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  • Tech: Gadget News and Reviews
    Mar 30, 2012 — Washington Post
    Thanks. pegoraror: Yes, and have done so for several years now. If I purchase this, will my current MS Office 2003 run on it? pegoraror: Yes. Thanks. pegoraror: You should have no trouble meeting that price limit.
  • $10 vehicle fee in the mix as fix for roads and transit
    Mar 13, 2010 — Contra Costa Times
    ...transportation projects, and stepping up to pay for them." In Santa Clara County, a committee of the Transportation Authority recommended Wednesday that the full authority consider a November ballot measure. A poll of 900 Marin County voters found 65 percent in support of a $10 per auto fee, according to the Marin County Transportation Authority, which is investigating a ballot measure. The Solano County Transportation Authority is looking at a November ballot measure...
  • At Harvard, reengineering science
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Harvard has stepped up its recruitment of such students in recent years.Since 2006, Harvard has unveiled seven new undergraduate majors, and all of them have been in the sciences. We need to have an education that enables a wide range of students to be excited by the sciences. People who go into policy fields need to understand science.
  • BRIEF
    Mar 13, 2010 — Times Union
    ...nearby buildings, after beginning eminent domain proceedings against the owners of the structures. The economic development agency has long wanted to see progress at the Foster, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and hopes to find a developer willing to turn the property into a retail and residential complex. "It's a very significant, beautiful facade," said Ray Gillen, the agencys chairman. "It's the last piece of the puzzle on the block." To read...
  • Chile Faces Huge Recovery Cost, but Can Go It Solo
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    Thanks to surplus stashed away in better times, Chile will be able to finance much of its own reconstruction from last month's disaster. In addition, the private sector is expected to recover more than $3.5 billion in insured damages. Pinera is Chile's first right-wing president since the dictatorship of Gen.
  • Democrats optimistic on health bill vote
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    The measure would require the government to originate student loans, ending the role of private lenders. Obama proposed transferring the savings into the Pell Grants program.
  • Democrats seek agreement, vote on health care
    Mar 13, 2010 — Associated Press Online
    White House and House and Senate leaders. The decision to add far-reaching student aid changes to the bill had its roots in obscure parliamentary rules governing the Senate's debate of the legislation. But House Democrats and the White House quickly seized on it as a way to advance a top administration priority that lacks the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate otherwise. The measure would require the government to originate student loans, closing out a role for banks and other...
  • Democrats seek healthcare consensus
    Mar 13, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    House Office of Health Reform. Democratic leaders believe that the House will have to vote first on the healthcare bill approved by the Senate last year without trying to change it. Leaders then plan to use a process known as budget reconciliation to push through the House and Senate a package of changes sought by House Democrats. Because budget reconciliation measures cannot be filibustered under Senate rules, Democrats could move the package through the Senate with 51 votes...
  • EDITORIAL
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Kansas City Star
    But bad roads, teacher-scarce schools and emptying the state's jails also tend to have a negative economic impact. Mark Parkinson's plans to cut state highway money, the Kansas Legislature this week tentatively approved a new passenger rail plan.
  • Energy industry has a greener shade at CERAWeek
    Mar 13, 2010 — Houston Chronicle
    Fleet vehicles, trucks, buses and trains, will use natural gas to reduce both emissions and maintenance. What we're discovering is it supports a supply chain that ends up around the country." But the clean energy efforts aren't easy. NRG got money for the Fort Bend County project just a few months after Southern Co. (NYSE:SO PRD) (NYSE:SO) turned down funds from the same program.
  • Jay Nixon proposes sweeping cuts, consolidations
    Mar 13, 2010 — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, offered support for the consolidations of departments. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, said he believed Nixon was still "trimming around the edges" at the budget. It would merge a very small department with a very large one: The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has 1,746 staffers.
  • Lender blames escrow shortage for $400 increase in monthly mortgage payment
    Mar 13, 2010 — Washington Post
    Usually, lenders do not pay interest on escrowed funds. In September, the lender will need six months escrow payments to cover the real-estate tax. Some lenders try to increase the mortgage rate when the borrower opts to avoid escrow.
  • National Briefing | Washington: Climate Change Adds to Bird Stress
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    For the first time, the report adds climate change to other factors threatening bird populations, including destruction of habitat, hunting, pesticides, invasive species and loss of wetlands. The report said oceanic and shore birds were among the most vulnerable to climate change because of rapidly changing marine ecosystems and rising sea levels.
  • Obama delays Asia trip to push healthcare overhaul
    Mar 13, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    The climatic actions will be the House voting on the Senate healthcare bill, and each chamber voting on the so-called budget reconciliation bill, which will contain House changes to the Senate bill.
  • Republicans Name 6 to Debt-Reduction Panel
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    WASHINGTON — Republican leaders in Congress on Friday named six lawmakers to the bipartisan debt-reduction commission that President Obama created. Gregg is the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, while Mr. Hensarling recently had a televised budget debate with Mr.
  • Sports collectables shop is winning hit for father, son team
    Mar 13, 2010 — Sun Sentinel
    People were looking to buy more items: hats, key chains, wallets, socks. They opened a second, 3,500-square-foot store last month at the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale. Mike Goldstein attributes their success to employees who are tuned in to sports. Keep operations small and reinvest in the company. Avoid overstocking.
  • State may cut $200m from local aid
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...reliant on the property tax than at any point in the 30 years since the Proposition 2 1/2 tax cap passed, Beckwith said. ``Cities and towns and local aid have taken more than their fair share of cuts, and communities are struggling out there to provide services that are important to our economic recovery,'' Beckwith said. Local officials are urging lawmakers to uphold the funding levels Patrick proposed and to give communities more power to balance their budgets, such as...
  • Tea Party Avoids Divisive Social Issues
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    But as the Tea Party infuses conservatism with new energy, its leaders deliberately avoid discussion of issues like gay marriage or abortion. And Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, while celebrating the Tea Party for energizing their movement, spent much of their time talking about banning gay marriage and overturning Roe v. Wade. Tea Party leaders themselves have found it hard to keep the issues out.
  • United Healthcare and Continuum Health End Contract Dispute
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    The negotiations between the insurer, UnitedHealthcare, which includes Oxford health plans, and the hospital system, Continuum Health Partners, which includes Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, had been extremely contentious. Both she and Continuum declined to divulge details, saying they were bound by a confidentiality agreement.
  • Vast F.C.C. Plan Would Bring Net to More in U.S.
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service. It also supplies Internet access to schools, libraries and rural clinics. In recent weeks, the most-talked-about idea in the television industry has been a voluntary auction of over-the-air spectrum for future mobile broadband uses.
  • 'Withering' report says Metro needs 3 years to be turned around
    Mar 12, 2010 — Washington Post
    Metro's management, financial and service problems to its board of directors Thursday, predicting that it will take three years to turn the nation's second-busiest transit system around, according to Metro officials and sources.The board hired Gunn, 72, an industry veteran who served as Metro general manager from 1991 to 1994, to diagnose Metro's ills and outline solutions."It was more than frank, it was withering," board Chairman Peter Benjamin said after hearing Gunn's...
  • Aftershocks a reality check for Chilean President SebastiÃ?¡n PiÃ?±era
    Mar 12, 2010 — Washington Post
    The billionaire businessman had vowed to generate 6 percent economic growth a year and hundreds of thousands of jobs. The timber industry has been hobbled by the loss of ports and factories, he said.
  • Airline group cuts 2010 loss estimate in half
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Dallas Morning News
    Latin America carriers will earn $800 million, same as in 2009. With most airlines reporting 2009 results, the organization revised its estimate of 2009 losses to $9.4 billion.
  • Al-Qaida suspect had worked at U.S. nuclear plants
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Philadelphia Inquirer
    ...spokesman Joe Delmar said Mobley worked as a contract laborer during refueling outages from 2002 to 2008 and satisfied federal security requirements.Federal authorities told state Homeland Security officials that there was no security breach involving Mobley at the nuclear plants, according to Mike Drewniak, spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.Jenkins said Mobley, who worked on scaffolding at the nuclear plants and excavation projects in Camden County, would have...
  • Alaska lawmakers meet with NOAA chief to discuss endangered status for whales
    Mar 12, 2010 — McClatchy Washington Bureau
    Don Young met Friday to express their concerns with Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In recent months, they've been joined by Alaska Gov. Their population dropped to an estimated 320 last year from about 1,300 whales in 1979.
  • Alaskan hopes bike trek will raise awareness of climate change
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Salt Lake Tribune
    So far, he's been through one bike and a pair of tires.
  • An upstream battle over chinook salmon
    Mar 12, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    The population of California sea lions, the kind mainly responsible for the salmon-fest, has been burgeoning, while chinook salmon have presented policymakers with a persistent conservation problem. Chinook salmon also make up 80% of the diet of killer whales; should we kill the killer whales too? The federal government has spent $8 billion trying to restore salmon populations without fish ladders and hatcheries.
  • Antiabortion religious leaders urge lawmakers to pass Senate health bill
    Mar 12, 2010 — Washington Post
    We believe that the provisions below provide extensive evidence that longstanding restrictions on federal funding of abortion have been maintained. More than 30 million Americans may finally gain access to a health care system that is affordable -- providing families, children and seniors with fundamental care that is essential to human dignity. Cynthia L. HaleSenior PastorRay of Hope Christian Church, Decatur, GADr.
  • AP: Obama wants Janet Yellen as Fed vice chairman
    Mar 12, 2010 — USA Today
    Yellen is more concerned about high unemployment than rising inflation. The Fed vacancies have stirred debate over the future direction of interest-rate policy at the Fed. Yellen served as a top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton.
  • As costs soar, Mass. foresees change in health insurance rules
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...coverage.The state's landmark 2006 health law requires nearly everyone to have health insurance or to pay a stiff tax penalty.But several board members said that since 2006, insurance costs have risen much faster than incomes. The affordability formula the board uses is pegged to income and the cost of health insurance plans that are available in each region.``We need to look at how the percentage of income we are asking people to contribute to insurance has...
  • Attorney and Chicago civic leader
    Mar 12, 2010 — Chicago Tribune
    Wilcox had a hand in completing reports that examined the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of the Rev. Wilcox to be the state's director of insurance. Wilcox grew up in Winnetka and graduated from North Shore Country Day School.
  • Bankruptcy agreement could aid Kenosha plant
    Mar 12, 2010 — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    Kenosha licenses were included in the filing to aid the Chrysler estate "in bolstering the recoverable value, and promoting the efficient liquidation" of the factory, equipment and fixtures in the Kenosha plant. Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said she could not comment on the estate's plans for the disposition of the plant. "Our plans for Kenosha have not changed," she said. "We still plan to close the plant at the end of the year." Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said in a...
  • Bay State seeks fair shake in health bill
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    Governor Deval Patrick is a friend of the president's, and Kerry was critical in shepherding the health care bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Lawmakers decided yesterday to adopt the Senate language on health insurance funding of abortion, which is less restrictive than the House-approved version. The average federal share is 57 percent of the cost.The Senate bill would force all states to expand Medicaid and would help to pay the cost of the added coverage.
  • Bid to ax tax break for films rejected
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...year.''Representative Jay R. Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat who is the committee's House chairman, disagreed. He said that the credit has not only created jobs but sparked interest from developers who want to build studios in Massachusetts.``We looked at it as something that promises tax returns over time and an investment worth making,'' Kaufman said.The bill would have drastically reduced the credit, in part by capping it at $7 million per film.
  • Bill Clarifies 3rd-Party Generation Law
    Mar 12, 2010 — Albuquerque Journal
    ...services. The legislation was broadly supported by utility companies -- including PNM, which argued the Utility Act did not allow such arrangements -- electric co-ops and environmental and renewable energy groups. With the bill's signing, PNM will withdraw its appeal of the PRC ruling, PNM spokesman Don Brown said. "We're glad it passed," he said. "It resolves an issue that was fairly contentious." El Paso Electric (NYSE:EE) is also expected to withdraw its appeal....
  • Bill to remove growth cap on charters clears House
    Mar 12, 2010 — The Salt Lake Tribune
    SB188 would remove that limitation and instead would base charter school enrollment growth each year on how much money lawmakers appropriate. Bill sponsor Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, has said he hopes the bill helps Utah qualify for federal Race to the Top money for schools. Utah had applied for $250 million in Race to the Top money to help the state carry out school reforms.
  • Birth center set to open in area
    Mar 12, 2010 — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Birth centers are commonly staffed by nationally certified and trained midwives, who focus on education and care that promotes physiologic birth. This would include changing state laws and insurance regulations to promote access to midwives and birth centers and providing more training options for midwives. Henman set out to get her advanced nursing degree in midwifery through the distance learning program at Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Kentucky.
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