Corruption and the Money Laundering Convention.
Countering statements made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa claims that the legislation is merely a witch hunt against the military forces based on grave human rights violations. “Though the original Act applied only to states, the proposed amendment will make it applicable to international organisations such as the International Criminal Court as well. It will also make documentary evidence and evidence obtained through video conferencing from persons resident in foreign countries admissible in judicial proceedings. The administrative machinery to respond expeditiously to requests from overseas is also to be expanded,” Rajapaksa said.


In a recent blogpost titled “Brushstrokes of Spring”, Daisann mentioned that she was given a lucky Spring Couplet (揮春) (“fai cheun”) by Uncle Wah (華叔) (Szeto Wah). I couldn’t help marvelling at the latter’s quick wit and literary virtuosity.
With a total of just eight characters in two poetic lines and topping each line with one of two characters in Daisann’s Chinese name “蘭恩”, Uncle Wah at once described Daisann’s character as expressed through her writing profession and complimented her for having made a positive impact on Hong Kong society. The words that are shown in brackets in the translation are all implied words as deduced from the written words.
Speaking is one way to express one’s thoughts while writing is another way. The character “口” (mouth) is a pun and is used figuratively here to describe Daisann’s writing profession which involves expression of thoughts and ideas.
One would have to have a deeper knowledge of Chinese literature and history to be able to know what the author means by a particular word (e.g. the word “蘭”). This is the amazing thing about Chinese literature – an awful lot, including historical background and literary implications, can be expressed in a single character. Although this word is a given (being one of the two characters in Daisann’s name), Uncle Wah used it in such a way as to give a deeper meaning to it rather than a superficial one (which could be just the pretty appearance of the flower). The hint here is that he used it along with the character “心” (heart).
Of all flowers, the orchid is one that has always had a moral impact on Chinese culture and society. It is a flower that has a cultivation history of over two thousand years and its first association with humanity was said to be made by Confucius. I must admit that I have forgotten a lot of what I learned about the life and works of Confucius from Chinese Literature lessons in my school days. While surfing the internet I happened to stumble upon this essay that reminded me much about the relationship between the orchid and Confucius.
Confucius was shown to have developed a special love for the orchid from an early age. It happened that he had been seeking a ministerial job with the emperors of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (“Spring and Autumn” period) (春秋) but his efforts proved futile after traveling among the kingdoms for more than a decade. One day as he was wandering in the woods he came upon some profusely growing orchids which moved him to say: “夫蘭當為王者香, 今乃獨茂, 與眾草為伍, 譬猶賢者不逢時, 與鄙夫為倫也.” (my translation: “The orchids’ fragrance should be enjoyed by royalties in their residence, but they now look so solitary amongst grasses in the wild. They are not unlike noble scholars whom no one appreciates and who have to be contented with the company of the philistine class.”) Confucius likened his not being appreciated by emperors to the solitary orchids in the woods not being cherished by royalties as they should. In that era, orchids were a scarce species that only royalties and the noble class could afford to use as ornament plants in their homes.
Confucius also thought of the orchid as a flower of noble character, as he said in “孔子家語” (“Confucius’ Family Dialogue”): “芝蘭生於森林, 不為無人而不芳, 君子修道立德, 不為窮困而改節” (my translation: “The orchids grow in the woods and they let out their fragrance even if there is no one around to appreciate it. Likewise, men of noble character will not let poverty deter their will to be guided by high principles and morals.” In short, orchids symbolized nobleness and tenacity of character.
The light yet lingering unique fragrance of the orchid also had a profound effect on Confucius. He said “與善人居, 如入芝蘭之室, 久而不聞其香, 即與之化矣. 與不善人居, 如入鮑魚之肆, 久而不聞其臭, 亦與之化矣.” (my translation: “If you are in the company of good people, it is like entering a room full of orchids. After a while, you become soaked in the fragrance and you don’t even notice it. If you are in the company of bad people, it is like going into a room that smells of fish. After a while, you don’t notice the fishy smell as you have been immersed in it.” The orchid’s fragrance was used to portray the sublimity of character which Confucius believed everyone should strive for and which formed the basis of his moral preaching, and to emphasize the influential power of people of such character.
Since the Confucian era, the orchid symbolism has been widely used in literary works. In both classic and modern literature, the plum (梅), the orchid (蘭), the chrysanthemum (菊) and the bamboo (竹) are referred to as “the noble four” (四君子) of plants.
Thus one can see how much of history and literary background can be inferred in one simple character like “蘭” (orchid), and the above is hardly an exhaustive source of relevant historical and literary information, although it is the most common source.
Why Have China’s Reforms Stalled?


5 Billion Records Exposed in 2018 Data Breaches - 24/7 Wall St.
Over the course of 2018, security firm Risk Based Security reported 6,515 data breaches that exposed more than 5 billion records. Year over year, the total number of breaches slipped by 3.2% and the number of exposed records fell by 35.9%.
The 12 largest breaches alone accounted for 74% of all exposed records. Each of those dozen incidents exposed more than 100 million records.
The United States experienced nearly 35% (2,264) of all breaches, far more than any other country, and also recorded the highest number of exposed records with 2.26 billion (44.4% of the year’s total). The United Kingdom suffered 144 data breaches that exposed 19.6 million records, while Canada posted the third highest number of breaches with 112.
India recorded 82 data breaches and the second-highest number of exposed records with 1.28 billion. China suffered just 12, but the median number of records exposed in those incidents ran to 10 million per breach and the total number of exposed records came to 332.5 million, the third-highest total in the world.
It’s been an unusual year for breach activity. We’ve been monitoring breach events for more than a dozen years now and this is the first time we’ve observed a slow start to the year followed by a growing number of disclosures as the months pass. We suspect various factors including the allure of crypto mining had an impact on breach activity early in the year, but disclosures rebounded throughout the summer and into the last quarter.
The security firm also noted that of 5,149 breaches with a confirmed discovery method, only 680 (13.2%) were discovered by the organization responsible for protecting the data. The average number of days between discovery and disclosure rose from 48.6 in 2017 to 49.6 last year. That additional delay surprised the researchers who expected that the new GDPR reporting rules would shorten the time between discovery and public disclosure.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) logged two of 2018’s 10 breaches revealing the most records (117 million in total), although the largest worldwide breach was the exposure of some 1.1 billion records in India in a single incident. Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) exposed 150 million records of users of its MyFitnessPal app, and hotel and resort operator Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) discovered a leak of some 383 million loyalty program members’ records that had been occurring since 2014.
Email addresses were exposed in 61% of the breaches, more than any other data type, with passwords a close second at 57%. Social Security numbers were exposed in about 14% of the incidents and credit card numbers were revealed in about 12%.
The number of records exposed did come down about 36% compared to last year and while the number of breaches is still quite high, we did not see a repeat of widespread events like WannaCry and Petya/NotPetya. After year upon year of bad news, we’ll take improvement where it can be found.
The Risk Based Security report offers more details and information on last year’s data breaches. The report also contains a list of the 20 largest data breaches of all time.


Cloudy skies. High 62F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly cloudy. Low 46F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.


THE Premier League transfer window is set to slam shut in a matter of days now.
Some bosses have been quiet, while others have splashed well over £100million to remould their squad.
Despite the moves that have been and gone already, there's still plenty of activity in the transfer market.
As well as done deals, the rumour mill is also in full flow.
MARCOS ROJO is a £30million target for ambitious Everton.
Toffees chief Marco Silva could take his pre-season spending to £127m by also nabbing Barcelona defenders Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne.
CHELSEA have moved for Real Madrid star Mateo Kovacic, according to reports.
The Blues were linked with a swoop for Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey last week, but are now thought to be looking at the Los Blancos star.
AARON RAMSEY could be used in a swap deal to bring Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele to Arsenal.
The Welshman has been locked in contract talks with the Gunners, as he enters his final year, but could leave if Unai Emery can get the France star in return.
JOSE MOURINHO has been dealt a huge transfer blow after top target Willian declared his loyalty to Chelsea.
Barcelona failed with three bids for the 30-year-old, eventually turning to Bordeaux youngster Malcom instead, with United now also set to look elsewhere.
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has admitted he is against Prexit - saying Spurs' transfer window may be done and dusted already.
The Tottenham boss believes it was a mistake for the Premier League to break with Europe and introduce an earlier transfer deadline.
LIVERPOOL are reportedly confident Sadio Mane will pen a bumper new deal with the club.
The Senegal star, 26, is set to join fellow forwards Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino by committing his future to the Anfield giants.
GARETH BALE could extend his stay at Real Madrid — after being promised he will be the club’s main man this season.
New Real boss Julen Lopetegui staged a series of talks with the Welshman ahead of the club’s pre-season trip to the US, with seemingly positive results.
DANNY DRINKWATER could be making a move back to Leicester after struggling to fit in at Chelsea.
The Blues are reportedly prepared to let the England international leave, but they could well be looking at a loss of up to £15m.
FULHAM have completed the signing of Aleksandar Mitrovic from Newcastle.
The Serbian striker had been at the top of the club's shortlist after his loan spell helped fire them to the Premier League last season.
CHELSEA are set to miss out on Brazilian star Bernard on a free transfer amid speculation the winger prefers AC Milan.
The star's agent has flown to Italy for talks with the Serie A giants after they entered the race for the player's signature.


In the remote western province, hotbed of ethnic clashes between Han and Uyghurs, tension continues unabated. A group of people assault police station and officers, who open fire at point blank range to repel them.
Urumqi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Overnight clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the western province of Xinjiang have resulted in 27 victims, almost all protesters killed by police who opened fire on them. The violence took place in the desert area near Turpan, about 280 km from the provincial capital Urumqi. According to the official news agency Xinhua, the officers opened fire on "a mob of rioters."
Before the police opened fire 17 people had already died (9 police officers and 8 civilians). The crowd had stormed a police station and a government building. A local official speaking anonymously, said officers "opened fire on the crowd" to protect the buildings killing 10 civilians. Several dozen were injured on both sides, who have since been admitted to the local hospital.
The spark that ignited the clashes is unclear. The province has long been the epicenter of violence and tensions between the ethnic Uyghur - once the majority in the area - and Han. The central government in Beijing has encouraged the emigration of Han to the province in an attempt to "balance out" the social reality of Xinjiang, but the ongoing fighting is proof that the experiment has failed.
The Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking Muslims: for several decades they have had an adversarial relationship with the Chinese central government. After a few (unsuccessful) attempts to gain independence as "East Turkestan", the ethnic leaders have asked Beijing to be allowed to safeguard their local language, culture and religion. The Chinese government - while giving tax breaks and social benefits - decided instead to use a heavy hand and launched a campaign of repression and control in the whole area. The heavy hand of the regime is felt even on the Islamic religious community, suspected of propagating a terrorist and fundamentalist vision of Islam. Islamic publications are censored, the sermons of imams controlled and young people under the age of 18 are banned from attending the mosque.


Mexshipping Agency has receives its fourth award: the International Star for Leadership in Quality, in Paris, 2018.
Quality is the consequence of a belief that values customer satisfaction and the positive results of the company.
Mexshipping Agency was established in 1998 due to the constant evolution in Mexican ports and the need to have a shipping agency that understood the importance of quality in the service and the relationship with customers. Along with experts in the field, the creator of Mexshipping, Mr. Eugenio Vargas Ceja, has formed an environment of trust and professionalism in the marine environment.


The states with the highest emissions levels mostly voted for the president-elect. Now, he’s selecting officials for his Cabinet who likely won’t try to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
For Democrats, the lingering question of whether it was demographic or economic anxiety that primarily motivated Donald Trump’s coalition is a little like poet Robert Frost asking whether the world will end in fire or ice.
The answer may be the same, too. Frost, of course, concluded that either would do the job. “I hold with those who favor fire,” he wrote, before adding: “for destruction ice/Is also great/And would suffice.” Likewise, with Trump, the accumulating evidence suggests his core voters feel eclipsed by both the cultural and economic changes reshaping American life.
Trump’s polarizing appeal has deepened the existing geographic and demographic fault lines in American politics into a chasm so imposing it could mark the border between two countries. On one side, Hillary Clinton routed Trump in the racially and culturally diverse metropolitan centers that are helping forge a globalized, information-based, and low-carbon economy. On the other, Trump posted crushing margins in the places that feel eclipsed, or threatened, by all of those trends.
The latest evidence of this widening divide comes from Trump’s repeated selection of oil-industry allies for key Cabinet positions: Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, former Texas Governor Rick Perry for secretary of energy, and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Tillerson and Perry have both displayed some nuance in their approach to energy. But, overall, with those choices, Trump has indelibly endorsed the fear that reducing carbon emissions to combat the destabilizing threat of global climate change will undermine economic growth.
Experience simply doesn’t justify that fear. As Mark Muro, policy director at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, calculated in an important recent analysis, since 2000 the United States increased its economic output by 30 percent while reducing carbon emissions by 10 percent. Over that period, he reported, fully 33 states grew their economies while reducing their emissions.
Yet despite these reductions, the states most bound to the fossil-fuel economy, like Oklahoma and Texas, still emit vastly more carbon per person than greener states do. And that energy divide now almost perfectly tracks the current political divide.
Comparing the latest federal figures on states’ per capita carbon emissions with the 2016 election results produces a clear pattern. Trump carried all of the 22 states with the most per capita carbon emissions, except for New Mexico, and 27 of the top 32 in all. (Colorado, Illinois, Delaware, and Minnesota were the Clinton-voting exceptions.) The Democratic nominee won 15 of the 18 states with the lowest per capita emissions—with the exception of Florida, North Carolina, and Idaho.
This divergence sharpened the pattern already evident under President Obama. Among the 18 lowest-emitting states, Clinton lost only one—Florida—that Obama carried in 2012. But among the top 32 emitters, five Rustbelt states that Obama won last time flipped to Trump: Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
With only a few exceptions, cultural dynamics reinforce these economic contrasts. The high-carbon states—centered on the Plains, the Mountain West, and portions of the South—also tend to be more rural, more religiously traditional, and often less racially diverse than the low-carbon states. Following that trail, American politics seems destined to increasingly align the Democratic Party with voters most comfortable with the nation’s hurtling economic, demographic, and cultural change—and the Republican party with voters most resistant to it.
That resistance can’t reverse the change—on any front. Kids of color will comprise a majority of the under-18 population soon after 2020. Though Clinton won less than one-sixth of America’s counties, Muro’s research found her counties account for nearly two-thirds of the nation’s total economic output. And even Trump’s greatest exertions aren’t likely to reverse the long-term shift from high- to lower-carbon alternatives in both energy sources—from coal to natural gas and renewables—and economic activities—from manufacturing to services and digital innovation.
The Democrats’ challenge is that their coalition has crumbled in states that fear these changes, particularly in the Rustbelt, faster than it has coalesced in the states benefiting from them, which are mostly across the Sunbelt. To recapture the White House in four years, they’ll need recovery on both fronts. But the Democrats’ long-term prospects will likely rely on accelerating their leap across these overlapping economic, cultural, and energy divides.
Though renewable sources are gaining ground in some Midwest states, Democrats face structural challenges in a preponderantly white and older region where manufacturing powered by low-cost, coal-generated electricity looms so large. More promising for them may be racially diversifying Sunbelt states that are also decoupling from fossil fuels as they shift toward both renewable energy sources and post-industrial employment. Already, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Florida rank in the bottom 20 states for carbon emissions.
Reflected in choices like his oil-drenched Cabinet, Trump’s agenda looks to mid-20th century America as its inspiration—not only culturally, but also in its vision of an economy where manufacturing and fossil fuels play a larger role, and immigrants and imports a smaller one, than they do today. Smart Democrats will recognize that, in the process, he’s leaving them an opening with the industries and regions more likely to propel growth in this century. Against the ice of Trump’s restoration, Democrats may have no choice but to stoke the fire of transformation.


Should utilities turn off the electricity when wildfire risk is high?
A Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter makes a water drop on flames sweeping up a steep canyon wall, threatening homes on a ridge line after the Skirball wildfire swept through the Bel Air district of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017.
With strong winds blowing and bone-dry conditions, utility officials in San Diego on Thursday began shutting off the power to thousands of people — a pre-emptive move to reduce the danger of power lines sparking wildfires.
It’s a controversial approach that may soon become a growing trend across California.
As huge fires continued to envelope parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, San Diego Gas & Electric cut electricity to 12,000 customers in San Diego County by Thursday afternoon, after Santa Ana winds reached 88 mph in some rural areas.
Even though no fires were burning in San Diego County on Thursday morning, the utility notified up to 170,000 customers that they could have their power shut off by Saturday as a safety precaution, and that electricity in some affected communities wouldn’t be back on until Monday.
With the number of fires in the West growing due to climate change, and a recent decision by the state Public Utilities Commission to require that a utility — not ratepayers — pick up the costs for fires caused by its power lines, it’s likely that Californians are going to see more deliberate, pre-planned power outages when there is extreme wildfire risk, experts say.
“The utilities are damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” said Frank Wolak, a Stanford University economics professor who has studied energy issues extensively.
Trees falling into power lines or wires blowing off power poles can spark fires that can kill dozens of people and level entire neighborhoods, so turning off the power amid extreme conditions — high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds — is a logical tool to reduce risk, Wolak said, but it also creates major headaches.
Among the problems from planned blackouts: Food in refrigerators can go bad. Stores have to close. Traffic lights, elevators and garage-door openers don’t work. Medical equipment that elderly or infirm people might have at home, like respirators, can shut down. People who work from home can lose power to their computers. Water pumps may not work.
Wolak said the solution is probably to harden the power grid. That would require such measures as replacing wooden poles with steel poles, better insulating power lines, and in some places, burying lines, which is very expensive. Those costs would all be passed along to ratepayers, he noted, but that may be part of society’s cost of adjusting to climate change, similar to the cost of building stronger levees and sea walls as sea levels continue to rise.
“Customers and politicians have to recognize that in a world where fires and other extreme weather events are going to be more severe, that argues in favor of building a more robust system, and that costs money,” Wolak said.
With huge fires raging in Los Angeles and Ventura, around 11 a.m., Thursday, a fire began in northern San Diego County in Fallbrook, near Camp Pendleton, and had burned 2,500 acres by mid-afternoon. The fire forced the evacuation of two schools and the closure of two lanes of Interstate 15 in an area where San Diego Gas & Electric had not shut off power beforehand.
California has seen the problem of wildfires caused by power lines take center stage in recent months.
In one of the worst disasters in modern California history, a series of fires that began Oct. 8 in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and other Northern California counties burned more than 245,000 acres, destroyed 8,900 homes and killed 44 people.
Cal Fire has not yet determined how the blazes started, but investigators are looking at whether power lines owned by PG&E were at fault for some of the fires, stoked by windy conditions. The utility has told investors it faces massive liabilities if it is found to have caused the fires, and on Wednesday State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said insured losses from the fires so far total $9 billion.
Meanwhile, financial risk to the utilities is rising. Last week, the PUC rejected a request from San Diego Gas & Electric to recover $379 million from its ratepayers after investigators found its power lines sparked three huge fires in 2007. By a 5-0 vote, the commissioners said that the San Diego utility had not operated its electrical system in a “reasonable and prudent” manner when the fires began, as state law requires.
As a result, the commissioners ruled, San Diego Gas & Electric’s shareholders, not its customers, must absorb the costs. That ruling sent shock waves across the utility industry.
After the 2007 fires, San Diego Gas & Electric asked the PUC for permission to shut down some power lines during dry, windy conditions to reduce fire risk. Disability groups said they wanted customers to be notified in advance so they could prepare. The PUC, in a 2012 ruling, granted the utility the authority to shut off power ahead of time, but “only as a last resort, and only when SDG&E is convinced there is a significant risk that strong Santa Ana winds will topple power lines onto flammable vegetation.” The PUC required the utility to notify the public ahead of time, and to file a report to the PUC detailing wind, temperature, humidity and other conditions to see if the act was justified.
Consumer groups — who want to keep costs low and improve safety — are still struggling to come up with a position on the issue.


Eoin Morgan’s England need improvement against India in this week’s one-day international series after the tourists wrapped up the Vitality IT20s with a seven-wicket win in Bristol.
The hosts’ 198 for nine on Sunday was their third-highest Twenty20 international total on home soil.
But on an excellent pitch, and small playing area, it proved inadequate as Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten century eased India to a 2-1 series success after a third-wicket stand of 89 with his captain Virat Kohli.
Jason Roy (67) and Jos Buttler appeared to have put England on course to easily top 200 – but after their opening partnership of 94 in under eight overs, momentum was lost, and there was no grand finish either.
A manic conclusion to the innings in fact saw five wickets fall in 15 balls, albeit for 21 runs, as Hardik Pandya finished with a career-best four for 38.
Morgan said: “Those 20 or 30 runs we missed out on, in the back-end of our innings, cost us.
“We did a lot of things right today – particularly that platform set.
England have 3 players more than capable of doing what Jos does at the top of the order, but 0 capable of doing what he does from the middle to the end. That’s why in THIS team, I wouldn’t open with him.
“Jason and Jos were brilliant up front, and almost gave us a licence to allow ourselves to think about 220.
“But the execution of our shots didn’t really match up with getting to that total.
The tourists were therefore always favourites in the chase, and completed it with eight balls to spare.
The Irishman does not believe England have to play perfectly to beat India in white-ball cricket – just very, very well.
“I’d say close to,” he said. “I don’t think we have to play a completely perfect game every time (to beat them) – we proved that at Cardiff. But certainly today they had their day.
Morgan and acting coach Paul Farbrace had a difficult call to make before a ball was bowled, to accommodate the return of fit-again all-rounder Ben Stokes – and in the end it was Test captain Joe Root who was dropped.
Asked if the conversation with Root is among the toughest he has had as captain, Morgan said: “Yes. Dropping Joe is not an easy decision.
“Trying to win the game on this particular ground, it actually came down to Ben’s bowling option.


Gisela Williams travelled as a guest of Tova Wald (+972-4629 1878; tovawald.com), which creates customised itineraries from £11,000 for two for a six-night trip, including transfer from Tel Aviv, car and driver, private guide, dinners and breakfasts. Six Senses Shaharut, sixsenses.com; prices yet to be set. The Drisco, Auerbach St 6, Tel Aviv-Jaffa (+972-3741 0000; thedrisco.com), from $300. The Efendi, Louis IX St, Old Acre, 24124 (+9727-4729 9799; efendi-hotel.com), from $320. The Jaffa, Louis Pasteur St 2, Tel Aviv-Jaffa (+972-3504 2000; thejaffahotel.com), from $600. The Setai, David Razi’el St 22, Tel Aviv-Jaffa (+972-3601 6000; thesetaihotel.co.il), from $289. Villa Brown, Ha-Nevi’im St 54, Jerusalem (+972-2501 1555; brownhotels.com), from $350.
It’s a balmy early summer evening in Tel Aviv. The artist Guy Yanai, the young fashion designer Maya Reik of cult label Marei 1998, her boyfriend Ross Belfer, founder of a local PR firm, and I are squeezed around a small circular table on the terrace of a restaurant called Port Said. It’s heaving, but the actual interior space is tiny – just a bar and a DJ working the turntable. The restaurant’s large window is like a small stage, the city’s creative set spilling out across the terrace to the pavement beyond. In between sips of cooled Israeli white wine we dig in to a flurry of small plates that materialise at 20-minute intervals: garlicky Jericho green beans with lemon and olive oil, a sublime msabbaha, its whole chickpeas floating in a creamy tahini sauce. All this euphoric revelry is happening just steps away from – and with a dramatic view of – a theatrically lit, monumental Great Synagogue, built in the 1920s and then radically reinvented with striking, sculpted modernist façades by the architect Aryeh Elhanani.
Welcome to Tel Aviv, a hedonistic and booming little Miami on the Mediterranean that sits around 50 miles from the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s most incendiary regions. Throughout its streets, tower cranes swivel above construction sites, and tourism numbers keep breaking records. Even the Duke of Cambridge paid a visit recently to meet the city’s entrepreneurs and young artists.
Although Port Said is located in Lev Hair, the centre of the city’s Bauhaus architecture district, for years now Tel Aviv’s creative scene has been moving south: interestingly the “newest” dynamic, compelling neighbourhood is its old city, Jaffa, which dates back several thousand years. (Modern Tel Aviv, in contrast, was founded just over 100 years ago). Traditionally populated by Arabs, Jaffa is one of the places in Israel where Muslims, Christians and Jews have co-existed, albeit often uneasily, for centuries. Its crumbling, luminous sandstone and limestone buildings are built like layers of honeycomb around its ancient port. In recent years its flea market, Shuk Hapishpeshim, which dates from the 1890s, has evolved into a hipster nexus on a par with east London, with industrial storage buildings and cavernous antique shops being taken over by cafés, restaurants and independent boutiques.
My compulsion to travel through Israel, as is the case for so many others, was to understand its future as well as its past. The country often appears to be on the verge of totally unravelling in the face of political contention (not least after the Israeli government’s recent, controversial ratifying of the Jewish Nation-State Law) – which all but dictates that there’s little that is actually relaxing about a trip to this part of the world. Instead, it’s a journey of surprising, provocative and sometimes unsettling contradictions – one that combines profound history with a vigorous and dynamic contemporary art scene, ancient sacred landscapes and world-class food that fuses Arabic influences with those from the diverse regions of the Jewish diaspora. Tova Wald, founder of one of the country’s most exclusive travel operators, who has designed trips for the likes of Denzel Washington and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, says, “In Jerusalem you can walk along the same paths that King David and Jesus did. You can explore newly unearthed archaeological finds” – like the recently uncovered Roman theatre near the Western Wall, buried for almost 2,000 years – “or surreal modernist architecture like the Shrine of the Book, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Or villages of the Druze community, a unique, Arab-speaking, monotheistic religious minority that branched off from Islam around the 11th century.” For years, however, Israel as a tourism destination has had two problems, she notes. Service was a bit problematic; and there was a dearth of hotels. “But now there are several excellent hotel options in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; and others opening in Galilee and beyond, finally allowing for a singular, and comfortable, circuit of the country,” she says. The fact that by the end of 2019, Six Senses will be launching one of its most dramatic resorts to date – the Six Senses Shaharut, a surreally beautiful property carved into the Arava Valley of the Negev desert – confirms the growing global fascination with Israel’s ancient physical landscape, its troubled contemporary political one notwithstanding.
What’s equally compelling is the impressive number of world-class contemporary cultural sites the country is now home to, from the newly opened Memorial Hall of Israel’s Fallen on Mount Herzl – a monumental swirl of bricks that spirals into the earth – to the Suzanne Dellal Centre, the headquarters of the internationally renowned Batsheva Dance Company, due to complete a major renovation this month. On my way south to Jerusalem, I visited perhaps the best known of these: the Design Museum Holon, in a nondescript Tel Aviv suburb, a Ron Arad-designed building that’s a joyful loop of giant ribbons of painted Corten steel.
Under a gnarled mulberry tree meant to represent the Tree of Life, in a small square outside the Chamber of the Holocaust Museum, we met Yizar Hass, a guide with Wald, and a philosophy scholar. It was dark; I could just make out his face as he served us tea. Sounds of lecturing Orthodox Jewish rabbis spilled out of the open windows of the Diaspora Yeshiva; the lights of Jerusalem spread below us; the air was redolent of tea and old stones, still warm from the day’s sun.
“Some people, even non-religious people, have significant spiritual experiences here,” said Hass as he led us into King David’s Tomb. The only remaining tourists were Orthodox families; the women in the female prayer room rocked gently, their lips moving as they prayed. We made our way through the massive Zion Gate into the Old City and wandered a maze of alleyways to the Western Wall. Approaching it this way allowed us to peer into the newly excavated Roman theatre, while also observing the hundreds of pilgrims praying, singing and crying at the Wall. In a place where mythical, religious and historic narratives are nearly impossible to untangle, an ancient theatre was an apt allegory, one that left me with a vertigo completely unrelated to the height from which I was looking down at this new fissure onto the past.
The road from Jerusalem to Galilee, following the Jordanian border, is a journey through biblical landscapes: vast undulating rocky deserts, majestic date palm groves. After a couple of hours, I arrived outside the fortified walls of Acre, a small, slow-paced port city reminiscent of the Barbary coastal towns of Morocco. During the 11th century, Acre was a chief port used by the Crusaders, a gateway to the Holy Land, and the city is still marked with beautifully preserved sites: the Templars’ Tunnel, which snakes under Ottoman-era mosques, and Turkish baths. We entered the Old City through a towering gate and followed open alleyways to the modest door of the light-filled lobby of The Efendi Hotel.
The Efendi’s story is one of faith and perseverance. The owner – eminent Israeli chef Uri Jeremias, also known as Uri Buri – likes to say that when he first bought these two old Ottoman-era buildings in 2003 with several “silent partners”, everyone thought he was crazy. Now it’s one of the most elegant, original boutique hotels in the country. My room was a high-ceilinged space with a mirrored chandelier and a deep enamelled cast-iron bathtub. The public spaces feature beautifully lit reading nooks under massive arched windows and elaborate paintings on the ceilings.
That night I dined with Jeremias and his friend Efraim Lev, a medieval Arabic pharmacology and medicine professor, with whom Jeremias sometimes creates historical tours based on stories of the Crusaders. Several small plates of food arrived at the table: dried watermelon rolled with basil, an explosion of vinegary sweetness; a zingy ceviche with capers, lemon and olive oil.
It’s individuals like Matta and Jeremias who can, and who wish to, quietly colour the narrative for a visitor like me – even if (perhaps especially) just over a shared meal. We finished that evening with kanafeh, a traditional Arabic dessert of thin, shredded pastry soaked in a sugary syrup and served with cardamom and rose ice cream, its piquant contrasting flavours as ancient and memorable as the place itself.


Jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician went home for the weekend without reaching a verdict.
Friday was the first full day of deliberations for the seven-man, five-woman panel considering the fate of Dr. Conrad Murray.
The jurors range in age from 32 to 57. By their own description on the questionnaire, six are Anglo, five Latino, and one African American.
In terms of background for understanding the complex medical information, Juror 10 may be the best qualified. She got a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry in England and worked for awhile as a lab technician. She moved to the San Gabriel Valley a 12 years ago. Her husband also has a science background and works in engineering. Juror 3 has an MBA and only two of the jurors do not have at least some college work.
Jurors will return Monday at 8:30 a.m.
How long will it take them to finish? That's anyone's guess. Gerry Schwartz, who was in the pool of prospective Murray jurors, says the group may want a few more days in the spotlight.
"They're finally in a position of power, where everyone is waiting for them to give the word," says Schwartz. "I think psychologically, you're going to enjoy that a little bit."
The six-week trial combined emotional testimony, including recordings of Murray and the King of Pop, and detailed scientific analysis from medical experts. Attorneys relied on both Thursday during closing arguments.
"Every single doctor that testified in this case said would never do what Conrad Murray did," Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told jurors.
But defense attorneys insisted that the pop superstar was responsible for his own death. They claimed Jackson created a "perfect storm" of drugs inside his body that led to his death on June 25, 2009.
"At what point to we draw the line about Dr. Murray's responsibility for a grown-up," defense attorney Ed Chernoff said during closing arguments.
The jury is considering the attorneys' arguments and testimony from nearly 50 witnesses. Deliberations began at about 8:30 a.m. Friday in a downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
Outside the courthouse, crowds of Jackson and Murray supporters gathered in ancticipation of a verdict.
"We would like to get justice for Michael," said Jackson admirer, Felesha Wilson.
"I am most concerned and thankful that we do have a jury so that we can get answers to our many questions," said Murray supporter Beatrice Fakhrian. " And, I believe that Dr. Murray will be exonerated."
Murray was seen earlier this week walking with his girlfriend, who was a prosecution witness, along the beach in Santa Monica. When asked whether he was looking forward to putting the trial behind him, Murray said, "I can't wait buddy."
The final days of testimony focused on science -- two experts on the drug blamed in Jackson's death took the stand -- but Walgren repeatedly mentioned Jackson and his children during his closing argument. He told the jury that even when Murray's trial is over, Prince, Blanket and Paris will continue to live with the result of Murray's mistakes.
"It is abundantly clear that Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence, that Conrad Murray caused the death of Michael Jackson, and that Conrad Murray left Prince, Paris and Blanket without a father," Walgren said before exiting the courtroom to an ovation from Jackson fans in the hallway.
He also noted that what really happened on June 25, 2009, in a mansion on Carolwood Drive might never be known.
Defense attorneys told the jury the decision comes down to whether Murray committed a crime or whether he was an unethical doctor. They portrayed Murray as an outsider who was brought into Jackson's world at time when the singer was driven to please fans with a series of upcoming London concerts.
"The defense raised the question, is it really apparent how Michael Jackson died?" said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.
It was after a rehearsal for those concerts -- organizers originally planned about 30, but upped the numbers to 50 after pre-sale demand for tickets -- that Jackson returned to his rented Holmby Hills mansion. During the early hours of June 25, 2009, Jackson pleaded for something to help him sleep, Murray told investigators.
"He tried to close his eyes, and nothing would work," Murray said during the two-hour interview granted two days after the entertainer's death. "He complained that he would have to cancel rehearsals... and not satisfy his fans if not rested well."
Murray administered propofol, a powerful surgical sedative that Murray said Jackson called his "milk," later that morning, he told investigators. He then left the room to use the bathroom and noticed Jackson wasn't breathing when he returned, Murray said.
Prosecutors claim that Murray's decision to administer propofol, usually reserved for use in a surgical setting with proper medical equipment, as a sleep aid in Jackson's bedroom was just one of the many mistakes that led to the King of Pop's death. That he left the bedroom, even for a few minutes, was another violation of the "sacred trust" Jackson had with his doctor, prosecutors said.
But the defense told jurors it was Jackson who administered the fatal dose. They also claimed Murray did not know Jackson ingested the drug lorazepam. Prosecutors and their witnesses developed stories over time that placed the blame on Murray, the defense argued.
"They want you to convict Dr. Murray for the actions of Michael Jackson,'' Chernoff said.
Even if the defense's self-administration theory is correct, prosecutors said the jury should still convict Murray because of negligence. Murray's use of propofol as a sleep aid, his delay in calling 911 and failing to tell paramedics and ER doctors he administered propofol were just some of his "bizarre" actions, Walgren said.
"Poor Conrad Murray,'' Walgren said in his closing argument. "Michael Jackson is dead. And we have to hear about poor Conrad Murray and no doctor knows what it's like to be in his shoes."
Murray faces up to four years in prison and loss of his medical license if convicted. Judge Michael Pastor will determine the sentence.


Making good on first lady Michelle Obama's promise last summer, the award for the 2015 School Counselor of the Year will be given at the White House today.
Corey Notestine, 33, a school counselor at Alamosa High School in Alamosa, Colo., will be recognized with the top honor from the American School Counselor Association, based in Alexandria, Va., in a ceremony this afternoon.
•Jennifer Degruise, Montegut Middle School, Montegut, La.
•Jennifer Diaz, White Oak Elementary School, Sugar Hill, Ga.
•Liz Parker, Dumbarton Elementary School, Laurel, Va.
•Tawnya Pringle, Hoover High School, San Diego, Calif.
While the Teacher of the Year has traditionally been recognized at the White House, this is the first year that the counselor award receives the same treatment at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The first lady has highlighted the role of school counselors as part of her Reach Higher initiative, which encourages all young people to aspire to some form of postsecondary education. Addressing the school counseling association in July, Ms. Obama pledged to bring the counselor award ceremony to Washington this year.
Notestine was selected, in part, for his work to improve college advising. His high school reached out to host meetings for the first time that encouraged parents to better understand the college search process and assist with financial aid forms. College representatives also were invited to the school to meet with the seniors, most of whom are the first in their families to attend college, and review their applications.
The school ramped up its effort to connect students to financial support with a new scholarship committee and newsletter. Students in the shool's graduating class of 2013 were awarded about $1.3 million in grants and scholarships, more than $400,000 above that of the previous year, said Notestine in a phone interview.
Notestine, who is in this third year at Alamosa, also helped oversee the growth of the high school's concurrent enrollment programs with nearby Adams State University. Last year, about 82 percent of graduating seniors left Alamosa with college credit earned through the partnership, he said.
Heavy caseloads and tight budgets have made it difficult for many of the nation's counselors to find the time to devote to college advising. Notestine said that tracking data on students' needs and outcomes has helped him focus on postsecondary transition.
"Once everyone is on the same page and understands this is a collaborative effort to move forward, more people are going to buy in," he said. "When they can see those hard numbers and facts that we are changing the culture...that creates the drive and momentum."
Today's White House ceremony will be livestreamed today at 1 p.m. EST.


MIDDLETOWN, NJ - The 17th of February will see members of Garden Club R.F.D. meeting at Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown where Diane Allen of the Monmouth County Parks System will discuss “Pruning & Preparing for Spring.” If weather permits, there will be a brief tour in the garden to view proper pruning.
Pruning is a vital part of gardening. But, people often do not want to prune trees and shrubs because they are afraid of possibly killing or seriously harming what they are working on. With some knowledge about the act of pruning, however, you should be able to be successful in your endeavors.
When you prune deciduous plants in the winter, it promotes fast regrowth in the spring. This is because most plants are dormant during the winter and since the foliage is pretty much gone, you can see the shape of the deciduous plants including the crossing and rubbing of branches-- and you can prune with confidence.
1. Prune on a mild, dry day.
2. First prune (cut) dead, diseased and injured branches.
3. Remove overgrown and smaller branches to create light and air at the tree’s crown.
4. Keep the branches that maintain the structure of the trees.
5. Finally, where on the branch do you cut? Cut branches at the node, the point at which one branch or twig attaches to another. Or, cut branches right above the branch collar—the juncture of limb and tree.
1. For shrubs that flower after May 15, it is fine to prune in winter or early spring.
2. But, if it flowers before May 15, like forsynthia, quince and azaleas, prune as soon as the plant finishes flowering.
3. Let the shrub keep its natural shape as you prune and for best bloom production, do not cut into a box or a ball or rounded shape.
4. Flowering trees follow the same rules as flowering shrubs. Examples are crepe myrtles that you can prune in late winter and dogwoods and redbuds that are taken care of after they flower in the spring.
In general, broadleaf evergreens such as hollies and boxwoods don’t require much pruning, so a light pruning with a sharp pair of shears in spring before new growth begins and then again in summer works best. Pine needle type evergreens like pine or spruce should only be pruned to remove diseased/damaged wood and that can be done any time of the year except if temperatures are below zero. I doubt though that you would be out there in that circumstance.
If you want to learn more about our club, Garden Club R.F.D., that normally meets at the Little Red School House across from Thompson Middle School in Middletown, on the third Tuesday of each month; or about this program at Deep Cut Gardens, call Linda at 732-681-9189.


Kolin Lymworth started Banyen Books in Kitsilano in 1970 and has been cross-eyed and humming ever since.
That is, he's still running the store, and sticking his head into the astonishing stream of evolutionary ideas and practices emerging in our world. Every week, he offers a recommended book from that stream, for you to taste.
From acupressure and alchemy to gardening, Gaia, and greening the economy, from Jungian psychology to edgy Buddha, from integral bodywork and Rumi to "Reality Sandwiches," tune in to a new book, and maybe even a topical DVD or audio-CD set, every week. Think of it as "Good News from the Frontiers of Human Being."


With the Broncos choosing not to put cornerback Chris Harris Jr. on injured reserve, they needed to make room for the addition of cornerback Jamar Taylor.
Denver will waive offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio in a corresponding move, Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post reports.
Kouandjio signed Nov. 20 and played in the past two games.
Kouandjio, 25, also spent time with the Broncos last season, playing in three games with one start. The Broncos released him out of the preseason in September.
The Bills made Kouandjio a second-round pick in 2014. He appeared in 25 games with seven starts in his three seasons in Buffalo.
I can remember it like it was yesterday. Doug Whaley was doing cartwheels over being able to pick this guy in the second round. When asked about the game wherein Kouandjio surrendered 7 sacks to an undersized defensive end, Whaley laugjed at the question and said “There arent any 200 pound defensive ends in the NFL.” Ignoring the fact there are many sich Safeties. And that in the NFL, guys who weigh 260 pounds move like guys in vollege who weigh 200 pounds. Guys like defensive ends. Good for Kouandjio. Bad for the Bills.
Whaley traded up for Sammy Watkins in the first round and took Kuondjio in the 2nd that year.
And all 3 are now gone.
After watching him at Alabama, I thought Kouandjio would be awesome in the NFL.
I guess Whaley wasn’t the only one that was wrong about him.
Also, to be fair, literally everyone felt Sammy Watkins was a can’t miss WR prospect.


Diet does not have to be a four-letter word.
Most of the time, a diet implies weight loss and comes loaded with restrictions and perhaps even plans that are not very healthy. But new recommendations released recently by a team of health experts refer to diet with a different goal in mind: preventing heart disease and stroke.
"We see a lot about diets on the Internet, with everyone commenting about which ones are good for you, but tell me, good for what?" said Dr. Amit Khera, one of the authors of the 2019 Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. "If it's weight loss, sure, some of these diets can help you lose weight, but that does not mean they're heart-healthy."
Developed by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, the new guidelines emphasize a healthy, nutritious diet can play a tremendous role in lowering risk for heart attack and stroke. Such a diet also can help in "reducing or reversing" obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure – all considered risk factors for heart disease.
Specifically, the recommendations advise high consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains and "lean vegetable or animal protein (preferably fish)." Plant-based and Mediterranean diets, which embrace this type of pattern, are singled out in the guidelines.
The Mediterranean diet is not actually one specific diet but a reflection of the eating habits common in the numerous countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It shares many characteristics with the diet known as DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, frequently prescribed to help lower blood pressure.
Both plans emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts. But the Mediterranean diet includes regular use of olive oil, low to moderate intake of fish and poultry, and rare consumption of red meat and dairy products. The DASH diet allows more protein sources from low-fat dairy and cuts of meat and poultry.
Both diets avoid food high in saturated and trans fat, which the guidelines also discourage.
"I always tell patients, healthy diets – whether Mediterranean or DASH – they're all more alike than they are different," said Khera, a professor of medicine and director of the preventive cardiology program at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Khera noted the previous prevention guidelines restricted dietary approaches to focus on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The new update provides a more comprehensive approach to making heart-healthy choices to lower overall cardiovascular risk.
The guidelines also recommend limiting processed meats, refined carbohydrates and all types of sweetened beverages because of their link to increased risk of death, heart disease, and stroke.
The guidelines' authors also note certain diets popular in recent years, including variations of a low-carb, high-fat/high-protein theme, have been linked to early death in various studies.
Dr. Kim Williams, another member of the guideline writing committee, said these fad diets, including the ketogenic diet, gain traction because they often yield dramatic results.
"What you're looking at, unfortunately, is short-term outcome, and weight does go down," said Williams, cardiology chief at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "When you have dramatic weight loss, your diabetes will get better or even normalize. Blood pressure will go down as well. Cholesterol? Not so much."
But he said on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, some vegans who shun meat, dairy and other animal-based products are not making heart-smart selections if they load their plates full of fried foods or refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta and white rice.
When it comes to preventing disease, stick with what has shown to work, Williams advised.
"I tell my patients, of all the data we have, if you pile it all together, you're going to do better with plant-based nutrition," he said.
High consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and "lean vegetable or animal protein (preferably fish)" are emphasized in new diet guidelines by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.


What If Your Landlord Is Foreclosed Upon?
Every day, the news is filled with stories about the economy, housing prices and mortgage problems. Foreclosure rates are increasing, with several military-dense areas being hit hard. So, what happens if your off-base landlord stops paying the mortgage on your house and the house goes into foreclosure?
The bad news is that you will probably have to move. At foreclosure, the home will be purchased by either the lender, a new homeowner, or an investor. The purchaser nearly always chooses to terminate the tenantship when the property changes owners, except in the few states where that is not permitted. Depending on your situation, and the state that the property is located in, you may know for months ahead of time or it is possible that they could legally evict you within days of the foreclosure sale.
There are a lot of websites that can help you understand what happens in a foreclosure and how it affects you as a renter. Unfortunately, foreclosure laws vary widely from state to state. Here are a list of websites that talk about tenants and foreclosure. Please be aware that some of these sites are owned by for-profit companies. I have tried to make sure that none of them are too much like advertisements, but do know that there may be some information that might suggest that you need legal representation. If you feel that you need legal help with your particular problem, you can contact your base legal services offices or MilitaryOneSource for free help. While you may still have to move, knowing the state laws and your rights will lessen the stress as much as possible. Thankfully, the Joint Federal Travel Regulations have recently been changed to allow the military to provide moving assistance for renters displaced by foreclosure. See Some Relief for Military Renters for more information.
Connecticut: Is Your Landlord Going Through Foreclosure?
Ohio: Is Your Landlord In Foreclosure?


The Portgordon event was first held 25 years ago in the village’s harbour, after local people decided to spend £150 on a box of garden fireworks from the Slaters Sports store in Buckie.
It was a rousing success, with children from the local primary school getting involved by creating the guy for the top of the bonfire.
Donations taken at that display in 1993 and profit made from sales at the burger, kipper and bottle stalls were enough to pay for the fireworks used.
From such humble beginnings, the display has came on leaps and bound, with organisers undertaking a range of training courses to gain the qualifications required to set-off more powerful and spectacular fireworks.
Last year was the first with a new chairman of the organisational committee, with Michael Burnett inheriting the role following the retirement of long-time incumbent Kenny Gunn.
Mr Gunn said there had many high points – and some low points – to reminisce about over the past quarter of a century.
Risk assessments have also proved problematic, with one bonfire identified as a “trip hazard” for school children and forcing its cancellation.
Mr Gunn has happier memories of the turn of the century, recalling: “On Millennium night, Joe Geoghan and Michael Burnett set-off fireworks on the North Pier at midnight.
The Portgordon display continues to take place annually at the West Pier and there will be a very special celebration this year on Friday October 26 at 7pm as the village celebrates its 25th year.
Ken Matthews will be the special guest and has been invited to launch the firework display – fittingly, as it was he who first suggested the village stage the event.
The community stalwart said: “My role as a community worker was simply to help bring people together.
“The real success of the past 25 years has been the teamwork, commitment, hard work and true sense of community shown by the folk of Portgordon.


Ever since foreign traders all but took the Czech crown (Kč) hostage in the last three weeks of May in speculative trading caused by that country's poor economic results and political instability, reverberations from the heavy dealing in Prague shook the Slovak crown (Sk) as well. The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) successfully stabilized the Sk by throttling the money supply and relentlessly fixing the Sk's basket, but some market observers think that the victory will be a short-lived one, saying the Slovak currency will have to walk the path of its Czech mate and depreciate.
The main indicator that the Sk will go down more when the NBS relaxes its tight measures is the fact that the Sk lost value right after the Kč, one analyst said. "When the Czech crown fell by 15 percent and its fluctuation band was eliminated, the Slovak currency followed immediately," said Martin Kabát, an analyst with the brokerage firm Slávia Capital.
At the beginning of the May 19 week, the Sk depreciated 7 percent, but it later regained some of its value. At the end of the last week in May, it was 5 percent below parity.
Marián Jusko, the NBS vice-governor, said that the attack was part of a global run of speculation against currencies from emerging market countries which suffer from a negative balance of payments and budget deficits that make their currencies particularly sensitive and volatile.
But Jusko said the Sk has now stabilized, adding that "it is clear that we have not intervened excessively, the NBS vice-governor said. "In addition, if we need to strengthen our foreign exchange reserves, we have international support, but I do not see any need to issue bonds on foreign markets right now."
Kabát dissented. "In my opinion, the NBS focuses only on short-term solutions and waits for a stable [exchange rate of the] Czech crown. Then they are going to implement the long-term measures, i.e. shift the value of the Slovak crown so that it is sustainable as far as foreign exchange reserves are concerned."
Sergej Kozlík, vice-premier in the government and the minister of finance, agreed with the first part of Kabát's statement, but refuted any rumors that the government would devalue the Sk. "The NBS interventions cost us only $300 million, which is about 5% of our foreign exchange reserves," Kozlík said. "There is no more pressure and our currency's development is tranquil [???]. We made a decision not to change the fluctuation band."