His mother made him famous through her popular children's books. Now all grown up, Alex Viorst lives a less public life, making loans that help build city neighborhoods and passing on the tales of his youth to his own children.
Alexander has come a long way from his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Alex Viorst, whose mother, Judith Viorst, immortalized him in a series of children's books, is now 38, married, a banker, and about to become a father for the third time.
The real Alex grew up in DC's Cleveland Park, the youngest of three brothers. The trials and tribulations his mother describes in the best-selling Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday and other books were exaggerated to deliver the message that all children have mishaps, he says.
How does the adult Alex feel about being singled out? "My mother wrote about all of us," he says. "It was just my turn at the trough."
Nicholas Viorst, 42, is a lawyer living in New York and the star of his mother's books My Mama Says There Aren't Any Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins or Things and I'll Fix Anthony.
Anthony, 44, is also a lawyer; he lives in Denver and had a prominent role in several of his mother's books, including Sunday Morning.
But the star of Viorst's ensemble series is Alexander. The character's fame has always helped in job interviews, Alex admits. And given him a leg up on his older brothers.
"Now I'm a boxed set," he beams.
Alex Viorst went to Georgetown Day School and Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with every intention of working for a government agency on international economic development. One summer interning on the Hill changed his mind.
Viorst moved his focus closer to home–he is now a specialist in community-development lending in low- to moderate-income city neighborhoods. He started in Chicago and moved back to Washington in 1999 to work for Bank of America. His job: to do deals in tough neighborhoods.
His first deal was for construction of condominiums on U Street. Then there was Woodmont Crossing, the first new apartment building in Anacostia in 37 years. Although he grew up in DC, Viorst had never been to Southeast. What he found was "a lot of good people working hard," he says. And Anacostia residents found a way to move up to better housing without having to move out of their neighborhood.
These weren't charity loans, Viorst stresses. His deals have always been successful the old-fashioned way–they made money.
Viorst recently left Bank of America for MMA Financial, where he still focuses on making loans that build city neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, the fictional Alexander is going strong. By 1998, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day had sold more than 2 million copies. That's when composer Shelly Markham approached Judith Viorst about collaborating on a musical for children based on the book. It opened at Kennedy Center in November 1998 and has been produced around the country.
Alex Viorst does read the Alexander books to his daughter, Olivia. She has an Alexander doll–although her father likes to call it an "intimidating action figure."
He has only one quarrel with his writer mother. The Alexander she wrote about fell out of trees, broke his wrist, knocked out his front teeth, and generally seemed a little klutzy. The real-life Alex is an athlete who has competed in triathlons and mountain-bike races like the Shenandoah Mountain 100.
Judith Viorst recently told an interviewer that Alex took part in a "mini triathlon"–a nonexistent event that is an insult to a true competitor.
"I hate it when she gets that wrong," Alex says.


Five Minutes More - Watch It Grow!
Five Minutes More, Episode 49 - Watch It Grow!
Episode 49 - Watch It Grow!
Miguel the corn farmer thinks up a plan to keep a greedy goose from eating his crop.
Little Ned has always wanted to be big but he discovers that sometimes it's good to be small.


Packed bookstores may be old hat for author Nick Hornby, but the bestselling "High Fidelity" scribe is the first to admit that songwriting is not.
“I’m extremely happy that even though I’ve written a love song for my wife it has the word ‘urinal’ in it,” Hornby told a full house -- mostly standing, a few balcony-dangling -- last night at Housing Works Bookstore in Soho.
Hornby took the stage with beloved nerd-musician Ben Folds to promote "Lonely Avenue," their newly released collaborative album for which the British author wrote the lyrics and Folds provided the music.
This event was the latest installment of SPIN’s Liner Notes, which pairs authors and musicians “to see what happens,” according to curator Emily Zemler. Past creative couplings include Augusten Burroughs and Tegan Quin, as well as Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer. All proceeds benefit Housing Works, the nonprofit organization for the homeless and individuals living with AIDS/HIV in New York City.
Folds wore a bright red golf shirt and geek-chic glasses, and though his black Yamaha piano gleamed a bit more than Hornby’s bald head, the two artists clearly have well-matched wits.
The men have a longstanding professional relationship. Hornby wrote about Folds in his 2002 essay collection "Songbook," and in 2004, they collaborated songwriting efforts on an album for William Shatner.
“After that, Ben said let’s have a go at an entire album,” Hornby said.
For this project, as with his books such as "High Fidelity," "About a Boy" and "How to Be Good," Hornby looked for influence in his personal life and American pop culture. Some songs were also spawned from short story ideas on the cutting room floor.
For “Levi Jonhston’s Blues,” about the infamous young man who fathered a child with Bristol Palin, Hornby lifted many of the lyrics directly from Johnston’s MySpace page.
Folds, former front-man for the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five, found the collaboration a welcome change to his usual creative process. He normally writes a melody before the lyrics. This time he waited for Hornby’s email before getting started.
“Nick provided the life of a song for me to respond to,” Folds said.
Nick Hornby and Ben Folds will make a second appearance at 7:30 p.m. on Thurs, Oct. 14 at Union Square Barnes & Noble.


Includes item on money for fishermen, tribes pushing for casino, data breach and home sales.
The federal government dealt New England's fishing industry another blow by rejecting economic disaster declaration requests from Gov. Deval Patrick and two other governors. Regulators at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ruled that the economic hardship that many commercial fishermen are facing isn't severe enough to be considered a disaster. Fortunately for them, Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry are still trying to get a bill to provide up to $15 million of federal aid through Congress.
2 tribes join to push for casino in Mass.
The Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe of Martha's Vineyard has hooked up with the Seneca Nation of New York to pursue a casino development in Massachusetts if the Legislature approves casino gaming here. The tribe would prefer to build in Southeastern Massachusetts - potentially putting it in competition with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which wants to put a casino in Middleboro. But the Aquinnah tribe is also open to developing one in Western Massachusetts.
It turns out that the data breach at TJX Cos. may have been much worse than initially feared. Officials representing Visa and MasterCard have said in court filings that at least 94 million bank card accounts may have been compromised. That's up from an estimate of nearly 46 million provided in March by the Framingham-based parent company of discount chains that include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.
The real estate market in Massachusetts suffered through its worst month so far this year in September, when sales of single-family homes dropped significantly from the same month in 2006. The precise size of the drop varies from 13 percent to 19 percent, depending on the data source. Prices generally stayed flat or experienced year-to-year declines of under 5 percent. Subprime loans and jumbo mortgages have become increasingly tough to get as big financial companies run from investing in mortgage markets.


The Bakersfield College Student Health and Wellness Center wants to educate you on breast cancer health during their Breast Cancer Awareness event.
The event will be held today, October 16, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Bakersfield College Student Health and Wellness Center. The center is located at 1801 Panorama Drive, CC-3. Visitors will be able to receive breast cancer health information and learn how to conduct self-exams.


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jon Cooper walked into the locker room and didn't get the sense Lightning players were down in the dumps about losing the first two games of the Eastern Conference final.
"It was more kind of like an anger of like we want to get back -- like let's get Game 3 going here," Tampa Bay's coach said.
Game 3 on Tuesday night in Washington can't come soon enough for the Lightning, who are in a historically difficult spot after losing twice at home to open the series.
Of the 41 previous times a team lost the first two games in the conference finals, 39 went on to lose the series -- including every team that lost its first two at home.
"For us, it's all about resetting everything," defenseman Victor Hedman said Monday. "There's no panic. We're obviously not happy with losing two games on home ice, but that is not something that goes into our locker room.
"We've got the experience. We've got the guys that are in the playoffs for the first time, guys have been through this, and we're capable of handling that."
It is the same deficit the Lightning erased against the Capitals in 2003.
"If you just look where you stand in the series, I feel like it's a big mountain to climb," said former Lightning captain Martin St. Louis, who was on that team. "They got to focus on just winning the next game. And I truly believe if they do that, it's going to be a long series."
After not allowing Boston to score an even-strength goal in the final three games during the second round, Tampa Bay has been outscored 7-1 by Washington at even strength and 10-4 overall.
Asked what the Lightning needed to do better, three-time Cup-winning defenseman Ken Daneyko responded, "Where do we begin?"
"They were so responsible defensively, making good puck decisions and through the first two rounds they didn't give up a whole lot," said Daneyko, now an NHL Network analyst.
"Just mental breakdowns, mental mistakes by Tampa Bay. You never know why it turns so drastically like that when they were so sound against the Bruins. That can't happen."
As clinically as Tampa Bay eliminated New Jersey and Boston in five games apiece, Washington is rolling behind the scoring of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and the goaltending of Braden Holtby, who has stopped 52 of 56 shots through two games.
The Capitals are feeling confident right now, but after falling behind 0-2 on home ice in the first round and roaring back to beat Columbus, they understand how fast things can swing.
For the Lightning to win one or two games, they'll need to get better production out of captain Steven Stamkos and winger Nikita Kucherov and better play out of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who hasn't been at his best.
"He's going to have to be great," said Keith Jones, a former NHL forward and current NBC Sports analyst. "He's being challenged to look through traffic and stay up. ... Vasilevskiy's going to have to play unbelievably well unless the Capitals take a step back."
NOTES: Capitals coach Barry Trotz said C Nicklas Backstrom, who has missed three consecutive games with a right hand injury, remains day-to-day. ... Washington D Michal Kempny was fined $2,419 -- the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement -- for cross-checking Lightning F Cedric Paquette during Game 2.


A reunion in the works, almost a century old in the making, continues on Guam for descendants of Hermann Woitschek from Germany.
A glorious family reunion — one that solved mysteries, answered questions and made for many tearful embraces — continues Saturday at Ypao beach.
At the root of the reunion is the late Hermann Woitschek, who lived out his life in Germany before he died in 1968. But as a young man, Woitschek was once a medical assistant sent to assist the German administration established in Saipan. He arrived in 1899.
In short: Woitschek married a local woman, Soledad Cepeda, and they had a son Juan Cepeda. They eventually split, and Woitschek then married Antonia Palacios Cabrera, with whom he had three children: Asuncion Cabrera Blanco, Rosa Cabrera Tudela and August Cabrera. Woitschek was forced to leave his family behind when Germany recalled its nationals, whose Pacific presence was being threatened at the time by Japan.
In Germany, Woitschek remarried and had a son, Helmut, who had an only child, Erika Woitschek who became Erika Entenmann.
The reunion, held over the last two weeks, is the story of how the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Hermann Woitschek. in Europe and in the Marianas, found each other.
Entenmann said she always knew her father had family somewhere in the Pacific, possibly near Papua New Guinea. Her grandfather had told her stories as a little girl, she said, and she yearned to reconnect with them some way. For years, she wondered, and then she started looking.
In October 2016, she came across an article from the Saipan Tribune, which mentioned a meeting commemorating the German administration a century before. It mentioned her grandfather, a daughter and granddaughter.
"It was so shocking. We had known all the time he has children somewhere by Papua New Guinea. And now I found her name and a place where I could find her," said Entenmann. "I began to search at many different places. Ancestry and other root pages. I researched in old books about this time. And the Internet!"
Entenmann said she sent more 100 inquires to different people, stating her last name and asking if they were related. Most said no, but tried to help. Entenmann is normally a shy person, but felt compelled to keep searching.
"It was so important to me. Because I knew now, the family was looking for information about grandpa, what happened and why he did not come back," said Entenmann. "I feel that they all have to think, they were not loved because he is leaving. I know I cannot change what happened, but if they know, they will not forget, they are a little bit lighter. And also give the chance to know what happened after he left the islands."
Finally, she made a connection with Cynthia Pangelinan, a great-granddaughter. Afterward, the floodgates opened and she reconnected with dozens of relatives, and a handful of her remaining first cousins, the grandchildren of her grandfather's first two wives.
Entenmann arrived on Saipan Dec. 7 and first hugged her cousin Sally Villanueva. The tears came and flowed and it would be a long time before they stopped.
"Unforgettable. Both of us we cried. It was so emotional," said Entenmann.
Woitschek's family in Saipan had searched just as long, even seeking the help of a German radio station, to no avail.
As Entenmann met more and more relatives, she realized that the great-grandchildren had similar features to her grandfather, and some had blue eyes, fair skinned, or were unusually tall.
"I was also impressed by how many identify with their origins. Some have tattooed their name, Boischit, That's how they wrote Woitschek," said Entenmann. "I was a little child, when grandpa tell me stories about his life here. Now I am here, I see with my own eyes where he lived for 17 years, and I saw the family, who missed him a lot.
"And I know he missed his children, too. To make the contact and put the things together, that makes me really happy."
Entenmann recently arrived on Guam to meet even more family. Ramona C. Siblang, one of Woitschek's great-granddaughters and the granddaughter of his firs-tborn, Juan Cepeda, is here organizing the reunion party at Gov. Joseph Flores Park, at Ypao beach.
"All my life I've been searching to find out more about my great-grandfather Hermann and longing to find my family in Germany. I was close to my grandfather Juan but I was so little when he passed away and could not find anyone who can give me answers," she said. "As a little girl I've spoken to my great-grandfather's other children Tan Rosa and Tan Chong but even they could not remember much except for his first name. It's been so heart warming and I'm filled with tears of joy to finally meet my auntie Erika and most especially to see so many pictures and learn so much more about my great-grandfather. I can now share the stories and the history to my children and grandchildren."
Entenmann and her daughter Eva leave Guam Sunday for four days in Palau before returning home.
"I know, that many of my relatives are living here, that is the reason I am here," said Entenmann. "I am normally not travelling around the world, and the heat is not so much for me!"


Hereford cattle being judged at Otley Show. Pictures by Gary Longbottom.
After a long, hard winter farmers are now finally starting to get their businesses back on track and so the opening fixture of the Yorkshire show season today came as a well-earned fillip.
The country’s oldest one-day agricultural show, falling so early in the annual running order, does not always enjoy scorching sunny weather but the thousands of visitors and exhibitors at Otley Show were certainly treated to summer-like conditions for the event’s 209th year.
Ben Potter with Camilla, a Steller Sea Eagle at Otley Show where he was giving a demonstration of his birds of prey.
Long queues formed throughout the day at ice cream kiosks and visitors soaked in the rays on the banks of the lake at the top of the showground.
Such scenes were a sharp contrast to those of just a few months ago.
Janet Raw, the show secretary, said: “It’s been a difficult spring for farmers. A lot have struggled through. They haven’t been able to get the stock out because the grass hasn’t been growing.
“The showground itself was very wet until five days ago so we have put tracking down in some areas.
Visitors watching the cattle judging.
There were 2,490 entries in total across the show’s competitive classes, up from 2,289 last year. Cattle entries were up a touch at 239 while the 366 sheep entries fell a little short of last year’s record of 442.
Farmers in the hills experienced the worst of the prolonged wintery weather that lasted into March with livestock losses having mounted up from the effects of some of the worst snow drifts in recent memory - coming as they did during peak lambing time.
Sheep exhibitor Kevin Wilson, who farms at Blubberhouses, has just six of his 1,000 ewes left to lamb.
Oli May (left) and Jake Harland from Harrogate taking part in the horseshoe making competition.
He said: “The adverse weather has really made lambing time difficult and we have suffered losses. It makes showing harder because the condition of the sheep is harder to hold so I’m really impressed by how the stock has been presented today, to a very high standard.
Mr Wilson claimed one of the biggest prizes of the day. His and his son James’ homebred Blue Faced Leicester not only won the best fleeced sheep and its breed class but was named the supreme sheep champion.
A Teeswater Longwool sheep belonging to Morrish and Helm at Stokesley being washed ready for judging.
Mr Wilson’s next show is the Great Yorkshire in Harrogate in July, where he will be joined by Pateley Bridge farmer Andrew Fisher who has a consignment of 18 primed for inspection by the judges.
Mr Fisher won both the Wensleydale and Teeswater breed championships at Otley, with his homebred tup hog Teeswater also named reserve supreme champion during its first show appearance.
Over in the cattle classes and it was the commercial class champion that went on to take the supreme beef title. Claiming the top honour was a Belgian Blue cross heifer belonging to ten-year-old Matthew Bentley of Kepwick in the North York Moors.
In reserve was a homebred Limousin called Tom’s Choice Navarino from the 50-cow herd of James Cooper of Dacre, who was assisted on the day by his show team of Mark Phillips and Tom Bradley.
A Holstein named Newbirks Mars Jazz 1662 clinched the supreme dairy championship for 24-year-old Suzy Lawson of A Lawson and Son at Arthington. The same Holstein came second place at the national show in Telford as a milking heifer.
Charlotte Lister from Steeton keeping hers and two generations of her family's flower arrangements watered ready for judging.
In reserve was a Shorthorn shown by IRG Collins and Partners from Dewsbury.
The dairy section was boosted by the presence of a new addition this year in the form of Roger Knowles’ fully operational dairy display. It faithfully recreated the sounds and smells of a bygone era of dairy farming.
Mr Knowles, a former dairy farmer based in Herefordshire who switched to beef and suckler cattle nine years ago, was appearing at a show in Yorkshire for the first time.
His display showed a functioning 1941 Lister engine driving a vacuum pump to milk a simulated cow and showed how the process continued through to the milk being bottled and the bottles being fitted with caps.
Also new to the show for 2018 was a model boat display.
Equestrian entries soared to 367, from 319 last year, with show secretary Mrs Raw attributing the section’s growing success to more local riders getting involved, while the poultry show was reinstated after last year succumbing to strict movement restrictions put in place to counter the potential spread of a strain of avian flu.
Main ring entertainment included a first appearance by Joseph’s Amazing Racing Camels, as well as the ever-popular Ben Potter birds of prey display and a flyball demonstration by Wharfedale Woofs.
James Wilson of JK Wilson displays his supreme champion Blue Faced Leicester.
Matthew Bentley, aged 10, with his Belgian Blue X heifer which won the supreme beef championship.


University prepared to handle larger-than-predicted class.
Administrators across the University are prepared for issues that may arise from an increase in student enrollment this year of about 800 to 1,000 students.
The entering class of 2016 is expected to be between 8,000 and 8,500 students. The University expected 46 to 47 percent of students offered admissions to accept for fall 2012, but 51 percent are currently planning to attend.
Kedra Ishop, vice provost and director of admissions, said the admissions office was predicting 7,400 to 7,600 students to accept enrollment. In the last five years, freshmen fall admission numbers were approximately between 7500 and 7900. But historically, from 1998 to 2002, the freshman admission numbers were more than 8000 — the University admitted 8788 in 2000.
“A 4 to 5 percent increase this year was a tremendous jump,” Ishop said.
Ishop said the University admits too many students similar to the way airlines overbook passengers — because it knows a certain number of students will decline. This allows UT to use a small waitlist, unlike other universities that maintain large waitlists that are almost the size of an incoming class, Ishop said.
Ishop said there were changes in efforts during student recruitment to increase the yield rate and enroll more top prospects. Ishop said while this means the school admits a strong class, it also means historical trends are less reliable in predicting yield rates.
With this increase in enrollment, the School of Undergraduate Studies is expecting a 66 percent increase in students and the “undeclared” major may become the largest major on campus, according to David Spight, assistant dean for advising in the School of Undergraduate Studies.
Because of this, David Laude, the newly appointed senior vice provost of Enrollment and Graduation Management, said a lot of the focus for the incoming class will be assisting the school.
“That means making sure there is more advising in place, making sure there is more first year freshman programs for them, and we are already working on that,” Laude said.
Some of these measures are being handled at orientation, where students will spend four hours learning about their colleges instead of the two-and-a-half hours that was in place last year. But for the school year, Spight said the School of Undergraduate Studies increased its number of First-year Interest Groups from 15 to 23 to help handle the greater number of students. The school is also trying to add a Transfer Interest Group to provide similar services to transfer students.
Despite UGS receiving a bulk of the increase, Spight said this was something that is going to positively affect schools and colleges.
New Student Services, the division that runs orientation programs, is also dealing with the increase in student enrollment. The campus is currently hosting about 1,200 freshmen at its first orientation session. Kyle Clark, assistant director of New Student Services, said while the University has handled large orientations before, each orientation will be at maximum capacity.
“So far, this has not presented any challenges for us that were unforeseen,” Clark said.
While UGS and NSS have taken measures to deal with the incoming class, the Division of Housing and Food Services and UT’s Federal Work-Study program are not anticipating the class size to cause problems.
Laurie Mackey, director of DHFS, said housing has more requests than room availability every year, but they are always able to fill every housing request by the end of summer. UT does not require incoming freshmen to live on campus, something several Universities across the country mandate.
Mackey also said the increase will not be a problem for dining centers.
And Linda Morgan, student employment supervisor for the work-study program, said students will still be able to find jobs on campus, through work-study or otherwise. Morgan said work-study is stressing this to students at orientation. Last semester, there were 7,000 undergraduate students who worked on campus and only 1,000 of them were hired through work-study.
“If students want to work then by golly, they’re going to work,” Morgan said.


The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a Worchester, N.Y., woman that occurred this weekend, Madison County Sheriff Robert J. Hertz said in a press release.
The woman is identified as Angela K. Lamar, 25.
On Sunday at about 1 a.m., the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Highland Ambulance Services responded to CC Food Mart, 3410 George St., Highland, in reference to an unresponsive woman. She was identified as Angela K. Lamar. Lamar was found inside a stall in the women’s restroom. Lamar was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Highland, where a Madison County deputy coroner pronounced her death.
Investigators seized a syringe and heroin-filled capsules during the investigation. An autopsy has been conducted, but an official cause of death is pending toxicological examinations. Investigators have determined that Lamar was traveling through Illinois with her boyfriend, an over-the-road truck driver. Investigators have questioned Lamar’s boyfriend and are actively following up on leads in this investigation.


DOIG David Malcolm MBE passed away at Beauchamp House Care Home, Hatch Beauchamp on 24th March 2019 aged 92 years. Funeral service will take place at Taunton Deane Crematorium on Monday 15th April at 1pm. Family flowers only but donations if desired For Parkinson's UK or Creech St Michael Church may be sent to E. White and Son, Funeral Directors, 138-139 East Reach, Taunton TA1 3HN.


Because you're never too old to get creative with colour.
Prepare yourself to get lost in a magical world with this interactive activity book that takes you through a secret garden of incredible drawings by Johanna Basford.
A perfect gift for anyone who loves ink or is looking for inspiration for their next tattoo, this book is filled with enough unique designs to satisfy all fans of body art.
A colouring book filled with art so beautiful and intricate, you'll be hesitant to colour it in, even though your own shading only serves to enhance these amazing illustrations.
With its red and white colour scheme, this incredibly original clouring book is highly unique even before even adding your own twist of colour.
Created with the intention of allowing the reader's imagination to come alive, this activity book takes readers on a wonderful journey through the fantasy world created by its author and illustrator.
Containing a huge range of indie musicians, this one of a kind coloring book, includes mazes, connect the dots, and coloring pages, plus all the royalties going to charity. Win-win.
This surprisingly large book comes packed with 50 highly original works of art by the Philippines-based master of doodles Kerby Rosanes.
In this book, readers are invited to create their own colorful original twist on American design icon Alexander Girard's many famous patterns.
This best selling pocket-sized book serves as an excellent way to soothe both stress and anxiety. Its compact size makes it perfect for on-the-go-relaxation.
Simplifying drawings down to pixels and then inviting the reader to draw out each illustration before colouring can begin adds a unique twist on the colouring book format.
Grab some coloured pencils, sit back and relax with this beautiful, therapeutic book of a hundred calming illustrations designed specifically for de-stressing.
Take a trip to London with this colouring book that includes some of the UK capital city's most famous landmarks and other cultural items.
Featuring 100 customizable mandala drawings, The Mandala Coloring Book encourages readers to use their imagination to create vibrant patterns.
Take a fantastical journey through a dimension of motivational words and incredible illustrations designed to encourage the reader to listen to the voice within themselves.
Appealing to all ages, this beautiful coloring book features colourless forests, flora, and fauna for you to fill in with the colours of your choice.
A book of illustrations in the design of eighteenth and nineteenth century scientific prints just waiting to be personalised with a splash of colour.


How Many 'Easter Eggs' Can You Find in MLB 13 The Show's Latest Trailer?
Sony released this trailer today for MLB 13 The Show, and producer Ramone Russell vowed that "about 10 Easter Eggs are included in it."
• "So RttS and HRD now both have some "personal lock on ball" view with a ball trail."
• "Uniform editor possibly outside of [Diamond Dynasty]"
• A ton of speculation around "The Show Live" a new feature that's gone largely undescribed to now.
• Andrew McCutcheon (a cover candidate) picking grass and floating it in the air opened a few guesses. "Why? Is it because of a pre game player analysis? 3D grass?"
• This one is confirmed by Russell himself: "In season modes, when a player is traded or joins a new team in the offseason, if they have a real photo it will be replaced with the cap screen shot. So basically if you do a fantasy draft franchise every player on your team will be wearing the correct hats and jerseys."
MLB 13 The Show's voting for its cover star will open next week, look for more details on the game then. The game arrives on shelves the first Tuesday of March.


The NBA has announced major changes for the 2018 All-Star Game, highlighted by captain-chosen rosters instead of the traditional format of Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference.
In a joint release, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced the captains will be the leading vote-getters in each conference, and the winning team will play for a charity selected before the game.
"I'm thrilled with what the players and the league have done to improve the All-Star Game, which has been a priority for all of us," NBPA president and Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul said in the statement. "We're looking forward to putting on an entertaining show in L.A."
Captains can choose any player voted to the All-Star Game as a starter or reserve, regardless of conference affiliation.
For example, if LeBron James is one of the captains, he can select Stephen Curry or Draymond Green if they are named to the game.
After the conferences combined for an All-Star Game-record 374 points in last season's showdown, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he wanted to see changes so players would treat it close to the way they would a regular-season contest.
"We will change it by next year," Silver told reporters. "It shouldn't be playoff intensity, but the guys should be playing."
Per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt, the changes are a "player-driven answer" to the recent problem of the event's treatment as a backyard exhibition.
The 2018 NBA All-Star Game will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 18.


WATCH: A dramatic turn of events for a Canadian couple being held in China, accused of stealing state secrets. Julia Garrett has been released from a government detention centre, but her husband has been moved to a high-security prison. Jacques Bourbeau has the details.
BEIJING – China’s Foreign Ministry says a Canadian woman detained with her husband on suspicion of stealing state secrets has been released on bail.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday that Julia Garratt was released while the case remains under investigation.
She and her husband Kevin were detained on Aug. 4 by the state security bureau in China’s northeastern city of Dandong, which borders North Korea.
Hong said both have been charged with stealing secrets and spying and Kevin Garratt has been moved from residential surveillance to the more serious status of criminal detention.
The Vancouver couple have lived in China since 1984 and opened a popular coffee shop in Dandong in 2008.
John Babcock, a spokesman for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department, said the decision to release Julia Garratt on bail is welcome, but that the Canadian government remains concerned about the detention of her husband.
“We have raised the case at the highest levels and will continue to raise it with senior Chinese officials,” Babcock said in an email.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper had discussed the plight of the Canadian couple during a visit to China last November.
Their son, Simeon, said at the time that he feared the Canadian government wasn’t putting enough pressure on the Chinese to release his parents.
The Garratts were out for dinner with friends when they were detained, with their four grown children simply told their parents were being held in an undisclosed location.
Two days later, the couple told their children, through a Canadian consular official, that they weren’t under any physical duress, but were confused and upset about the allegations.
Those allegations came just a few days after the Canadian government blamed Chinese hackers for infiltrating computers at the National Research Council of Canada, a claim Beijing vehemently denied.
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa dismissed questions about the timing of the Garratts’ detention.
The couple’s children called the allegations against their parents “crazy,” noting that the pair has never had access to classified state information.
Simeon Garratt said when not serving customers, his parents spent their time helping locals practice their English and raising money for humanitarian aid sent to North Korea through a charity they helped set up.


The Forum > General Discussion > Warning - If you have Winrar installed please read.
Warning - If you have Winrar installed please read.
Last month a 19-year-old bug was discovered in WinRAR, the software many PC users use to extract .zip and other files on their computer. While the company was quick to patch the bug, that match requires users to update their software in order to be safe — and a lot of people haven’t yet.
WinRAR has always been known for its wide support of all popular compression formats. A recent report by Check Point Software revealed a potential security vulnerability in the UNACEV2.DLL library, which was used in former versions of WinRAR to decompress ACE archives. There haven’t been any reported attacks so far, but to provide WinRAR users with a stable and clean version, the final version of WinRAR 5.70 has been released. Since UNACEV2.DLL had not been updated since 2005 and access to its source code is not available, the decision was made to drop ACE archive support starting with WinRAR 5.70. Now, after the launch of the final and stable version of WinRAR 5.70, upgrading immediately to the new 5.70 version is highly recommended.
To users who are not interested in an upgrade or who don’t find a localized version of WinRAR 5.70 yet, win.rar GmbH’s advice is to delete the UNACEV2.DLL file from their current WinRAR version to be reliably protected again. All users of WinRAR 5.10 or any newer version can find the UNACEV2.DLL file in the WinRAR program folder. WinRAR users of versions older than 5.10, can find the UNACEV2.DLL file in the Formats subfolder of the WinRAR program.
According to McAfee, there are more than 100 unique exploits that can occur thanks to the bug, including one where hackers can extract a malicious file onto your computer’s startup folder that will automatically run the next time the computer is rebooted. Not ideal.
Luckily, there’s a quick and easy way to protect yourself against the bug and all the nefarious things that potentially come along with it: just update the software.
The current fixed version is 5.70.


(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has rejected the appeals of four players suspended in connection with the league's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.
In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, Goodell told Jonathan Vilma, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Scott Fujita that he retains "the inherent authority to reduce a suspension should facts be brought to my attention warranting the exercise of that discretion.
"The record confirms that each of you was given multiple chances to meet with me to present your side of the story," Goodell said. "You are each still welcome to do so."
Watch: Drew Brees calls Bountygate a "smear campaign"
Vilma is suspended for the entire 2012 season, while Smith will miss four games. Hargrove, now with Green Bay, was suspended eight games, while Fujita, now with Cleveland, was suspended three games.
The NFL Players Association issued a statement saying it will continue to pursue all options.
"The players are disappointed with the League's conduct during this process," the statement said. "We reiterate our concerns about the lack of fair due process, lack of integrity of the investigation and lack of the jurisdictional authority to impose discipline under the collective bargaining agreement.
"Moreover, the Commissioner took actions during this process that rendered it impossible for him to be an impartial arbitrator."
Goodell said he did not take his initial decision lightly and also points out that players did not help their cause by refusing to participate fully in the appeal process.
Vilma and his attorney, Peter Ginsberg, walked out of the hearing early after Ginsberg raised his objections to the NFL's handling of the entire investigation. The other three players, who were represented by NFL Players Association attorneys, sat through the hearing to observe the NFL's presentation of evidence, but in protest refused to present any evidence or witnesses of their own, and did not question the NFL investigators who were present at the hearing.
"Although you claimed to have been `wrongfully accused with insufficient evidence,' your lawyers elected not to ask a single question of the principal investigators, both of whom were present at the hearing," Goodell wrote in his appeal ruling. "You elected not to testify or to make any substantive statement, written or oral, in support of your appeal; you elected not to call a single witness to support your appeal; and you elected not to introduce a single exhibit addressing the merits of your appeal. Instead, your lawyers raised a series of jurisdictional and procedural objections that generally ignore" the collective bargaining agreement.
The NFL issued a report in March saying that league investigators determined the Saints ran a bounty program from 2009 to 2011 that offered improper cash payments for hits that injured targeted opponents.
The league has said former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams ran the program, and that general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Sean Payton failed to put a stop to it despite warnings from the NFL at the end of the 2009 season.
The NFL has suspended Williams indefinitely and Payton for the whole season. Loomis is suspended the first half of next season, while Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games. Goodell also docked the Saints second-round draft picks this year and next and fined the club $500,000.
"That this news was announced at 4 p.m. ET the day before the Fourth of July could be perceived as the league attempting to bury the news of the appeals," writes CBSSports.com's Will Brinson. "But it's hardly surprising to anyone that Goodell decided to shrug off the Saints appeals."


NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, compelling growth in net income and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.
MAC's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 12.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 16.4%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
Net operating cash flow has increased to $107.54 million or 24.72% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -14.23%.
MACERICH CO has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, MACERICH CO increased its bottom line by earning $1.94 versus $1.73 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 63.9% in earnings ($0.70 versus $1.94).
The Macerich Company is an independent real estate investment trust. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States. Macerich has a market cap of $8.66 billion and is part of the financial sector and real estate industry. Shares are up 7.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.


Most weeks, "Friday Five" jumps all over the place in the world of religion.
This week, the biggest story (the only story?) is Wednesday's death of the Rev. Billy Graham at age 99.
By my count, this is GetReligion's sixth post on the subject. Spoiler alert: It won't be the last.
1. Religion story of the week: I won't even attempt to name a best story out of all the countless pieces that have been written on Graham's death and legacy. Honestly, I've had a chance to read only a fraction of what's been written so far.
But -- as an Oklahoma resident for much of the past three decades and someone who covered the immediate aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing -- I was touched by our own Terry Mattingly's tribute to Graham.
Tmatt's special column focuses on Graham's role and importance after the April 19, 1995, bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 168 people -- including 19 children. In his sermon, Graham was acting as "America's pastor" and as an evangelist, at the same time, with President Bill Clinton in the front row.
2. Most popular GetReligion post: Our No. 1 most-read Graham post of the week is tmatt's initial "Turtle on a fence post?" reflection.
If that "Turtle on a fence post?" mention makes you scratch your head, then you probably need to go ahead and read the post.
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): Just how long has Christianity Today, the magazine Graham founded, been preparing for his death?
"So far in advance that at least three people we had write tributes (John Stott, Chuck Colson, Richard John Neuhaus) have since died themselves!" one staffer told me.
For more than a decade, I have known about every fatal crash on Charlotte’s Billy Graham Parkway. I won’t miss that.
Here is where you can read CT's "Remembering Billy Graham" package.
4. Shameless plug: Religion News Service has an extensive package of stories and columns titled "America's Preacher" that explore Graham's life and legacy.
I was able to contribute one story to that package, focused on why Graham was a member of First Baptist Dallas for 54 years even though he never lived in Texas.
5. Final thought: I hope you don't mind me quoting Olsen twice in one post.
Here's the deal, though: Those words didn't actually originate with Graham.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.


Paderborn University (Germany) has selected a Cray CS500 cluster accelerated by FPGAs as the first phase of its Noctua multi-petaflop supercomputer.
The new supercomputer will be comprised of 272 compute nodes, connected by Intel’s 100 Gbps Omni-Path fabric. Each node will be equipped with two 20-core Xeon Gold (Skylake) processors, yielding a system core count of 10,880. The system will also come with 720 terabytes of flash-accelerated Lustre storage, supplied by a Cray ClusterStor L300N system.
The most unusual feature of the system is the presence of 32 FPGAs, in this case Intel Stratix 10 devices. According to Paderborn’s press announcement, the selected FPGA will have 5,760 variable-precision DSP blocks, which implies this is either the Stratix 10 GX or SX 2800. The SX comes with an embedded quad-core ARM processor, while the GX series does not. In either case, the 2800 is the top-of-the-line Stratix 10 with regard to DSP floating point performance, providing 9.2 single precision teraflops.
This initial phase of Noctua is expected to deliver three times performance of the center’s current flagship system, OCuLUS, which is powered by a combination of Xeon, Xeon Phi, and NVIDIA GPUs, and delivers over 240 peak teraflops. The Cray machine is expected to go into production sometime in 2018. The second phase of Noctua is scheduled for 2020.


The Manitoba Liberals will run candidate Bob Axworthy in the upcoming byelection in the constituency of Fort Whyte.
Axworthy, the brother of former politician and current University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy, formally announced his candidacy during a news conference Wednesday morning.
Axworthy has lived with his wife and family in the Whyte Ridge neighbourhood for more than thirteen years.
The NDP has candidate Brandy Schmidt in the riding, while the Progressive Conservatives have newly-elected party leader Brian Pallister.
The byelection is September 4.


Talib Kweli performs onstage during the Acoustically Speaking event during the 2014 BET Experience At L.A. LIVE on June 28, 2014 in Los Angeles.
Streaming music pioneer Rhapsody is getting out in front of another tech development: virtual reality. The company has introduced a free VR app called Rhapsody VR, which will give users an immersive way to watch exclusive live performances.
Some of the first featured artists include Talib Kweli, Flatbush Zombies, The Blind Shake, Big Ups, Eli “Paperboy” Reed and Sweet Spirit, among others.
The standalone app, available in the Apple App Store and Google Play, works best with Google Cardboard viewers.
Rhapsody is working closely with Minneapolis-based VR company Visual on the actual video for the project. “360º video is emerging as an exciting way to experience music and entertainment, and it’s been awesome to work with the future-thinking musicheads at Rhapsody,” said Visual founder Chuck Olson.


CHRIS MARTIN has told NME.COM that COLDPLAY‘s appearances at this year’s V FESTIVAL mark the end of an era for the band.
The group rolled out the anthems for the first of their final two UK shows this year at the V Festival in Chelmsford earlier tonight (August 16).
Speaking exclusively to NME.COM as they came off stage, Chris Martin said that despite getting out of the public eye for the next few months, they plan to start work on new material.
During the gig, the band played two new, unannounced songs, as well as covering [a][/a]’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ as the final song of the encore.


Welcome to the UB School of Social Work's Self Care site. The resources in these pages can be thought of as a "Self-Care Starter Kit" appropriate for both students in training and for professionals already working in the field. There are also additional resources that we trust will be helpful no matter where you are on your self-care journey.
The Self-Care Starter Kit was initially developed for UB Social Work students, but it is our hope that these resources will be useful for students and professionals alike. Although the kit does not address all that goes into developing the skills of self-care, it does begin the journey.
We recommend you start with Introduction to Self-Care, followed by Developing Your Self-Care Plan.
This very popular image is a great reminder for all social workers and those in helping-fields, that self-care is important.
You are welcome to use the Self-Care Starter Kit exercises/worksheets without revising them for personal and/or educational (non-commercial) purposes only. We ask that you read over the Creative Commons licensing agreement, let us know that you will be using the materials, include the original citation information that is on them, as well the web address for our site, as an acknowledgement of where it was downloaded from and so people are able to explore our site if they’re interested.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
We hope the resources in these pages will be useful as you strive to maintain and enhance your well-being in all the important domains of your life.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all those who have helped us in this effort: the colleagues who generously contributed materials and provided advice on resources, copyright issues, and IT questions; the experts in the field who gave permission to include their materials; the SSW students who provided self-care utilization data and feedback on our materials and original workshop; and our colleagues on the UBSSW Reaccreditation Committee and in the school who provided both informational and tangible support for the development of this program and have incorporated self-care materials and activities in their courses. We are especially grateful to Elaine S. Rinfrette, LCSW-R, PhD for her extensive and essential contributions to every aspect of the development of this program; Shirley Reiser, LCSW and Elaine K. Hammond, LMSW for their far-sighted and widespread efforts to highlight self-care in our school by developing trainings and materials, and through their invaluable contributions to the development of these pages; Dana M. Horne, MEd for designing the self-care (Venn) logo and providing consultation and support; Robert Garlan, PhD for his thoughtful suggestions and text revisions for these webpages; Melissa Dudley, MSW for her excellent research assistance; and David Coppola for his superb work designing and programming the original self-care site webpages.


ALLEGATIONS this week by senior Turkish officials of an "Iranian connection" behind recent political killings in Turkey has provoked a crisis in relations between Ankara and Tehran.
The government of Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel, using cautious diplomatic language, has said that Iran is involved in Islamic terrorism in Turkey, but so far has refrained from directly accusing the Iranian government.
The Iranians then agreed to conduct a joint investigation with the Turks on the validity of these allegations - a move that was welcomed in Ankara.
"Iran may categorically deny this information, but there is evidence supporting it," Mr. Demirel told a parliamentary group on Tuesday. "If in fact the state [in Iran] is not involved, who is? Iran has an obligation to cooperate with us to unearth the facts.... Iran has a responsibility in this matter, if she does not want a deterioration in our relations."
In a similar message to Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, Demirel urged Iran to investigate the activities said to be conducted inside Iran in support of Turkish militants, and warned that if this is not done "relations between the two countries would be overshadowed" by Iran's noncooperation.
The allegations follow the Jan. 24 murder of a prominent Turkish journalist, Ugur Mumcu, and an abortive assassination attempt on Jack Kamhi, a leading Turkish industrialist and prominent member of Turkey's Jewish community. Later investigation of these terrorist acts led to the discovery of the Islamic Action organization and the arrest of several members. Those arrested have since been linked to other killings.
The crackdown on the Islamic terrorist network was announced by Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin. "In the light of the evidence it is clear that those who committed these murders had connections with Iran," he said. He added that there were strong indications that the pro-Iranian Turkish terrorists had contacts with the Iranian secret service Savama.
Mr. Sezgin's assertions and other statements made by police spokesmen come at a time when anti-Iranian feelings are spreading in Turkey. The death of Mumcu, a prominent investigative journalist who criticized Islamic fundamentalism and defended Ankara's secular system, led to massive demonstrations throughout the country.
Days before the allegations by the authorities on the Iranian connection, the Turkish press carried reports and furious comments about Iran's involvement in trying to "export the Islamic revolution" to this country.
Despite the strong turnout for pro-secular demonstrations, a backlash by pro-fundamentalist Turkish groups is expected.
Neomettin Erbakan, leader of the pro-Islamic Welfare Party, has accused the authorities of lying about the recent killings. In his view, it is the US Central Intelligence Agency, Israel's Mossad agency, and other Western imperialists who are behind the efforts to destablize Turkey. This theme has found support with pro-fundamentalist publications and radical youth.
Such support for Iranian-style politics has prompted Ankara to keep this dispute contained. "We must act on this matter cautiously and cooly," Demirel told his parliamentarians.
Turkish diplomats say that while Turkey and Iran pursue separate foreign policy goals regarding Central Asia and have different ideologies, they share common interests.
Despite the current crisis, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers met their Syrian counterpart in Damascus yesterday to coordinate policy on neighboring Iraq. A previous meeting, hosted by Turkey, was held to discuss Kurdish autonomy in Iraq's northern region, a source of common concern for Iraq's three neighbors.
For now, these common interests will bind Turkey and Iran into a constructive relationship, observers say. The ties explain the Turkish reluctance to blame Iran directly for official or unofficial support for Islamic radicals in Turkey.
Discussing his meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, the Turkish Foreign Minister Cetin said, "I told him that such issues should not be permitted to harm our relations. But I also made it clear that terrorism is an issue of top priority to Turkey."


Martin Laird suspected that four straight birdies early in the round and no bogeys had put him in the lead yesterday at The Barclays. When he finally glanced at a leader board, it gave him quite a jolt.
It was a not-so-subtle reminder that winning goes a long way in these playoffs, and Laird put himself in a great spot. He was at 12-under 201, three shots clear of Dustin Johnson and Jason Day with one round left at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.
A victory for the 27-year-old Scot would move him to No. 1, assuring him a spot in all four majors next year and making him a serious contender for the $10 million FedEx Cup payoff.
Tiger Woods also has something at stake today, but it most likely won�t be a trophy. After missing only one fairway in each of the first two rounds, Woods hit his opening tee shot off the property and took triple bogey.
He couldn�t get those three shots back and shot 72, putting him nine shots behind. He needs a steady final round just to advance to second round next week outside Boston.
Johnson, struggling with a cold and his swing earlier in the week, began to hit his stride on a sunny day in northern New Jersey. On the 616-yard 13th hole, he blasted a 3-wood to about 15 feet for eagle and added consecutive birdies a short time later on his way to a 64 that gave him a chance to win.
�I definitely put myself into the hunt,� Johnson said.
Day remains there, too, although he didn�t help himself on a day for scoring at Ridgewood. The 22-year-old Australian regained the lead by chipping for eagle on the short par-4 fifth hole, but he simply missed too many putts and struggled enough with his driver to give it away.
LPGA: In Winnipeg, Manitoba, overnight leader Michelle Wie shot an even-par 72 to fall into a tie with Jiyai Shin after a rainy Saturday at the Canadian Women�s Open.
Shin shot a 69 to erase the three-stroke lead Wie took into the third round at the St. Charles Country Club. Both were at 10-under.
Champions: In Snoqualmie, Wash., Bernhard Langer fired a 9-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Nick Price after the second round of the Boeing Classic.


THERESA May's top Brexit negotiator has told ministers there is "no chance" of a bespoke trade deal with the EU — meaning we risk remaining tied to single market rules like free movement.
Oliver Robbins - the PM's top mandarin in Brussels divorce talks - said secretaries of state have to be "realistic" about what they can achieve.
His comments, revealed by the Times, further threatens a backlash from Leave-backing cabinet colleagues and backbench MPs including Brexit flag-bearer Jacob Rees-Mogg.
He warned that Mrs May risks a Tory rebellion unless she stumps up on the type of clean-cut Brexit "she herself has promised", The Telegraph reported.
The potential climbdown on seeking a tailor-made trade deal with Europe risks tying the UK to current EU rules and regulations.
It could mean British businesses will have to abide by Brussels mantras if they want to sell their goods in the EU — and we could still be tied to free movement rules.
Ministers were given the warning at crunch government talks at the PM's Chequers country pile.
They were told they may have to choose a Norway-style deal in which Britain stays in the EU-run single market or strike a free trade deal that does not favour Brit businesses, The Times said.
Mrs May is trying to thrash out an agreement with her cabinet about what to aim for from Brexit.
But Mr Rees-Mogg, who leads about 60 backbench rebels, wrote in the Daily Telegraph his colleagues will vote against Mrs May’s deal if she fails to “deliver what she has said she would”.


WASHINGTON: A few weeks before the Republican primary in Florida in January, the billionaire owner of the NFL�s Miami Dolphins hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney at his oceanfront home in Palm Beach. The average voter wouldn�t know about the event at the home of Stephen Ross because Romney�s campaign doesn�t follow the practice of other major presidential candidates who have willingly identified big-money fundraisers and the amounts they collect.
A review by the Associated Press of campaign records and other documents reveals hints about the vast national network of business leaders bringing in millions to elect Romney. The same month that Ross invited friends and colleagues to his home, for example, Romney�s campaign received $317,000 from nearly 150 people who share Ross� exclusive ZIP code on Florida�s east coast, according to Federal Election Commission records. That mysterious surge of donations outpaced all contributions to Romney during the previous year from the wealthy Palm Beach area, when the campaign collected $270,000 over nine months. Romney got $21,000 more from residents there in February.
Unlike President Barack Obama, Romney�s campaign will not identify his major fundraisers, and federal law doesn�t require him to. The AP identified several of Romney�s �bundlers� through interviews, finance records, event invitations and other publicity about campaign events. The lack of transparency by the Romney campaign prevents voters from knowing who wields influence inside the GOP frontrunner�s campaign and how their interests might benefit if he is elected. Romney is in California this week for at least five private fundraisers.
Bundlers are typically well-connected business and banking executives who tap their professional and social networks to steer individual contributions from others to the campaign in amounts that can range from $10,000 to well over $500,000. Experienced bundlers can reach these highest amounts quickly. Persuading 25 couples to attend a VIP reception with the candidate for $2,500 each � the maximum an individual can give a campaign � raises $125,000 in a single evening.
Even in the era of �super� political action committees, which can pull in millions of dollars in unlimited and effectively anonymous contributions to support candidates, bundlers are their own campaign forces. Unlike super PACs, which can�t legally coordinate with candidates, bundlers raise large amounts deposited directly into a campaign�s bank account � money that can be spent to pay for salaries, get-out-the-vote efforts and advertising.
This presidential election is expected to be among the costliest ever. Obama�s re-election campaign has raised just over $151 million. His campaign released the names of its bundlers in late January, and the list illustrates how important these elite fundraisers have become. More than 440 bundlers collected at least $75 million to help Obama win a second term, including 61 people who each raised at least half-million dollars.
Fundraising has been a bright spot for Romney during the bruising GOP primary. Romney has built a potent organization that has pulled in nearly $75 million. Two-thirds of the total � nearly $49 million � came from people who gave the $2,500 maximum, which can be indicative of contributions pulled together by bundlers. Just $6.5 million, or 9 percent, came from supporters who gave $200 or less. The emphasis on top-tier donations indicates an active network of fundraisers who are targeting high-end contributors.
One prominent Romney supporter, Lewis M. Eisenberg, said that even with the rise of super PACs like Restore Our Future, which helped Romney pay for important advertising, the campaign is still dependent as ever on �hard money� that pays for salaries, state organizing, television ads, direct mailings and other expenses.


i’m off to see tori amos!
tori amos – live on jay leno!
tori amos’ AOL music session now live!
PJ Harvey, Björk, & Tori Amos – all mashed up!
tori amos’ NYC album release party!
win signed tori amos & a 30gb ipod!
tori amos – almost rosey – amazing live solo!
tori amos – big wheel – video!


I am gratified to note that state Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch seems to be on board with the proposals of the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission to address the tremendous shortfall between�revenues and expenditures that must be made.
�The commission seeks to phase in modest hikes in fees and costs that affect drivers, with the average cost increase by the fifth year estimated to be a mere $2.54 per week.
�I am the last person to endorse hikes in taxes or fees,� but these revenue enhancements are a wise investment that shall keep state roads and bridges from deteriorating, an issue of basic driver and passenger safety.
It would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to allow our infrastructure to crumble. We must recognize that maintenance is the less expensive and wiser path.
I am willing to part with $2.54 per week to ensure that no one in my family or among my friends plunges off a rotted, corroded bridge. How about you?


SEATTLE, Oct. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bardy Diagnostics, Inc., ("BardyDx"), a leading provider of ambulatory cardiac monitoring technologies and custom data solutions, announced today it was awarded an Innovative Technology contract with Vizient, Inc. for the Carnation Ambulatory Monitor ("CAM™"), the world's first P-wave centric™ ambulatory cardiac patch monitor and arrhythmia detection device. The contract resulted from the recommendation of hospital experts serving on one of Vizient's member-led councils. Vizient, the largest member-driven health care performance improvement company in the US, awards Innovative Technology contracts to companies with technologies that demonstrate an ability to enhance clinical care or patient safety, and those that improve an organization's care delivery and business model.
Debbie Archer, procurement director and leader of Vizient's Innovative Technology program for suppliers said, "Due to the number of products and services being released and marketed as 'innovative,' our member hospitals value the thorough review process in place at Vizient to help them identify products worth further evaluation at their own facilities. After a full review of the Carnation Ambulatory Monitor, Vizient's member council agreed this solution offers unique and incremental benefit over other available products on the market today and recommended it for an Innovative Technology contract. We are pleased to award this new contract to Bardy Diagnostics."
Unlike other cardiac patch monitors on the market, the CAM is the first ambulatory ECG monitor with high fidelity, novel detection technology that reliably records the P-wave, the small amplitude ECG signal that is essential to accurate arrhythmia diagnosis and the determination of appropriate medical treatments or procedural interventions. CAM reporting is enabled by BDxCONNECT, a cloud-based ECG analysis and patient management portal that can be tailored to support different clinical workflows and the care delivery needs and business model of a specific provider or health system.
"We are delighted that Vizient's member-led council selected the CAM for an Innovative Technology contract. We look forward to working with Vizient's diverse membership to develop strong relationships that will improve patient outcomes with the use of our CAM patch and monitoring services," said Ken Nelson, Chief Commercial Officer of Bardy Diagnostics.
Commenting on the novel attributes of the CAM, BDx Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gust H. Bardy, MD, remarked, "Our P-wave centric CAM recordings are distilled into clinically-actionable data represented in a proprietary report format incorporating beat-to-beat R-R interval plots – a feature not available with any other product or service. We appreciate the recognition and distribution opportunity offered by Vizient and its members."
Vizient, Inc. represents the combined strengths of the organizations formerly known as VHA Inc., University HealthSystem Consortium, Novation, and MedAssets' Spend and Clinical Resource Management. Since 2003, nearly 2200 new and innovative products and technologies have been submitted through the Vizient Innovative Technology program. Vizient works with member-led councils and task forces to identify and review potentially innovative products. If it is determined that a product is innovative, a contract may be awarded outside of Vizient's competitive bid cycle.
Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. is an innovator in digital health and remote patient monitoring, with a focus on providing diagnostically-accurate and patient-friendly cardiac patch and other monitors to the industry. The company's CAM patch is a non-invasive, P-wave centric™ ambulatory cardiac monitor and arrhythmia detection device that is designed to improve patient compliance for adults and children through its lifestyle-enabling design. Designed to be worn comfortably and discreetly, the female-friendly, hourglass-shaped CAM patch is placed on the center of the chest, directly over the heart for optimum ECG signal collection. The proprietary technology of the CAM patch provides optimal detection and clear recording of the often difficult-to-detect P-wave, the signal of the ECG waveform that is essential for accurate arrhythmia diagnosis. Additional information can be found at the recently launched redesign of the BardyDx corporate website at www.bardydx.com.


Newscast: Tuesday April 3, 2012, 12:04 p.m.
Miro Weinberger is spending his first day as mayor of Burlington today. In Killington, some residents want to abolish their town manager form of government. A decade-old effort to streamline environmental reviews of developers’ projects coming to a head in the Legislature.


Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been talking very loudly about maximum governance and accountability, must break his silence on the ongoing controversy regarding External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj helping former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in securing the travel documents.
“First of all, the point is that they are very serious charges that have been raised against the Minister of External Affairs, but the prerogative of rule remain in the ministry or not is that of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister and the BJP who has been talking very loudly about a new style of governance, minimum governance and maximum governance, accountability and that there has been no corruption in the last one year, all these have been issues of propaganda,” Yechury told the media here.
“But, when it actually comes to brass tacks, you have this incident where the Prime Minister is absolutely quiet and silent. We are asking the Prime Minister to tell us how this is going to be addressed and the matter be made accountable to both to the Parliament and the country,” he added.
Swaraj had on Sunday said that she had taken a humanitarian view of Lalit Modi’s case since his wife was suffering from cancer.


When Venturi got the Pritzker phone call, though, his surprised reaction was to ask: What about Denise? “Denise” is Denise Scott Brown, who had been Venturi’s intellectual collaborator since the early nineteen-sixties, and a partner in the firm since 1969, deeply involved in everything it had done. Scott Brown was the one who’d been drawn to Las Vegas, who set in motion the project that culminated in “Learning from Las Vegas,” who created the studio class, which led to the book that influenced a generation of architecture students. (“Learning” was co-authored by Scott Brown, Venturi, and Steven Izenour.) More importantly, the ideas at the heart of Venturi, Scott Brown—the notions that bucked modernism and reconnected American architecture with older traditions—were developed by the two as a team, or, as Scott Brown has put it, as “a joint creativity.” But Scott Brown was a woman and, worse still, married to Venturi. (When it came to the perception of outsiders, “architect’s wife” trumped “architect.”) Venturi asked that Scott Brown be included in the award and was told that would not be possible. The couple decided that he had to accept the honor, because their firm was struggling financially, and the hundred-thousand-dollar award and the recognition would help enormously. At the ceremony, held at a palace in Mexico City, Venturi ended his acceptance speech with a forceful acknowledgment of Scott Brown’s “crucial” contributions. Scott Brown didn’t attend.
A few weeks ago, students at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (G.S.D.) decided to try to right the twenty-two-year-old wrong. Inspired by a recent interview with Scott Brown, they started a petition, demanding that she be “retroactively acknowledged for her work deserving of a joint Pritzker Prize.” The petition has now drawn more than eight thousand signatures, including Venturi, MOMA’s Paola Antonelli, Harvard Dean of the G.S.D. Mohsen Mostafavi, as well as Pritzker winners Rem Koolhaas, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Wang Shu, and Zaha Hadid, the first woman to be given the award, more than two decades after its founding. The petition has drawn the Pritzker into a discussion of the profession’s well-earned reputation for sexism, but also raised questions about the way the field—and particularly the Pritzker—traffics in a dated notion of the architect as romantic hero, inspired in isolation with plans for a shining monument. “The fact that one of the most creative and productive partnerships we have ever seen in architecture was separated rather than celebrated by a prize has been an embarrassing injustice which it would be great to undo,” wrote Koolhaas when he signed the petition.
Scott Brown came to America in 1958, and in 1960 she met Venturi at a University of Pennsylvania faculty meeting. They shared many interests: social responsibility, maverick thought, Italian culture and architecture, especially mannerism. Two years later, they were teaching courses together. He told her about insights from Princeton’s Donald Drew Egbert; she encouraged him to go deep into Edwin Lutyens. They scanned each other’s reading lists, critiqued each other’s writing and drawing, argued with and inspired each other. Their work became the joint product. Scott Brown joined his firm in 1967, the year they were married, and became a partner in 1969.
Their colleagues could be just as boorish. Philip Johnson, the founder of the Department of Architecture and Design at the MOMA and for a long time architecture’s crown prince, used to hold regular black-tie dinners at the men-only Century Club for his favorite acolytes. Venturi was invited; “the wives” were decidedly not welcome. (The first Pritzker, awarded in 1979, went to Johnson.) About three years ago, Scott Brown started to think about the idea of an “inclusion ceremony,” some kind of official Pritzker function to acknowledge her role and, more importantly, signal that architecture now welcomes all worthy practitioners and understands that creativity can come in many forms and in groups larger than one. A few weeks ago, the British Architects’ Journal filmed an interview with Scott Brown, sitting in an armchair at home, in which she mentioned the idea. Arielle Assouline-Lichten, a student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, was moved to start the petition, and Caroline James, a fellow G.S.D. student who’d been inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s feminist manifesto “Lean In” to restart a campus group for women in architecture, joined her in spreading the word on social media.
It’s not clear what the Pritzker jury will decide. The Pritzker is chosen every year by a panel of independent jurors, which Martha Thorne, the prize’s executive director, said, “presents us with an unusual situation” This year’s jury will discuss what to do when they meet in May, she said.
Photograph, of Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, by Mel Evans/AP.


Insurance industry-affiliated group, AIDS foundation balk at $1,000-a-pill price.
An innovative hepatitis C drug that was only recently hailed as a breakthrough treatment is facing skepticism from some health care providers, as they consider whether it is worth the $1,000-a-pill price set by manufacturer Gilead Sciences.
A panel of California medical experts voted Monday that Gilead's Sovaldi represents a "low value" treatment, considering its cost compared with older drugs for the blood-borne virus.
The vote was part of a broader review of new hepatitis C drugs by the California Technology Assessment Forum, an insurance industry-affiliated group that assesses the costs and effectiveness of new medical treatments. The group is expected to issue a final report next month on Sovaldi and another new hepatitis C drug, Olysio from Johnson & Johnson.
Doctors have long sought more effective, palatable treatments for hepatitis C, the liver-destroying virus carried by an estimated 3 million to 4 million Americans. Until late last year, the standard treatments required taking up to 12 pills a day, alongside injections that can cause flu-like symptoms, an approach which only cured about 75 percent of patients.
Gilead Sciences' drug, launched in December, was quickly embraced by physicians based on its once-a-day pill regimen and increased effectiveness, curing between 80% and 90% of patients.
But some patients groups and health providers are beginning to question the cost of that benefit.
In January, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation urged state Medicaid providers to deny coverage for the drug until Gilead agrees to lower the price. The group, which provides HIV testing and prevention services, argues that Sovaldi's price "will unnecessarily drive up health care costs and limit access to potentially lifesaving care."
"AHF believes that the price Gilead is charging for Sovaldi is not remotely justified. For one, it is exponentially more expensive than medications for other severe chronic conditions." The group notes that Sovaldi costs 1,100% more than Gilead's most expensive HIV drug, Stribild, which costs $80 per pill.
About 25% of people with HIV infection are also infected with hepatitis C. And patients with both viruses are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor.
In a review released ahead of Monday's meeting, the California Technology Assessment Forum estimated that replacing currently used hepatitis C drugs with Gilead's Sovaldi would raise California drug costs between $18 billion and $29 billion per year, including both government and private insurer costs.
Gilead has said that the drug's costs will be recouped over the long term as fewer patients suffer liver failure and transplant complications. But the California group's assessment concludes that even after 20 years, reduced health care spending on hepatitis complications would only cover about two-thirds of the Sovaldi's upfront costs.
At Monday's meeting the panel of experts from California universities and hospitals voted that Sovaldi and J&J's Olysio are superior medical treatments to older therapies from Merck & Co and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. But considering their costs and benefits, a majority of panelists said that both of the new drugs deliver a "low value." Olysio costs about $66,000 for one course of treatment.
The experts recommended the drugs should be used only for patients with severe hepatitis complications, such as liver cirrhosis.
The California Technology Assessment Forum was funded for more than 50 years by California Blue Shield but was recently incorporated into the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a Boston-based research group funded by insurers, drugmakers and academic institutions. The group's board of directors includes executives from Blue Shield of California, Avalere Health, UnitedHealth Group and the Pacific Business Group on Health.
Gilead Sciences did not send a representative to Monday's meeting, but a company spokeswoman noted that it offers financial assistance to patients who cannot afford the drug and related insurance costs.
"Over time, we expect that treatment guidelines and the medical science will be what guides the discussion around treatment for a very serious liver disease -- not the potential short-term budget impact," said Cara Miller, in a statement. The company has noted that many private insurers are already covering the drug under their formularies.
Wall Street analysts estimate Sovaldi could garner sales of up to $8 billion this year alone, which would make it among the best-selling pharmaceutical products in the world.
A spokesman for J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals said the panel's vote and conversation recognized Olysio "as an important treatment option for patients living with chronic hepatitis C."


OTT (over-the-top) video ad spending is expanding at the fastest rate of any major medium and will approach $4 billion this year and $5 billion next year, according to a revised advertising forecast from IPG Mediabrands Magna Intelligence unit.
“The media landscape is set to change in 2019 as OTT and VOD (video-on-demand) reach mass market and become more competitive with the launch of new services,” Vincent Letang, Magna executive vice president-global market intelligence, writes in the report, published this morning.
“This may prompt SVOD players (Netflix, Amazon) to explore hybrid, ad-supported business models, and thus provide new opportunities for advertisers to reach customers,” he continues. He fueled speculation that the video ad marketplace will expand, not contract, as more consumer time is spent on subscription services.
Based on Magna’s analysis, the U.S. OTT ad market expanded 54% in 2018 and will grow another 39% this year, making it the fastest-growing segment of the ad-supported media marketplace. That's well ahead of social and digital video — see full forecast below.
While the national TV ad marketplace will see a corresponding contraction of 3.6% this year, Letang notes the OTT expansion “party offsets the erosion of linear ad sales,” suggesting it’s more of an evolution of the video marketplace than a replacement medium. Magna estimates the national TV ad market was $42.7 billion in 2018.
“Linear TV ratings continue to decline, due to cord-cutting and the long-term shift toward subscription-based VOD, triggering growing cost-per-thousand inflation, as demand from CPG verticals remains robust,” he writes in Magna’s revised outlook.
4 comments about "Magna: OTT Ad Market Approaches $4 Billion, Offsets Linear TV Contraction".
Jack Wakshlag from Media Strategy, Research & Analytics, April 5, 2019 at 12:51 p.m.
If you are a seller of video you just want to get paid for each impression. All goes to the same pocket in the end. Just need to make sure each impression is counted, hopefully in a way that allows you to add all impressions together. If your a buyer, it’s the same.
Stanford Crane from NewGuard Entertainment Corp, April 5, 2019 at 1:01 p.m.
Joe, don't you think if you give the $4B OTT Ad number that is might be important to mention the linear TV $$$? It is easy to grow on percentage basis from a low number, but that's only part of the story.
Joe Mandese from MediaPost, April 5, 2019 at 1:18 p.m.
Stanford Crane from NewGuard Entertainment Corp replied, April 5, 2019 at 1:52 p.m.


Helen Mark travels to the Berwyn Mountains in Wales. They're rich in wildlife, especially bird life, and form a transition between two distinct landscapes - the gentle hills of mid-Wales and the drama and challenging peaks of Snowdonia and North Wales. The mountains also separate two peoples - the English of Shropshire and the Welsh of Montgomeryshire. They've been home to ancient peoples from pre-history with evidence of an extensive sophisticated field system above Cwm Pennant dating from thousands of years ago.
Michael Harvey is a storyteller who has worked in schools throughout the Berwyns and he tells Helen some of the stories inspired by the mountains: tales of giants and dragons that have roamed the hills and caves.
Rev Linda Mary Edwards looks after the 12th century church in Pennant Melangell. The Melangell Centre takes its inspiration from the story of an Irish princess who created a sanctuary for wildlife by saving a hare form the clutches of Prince Brochwel, who was out hunting. The prince had a change of heart and granted her the land for a wildlife sanctuary. It has been a place of Christian worship for 1400 years. The Melangell Centre which is a religious retreat, a place for quiet contemplation and reflection, for people suffering from cancer.
Glyn Jones' farm is 1200 feet above sea level, all steep hills and rocky outcrops. The land is hard to farm and only suitable for sheep.


How Are You Positioning Into The Weekend?
What are you most comfortable holding through the weekend? Do you have any expectations for policymakers before markets open on Monday?


Art, Politics and Social Change at the Venice Biennale | Democracy Now!
VENICE, Italy — This historic city, famous for its canals and its sonorous gondoliers, its stunning museums brimming with art, where tens of thousands stroll the wide Piazza San Marco and wander its maze of narrow alleys, hosts the world’s oldest and most prestigious art biennial, the Venice Biennale. Every two years, artists from around the world showcase their work in scores of venues — some national pavilions sponsored by countries from around the globe; others international or independent exhibits. High art may seem a rarified field when the world is consumed by war, climate catastrophe, mass migrations and growing economic inequality. Art may seem a luxury as people of color are gunned down by police in American streets. This year’s Biennale, though, explodes these myths.
Okwui Enwezor of Nigeria is the Venice Biennale’s first African-born curator. Enwezor has been widely credited for bringing political art back to the 120-year-old festival. He says he was partly inspired by the 1974 Biennale, when part of the exhibits were dedicated to Chile, to protest the U.S.-backed coup of Gen. Augusto Pinochet that overthrew Chile’s democratic government. Exhibits that Enwezor has brought to this Biennale include an epic live reading of Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital,” the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz’s piece, a boat covered in the front page of a Venice newspaper published the day after nearly 400 migrants drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013, and Iceland’s controversial pavilion, where an actual mosque was created in a church that had been empty for more than 40 years. The city of Venice shut down the mosque, citing security concerns.
“Today’s artists are doing much more than providing a mirror,” Anne Pasternak of the organization Creative Time told us at one of the Biennale’s main venues, the Arsenale. “They’re getting into the gritty work of actual social change.” Creative Time, a New York-based nonprofit that commissions and supports public art and engagement, convened a three-day summit at this year’s Biennale. Hundreds of artists, activists, scholars and others gathered in the 16th-century Teatro alle Tese, part of Venice’s Arsenale. The Arsenale is a vast, ancient walled complex where Venetians built the warships that powered their military dominance in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. As far back as the 1500s, they could build a warship in one day in what is said to have been the world’s first industrial assembly line.
Now, the complex is given over to art, theater, music and public discussion, turning swords into plowshares. Among those presenting at the summit was Mariam Ghani, an Afghan-American artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y., who conducted from the stage a video-streamed conversation with her father, Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan. Through her art, she delves into the dark corners of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Her collaboration “Index of the Disappeared” is a physical archive of post-9/11 disappearances, including detentions, deportations and renditions.
The Creative Time Summit took place as mass protests marked the first anniversary of the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The Black Lives Matter movement was central to the summit’s presentations, and was present in the broader Venice Biennale. “At the moment that we’re dealing with Black Lives Matter and the violence against black people and brown people in the United States, Europe is a experiencing incredible deaths of black people here, too,” said author Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, referring to the drowning deaths of hundreds of African migrants seeking asylum in Europe. After Venice, Rhodes-Pitts will head to Lampedusa.
Venice served for centuries as the crossroads of the world, a city where East met West and art flourished. This year’s Venice Biennale, called “All the World’s Futures,” showcases a growing community of politically engaged artists, who not only reflect the beauty and brutality of the world, but might actually change it.


IT pros may get a breather this Tuesday with Microsoft projecting just two "important" fixes in its upcoming security update for March.
The two important fixes will affect Windows and Microsoft Office and will have remote code execution considerations. This March patch release will mark the first time since July 2008 that no critical bulletins were included.
The first patch hits XP, Windows 7 and Vista operating systems. The second patch, for Office, will be more wide reaching, touching XP, Office 2003, 2007 Microsoft Office System and Office for Mac (both the 2004 and 2008 suites).
Microsoft described a few other products expected to get addressed with this patch, including Microsoft Office Excel Viewer, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 file formats, plus Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Both of the patches in this month's rollout could require a restart.
Microsoft may just be tightening a few loose ends with this patch, although the company has been busy addressing other security issues in recent weeks.
For instance, at the RSA conference this week, Berend-Jan Wevera, a Google engineer presenting at the event, found a flaw in Redmond's data execution prevention function in Windows. Microsoft also noted a flaw in Windows involving VBScript and Internet Explorer. It reissued a Windows kernel patch from February after some users experienced "blue screen" problems on applying the original patch.
With a light patch cycle expected for March, IT administrators may find the time to catch up on nonsecurity releases delivered via Windows Update and Microsoft Update. Microsoft provides information about those releases in this Knowledge Base article.


November 26, 2003  Rock historian Ed Ward talks about the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a crazy, influential ensemble that reached its apex of popularity in swinging '60s London.
November 7, 2003  Rock Historian Ed Ward listens to some Uncle Tupelo reissues. The group split up in 1994; its members formed Wilco and Son Volt.
September 25, 2003  Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Money records, the imitation Motown label of the 60s.


Podemos ('We can') Party secretary general Pablo Iglesias delivers a speech during a party meeting in Valencia January 25, 2015.
German consumer confidence hit the highest level in at least 13 years in February. GfK's confidence figure is now up to 9.7, the highest in at least 13 years. In January, the survey came in at 9.3, and economists had expected a score of 9.5 this month.
European confidence is coming. At 10 a.m, we'll get a bundle of figures on consumer confidence, as well as business sentiment broken down by sector (manufacturing and services) from the European Commission. Economists are expecting improvements across the board for February.
The SEC is investigating the way that several companies treat whistleblowers. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has sent letters to several companies asking for years of nondisclosure agreements, employment contracts and other documents to investigate whether companies are muzzling corporate whistleblowers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The west coast port strike could cut the US trade deficit. Shipping companies and a powerful dock workers' union in West Coast ports reached a tentative deal last Friday after a nine-month slowdown. In a note Tuesday, Goldman's Kris Dawsey wrote that although an agreement has been reached, shipments slowed in January, and likely February. The US international trade balance for January may send the trade deficit to its lowest level in a year.
Spain's Podemos rallied against the prime minister's state of the nation speech. Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos rallied on Wednesday in response to the prime minister's state-of-the-nation address, delivered a day earlier to a parliament in which the new leftist movement still has no seats. Among the measures leader Pablo Iglesias said he would implement if he became prime minister in the general election due by the end of the year are a restructuring of the country's debt and a new tax on wealth.
Samsung is freezing salaries for the first time since 2009. Samsung Electronics will freeze employee salaries this year for the first time since 2009, a spokeswoman for the South Korean company said on Thursday, without elaborating. The move comes after the company's profit declined in 2014 for the first time in three years.
China is reportedly preparing steps to boost the housing market. China's plunging house prices are spooking local and national governments, so they're preparing a relief plan, according to Bloomberg. Beijing is planning to reduce the percentage of down payment required for second home purchases and perhaps allow homeowners to sell their property without having to pay a sales tax after two years, down from the existing five-year threshold.
Huge QE isn't convincing Japanese consumers. Japanese households likely cut spending further and retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in January, a sign the central bank's radical stimulus has yet to convince consumers that inflation will take hold. Household spending likely fell an annual 4.1% in January, down for a tenth straight month, and retail sales are forecast to have dropped 1.3%, according to a Reuters poll.
Petrobras shares plunged after a downgrade. Shares in Brazilian oil giant Petrobras fell nearly 6% Wednesday after ratings agency Moody's downgraded the scandal-plagued company for the fourth time in as many months.
Google is reportedly merging its two European arms. Google is combining its two European arms to meet the challenges of a more combative regulatory landscape on the continent, the Financial Times said. Matt Brittin, who previously led Google's northern and western European division, will take over the day-to-day running of the new business, FT said.


Hairstylists squabble over $9.5 million jackpot lottery.
Abraham Shakespeare is dead?$30 million lottery winner vanishes.
Why Gambling Can Actually Be Good For You.


Exceptional commercial parcels with easy access off Old Hwy. 66 only .4 mile from the 4-way intersection of Hwy. 344 and Old 66. Located in the heart of Edgewood and and right in the path of a growing community. Close to all of Edgewood's commercial services, with significant, constant traffic travelling east and west on Old Hwy. 66, and back and forth to the Edgewood Baptist Church, which is at the end of Leslie Road.


Lawmakers approved $182-million reform bill, but no funding for it. A special session will be held beginning June 18 to consider funding.
Key elements of the legislation include Lighthouse Schools Program, which would provide financial incentives and regulatory waivers for schools whose students show improved achievement; Impairment and Conservatorship Program, under which schools that failed to meet standards would be required to submit a plan to correct their faults; test of ungraded classes for students in grades 1 to 3; and provisions to make local decisionmaking in schools easier.
Measure also calls for promotion of increased parental involvement in schools, through an "Alliance for Families" program; developmental screening for 3- and 4-year-olds; adult-literacy programs; and a ban on driver's licenses for students who quit school before age 18.
Legislation would allow teachers to participate in state health-insurance plan.
Legislature overrode Governor's veto to enact major revision in school-funding formula, increasing share of school operating expenses paid by state to 45 percent from 23 percent.
New law put ceilings of from 4 percent to 6.5 percent on allowable annual growth of school districts' general funds, in order to limit property-tax increases.
Also raised state sales to 5 cents from 4 cents and increased individual and corporate income taxes by 17.5 percent, generating $211 million in new state aid to schools.
State aid for special education increased by 10 percent, to $76.3 million.


Kyle Summerfield, right, laughs while talking with Albert Kurtyka, left, and Leora Kurtyka, center, Friday evening at Beach Bully Bbq in Virginia Beach. Albert Kurtyka received the heart of Summerfield’s father, William, 34, after he died in a car accident in January 2014.
Kyle Summerfield, left, listens as Albert Kurtyka, right, talks and shows a book of being in the hospital while receiving a heart transplant Friday evening at Beach Bully Bbq in Virginia Beach. Albert Kurtyka received the heart of Summerfield’s father, William, 34, after he died in a car accident in January 2014.
Kyle Summerfield, center, listens to the heart of Albert Kurtyka, left, Friday evening at Beach Bully Bbq in Virginia Beach. Kurtyka received the heart of Summerfield’s father, William, 34, after he died in a car accident in January 2014.
Newport News resident Albert Kurtyka recieved a heart transplant in 2014 after William Summerfield died in a car accident. Kurtyka met Summerfield’s son, Kyle, and other family members Friday evening at Beach Bully Bbq in Virginia Beach. (Photos by Jonathon Gruenke / Daily Press) For more photos, click here. For video, click here.


The heatwave is taking its toll on a colony of flying foxes with about 90 found dead on the ground in Adelaide's Botanic Park.
Many of the creatures, which have travelled from the eastern states, have dropped from the trees either dead or dehydrated.
Trained and vaccinated volunteers are collecting the carcasses, which are mostly juveniles, and are caring for ones that are badly heat stressed.
Environment Department ecologist Jason van Weenen says about a tenth of the colony has died in the current heatwave.
He says the creatures cluster together during times of heat stress and suffocate each other.
"The clustering is quite a concern. They're really getting exhausted and starting to pile up on top of each other and then it makes it even more difficult for them to manage their temperature," he said.
"A total of 90 bats have died so far in this heatwave, but it's anticipated that as we are getting even hotter temperatures today, more will perish.
"The colony is exhibiting some really classic signs of heat stress. They're clumping, they're doing lots of fanning behaviour.
"They're trying to get down, get lower in the canopy trying to cool down."
People have been advised not to touch the bats if they find them on the ground.
"Sick and injured bats can still struggle and scratch and that way they can transmit diseases," he said.
"If they come across a dead animal, contact Fauna Rescue."
About 100,000 bats died in a heatwave last week in Queensland, where the bat population is much bigger.
In Adelaide's parklands last summer about 100 died from heat stress and a sample taken from one later tested positive to Hendra virus.