Boy Scouts Decision Could Affect Local Troops

BILLINGS - The Boy Scouts of America are making a decision that will potentially affect troops on the local level in Montana across the nation.

Next week, the National Board of Boy Scouts will vote on whether to lift its sexual orientation policy. Organizations that support local troops can then decide if they'd like to get rid of the ban on openly gay children joining boy scouts. According to Gordon Rubard, Scout Executive of the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Montana, there are 450 scouting units that could be affected by the national decision.

"This is a very emotional issue for many people and there's passion on both sides of the issue and since the news of the proposed decision has come out, there's been a lot of feedback from a lot of our members on both sides of this issue," says Rubard.

Around 60% of scouting units in Montana are sponsored by religious organizations. The other 40% are by non-religious or civil organizations.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50646630/ns/local_news-billings_mt/

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Giffords pleads for gun curbs; NRA fights back

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. two years ago, sits with her husband Mark Kelly, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. two years ago, sits with her husband Mark Kelly, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. Supporters and opponents of stricter gun control measures face off at a hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence in the wake of last month's shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn. that killed 20 schoolchildren. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. two years ago, center, arrives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence in the wake of last month's shooting rampage at that killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., From left are, the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and her husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, Giffords, right. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., displays a pledge called the "Sandy Hook Promise," referring to last month's shooting rampage at that killed 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington, during the committee's hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, second from right, who was seriously injured in the mass shooting that killed six people in Tucson, Ariz. two years ago, sits with her husband Mark Kelly, right, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, prior to giving an opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. Supporters and opponents of stricter gun control measures face off at a hearing on what lawmakers should do to curb gun violence in the wake of last month's shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 schoolchildren. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Severely wounded and still recovering, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords begged lawmakers at an emotional hearing Wednesday to act quickly to curb firearms because "Americans are counting on you." Not everyone agreed, underscoring the national political divide over gun control.

Giffords' 80-word plea was the day's most riveting moment, delivered in a hushed, halting voice two years after the Arizona Democrat suffered head wounds in a Tucson shooting spree that killed six people. The session also came two months after 20 first-graders and six women were slain by a gunman who invaded Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

At the same hearing, a top official of the National Rifle Association rejected Democratic proposals to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and said requiring background checks for all gun purchases would be ineffective because the Obama administration isn't doing enough to enforce the law as it is.

Even if stronger background checks did identify a criminal, "as long as you let him go, you're not keeping him from getting a gun and you're not preventing him from getting to the next crime scene," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president. He said poor enforcement is "a national disgrace."

Giffords, who retired from Congress last year, focused during her brief appearance on the carnage from armed assailants.

"Too many children are dying," she said at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now."

Guiding her in and remaining to testify was Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut who is Giffords' husband. The couple, who both owns guns, has formed a political action committee called Americans for Responsible Solutions that backs lawmakers who support gun restrictions.

"We're simply two reasonable Americans who realize we have a problem with gun violence and we need Congress to act," Kelly said.

Wednesday's session played out in a hearing room packed to capacity. While both sides appealed to their followers beforehand to arrive early and fill the room, most in the public audience of around 150 appeared to be gun-control sympathizers, including relatives of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

"There should be gun control," said Neeta Datt of Burtonsville, Md., who with Christa Burton of Silver Spring, Md., was first on line for public seats. Both are members of Organizing for Action, the Obama political organization that is now pushing his legislative agenda.

The hearing kicked off a year in which President Barack Obama and members of Congress are promising to make gun restrictions a top priority. Obama has already proposed requiring background checks for all gun sales and reviving both an assault weapons ban and a 10-round limit on the size of ammunition magazines, and several Democrats have introduced bills addressing those and other limitations.

After the hearing, Giffords and Kelly met privately with Obama at the White House.

At the Capitol, senators' remarks during the hearing illustrated the gulf between the two parties.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined others in lauding Giffords but expressed little interest in curbing firearms.

"Unfortunately in Washington, emotion I think often leads to bad policies," said Cruz, a freshman elected with strong tea-party backing. He said gun control efforts too often "restrain the liberties of law-abiding citizens," not criminals.

Republicans blamed the nation's gun troubles on a list of maladies including a lack of civility, violent video games and insufficient attention to people with mental problems. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the panel, said that while he welcomed the renewed focus on guns, "The deaths in Newtown should not be used to put forward any gun control proposal that's been floating around for years."

Democrats countered that a need to improve gun restrictions was obvious. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said omitting gun limits from the debate "is like not including cigarettes when discussing lung cancer."

Republicans and the NRA are not the only hurdles Democrats face in trying to push gun legislation through Congress this year. It is also unclear what several Democratic senators facing re-election in GOP-leaning states in 2014 will do, such as including Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee's chairman, said he hoped his panel would write gun control legislation next month, though he did not specify what it might contain. In his opening remarks, he voiced support for requiring broader background checks that would help keep criminals and the mentally ill from obtaining firearms, and he has also introduced legislation that would make it a federal crime for someone to purchase a gun for a person who would not be legally allowed to have one.

Reflecting the emotion that the gun issue taps into nationwide, Wednesday's three-and-a-half-hour hearing featured numerous clashes between senators and some of the witnesses who testified.

"You are a large man," Gayle Trotter, a senior fellow with the conservative Independent Women's Forum, told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., as he questioned her about gun curbs he favors. "You are not a young mother who has a young child" she might have to defend, she said.

At other points, Democrats on the panel contested LaPierre's argument that criminals would simply ignore expanded requirements for background checks. Such checks are currently required for gun purchases from licensed dealers, but not some firearms bought in conjunction with gun shows or online.

"That's the point. The criminals will not go to purchase the guns because there'll be a background check. It will stop them from original purchase. You missed that point completely. It is basic," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Under questioning from Leahy, LaPierre said that in a reversal his organization no longer supports universal background checks for gun purchasers as it did years ago.

"Back in '99 you said, 'No loopholes, nowhere,' " said Leahy, referring to testimony delivered more than a decade ago. "Now you do not support background checks for all."

Giffords, a surprise witness, was helped to her chair as the hearing began by committee Leahy and others. She'd been working on her remarks for a week, but decided to deliver them Tuesday evening, said Pia Carusone, her former chief of staff who is now executive director for Americans for Responsible Solutions.

Kelly recounted the January 2011 attack on Giffords and others and described her battle to regain basic skills.

"Gabby's gift for speech is a distant memory," he told the senators. "She struggles to walk, and she is partially blind. Her right arm is completely paralyzed. And a year ago she left a job she loved serving the people of Arizona."

Toward the end of the hearing, Kelly said he had just gotten word of another Arizona shooting that occurred during Wednesday's session. That shooting in a Phoenix office building left three people wounded, and the shooter was being hunted.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and David Espo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-30-Gun%20Control-Congress/id-19376e2dee5a42c98e6bb76f2acc6a9c

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Exclusive 'Kick-Ass 2' Preview: A Family Affair

MTV News was on the set of 'Kick-Ass 2,' and here's all we're allowed to say about it — for now!
By Josh Wigler

Jim Carrey and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in "Kick-Ass 2"
Photo: Universal Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700929/kick-ass-2-preview.jhtml

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Shouldn?t More Be Done to Prepare New Teachers?

We've all been inside a classroom, and there's a good chance we've each had at least one teacher who wasn't prepared for the task at hand.

For far too long, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), this trend has gone unnoticed by policymakers.

In an effort to propel lawmakers into action, the organization put out a report entitled the 2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook. It grades the country, and each state, on how well it prepares incoming teachers. America was given a D+ on teacher preparedness policies, and zero states were given an A.

Alabama, Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee ranked at the top of the list, each receiving a B-. Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming received failing grades.

The reports points out that only 24 states require a basic skills test when screening applicants. Also, it exposes how shockingly low standards are for elementary school teachers.

While teaching kids to read is perhaps an elementary teacher's biggest responsibility, it isn't treated that way at the policy level. "Only 10 states appropriately assess teacher proficiency in effective reading instruction. And only 11 states adequately test new elementary teachers' knowledge of mathematics."

The problem, according to the report, is that while many states are focused on identifying effective teachers in the classroom, they are "neglecting opportunities to get it right from the start by setting rigorous standards and high expectations for what teachers should know and should be able to do before they are licensed to become teachers."

Ellen Moir, founder and CEO of New Teacher Center, a nonprofit dedicated to improving student learning by accelerating the effectiveness of new teachers and school leaders, echoes this sentiment. She wrote on TakePart that, "Despite the current focus on making sure all educators are effective, we are not setting up most new teachers to make a difference, and their students pay the price."

Moir calls the first year of teaching a "sink or swim" experience and believes teaching mentors can make a big difference. She writes, "Research shows that when new teachers receive the right support, they are more effective and remain in the profession. What does the right support look like? We call it comprehensive new teacher mentoring and induction. It involves the guidance of successful, experienced teachers who have been trained to mentor new teachers and create relevant, timely opportunities for groups of new teachers to learn together."

The NCTQ report touches on mentorship before teachers even receive their first teaching position. It points out that only three states?Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee?require the educator assigned to mentor a student teacher be proven as an effective teacher. Today, placement is more likely to be "the luck of the draw."

NCTQ president Kate Walsh said in a statement, that she hopes policymakers will use this report as a roadmap "on how to get teacher effectiveness right from the start." They can do this, she says, "by setting higher expectations for what teachers need to know and are able to do before they are licensed to become teachers."

Do you think teachers need more preparation before they step foot inside a classroom? Share your thoughts in comments.

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Diary of a First-Year Teacher: Finally, I?m Out of Survival Mode

? Diary of a First-Year Teacher: The First Month

? A California Teacher?s Secret to Raising Grades and Morale

Jenny is the Education Editor at TakePart. She has been writing for TakePart since 2009 and previously worked in film and television development. She has taught English in Vietnam and tutors homeless children in Los Angeles. Email Jenny | @jennyinglee | TakePart.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-done-prepare-teachers-213000127.html

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Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates ...

Washington, DC ? January 29, 2013 ? (RealEstateRama) ? The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.29 percent based on loans closed in December. There was a decrease of 0.07 from the previous month. The complete contract rate series can be found at http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=251.

The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans of $417,000 or less decreased 7 basis points to 3.47 in December. These rates are calculated from the FHFA?s Monthly Interest Rate Survey of purchase-money mortgages (see technical note).

These results reflect loans closed during the December 24 ? 31 period. Typically, the interest rate is determined 30 to 45 days before the loan is closed. Thus, the reported rates

The contract rate on the composite of all mortgage loans (fixed- and adjustable-rate) was 3.28 percent in December, down 8 basis points from 3.36 percent in November. The effective interest rate, which reflects the amortization of initial fees and charges, was 3.42 percent in December, down 7 basis points from 3.49 percent in November.

This report contains no data on adjustable-rate mortgages due to insufficient sample size. Initial fees and charges were 1.15 percent of the loan balance in December, up 7 basis points from November. Fifteen percent of the purchase-money mortgage loans originated in December were ?no-point? mortgages, down from 16 percent from the share in November. The average term was 27.4 years in December, constant from November. The average loan-to-price ratio in December was 76.3 percent, up 0.6 percent from 75.7 percent in November. The average loan amount was $274,100 in December up $1,800 from $272,300 in November.

Recorded information on this index is available by calling (202) 649-3993. For technical questions on this index, please call David Roderer at (202) 649-3206. The January index value will be announced on Feb. 26, 2013.

Technical note: The data are based on a small monthly survey of mortgage lenders which may not be representative. Survey respondents are asked to report the terms and conditions on all conventional, single-family, fully amortized, purchase-money loans closed during the last five working days of the month. The sample is not a statistical sample but is rather a convenience sample. The data exclude FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed mortgages, refinancing loans, and balloon loans. This month?s data are based on 5,404 reported loans from 25 lenders, which may include savings associations, mortgage companies, commercial banks, and mutual savings banks. The effective interest rate includes the amortization of initial fees and charges over a 10-year period, which is the historical assumption of the average life of a mortgage loan.

###

The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $5.7 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions

Contact:
Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032
Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030

?

?

Related posts:

• Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates
  Washington, DC - December 27, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.36 percent based on loans closed in November. There was a decrease of 0.08 from...

• Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates
  Washington, DC - November 29, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.44 percent based on loans closed in October. There was a decrease of 0.12 from...

• Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates
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• Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates
  Washington, DC - July 26, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.67 percent based on loans closed in June. Beginning in March, FHFA is calculating interest...

• Federal Housing Finance Agency Reports Mortgage Interest Rates
  Washington, DC - September 27, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.56 percent based on loans closed in August. There was a decrease of 0.10 percent...

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Source: http://www.realestaterama.com/2013/01/29/federal-housing-finance-agency-reports-mortgage-interest-rates-15-ID018444.html

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'No budget, no pay' advances despite reservations

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In an earlier era, a move like the one engineered by House GOP leaders to pass a "no budget, no pay" measure probably would have been stopped in its tracks.

But with Congress' approval ratings in the gutter, House lawmakers pushed aside questions about fairness and constitutionality and tacked the idea onto an unpopular, must-pass bill to increase the government's borrowing cap.

The measure temporarily would withhold pay from any member of the House or Senate whose chamber doesn't pass a budget this year. The Senate is expected to approve it in the coming week, but only after leaders make clear they think "no budget, no pay" is rife with flaws.

The proposal is before the Senate because the House breezed past objections that the idea is unconstitutional because it could "vary" the pay of lawmakers in violation of the 27th amendment to the Constitution. The House ignored concerns that the measure is unfair to members who are in the minority and are powerless to determine whether a budget passes.

Nearly unmentioned was the prospect that withholding lawmakers' pay favors wealthy members over those of more modest means and could, in theory, attract more affluent candidates better able to withstand having some of their $174,000 salary withheld.

"The last thing we want to do is to say to people running for Congress, 'If you're not a millionaire, don't run because there's no guarantee you'll be paid,'" said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

For these reasons and more, the idea went nowhere in the last congressional session. But it was embraced about a week ago by House GOP leaders such as Speaker John Boehner of Ohio as they struggled to avoid a potential market-crippling default on government obligations.

The proposal is a slap at the Democratic-controlled Senate, which hasn't passed a budget since 2009. Republicans advanced the measure as a one-year experiment rather than a permanent law.

The logic behind "no budget, no pay" goes like this: Passing a budget is the core responsibility of Congress, so why should lawmakers get paid if they don't do their main job?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-budget-no-pay-advances-despite-reservations-093428441--politics.html

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AngelList Debuts Customer Counts And References For Startups, Seeing Record Job Matches

AngelList continues to add compelling features to its service that matches early-stage startups with investors. The platform just debuted a new tool that will show new customer counts in a given time, and show which startups are trending by customer count.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/v3cOTFMWoKc/

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Lawmakers see immigration overhaul this year

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican and Democratic lawmakers were cautiously optimistic Sunday that a long-sought overhaul of the nation's immigration system that includes a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the country will clear Congress this year, the result of changes in the political landscape shown in November's election.

"We are trying to work our way through some very difficult issues," said Illinois' Sen. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. "But, we are committed to a comprehensive approach to finally, in this country, have an immigration law we can live with. We have virtually been going maybe 25 years without a clear statement about immigration policy. That's unacceptable in this nation of immigrants."

Sen. Robert Menendez, who along with Durbin and Sen. John McCain, is part of the six-member, bipartisan Senate group working on a framework for immigration legislation to be announced this week, said current politics dictate that a pathway for citizenship must be included.

"Let's be very clear: having a pathway to earned legalization is an essential element. And I think that we are largely moving in that direction as an agreement," said Menendez, D-N.J., said.

But the package "will have the enhancement of the border security," he said, nodding to Republicans' priority to tighten borders to prevent future illegal immigration.

He also said the package would have to crack down on employers hiring undocumented workers.

Arizona Republican McCain has returned to the issue after having led a failed push to fix the nation's broken immigration system ahead of his 2008 bid for the White House.

McCain said: "What's changed is, honestly, is that there is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle ? including, maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle, that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill."

Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, President Barack Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.

Obama is to press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday: a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.

In an opinion piece published online Sunday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sen. Marco Rubio, also a member of the bipartisan Senate group, laid out his proposal to address the issue. The Florida Republican, son of Cuban immigrants, wrote that "significant progress" on enforcing immigration laws must be certified before unauthorized immigrants now in the country are allowed to apply for residency and "get in the back of the line."

Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican candidate for vice president, said he backs Rubio's proposal.

"Immigration is a good thing. We're here because of immigration. We need to make sure it works," Wisconsin's Ryan said.

If Republicans fail to act, they will pay the price in elections for generations, McCain warned.

"Well, I'll give you a little straight talk: Look at the last election... We are losing dramatically the Hispanic vote, which we think should be ours for a variety of reasons," McCain said.

McCain and Menendez spoke with ABC's "This Week," Durbin appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and Ryan was on NBC's "Meet the Press."

___

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

___

Follow Michele Salcedo on Twitter at http://twitter.com/michelesalcedo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-27-US-Immigration/id-85b4577bb52f4c54a43bc0b82d7501c5

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Firefighters: 180 dead in Brazil nightclub fire

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) ? A fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing at least 180 people and leaving hundreds injured, police and firefighters said.

Sandro Meinerz, a spokesman for the police in the city of Santa Maria, told local media that the fire broke out at the Kiss club while a band was performing. He said at least 200 people were injured.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, officials said. The total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured, Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha.

Arigoni told the radio station a truck carrying 70 bodies had arrived at the Municipal Sports Center, which was being used as an improvised morgue.

Diario de Santa Maria reported that the fire started at around 2 a.m.

Rodrigo Moura, whom the paper identified as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Ezekiel Corte Real, 23, was quoted by the paper as saying that he helped people to escape. "I just got out because I'm very strong," he said.

"Sad Sunday", tweeted Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He said all possible action was being taken and that he would be in the city later in the day.

Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay, is a major university city with a population of around a quarter of a million.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-27-Brazil-Nightclub%20Fire/id-0f590fc2c6514af7b2fa3f2d8268cabc

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Reports: Exit locked at burned Bangladesh factory

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? An official says Bangladesh's government has ordered an investigation into allegations that the sole emergency exit was locked at a garment factory where a weekend fire killed seven female workers.

The fire Saturday at the Smart Export Garment Ltd. factory occurred just two months after a blaze killed 112 workers in another factory near the capital, raising questions about safety in Bangladesh's garment industry, which exports clothes to leading Western retailers. The gates of that factory were locked.

Government official Jahangir Kabir Nanak says an investigation has been ordered into the cause of Saturday's fire and allegations that the emergency exit was locked.

Doctors say most of the victims died from asphyxiation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reports-exit-locked-burned-bangladesh-factory-074125331.html

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Ryan says deep budget cuts likely unavoidable

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the House Budget Committee says Republicans will oppose tax increases and, as a result, deep, unpopular budget cuts will likely take effect.

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that automatic spending cuts are scheduled to take hold because, quote, "Democrats have opposed our efforts to replace those cuts with others."

Democrats have insisted taxes be part of the equation to dodge across-the-board spending cuts that are set to hit the Pentagon and many domestic programs. The spending cuts were set in motion in the hopes of spurring lawmakers to strike a large-scale deal to reduce the deficit.

Ryan was the 2012 vice presidential nominee. He says the country is heading toward a debt crisis if it doesn't confront its spending.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-27-Ryan-Budget%20Cuts/id-334f133a61304a58b6e5204abfca94d1

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Corrections

Photograph by Gabriela Insuratelu.,gabriela insuratelu

In a Jan. 24 "Doers," Trine Tsouderos stated that the restaurant Next changes its menu, d?cor, and music every three months. It actually makes these changes every four months. ?

In a Jan. 23 "Doers," David Maraniss misstated the timing of his final interview with Barack Obama.

Due to an editing error, the menu line for a Jan. 23 ?Future Tense? blog post incorrectly stated that the new Google Transparency Report covers June-July 2012. It covers July-December 2012.

In an editing error in an another Jan. 23 ?Future Tense? blog post, the menu line incorrectly stated that the Australian Attorney-General?s Office seeks new surveillance powers and technology. It is seeking surveillance powers, but it is the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization that wants the technology.?

?In a Jan. 23 "Slatest" post, Jeremy Stahl misspelled the name of Salon.com's partner site, "The Weeklings."

Due to an outdated listing on the Colorado government website, in a Jan. 22 "Bad Astronomy" blog post Phil Plait listed the 2012 members of the Colorado House Appropriations Committee, not the current members.

In a?Jan. 22 "Culturebox," Jason Zinoman incorrectly noted the circumstances of a murder in a scene in The Following. The corpse was propped up in a chair, not hanging from the ceiling.

In a Jan. 22 "Explainer," Brian Palmer wrote that the 2005 presidential inauguration cost slightly less than the 2009 inauguration in inflation-adjusted terms. In fact, it cost slightly more.

In a Jan. 21 "Brow Beat" post, Tim Wu said the International House of Prayers is headquartered in Kansas. It is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

In a Jan. 21 ?Politics,? David Weigel identified Ezra Hill, one of the Tuskegee Airmen, as a pilot. While Hill was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, he served as an engineer, not a pilot.

In the Jan. 17 ?Gaming,? Stefan Fatsis misspelled the name of Alfred Butts? first word game, Lexiko.

Slate?strives to correct all errors of fact. If you've seen an error in our pages, let us know at?corrections@slate.com. General comments should be?posted?in our Comments sections at the bottom of each article.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=01af3dc0d31285fb7ba9e3968edb4b17

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Reggie Watts confounds and amuses at Off Center Festival | watts ...

Terrence Dwyer, the president of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, has been trying hard to convince young Orange County that the Costa Mesa temple of culture isn't just a place for mom and dad anymore.

Reggie Watts could be the ultimate statement of the Center's new programming philosophy.

ADVERTISEMENT

Reggie Watts

Where: Segerstrom Concert Hall

When: Wednesday

The New York-based vocalist/beatboxer/musician/comedian/improviser, whose Wednesday show in the Ren?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall was part of the second annual Off Center Festival, represents the epitome of wild and woolly downtown hipness. Stocky, dressed for the practice room (his first onstage act was zipping his fly) and sporting an afro that would have been considered impressive in the Age of Aquarius, Watts has to be the strangest act to appear on that august stage since it opened in 2006.

You might have seen Watts without knowing his name. He has appeared on Jimmy Fallon's and Conan O'Brien's shows and is a regular on the IFC's "Comedy Bang Bang." He's also popular on the comedy, alternative music and theater festival circuits.

Watts is an indefinable animal. Everything he does is improvised.

Using only his voice, he quickly manipulates digital samplers to feather together intricate and multi-layered loops of repeating sounds which he then solos over. In contrast to his highly rhythmic and tightly structured sound beds, Watts' lead lines and melodies are very fluid and stream-of-consciousness.

He employs his highly flexible voice to imitate a huge variety of styles, from jazz to African township music to classical arias. Often he invents languages. They're nonsense words, but Watts modulates his inflection and body language so they seem uncannily like real phrases whose meaning you can't quite make out.

Sometimes holding two microphones, occasionally playing simple repeated chords or single lines on a keyboard, Watts is a facile and virtuosic composer with a symphony of vocal sounds at his disposal.

Watts alternates his music-making with random monologues about virtually everything under the sun. His ramblings can be hilarious, pseudo-scholarly, disconcerting or maddeningly obscure. He sometimes lets his voice trail into inaudibility or wanders offstage during his talks.

Watts began the evening with a long, detailed and completely fictitious etymology of the Segerstrom Center's name. "It's named after Bob Seger," he told the young, rowdy crowd. "He liked storms. But he didn't want to be obvious about it."

Such artful nonsense is typical of Watts' style. Sometimes it soars; sometimes it falls flat. What's amazing is that he employs no mental filters or governors, allowing one tangent to lead to another. He covered group sex, organic food, President Obama, vocal techniques, the importance of sound absorption and a crazy plethora of other topics, all connected through non sequiturs.

Watts' final song of the evening, announced several times, was delayed over and over by one aside or another. That's at the heart of Watts' performance persona: to keep us off balance and unsure of where exactly he's taking us.

He used that uncertainty right through the show's final moments. As he sang over an energetic sound loop, Watts slowly slid off the stage, walked through the audience and disappeared out the front door of the hall, improvising lyrics all the while. The lights stayed off; the accompaniment continued. Was the show over or not?

A few moments later, Watts finally provided closure. Like a sleight-of-hand artist who's finally done fooling us, he bounded back onstage, thanked us and bid us good night.

Watts isn't everyone's cup of tea, but that's the whole point. From the wall-defying choreography of Project Bandaloop to the tent cabaret of Teatro Zinzanni, the Segerstrom folks have been striving mightily to defy expectations of what a performing arts center should offer. They and Watts are pursuing the same goal: to shake us loose from our ruts and preconceptions, no matter the result.

Who: Reggie Watts

Where: Ren?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

When: Wednesday

Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/watts-409352-center-segerstrom.html

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Emotional stress reduces effectiveness of prostate cancer therapies in animal model

Jan. 25, 2013 ? Not surprisingly, a cancer diagnosis creates stress. And patients with prostate cancer show higher levels of anxiety compared to other cancer patients.

A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicates that stress is not just an emotional side effect of the diagnosis; it also can reduce the effectiveness of prostate cancer drugs and accelerate the development of prostate cancer.

The findings are published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The Wake Forest Baptist team, headed by George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D., associate professor of cancer biology, tested the effects of behavioral stress in two different mouse models of prostate cancer.

One model used mice that were implanted with human prostate cancer cells and treated with a drug that is currently in clinical trial for prostate cancer treatment. When the mice were kept calm and free of stress, the drug destroyed prostate cancer cells and inhibited tumor growth. However, when the mice were stressed, the cancer cells didn't die and the drug did not inhibit tumor growth.

In the second model, mice genetically modified to develop prostate cancer were used. When these mice were repeatedly stressed, the size of prostate tumors increased. When the mice were treated with bicalutamide, a drug currently used to treat prostate cancer, their prostate tumors decreased in size. However, if mice were subjected to repeated stress, the prostate tumors didn't respond as well to the drug.

After analyzing the data, the Wake Forest Baptist researchers identified the cell signaling pathway by which epinephrine, a hormone also known as adrenaline, sets off the cellular chain reaction that controls cell death. Considering that prostate cancer diagnosis increases stress and anxiety levels, stress-induced activation of the signaling pathway that turns off the cell death process may lead to a vicious cycle of stress and cancer progression, Kulik said.

Yet in both models in which the mice were given beta-blocker, stress did not promote prostate tumor growth. Beta-blocker is a drug that inhibits the activation of anti-death signaling by epinephrine.

"Providing beta-blockers to prostate cancer patients who had increased epinephrine levels could improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies," Kulik said. "Our findings could be used to identify prostate cancer patients who will benefit from stress reduction or from pharmacological inhibition of stress-inducing signaling."

The researchers now plan to test the same signaling mechanism that was identified in mice to determine if it also works in the same way in human prostates, Kulik said.

"We are at the very beginning of understanding complex stress-cancer interactions with multifaceted responses to stress that affect cancer cells, tumor microenvironment, and the organism overall," he said. "We hope that components of this signaling pathway could be used as biomarkers to predict whether and how a given tumor will respond to stress and anti-stress therapies."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Sazzad Hassan, Yelena Karpova, Daniele Baiz, Dana Yancey, Ashok Pullikuth, Anabel Flores, Thomas Register, J. Mark Cline, Ralph D?Agostino, Nika Danial, Sandeep Robert Datta, George Kulik. Behavioral stress accelerates prostate cancer development in mice. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013; DOI: 10.1172/JCI63324

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/eXg0Lr8a410/130125142042.htm

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Should I Seek Relationship Advice For Saving My Wedding ...

We won?t ask from it from you, but we want attention from you as well. And they need concrete explanations. People get into more of a tizz when it is about being in love. Relationships are critical to us at that point. If you are in danger, help is available at The National Domestic Violence Hotline, (800) 799-SAFE, where someone can put you in touch with battered women?s shelters and other resources.

When you spend time apart, you have time to actually miss your partner. Spending too much time with a person can quickly spell disaster. It is good marriage advice is to open up! You can still make up with her and save the relationship. If she?s in a rebound relationship, she will be concerned with the troubles in your relationship.

When distrust, arises in a relationship there are many factors which can be causing it. You probably find yourself very disappointed in your mate because you?re comparing him with the man on TV. This aspect of myself discovery is likely the contributing factor to my sense of self-satisfaction regardless of whether I am involved with someone or not. I trusted her even more despite that it was a long distance love. It is important for single parents to take some time to develop relationships with other adults.

Make time to do a hobby that you both enjoy together without distractions from friends and family. You don?t want some advice that will actually cause a break up when you had marriage in mind. Whether you are new to a relationship or not, you need to know valuable relationship advice for women which can guide you in keeping your relationship more passionate. Will not allow this stuff have an affect on your relationship. Studies have proven that exciting events cause people to find each other more attractive.

People facing a problematic relationship with their loved ones are mostly looking for various directions and techniques to answer their issue no matter what it may cost them. It is also a long distance relationship advice given to me when I had a long distance love. Trust is one of the foundations of a long-lasting relationship. Women are known to be very intuitive. They are the biggest doubters of psychic readings, but they can learn to accept intuitive counseling when it is based on facts.

Most women will gladly follow, if only you learn to lead in a good way! Once the chemistry starts to dwindle in the relationship you may start to wonder whether there is a way to get it back. Believe in yourself and your dreams for the future?every new thought can be the opportunity for a new and brighter way of life. It is very similar to nutrition in the educational process of a Physician. Are you both informed of this problem?

The music is gentle, the voices are soft, and the lighting and stage set are romantic and comfortable. That gesture falls on borderline obsession, so just remember that not every male is particularly comfortable with saying those three special words and would rather show their feelings through actions.But don?t let that stop you from reading. I gladly take their advice, I am pretty sure they know what they are talking about. Instead, tell him your concerns and simply ask him if he?s been seeing other women.

Love is not a linear phenomenon?your feelings of love will ebb and flow. If you always pointed out others who were in better shape, your ex starts hitting the gym with a vengeance. If your goal is to look for a special someone, then go to services of good reputation. There are experts that have written countless articles that may pertain to your situation, you might even be able to find counselors who will have a live chat with you. Insecure individuals should stay away from having long distance relationships.

The relationship will be over before it was ever given a fair chance. It is perfectly natural for your feelings to fluctuate along with the tides of these stages.
Get More Information

Source: http://www.welcometocoastcity.org/should-i-seek-relationship-advice-for-saving-my-wedding.php

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Patent lawsuit victories are turning heads at Pittsburgh universities ...

Newell-Simon Hall, an office building at Carnegie Mellon University, was built with the proceeds of the sale of Lycos, an early search engine that was developed at CMU in the 1990s. Andrew Russell | Tribune-Review

By Debra Erdley

Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 12:01?a.m.
Updated 21 hours ago

Universities are finding there may be gold in the patents their researchers produce, but the mother lode is in lawsuits to protect those patents.

The eye-popping $1.17 billion a jury awarded Carnegie Mellon University one day after Christmas and the $85.8 million a judge awarded the University of Pittsburgh last spring are turning heads in academia.

?After the CMU award, I?m sure there are a lot of university deans who want their tech transfer offices to get a little more aggressive? protecting patents, said Chris Barry, a certified public accountant and forensic accountant who tracks patent cases for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Officials at Pitt and CMU declined to discuss their court cases, citing ongoing litigation.

In the Pitt case, a federal judge ruled that Varian Medical Systems, a California medical device maker, infringed on Pitt patents for a respiratory device. A jury in the CMU case found a Bermuda-based chip manufacturer, Marvell Technology Group LTD, appropriated CMU research for a computer chip used in high-speed drives.

It?s unclear how much either school could collect if they prevail in appeals.

Dr. Allen Black, a physician-turned patent lawyer who teaches biotechnology patent law at Pitt, said that could vary depending on legal costs and what the universities pay their researchers.

The Bayh-Dole Act, a 1980 federal law designed to funnel the fruits of federally funded research to the marketplace, stipulated that money from licensing and royalties should flow to the researcher and the university to encourage innovation and fund research.

Although the Pitt and CMU awards are being challenged, their impact is evident.

?Universities have increasingly looked to exploit the financial potential of their patent portfolios. Part of this stems from university administrators? hopes of generating new revenues. ... Part of this also stems from the desire to emulate high-profile cases, such as the CMU case, in which universities have hit a ?home run? by receiving significant damage awards or licensing income,? said Peter Lee, a professor who teaches patent law at the University of California at Berkeley.

A recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers found those who sue to protect patents win about two-thirds of the time.

University patent lawsuits accounted for only 18 of the 1,751 cases that made their way through the courts between 1995 and 2011, the accounting firm found.

Michael Shamos, a lawyer and computer science professor at CMU who testifies as an expert in patent infringement cases, said part of the growth in patent litigation stems from the economic downturn.

?There is a saying in the patent field that it is recession-proof. When times are good, companies have no trouble spending a lot of money for patents. Whenever times go bad, companies start scrounging around for money, so if they own a lot of patents, they start litigating,? Shamos said.

Combined, the two schools pulled in more than $1 billion in government and corporate research grants last year.

Pitt has 490 patents in a portfolio that dates to 1996. CMU has had 457 patents issued to it since 2002.

?It?s a huge step to go from an issued patent to actual money. Most patents that are granted never produce anything,? Shamos said.

Indeed, university earnings on patents from research often are paltry compared with research spending.

Last year, CMU?s best by far in a decade, the university technology transfer office pulled in $19.9 million in income from licensing. A significant chunk of that came from the sale of Carnegie Learning, a spinoff company in which CMU held a stake.

When Lycos, an early search engine developed at CMU, went public in the late 1990s, the proceeds were sufficient to underwrite the $20 million construction of the building that houses computer science department offices and facilities.

But Lee said many research schools barely break even on patent and licensing revenue and some lose money trying to capitalize on research.

Jonathan Parks, a patent lawyer with Pietrogallo, Gordon, Alfano, Bosick & Raspunti in Pittsburgh, wrote the patent for which CMU won its case. He declined to discuss it, but said it?s important for universities to take their patents seriously.

?Universities spend a lot of money innovating and it is important that they protect it. Patents are the only legal monopoly the U.S. government grants,? Parks said.

Debra Erdley is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-320-7996 or derdley@tribweb.com.

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Source: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3321798-74/patents-patent-cmu

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GM's North American chief considered for CEO job in 2010: book

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co's North American president, Mark Reuss, was considered for the top job at the U.S. automaker in 2010 before his lack of seasoning led the board to the current chief executive, Dan Akerson, according to an excerpt from a forthcoming book by GM's former CEO, Ed Whitacre.

As GM, which restructured in bankruptcy with the help of a $50 billion U.S. taxpayer bailout, moved toward its fall 2010 initial public offering, Whitacre told the board he would not continue as CEO. His idea for his replacement was Reuss, according to the excerpt published on Wednesday by Fortune magazine.

"Mark had zoomed up the executive chain in record time; he went from midlevel engineer to the No. 2 person in the company in the space of a year, more or less," Whitacre said of Reuss. "The plus was that Mark was showing a lot of poise and management potential. The downside was that he hadn't been in the job long enough to prove himself as a CEO."

Whitacre's book, "American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA," is scheduled to be published early next month.

GM announced Whitacre's exit in August 2010, and Akerson assumed leadership of the Detroit company the following month.

Reuss declined to comment on Whitacre's book.

GM said the comments were Whitacre's and the company was focused on the future.

"General Motors is now a company guided by new leadership and employees who value the customer first in everything we do," company spokesman Greg Martin said in an email.

"We're grateful for Ed's leadership during a difficult transition for the company," he added. "It's important that we not forget the lessons of our recent past, but it's even more important that we keep our full attention and energy on building great cars and trucks and creating sustained profitability and shareholder value."

Reuss, 49, is perceived by some Wall Street analysts and GM insiders as a potential heir apparent to Akerson. Other possible successors are Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann and global product development chief Mary Barra.

Akerson, 64, has not given a timeline for his retirement.

Whitacre said GM's board in 2010 discussed its options, weighing the idea of a nonexecutive chairman working with Reuss or another candidate while they gathered more seasoning on the job. The board was split, however.

"Some people thought a nonexecutive chairman wasn't a bad idea," Whitacre said. "Other people really didn't care. A few didn't like the idea at all.

"One thing everybody agreed on: Mark had a lot of potential," Whitacre added. "The only concern was his short time in the job. If we asked him to step into the CEO's job, and it didn't work out, that would be a disaster for Mark - and an even bigger disaster for GM. The company needed stability. The revolving door in the CEO's suite had to stop. At this point Dan Akerson volunteered to do the job."

Whitacre said Akerson wanted to be chairman and CEO from the start.

"He had no interest in being a nonexecutive chairman, or a split title. I could certainly understand, because that's what I would have wanted if I'd been in his shoes," Whitacre said.

"When Dan put his hand up, that took care of the problem," Whitacre said. "Not very elegant, I will admit. But that's how it played out."

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gms-north-american-chief-considered-ceo-job-2010-170048076--finance.html

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Make A Competitive Online Marketing Plan With These Suggestions ...

Internet marketing may be the perfect marketing tool for business owners who are just starting out, or expanding their existing business. All the information out there on internet marketing is so vast that it may be overwhelming. This article aims to highlight some of the more important points in Internet marketing.

Try partnering with a charity. Pick a charity that is in the interest arena of your customers, and dedicate a portion of sales to it. This is a good way to develop a positive image for your business. You can choose to support multiple charities and give your customer the choice of who they would like to receive the proceeds from their support.

Offer special deals to new clients, such a deals for a dollar or buy one- get one free. This should generate a buzz and get traffic to your site, hopefully traffic that will be repeat customers. Often customers will be adding other items to their shopping cart while on the site. Always be confident when talking up your products and services.

You need to be listed by Google in order to run a good Internet marketing campaign. Google is used by millions of people every day, so your company needs to be listed if you want to know exactly who is searching for you. Your business will skyrocket if it is indexed by Google.

You should be original and not like other people. Advanced and improved algorithms used by search engines are able to detect duplicate articles and can penalize you in the long run. Be creative and original.

Your website tag should contain a simple, clear definition of you and the focus of your site. This tag is a huge factor in how your viewers see your site, since it is visible above the browser window. There stands a chance of losing potential consumers when they become too confused or unsettled by the things you?ve written.

Do not market your online business only on the internet. Reach out to people who have blogs on a regular basis and have them go to conferences you might have. Build a community around your brand, and people will identify with your products and attend the events where you go.

The appearance and performance of your website is just as important as the in-store buying experience. Keep track of which banners and links get the most clicks and test your site regularly to make sure everything is working fine. No one wants to shop at a business that is poorly tended, looks outdated and doesn?t put much effort into their appearance.

This following article offers advice and information regarding internet marketing. Customers should never have to hunt to find what you?re selling. The landing page is dedicated to selling your product. Site visitors should be able to quickly and easily identify what you are selling. If your viewer needs to dig deep for what they need, they?ll leave quickly.

As you probably know, one of the best ways to improve the success of your business is through the effective use of internet marketing. By integrating the tips mentioned here into your online marketing plan, you have the potential to grow your online business earnings substantially over time.

Be sure to visit our friends at SIVA Marketing.

Source: http://internetmarketingforcash.com/?p=2032

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CSX railroad's 4Q profit slips on weak coal demand

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? Railroad operator CSX Corp. said continued weak coal demand contributed to a 3 percent decline in fourth-quarter net income. The results still beat Wall Street expectations as other sectors improved.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad on Tuesday reported net income of $443 million, or 43 cents per share, in the last three months of 2012. That's down from $457 million, or 43 cents per share, in the previous year's quarter.

CSX said its revenue declined 2 percent to $2.9 billion from $2.95 billion a year earlier. It says declines in coal shipments more than offset gains in intermodal and merchandise shipments.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected CSX to report earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $2.84 billion.

CSX stock was trading up 1.6 percent, or 34 cents, at $21.15 in after-hours trading Tuesday after losing 10 cents in the regular trading session.

The weak coal demand that began with last year's mild winter and cheap natural gas prices continued to create challenges for CSX in the quarter.

Coal revenue fell 18 percent to $747 million in the fourth quarter. The increases in automotive, intermodal and crude oil shipments weren't quite enough to offset coal's decline.

CSX Chairman, CEO and president Michael Ward praised the results.

"CSX continues to demonstrate the underlying strength of its business model, the ability to respond quickly to significant events in the marketplace, and a steadfast focus on creating substantial shareholder value over the long term," Ward said.

The other major freight railroad in the eastern United States, Norfolk Southern Corp., also reported dealing with coal challenges. Norfolk Southern said its fourth-quarter profit fell 14 percent to $413 million, or $1.30 per share, because its coal revenue dropped 23 percent. That's down from $480 million, or $1.42 per share, a year earlier.

For all of 2012, CSX reported net income of $1.86 billion, or $1.79 per share, on $11.8 billion revenue. That's 2 percent higher than the previous year's $1.82 billion net income, or $1.67 per share, on $11.7 billion revenue.

CSX operates over 21,000 miles of track in 23 eastern states and two Canadian provinces. CSX will hold a conference call with investors Wednesday morning.

Union Pacific Corp., the biggest railroad in the U.S., will release its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

___

Follow Josh Funk online at www.twitter.com/funkwrite

___

Online:

CSX Corp.: www.csx.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/csx-railroads-4q-profit-slips-weak-coal-demand-213635846--finance.html

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Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner: not time to talk about taxes ...

Here at Maclean's, we appreciate the written word. And we appreciate you, the reader. We are always looking for ways to create a better user experience for you and wanted to try out a new functionality that provides you with a reading experience in which the words and fonts take centre stage. We believe you'll appreciate the clean, white layout as you read our feature articles. But we don't want to force it on you and it's completely optional. Click "View in Clean Reading Mode" on any article if you want to try it out. Once there, you can click "Go back to regular view" at the top or bottom of the article to return to the regular layout.

CALGARY ? Alberta?s finance minister says plummeting oil revenue means the next Alberta budget isn?t going to be pretty, but the province isn?t ready to consider raising taxes ? yet.

?This is not going to be a fun budget. This is going to be a budget that will show that we are serious about reining in spending,? Doug Horner told a Calgary business audience on Monday.

In the medium term, he said, there?s still the opportunity to trim spending and work to make sure government services are being delivered in the most efficient way possible.

?And then you can probably have a discussion about whether or not we have the right mix of taxation to accomplish the job, but that?s a little ways out yet.?

The ?tough? 2013 budget, which Horner is set to deliver on March 7, will explore ?different ways of doing things? and ?belt-tightening,? but no new taxes to shore up the revenue side, he said.

?The first thing that we do is we look to our own house before we dig into the pockets of those in your house,? Horner told reporters.

That echoes a commitment Premier Alison Redford made earlier this year.

But Horner said there are serious structural issues with the province?s finances.

Alberta?s coffers are being hit hard by the steep discount oilsands producers are getting for their crude versus other varieties. Alberta?s limited access to markets means its bitumen is fetching about $40 a barrel less than West Texas Intermediate, a benchmark for landlocked U.S. light crude.

The price gap widens to $50 when Alberta crude is compared to international benchmarks that can access the most lucrative markets by sea.

A number of pipeline proposals to the east, south and west are in the works to expand market access for Canadian crude, but that won?t fix the situation in the near term.

Horner says the province has been through tough times before, but this time it?s different.

?Alberta has long been well-positioned to weather economic storms. We came through the 2008 recession better than most other jurisdictions,? Horner said in his speech.

?We?re accustomed to the ups and downs of resource prices and we?re used to the boom and bust. But this is not your average storm. This is a structural change in our key commodity and we must do more than wait for the storm to clear, and we are.?

The provincial government held budget consultations in the fall with more than 6,000 Albertans.

In a report Monday, the province says Albertans want the province to save in good times and bad and to diversify the economy away from oil and gas. Respondents to the survey were also open to the government borrowing money to pay for infrastructure, so long as it?s in a responsible way.

Alberta doesn?t have a provincial sales tax and adopting one has been discussed by pundits as Alberta looks to cut its deficit, forecast for this fiscal year is between $2.3 billion and $3 billion.

In order to introduce a sales tax to Alberta, however, there?s a law on the books that requires a referendum and changing that rule is ?not on the table for me to do,? Horner said.

Rob Anderson, finance critic of the Opposition Wildrose party, said the survey is meant to justify the Progressive Conservative government?s ?reckless fiscal agenda.?

?Redford did not campaign on running billion-dollar deficits and picking up debt for future generations to pay for through higher taxes because it does not reflect the priorities of Albertans,? Anderson said.

?Albertans want government to live within its means and prioritize spending on needs versus wants, something this government just doesn?t understand.?

Horner told reporters that numbers are still being crunched, but balancing the budget will be a challenge.

?Is it going to be really, really tough to do? Absolutely. The longer the situation persists, the harder that?s going to be.?

Source: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/01/22/alberta-finance-minister-doug-horner-not-time-to-talk-about-taxes-yet/

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World Baseball Classic rosters released

Critics say Team USA should be more star-studded. No Buster Posey or Matt Cain. No Mike Trout or Troy Tulowitzki. No Clayton Kershaw or Justin Verlander or David Price.

"There's one way to quiet all that," Ryan Vogelsong said, "and that's to go win the thing."

The World Baseball Classic provisional rosters were announced Thursday, and Vogelsong and Jeremy Affeldt of Team USA were among a huge Giants contingent to commit. Others were Pablo Sandoval, Marco Scutaro and Jose Mijares (Venezuela), Angel Pagan and Javier Lopez (Puerto Rico), Sergio Romo (Mexico) and Santiago Casilla (Dominican Republic).

The A's have a smaller representation: Pedro Figueroa (Dominican Republic).

"There might not be a lot of glamorous names," Affeldt said of the U.S. roster, "but you've got a good group of veterans and young guys that I feel form a good team with fire to say, 'We want to win this time, not just go through the motions.' "

Team USA, which fell short of the title game in previous WBCs (2006 and 2009), begins training March 1 at the Rockies/Diamondbacks complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the journey could last nearly three weeks if the Americans reach the championship game at AT&T Park on March 19.

The Giants have a shortened offseason after clinching the World Series on Oct. 28 and parading through San Francisco on Halloween, and players choosing not to participate have legitimate reasons - Posey hasn't had a full spring training since 2011, and Cain pitched 249 1/3 innings last year.

But for Vogelsong, 35, and Affeldt, 33, this might be their last crack at an international stage. In phone interviews, both acknowledged it's a reason they wanted to pitch in the 16-nation WBC.

"As much as I wanted to do this, it was still a difficult decision," Vogelsong said. "Obviously, my loyalty is to the Giants and my teammates to be in the best shape I can be, in our championship season. I talked to quite a few people about it, and they all said, 'Ryan, you need to go do this.' "

Naturally, starters need more time to build endurance for the season, and Vogelsong said he spoke with Cal Ripken Jr. about earlier preparation, hearing from the Hall of Famer that the older he got, the earlier he'd begin training. Vogelsong said he took just a couple of weeks off before throwing again.

Affeldt said he'll be in Arizona by Feb. 3, long before pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 12, and expects to pitch once or twice in the Cactus League before the first WBC workout.

For the U.S. team, the tourney begins March 8 at Phoenix's Chase Field - one of four first-round sites - with Mexico, Canada and Italy in the Americans' bracket. The second round for the U.S. would be in Florida - second-round games for some teams will be in Tokyo - with the final four teams competing in San Francisco.

"I know I'm being selfish, but it would be awesome for me and Vogey to go to San Fran," Affeldt said. "That'd be special, but I'm sure Pablo and everyone else is thinking the same thing."

Posey, the National League MVP, could have been a huge WBC attraction, but management is relieved to keep him in Giants camp after closely monitoring his ankle injury last spring.

"He's the face of American baseball, and it would be fun to have him on the team," Affeldt said. "I can see both sides. But I think he made the wise decision. To make sure he'll be ready to compete at his level, he needs to be with the Giants. They're your employers."

Vogelsong added, "I'd love to see Buster on that team. Selfishly, as a Giant, I'm glad he's not playing. With all the rehab, it was a long season for him physically and mentally. He went through a lot. We sometimes forget how demanding it is. He'll have plenty of opportunities to do this."

Briefly: Sandoval was in a Venezuelan hospital with abdominal pain and colitis, according to tweets from his brother, Michael. The condition wasn't said to be serious, and he was to be released from the hospital soon.

Complete U.S. roster, including Giants pitchers Ryan Vogelsong and Jeremy Affeldt. B9

Individual tickets for the March 17-19 championship round at AT&T Park go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at worldbaseballclassic.com

2013 U.S. roster

Player	Pos.	Team
Mark Teixeira	1B	Yankees
Brandon Phillips	2B	Reds
Jimmy Rollins	SS	Phillies
David Wright	3B	Mets
Joe Mauer	C	Twins
Ryan Braun	LF	Brewers
Adam Jones	CF	Orioles
Giancarlo Stanton	RF	Marlins
Ben Zobrist	INF	Rays
Willie Bloomquist	INF	D-backs
Shane Victorino	OF	Red Sox
Jonathan Lucroy	C	Brewers
J.P. Arencibia	C	Blue Jays
R.A. Dickey	SP	Blue Jays
Ryan Vogelsong	SP	Giants
Derek Holland	SP	Rangers
Kris Medlen	SP	Braves
Craig Kimbrel	RP	Braves
Heath Bell	RP	D-backs
Chris Perez	RP	Indians
Vinnie Pestano	RP	Indians
Luke Gregerson	RP	Padres
Glen Perkins	RP	Twins
Steve Cishek	RP	Marlins
Jeremy Affeldt	RP	Giants
Tim Collins	RP	Royals
Mitchell Boggs	RP	Cardinals

2013 World Baseball Classic

Pool A: Japan, Brazil, Cuba, China

Pool B: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Netherlands

Pool C: Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Spain, Puerto Rico

Pool D: United States, Italy, Mexico, Canada

Format

-- Pool play will be held March 2-March 10 in Japan, Taiwan, Puerto Rico and Arizona.

-- The top two teams from each pool advance.

-- Teams from Pool A and Pool B will meet in the second round March 8-12 in Tokyo. Teams from Pool C and Pool D will meet in the second round March 12-16 in Miami.

-- Four second-round survivors will play the semifinals and final March 17-19 at AT&T Park.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=c1e18d7052082f3dca3a9750fe47a406

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