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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Michael Carter-Williams spent most of his basketball life trying to say all the right things in public.
Last summer, he finally got a chance to be himself on camera.
The quiet former Syracuse star agreed to let a television crew profile his journey through the NBA's summer league and now the whole world can get a glimpse at what is like for a star player when "Summer Dreams" premieres on CBS during the heart of March Madness. An official announcement from CBS and Mandalay Sports Media about the March 15 launch was scheduled for Wednesday.
The reality program features four NBA rookie prospects — Carter-Williams, Dallas Mavericks guard Shane Larkin, Romero Osby and Dwayne Davis — NBA referee hopeful Lauren Holtkamp and NBA D-League coach Joel Abelson as they try to take the next big steps in their careers.
Most of the participants saw it as an opportunity to gain exposure. Carter-Williams wanted others to see a side of life he rarely shows.
"I think the biggest difference was it wasn't me having to necessarily say the right thing," the Philadelphia 76ers guard told The Associated Press. "I could say what I felt about the game. I didn't have to pretend to be anyone else."
The show is scheduled to air in a two-hour slot Saturday night after CBS broadcasts its fourth and final game of the day and less than 24 hours before the NCAA tournament pairings are announced on Selection Sunday.
Network executives are betting that will be a ratings winner. But that's not why executive producer Mike Tollin took on this project.
He wanted to give basketball fans a look into a world that looks like a combination of baseball's winter meetings and the NFL's annual scouting combine while providing a platform that goes well beyond the high-profile stars such as Carter-Williams and Larkin, both first-round picks last June.
Osby, Orlando's second-round pick, and Davis, an undrafted free agent, got a chance to show they could compete against NBA-caliber talent. Osby was averaging 16.2 points with Maine in the D-League until being waived after sustaining a season-ending right shoulder injury Jan. 11. Davis is scoring 9.7 points for UCAM Murica, a Spanish team.
Holtkamp used the Las Vegas games to audition in front of Joe Borgia, vice president of NBA referee operations, and has worked a handful of NBA contests this season.
Abelson turned the week into his own personal job fair, searching for a new job after being fired as head coach of Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce. He landed the head coaching job with Reno, a D-League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, and the Bighorns were tied for the West Division lead at 16-11.
"I've done a lot of sports documentaries and I'm always attracted to the underdog. It gives us the hope and the belief that dreams come true there (in Vegas) and great stories emerge," Tollin said. "I'd like to have people discover the Las Vegas summer league and appreciate how hard it is to get there, how long the odds are people have to overcome to become one of the chosen."
The project began with camera crews following about 15 people.
Over the course of two months, editors settled on the six who provided the most compelling story lines and the greatest access. Along the way, Tollin and his team of Jon Weinbach, Danny Meiseles and Mason Gordon documented a series of intriguing tales.
Larkin, the son of baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, shows his disgust after breaking his right ankle just before the summer games begin and is shown wiping his eyes as his mother tries to comfort him. After undergoing surgery, the show follows Larkin as his father helps him cope with the grueling challenge of rehab.
Mandy Carter-Zegarowski, a former women's college basketball player who plays the dual role of mother and personal manager of her son, Carter-Williams, searches for the right balance to help her son.
During lunch with four other mothers who had NBA sons, she finds out each had similar concerns when their children were rookies.
Gerald Henderson's mother, Marie, recounts a story about the time she wanted to know why her son wasn't on the court and Rod Higgins, then Charlotte's president of basketball operations, offered to take her to the locker room. She accepted the offer, much to her son's chagrin.
And Hakim Warrick's mother, Queen, recalls the time she called the NBA office to find out why her son wasn't playing more minutes.
"No, I have not called the league office and I have not gone into any locker rooms, either," Carter-Zegarowski said, laughing. "That scene at the restaurant that was really hilarious. It was real, and I've stayed in touch with those mothers."
If all goes well, Tollin hopes to make a sequel this summer with a whole new cast of characters.
For Carter-Williams, the reality of sharing a television stage with his mother opened the door to a whole new world.
"A lot of people are going to know about my mom a lot more," he said, explaining his expects to get his new teammates to tease him. "But people are going to see me as someone different, too."


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DUBLIN (AP) — Northern Ireland leaders appealed for calm Thursday after Protestant militants attacked offices and a home connected to the most compromise-minded political party over its support for reducing the display of British flags on government buildings.
The overnight violence in two Belfast suburbs came on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's planned visit Friday to the capital of the British territory. It underscored how divided Northern Ireland remains despite the broad success of a peace process that has stopped paramilitary violence but done little to bring down barriers between rival British Protestant and Irish Catholic communities.
"I'm looking forward to my visit to Belfast tomorrow to see for myself what the situation is," Clinton said at a Dublin press conference alongside Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
Protestant hard-liners have responded violently to a vote Monday in the Belfast City Council to reduce sharply the flying of the British flag atop the city hall. The Alliance Party, which represents middle-ground opinion and seeks support from both sides of the community, holds the balance of power on the council. Alliance voted with the Catholic side to take down the flag except for 18 official days annually; the Protestants had wanted it to stay up 365 days a year.
Several hundred Protestant protesters broke through the city hall's gates Monday night and injured 15 policemen defending the building. Associated Press photographer Peter Morrison suffered serious head and hand wounds during the melee, during which he says police beat him with clubs.
On Wednesday night more than 1,500 Protestants rallied in the northern suburb of Carrickfergus demanding that the British flag be restored atop Belfast's municipal headquarters. The protest soon descended into attacks on riot police. Four officers were injured and responded with volleys of British-style plastic bullets, flat-nosed cylinders designed to knock down rioters with punishing blows. They also arrested four suspected rioters.
Some in the crowd set fire to the nearby Carrickfergus office of Alliance, destroying it. And to the east of Belfast, more vandals poured petrol on the locked front of another Alliance office in Bangor, but police said a passing police patrol spotted the attackers and forced them to flee before they could light a fire.
Also in Bangor, a couple who are both Alliance politicians had their home's front window vandalized just after midnight Thursday, and said they now were afraid to stay in their home with their 17-month-old daughter.
"Our daughter could have potentially lost her life. Is a flag worth this, seriously?" Michael Bower told the BBC sitting on his living room sofa, with his wife Christine beside him and their child on his lap.
Christine Bower appealed directly to the attackers: "You may not agree with us, but please don't attack us."
Leaders of Northern Ireland's joint Catholic-Protestant government, the central achievement of a two-decade peace process, appealed for the protests against Alliance to stop. Alliance is the smallest of five parties in the governing coalition.
The Northern Ireland police commander, Chief Constable Matt Baggott, said the province risked a surge in street violence if extremists within the Protestant community continued to mount illegal rallies in town centers.
"To use mob rule and violence as a way of asserting people's will is compromising the rule of law," Baggott said. He called it "an outrage to have democratic parties intimidated and burned out simply because they took a democratic decision."
But several more impromptu Protestant demonstrations broke out Thursday night on streets in Belfast and nearby towns. Rush-hour traffic was disrupted, but police reported no violence or arrests as they gradually cleared the roads.
The Protestant leader of the unity government, First Minister Peter Robinson, said he shared the protesters' anger over moves to shun the British flag in Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. But he called for protest leaders to halt their street campaign "in the wider interests of a peaceful society and to ensure their protests are not used by others to launch a campaign of violence."
About 3,700 people have been killed in the Northern Ireland conflict since the late 1960s. But peacemaking efforts since the early 1990s have greatly reduced the death and destruction, with the major outlawed groups — the Provisional Irish Republican Army on the Catholic side, and the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association on the Protestant side — all agreeing to disarm and renounce violence since 2005.
But several small IRA factions continue to mount occasional gun and bomb attacks, most recently shooting to death a prison guard last month as he drove to work.
And Northern Ireland itself remains segregated by mutual consent in many ways, with Catholics and Protestants attending separate school systems, rooting for different sports, and above all living in different communities. Much of Belfast remains physically divided by high security walls called "peace lines." The Protestant side colors its curb stones the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, while the Catholic side paints them the green, white and orange of the Irish Republic.
Against this pervasive sectarian backdrop, Alliance attempts to be studiously neutral and manages to offend both sides for different reasons. Even the party's website avoids the British "co.uk" or Irish "ie" in favor of the neutral "org."
Alliance Party: http://allianceparty.org/

subset: commoncrawl


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
by Larry Austin
Niagara Regional Theatre Guild could advertise its new production of "Tuesdays With Morrie" with the slogan "Now With More Doug Smith."
Though the 77-year-old Islander played the same role in the same play four years ago, also for NRTG, this time around director John Quackenbush of Grand Island said he has the veteran actor delivering more of his inimitable personality on stage.
Smith plays a professor with Lou Gehrig's Disease, who is visited by a former student, Mitch, played by Joe Fratello. Though Mitch visits his terminally ill professor essentially to say goodbye, he ends up visiting his mentor every Tuesday, and in the process learns about living from one who is dying. The play is based on Mitch Albom's book by the same name.
Quackenbush said the audience will see more of the Doug Smith Islanders know, calling him a leprechaun with a twinkle in his eye.
"Different directors have different ideas," Quackenbush said. "I like to bring in the personality of the people, in addition to the words of the character. And so when we were doing the early rehearsals, Doug had a way of doing it. And I said, 'No, I want more Doug Smith in here than I want you playing a character from the book.' "
Smith performed the two-man show previously at NRTG's former home at Cardinal O'Hara. The move to The Ellicott Creek Playhouse will raise the level of intensity in the production.
"This stage is so much better. When we were performing at Cardinal O'Hara High School, it was like doing up-close magic at Shea's Buffalo," Smith said. "This is just such a more intimate setting, and you're almost literally in the room with them."
Smith performed his first role in high school at age 13 and has done more than 50 shows in 60 years. He said he was hooked on acting at age 13 when in his first show an actress nearly a foot taller than him accidentally knocked him down on stage opening night.
"It brought the house down. That was not in the script," Smith said. "I think at that moment I was hooked."
Doug also credits Polly, his wife of 53 years, with any success he may have.
"While she'd never go on stage, she's just too shy, she works tirelessly at helping me learn lines, setting up costumes, everything. By opening night, she knows a play better than I do. For this one, she even helped me with choreography, although when people see what a bad dancer Morrie is, she may not want to admit it."
The show runs from Nov. 9 through 18. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. The production will take place at The Ellicott Creek Playhouse, 550 Ellicott Creek Road, Tonawanda. Call 716-284-6358 for information, reservations and tickets, or visit www.niagaratheatre.com.
Pictured: Joe Fratello, at the piano, and Doug Smith rehearse a scene from the Niagara Regional Theatre Guild's production of "Tuesdays with Morrie," which runs Nov. 9 through 18. (photo by Larry Austin)


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5 Types of Social Media Strategies
Social media is not a magic bullet. It's an enabler. Social media won't make an antisocial brand suddenly social. But it can facilitate and amplify the role that brands play with their audiences.
Whether in social media or any other domain, we need to focus less on how "awesome" we are and more on working toward making our customer's more "awesome". Via Marketoonist.
There's No Avoiding Google+
In order to compete with social networking giant Facebook, Google+ has begun requiring that people that use their services are also set up with a public Google+ page that anyone can view. Via The Wall Street Journal.


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September 2007
Reaching and Informing Parents
Making parents aware of their options continues to be a fundamental issue for districts implementing public school choice and SES. To ensure parents are informed, below are some items for districts to consider when developing the parent notices required under No Child Left Behind, for engaging in additional parent outreach activities and pursuing other outreach strategies, and for facilitating the public school choice application and SES enrollment processes. Districts across the country have approached the requirement to notify parents in a variety of ways, and they have undertaken a staggering array of additional parent outreach. Rather than prescribe how to inform parents and get students signed up for public school choice or SES, what follows is meant to help districts learn more about various practices and determine if they might be appropriate or beneficial for them.
A note before proceeding. In developing parent notices and pursuing additional parent outreach, districts should not proceed at random. Rather, districts should undertake an assessment of their parent notification and outreach capabilities and needs, and then develop and carry out a clear and detailed plan based on the results of this assessment. A district that understands its needs and sets clear goals for itself is generally more likely to succeed in informing parents of eligible students of their public school choice and SES options.


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Editor's note: Ed Rollins, who was political director for President Ronald Reagan, is a Republican strategist who was national chairman of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign.
Ed Rollins says Obama gave an inspiring speech, but the real question is what choices he will make.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Obama technically didn't give a State of the Union speech Tuesday night and therefore didn't have to report on the state of the union.
He instead gave a speech to a joint session of Congress, with all the pomp and circumstance and media coverage of a State of the Union.
He spoke in the very hall where four years ago, one month after being sworn in as a new senator from Illinois, he listened to the re-elected President George Walker Bush give an official State of the Union speech.
On February 2, 2005, Bush reported to the nation that: "Tonight ... the state of our union is confident and strong."
Unfortunately, President Obama, through no fault of his own, couldn't make that statement and neither could anyone else.
The only thing confident and strong on Tuesday night was our new president, and the country needed him to be just that. Using all his great communication skills, he gave an inspiring speech.
To his countrymen who are looking to this new, untested leader, he gave them hope with his words: "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
This was a speech about aspirations; not about plans or strategies or how we are going to get out of this mess. We as a nation are living a nightmare and he gave us an "I Have a Dream" speech.
Nothing wrong with that, and who should second-guess anyone who already has lived the American dream and exceeded every expectation? But it is going to take more than words to bring us back. It's going to take tough decisions.
We know President Obama can talk. We have marveled at his communications skills throughout the campaign and he's only getting better. But can he make the tough decisions a president alone makes? We shall see.
I give the president credit for being inspiring, but I have to say I am a skeptic. It's not because I am a partisan Republican. As an American with a young daughter, I want this president to succeed.
As a man in the twilight of my career, I want my country to continue to be everything it was when I was growing up. But as inspiring as the president's words were, I want to see the details and the plans.
Adopting a strategy is about making choices. There are no easy choices. I've also watched a lot of potential leaders make the wrong choices because they weren't tough enough to make the right choices.
The president laid out many worthwhile goals Tuesday night. It was as ambitious as any president has ever done. But right now, the priority has to be creating jobs, fixing the banking situation and resolving the housing crisis. And don't forget the brave men and women fighting two wars.
Four years ago, Bush went on to say: "America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline. I will send you a budget that holds the growth of discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax relief permanent, and stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009."
Obviously, the bipartisan spending discipline went by the boards. It's now 2009 and the deficit is not half but 10 times what President Bush wanted. And President Obama is right when he says he inherited a trillion-dollar deficit, a financial crisis and a costly recession. He inherited it, but it's now his problem to fix.
He also must understand that the woman behind him Tuesday night at the podium, jumping up and down and applauding like a high school cheerleader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been in charge of the House the last two years.
All spending is authorized and appropriated by the Congress and starts in her House. Controlling his own party is the biggest challenge he faces.
President Obama said Tuesday night that he wants to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but he also wants massive spending programs for education, energy and health care, and certainly the spending discipline of the Democrat-controlled Congress is suspect.
I know President Bush has gone back to Texas hoping historians will be kinder to him than his countrymen. And most Americans don't recall any words from his State of the Union addresses.
But I am sure President Obama in four years would like to be able to repeat the words he heard four years ago when he sat and listened to the State of the Union as a new member of the Senate. iReport.com: Does Obama have what it takes?
President Bush said that night: "America's economy is the fastest growing of any major industrialized nation. In the past four years, we have provided tax relief to every person who pays income taxes, overcome a recession, opened up new markets abroad, prosecuted corporate criminals, raised home ownership to the highest level in history, and in the last year alone, the United States has added 2.3 million new jobs."
Obviously the game can change quickly, as Bush found out. We did, too.
Let's hope President Obama can also say at the end of this term:
"Tonight ... the state of our union is confident and strong."
There's a lot of work and a lot of tough decisions between now and then.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ed Rollins.
All About Barack Obama • Nancy Pelosi • George W. Bush


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2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
DGAC MEETING 6: Materials and Presentations
November 7, 2014
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans provide science-based advice on how nutrition and physical activity can help promote health and reduce the risk for major chronic diseases. The Guidelines form the basis of Federal nutrition policy, standards, programs, and education for the general public. The Dietary Guidelines are published jointly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture every 5 years.
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), whose duties are time-limited and solely advisory in nature, will:


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American Physical Society Sites|APS|Journals|PhysicsCentral|Physics
- American Physical Society Sites
- Publications
- Meetings & Events
- Programs
- Membership
- Policy & Advocacy
- Careers In Physics
- Newsroom
- About APS
- Become a Member
Amanda McCoy is a rising senior concentrating in Chemistry and Physics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Amanda is an avid Steelers fan ready to wave her terrible towel.
Amanda graduated at the top of her class from North Allegheny Senior High School in 2004, where she first developed her interest in Physics through the encouragement of her AP Physics teacher, Mr. John Kernion. She has always been fascinated by the laws of physics operating on the real world, most specifically the human body. It is Amandas goal to use her undergraduate physics knowledge to pursue a career in medicine focusing in the specialty of radiation oncology or radiology.
At Harvard, Amanda served as the secretary for the Harvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers (HSBSE) for the 2006-2007 school year, serves as captain of the Harvard Crimson Cheerleading Squad, serves as a mentor in the Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE) program, works as a Course Assistant for Harvard undergraduate calculus classes, and is an active member in both the Association of Black Harvard Women (ABHW) and the Harvards Black Students Association (BSA).


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Drowning Victim Identified
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Officials in Mineral County say a man's body recovered from the Clark Fork River is that of a Superior resident missing since last November.
County Attorney Marcia Boris said last night that the body located about five miles west of Superior was that of 21-year-old Dustin Goebel. A nearby resident found the body Tuesday. The Missoulian reports Goebel was last seen near his home Nov. 24. Family members searched frantically after he left his grandmother's home and vanished.


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- Home
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- Public Notices
I'd like to take this opportunity to express my thoughts on the plans to clean up the city and enforce city ordinances.
First, the code inspector is going over board, he is now writing people citations for toys in the yard. Come on that just shows that the city wasn't that bad to begin with. He's obviously ran out of real violations to write people up for.
Second, I think we should all thank the mayor. I have talked to many town officials and everyone points the finger at the mayor.
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Montana Presidential Award-winning math and science teachers support Montana's Common Core State Standards
We are a group of Montana educators who are leaders in the improvement of math and science education. We have all had the honor of receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching – the nation's highest award for math and science teaching.
We are committed to seeing our students succeed at the highest level. Collectively, we support Montana's Common Core State Standards. We strongly believe in the Common Core State Standards and their promise for all students. We have signed this letter because we believe the Common Core State Standards are worthy of our students and worthy of our support.
Montana was the last of 46 states to adopt the Common Core Standards because the Montana Board of Public Education wanted to make sure they were right for Montana students. Educators, school administrators, and business leaders from across the state spent countless hours crafting, reviewing, and tweaking the Common Core Standards to make sure they will work for every student. Twelve public meetings were held over a two-year period before the Montana Board of Public Education voted to adopt the Common Core Standards November 4, 2011. The result is mathematics standards that provide a progression to college and career readiness.
Twenty-two Montana Teachers of the Year also signed a statement supporting the Common Core Standards.
• are asked to explain to themselves the meaning of a problem and look for entry points to its solution;
• make sense of quantities and their relationships in problem situations;
• understand and use stated assumptions, definitions, and previously established results in constructing arguments;
• apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace;
• consider available tools when solving a mathematical problem;
• try to communicate precisely to others;
• try to use clear definitions in discussion with others and in their own reasoning;
• look closely to discern a pattern or structure and notice if calculations are repeated;
• look both for general methods and for shortcuts; and
• recognize that mathematical understanding and procedural skills are equally important.
In math, Montana's Common Core Standards focus on core topics and skills, allowing educators time to teach at a depth that has not been feasible in the past. The Common Core Standards allow students the time to practice and refine skills, rather than race through standards that are a mile wide and an inch deep.
We acknowledge that there will be challenges ahead, but we strongly believe Montana's Common Core State Standards are a significant step forward. Educators like us are already working hard every day to make these standards a reality in classrooms across Montana.
The following recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching concur in the above statement:
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AICPA Confirms Digital Signatures Allowed for IRS Form 8879
March 31, 2014
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new electronic signature guidance for Forms 8878 and 8879 on March 12 in a QuickAlert.
The announcement said that Publication 1345 "Handbook for Authorized IRS e-file Providers of Individual Income Tax Returns" (available only online) had been revised regarding electronic signatures for Forms 8878 and 8879. However, in reviewing the changes, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) discovered that a key reference to the permissions for digital signature only referenced Form 8878, raising a question about whether digital signatures were also permitted on Form 8879.
The AICPA worked with the IRS to clarify the changes and suggested where an additional clarification would be helpful. As a result of the discussions, IRS updated the page Signing an Electronic Tax Return with two critical changes:
• The words "and 8879" were added to the following statement: "EROs may use an electronic signature pad to have taxpayers sign Forms 8878 and 8879."
• The words "or electronic signature" were added to the following sentence: "This does not alter the requirement that taxpayers must sign Form 8878 and Form 8879 by a handwritten or electronic signature."
As a result, digital signatures for Form 8879 are now specifically and explicitly authorized under the revised guidance.


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Typing terms into the search box will, by default, search for records that contain your search term(s) in any of the indexed fields in a database record. This includes:
- Title: (et=English Title and ft=Non-English Title)
- Author: (au=Personal Author, av=Author Variant, ed=Editors, ad= Additional Authors and ca=Corporate Author)
- Abstract: (ab)
- Descriptors: (de)
- Organism Descriptors: (od)
- Geographic Location: (gl)
- Broad Terms: (up)
- Identifiers: (id)
- Conference Title: (ct)
- ISSN: (sn)
- ISBN: (bn)
- DOI: (oi)
- Record number: (pa)
A search query may be broken up into terms and operators.
There are two types of term: Single Word Terms and Multi-Word Phrases.
A Single Term is a single word such as cat or dog.
Multiple words, when entered into the search box, are treated as Single Terms and combined with an "invisible" AND.
In this way, the records found by the search must, by definition, include all the searched terms. This gives a very specific, defined result.
A Phrase is a group of words and, to search for a specific phrase, like <cattle breeds> rather than searching for the individual word, the phrase must be surrounded by double quotes as in the example "cattle breeds".
A phrase search, like this, will give much more specific results. A search string can be entered that contains multiple terms, both singe words and phrases, as in the example "cattle breeds" "milk production" europe. These three terms will, by default, be combined with AND.
NB Please use straight quotes or the native version in CAB
Direct, rather than smart or curly typographer's quotes which Microsoft
Word defaults to, as CAB Direct ignores smart quotes. This may be
important if you are saving long search strategies in a separate
document and copying this into your search box.
For greater control of your search, multiple terms can be combined together with the three Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to form a more complex query (see below).
Stemming is a particular feature of CAB Direct which is designed to optimize the number of retrieved results and to improve a searcher's chances of retrieving the correct results without necessarily knowing a great deal about CABI's indexing or advanced search techniques. It is very effective in uncovering hidden information, particularly if used in conjunction with the Most Relevant option for sorting at Search Results display.
Stemming means that words are stemmed to include plurals of words and various versions with suffixes such as "ing". In a phrase search stemming also looks for approximate matches even if words are separated by several other words or punctuation marks.
For example a search for <cat breeds> will also retrieve results with <cat breeding> <cats and breed> <cat....breed>
Stemming is applied to all searches by default unless quotation marks " " are used to denote that a very specific result is required.


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Lucas Oil PBA Badger OpenPosition Round
After 26 total games, the top 5 bowlers will advance to the televised stepladder finals (airing on the CBS Sports Network on Tuesday, June 11 at 7:00 PM ET).
Click here to watch live on XtraFrame.
Click here to watch live on XtraFrame.
Overall Standings | Matchups | Game: 1
Move cursor over strike/spare box to see pins left.


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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The lawyer for a woman who allegedly lied to police about the disappearance of University of New Hampshire sophomore Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott last fall said she will plead guilty to all charges against her Thursday.
Kathryn McDonough of Portsmouth is charged with hindering prosecution, conspiracy and tampering with a witness in the death of the 19-year-old Marriott, whom McDonough had befriended shortly around her disappearance.
Defense attorney Andrew Cotrupi would not comment Wednesday on what sentence McDonough would receive, but told The Associated Press he expects his client to be taken into custody after the hearing in Rockingham Superior Court.
Members of Marriott's family are expected to attend the change-of-plea hearing and to address the court. Robert Marriott, Lizzi's father, did not return a call seeking comment.
McDonough's ex-boyfriend, 30-year-old Seth Mazzaglia, is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly strangling Marriott during an attempted sexual assault Oct. 9 in the Dover apartment he shared with McDonough. Police say the couple told investigators they dumped her body into the waters off Peirce Island. It has never been recovered.
Prosecutors say Mazzaglia and McDonough plotted to tell investigators Marriott died during a consensual sex act. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin has stated adamantly there was nothing consensual about the circumstances surrounding Marriott's death, but has not revealed what evidence the state has to prove it.
Marriott's home was in Westborough, Mass. She had transferred to UNH last fall to major in marine biology. She commuted to campus from Chester, N.H., where she was living with relatives, and attended an evening class at UNH.
On the day she disappeared, she left a note for her aunt and uncle saying she was going to visit a friend after her night class and would be home by midnight. She also texted a friend that night that she planned to visit McDonough to watch a movie. Marriott and McDonough had met recently at a Greenland department store where they both worked.
McDonough initially told police Marriott never showed up that night.
Marriott's disappearance led to a massive search, and her family and friends distributed leaflets throughout the seacoast region seeking clues to her whereabouts. Mazzaglia was arrested and charged with her death four days after Marriott was last seen.
McDonough was arrested Christmas Eve and remained in custody until Jan. 2, when she was released on $35,000 bond on the condition she live with her parents in Portsmouth.
Her willingness to testify against Mazzaglia is expected to be a condition of her plea agreement. Mazzaglia returns to court July 31. He is being held without bond.


text: LONDON — Blu-ray continues to drive robust sales in the U.K. home entertainment market, with total DVD sales up 31% in the territory for the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2009.Figures released by the British Video Association found sales of Blu-ray were up 50% in value year-on-year hitting 2.7 million units for the first three months of the year. A total of 15.6 million units of Blu-ray discs have been sold since its launch in October 2006. "The Hurt Locker," "Up" and "2012" were the top three best selling Blu-ray titles, repping a collective 20% of all disc sales. "This Is It" pushed the music genre up by 42% while children's titles were up 38% thanks to "Up."


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Written by NP Reporter | Navajo Post
Wenona Benally Baldenegro runs for U.S. House of Representatives, Arizona Congressional District One; seeks to be first American Indian woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, and first American Indian from Arizona
A member of the Navajo Nation, Wenona is from the Tsi?naajinii Clan and born for the Honágháahnii Clan. Her maternal grandfathers are from the Ta'néézahnii Clan and her paternal grandfathers are from the Tábaahí Clan. Wenona?s campaign is historic, in that she would be the first American Indian woman to ever serve in the U.S. Congress, and the first American Indian from Arizona.
In Wenona's words, "This is a critical time for Indian tribes in Arizona and across the country. Instead of working with Indian Tribes to meet the needs of the people, Republican members of Congress like Rep. Paul Gosar are making severe funding cuts to IHS and BIA, pushing for uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, and destroying sacred, ceremonial lands. This is unacceptable."
Wenona is strongly committed to protecting federal funding for such critical services and programs provided by the Indian Health Services (IHS) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
"Two years ago, my relatives rushed one of my grandmothers to the IHS clinic located in my hometown. The emergency room staff taped a note to the door, stating; "The ER is closed due to budget cuts. Please visit the next nearest clinic." My relatives drove my grandmother to the nearest clinic 45 minutes away. She died on the way there. Too many of us have similar stories, and I will work hard to ensure that these types of tragedies do not happen to our people, anymore," states Wenona.
Wenona is also committed to bringing more sustainable jobs to the district, supporting greater educational opportunities for our children, and protecting Social Security, Medicare, and other crucial programs and services that serve the people of rural Arizona.
In regards to Rep. Paul Gosar's continued push for uranium mining in the Grand Canyon; "my family, friends, and community members have experienced the deadly effects of uranium contamination in the tribal communities of Northern Arizona. Instead of opening up one of America's greatest national treasures, the Grand Canyon, for contamination, uranium companies need to take responsibility for cleaning up the radioactive waste they left behind years ago that continue to contaminate the water we drink and the air we breathe." Wenona says.
In her historic run, Wenona has garnered tremendous support from a diverse group of people, all over Congressional District One. Wenona has received support from Indian tribal leaders, union/labor advocates, state legislators, environmentalists, students, and elders.
Wenona is honored to have received the endorsement of, among others, Navajo Nation Speaker of the Council Johnny Naize, former Hopi Tribal Chairman Ben Nuvamsa, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, former CD1 candidate Howard Shanker, and U.S. Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-7).
"Wenona understands Native American issues, as well as national and local issues facing us today. Wenona is very well-qualified to represent Arizona's Indian tribes in Congress, and as the first Native American woman in Congress, and the first Native American from Arizona, she will finally give us a vote in Congress." Says Nuvamsa.
Wenona grew up in a single-parent household in Kayenta, AZ. Her humble upbringing taught her the value of perseverance and of hard work. Wenona attended public schools in Kayenta, and went on to receive a law degree from Harvard Law School, as well as a Master Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Prior to this, she completed her undergraduate degree at Arizona State University (ASU), where she was personally recruited to attend ASU by former Navajo Nation President Dr. Peterson Zah. At ASU, Wenona made history as the first American Indian to graduate from the Barrett Honors College.
Over the past decade, Wenona has worked with small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and Indian tribal governments to advocate for the interests of Arizona's rural communities. She is married to Salomon F. Baldenegro, a Mexican-American native of Tucson.
Link to original article: The Navajo Post


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January 02. 2013 11:56PM
Nashua's Laughton stripped of selectman's office by AG's decision
By KIMBERLY HOUGHTON
Union Leader Correspondent
Transgender candidate won't run for Nashua rep. seat; special election Feb. 19
NASHUA - The state's first openly transgender legislator - who resigned days after being elected last November - is now being stripped of her local selectman seat.
Democrat Stacie Laughton said Wednesday night that her position as Ward 4 selectman - an elected role that she won during the 2011 municipal election - is being nullified after an opinion from the state Attorney General's Office determined that her previous criminal conviction has not been finally discharged under the law because of nearly $2,000 in unpaid restitution. "This has been a lifelong dream fulfilled, and now it is crashing down," Laughton said.
The nullification came the same day Laughton announced she was withdrawing her candidacy for the vacant Ward 4 state representative post - the same post she resigned from in November.
In 2008, Laughton, then known as Barry C. Laughton Jr., pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulent use of a credit card, conspiracy to commit identity fraud and falsifying physical evidence.
Under state statute, "A person sentenced for a felony, from the time of his sentence until his final discharge, may not ...become a candidate for or hold public office."
According to the attorney general's opinion, which Laughton stressed was not a ruling, she was never eligible to serve in her selectman seat. After a meeting with City Clerk Paul Bergeron on Wednesday, Laughton said the decision was made to nullify her selectman post.
The decision also applies to Laughton's ex-wife and campaign manager, Lisa Laughton, who also was elected as Ward 4 selectman during the 2011 municipal election. Lisa Laughton was convicted in the same identity theft and credit card fraud incident, according to Stacie Laughton.
For now, Stacie Laughton said she will take a break from politics and reevaluate her situation while still trying to be active in the community.
But once her restitution is paid and she is cleared to run for public office, Laughton said she will again seek an elected position in the city.
With Laughton out of the House race, there is no longer a need for a primary election, according to Bergeron.
The special general election is scheduled for Feb. 19 with Democrat Pam Brown, of 2 Clocktower Place, Apt. 209, squaring off against Republican Elizabeth VanTwuyver, of 9 Pine Hill Ave.
In 2001, the city held a similar special election in the same ward, in which about 400 people turned out to vote, said Bergeron, noting: "I don't anticipate there will be more this time."
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Kimberly Houghton may be reached at


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Editor's note: West Texas cotton farmers sometimes get branded as low-input producers. The thought process goes that trying to grow cotton in an area as unpredictable as the Texas Plains or in rain-dependent Central Texas, comes with so many risks that putting a lot of money into the crop makes little sense considering all the things that can go wrong with it.
That production philosophy may make sense to some and more than a few growers have eked out a living growing dryland cotton with minimum inputs. But a growing number of Central and West Texas farmers are increasing management intensity, in both dryland and, especially, in irrigated fields to enhance yield potential and to produce the highest quality fiber possible. In articles over the past five issues, we've featured farm operations that have developed intense management programs that focus on high yields and high quality.
Following is the sixth and final article in the series. This one summarizes the key production practices employed by each of the farm operations featured in the previous five articles.
Cotton farmers who consistently hit aggressive yield goals follow proven production systems but include enough flexibility to adopt new technology and to adjust to economic and environmental changes.
Farmers featured in this series share common production techniques but also customize practices to fit specific field or management situations. Common denominators among the five farm operations include variety selection; a sound fertility program; conscientious weed, insect and disease management; efficient moisture management; and timely harvest preparation.
Some plant only cotton. Others say rotation is a key to maintaining yields. Labor management is a key to some. Tillage practices range from deep breaking land to seeding minimum-till into a terminated cover crop.
But variety selection tops the list for each farm and all farmers interviewed for these articles insist that yield increases the past few years are possible because of better varieties.
Rickey Bearden, Plains, Texas, says the first key to hitting yield goals is to select the best variety for a specific field. Like a number of other farmers featured in this series, Bearden participates in variety trials with The Texas Cooperative Extension Service each year.
"I think we had 18 different varieties this year," Bearden says. Watching varieties from year to year on his own farm gives him a unique perspective on how well new releases will perform under his conditions.
Mark Appling, who farms with his brother David and father Joe near Crosbyton, Texas, agrees with the importance of variety selection.
"Better varieties have made a difference," Mark says. "We used to get just a bale per acre on irrigated cotton; now we get two (or more)."
He says variety selection may be the easiest choice to make in a production program. "We get a lot of information from (Texas A&M cotton specialist) Randy Boman's large scale variety trials. At the end of his charts he always puts a dollar sign, indicating the difference in returns from one variety to another. Pounds may be the bragging rights of a variety but these test results show us how to make more money."
Ellis County, Texas, cotton and grain farmer Clifford Williams also sees variety selection as a key to high yields. He grows dryland cotton and says varieties are better than just a few years back. "Yield and quality are better."
He sees a lot of varieties every year in test plots he's planted for some 40 years. Seeing what new varieties will do on his fields, under his management, gives him a heads up on what to plant in the future.
Ed Reynolds, Idalou, Texas, uses only drip irrigation and says some varieties adapt better to drip than others. "I plant mostly FiberMax 960 B2R and some 989 B2R. I also have some DPL 2280 that looks good. We have quite a few varieties that will do well with drip irrigation. I usually select one."
He likes picker-type cotton for drip acreage. "They yield better and quality is good. But some stripper types are getting close."
Tammy Glen, who farms with her brothers and father near Levelland, Texas, says improved varieties make their yield goals easier to reach.
"We're making more cotton than ever before, but we couldn't hit those marks without picker varieties," she says. "We've planted picker cotton for about four years."
It proved a good move.
"Our yields are up and quality is better," she says. "Now, we have every irrigated acre in picker-type cotton."
Fertility deserves a place toward the top of the essential practices list for each of the farm operations. Williams may be concerned about high fertilizer prices but can't make yield goals by wholesale rate cuts. "I don't want too much fertilizer," he says. "I didn't over-fertilize the 2005 crop."
He says corn yields were off 10 to 15 bushels per acre so cotton will take some of the residual.
"We have to take care of our land and maintaining fertility is part of that process," Bearden says. "When we make a crop we mine some of the nutrients and we have to replace what we take out. But we don't want to overdo it and waste fertilizer."
Reynolds uses his drip irrigation system to "trickle nutrients out through the system
as the plants need it. I use more nitrogen than I did with row water."
The Glens fertilize to hit yield goals for specific fields. "We fertilize for two-and-half bales per acre on good land, but our program varies with each field and depends on water and soil.
"We apply nitrogen during the summer as needed through the pivots or with our drip irrigation systems (305 acres). Our crop consultant lets us know if a field looks like it needs nitrogen. But we know the soils, field histories and yield potential of all our acreage."
They soil test part of the farm every year.
The Applings start with 100 pounds of 11-52-0 just before listing. They add another 50 to 70 pounds of nitrogen in the summer through the pivots.
Water remains the limiting factor, whether farmers irrigate or rely on Mother Nature.
Reynolds says drip irrigation costs a bit more to install than pivot systems but he's convinced that higher yields make up the difference.
"I also may use a little more water with drip than I did with row-water, but this is much more efficient. For one thing, I can water later in the season, about 10 days longer with drip irrigation."
He says cotton doesn't stress from moisture deficiency as it would with furrow irrigation during drought periods when he couldn't apply water as timely as he wanted.
"I have to manage the water I have carefully," Bearden says. "Some years, I put on all the water I can get out. If it rains enough, I'll shut the system down."
Tammy Glen says timing irrigation makes a difference in cotton growth. "Water is essential for fruiting cotton," she says. "But water management depends on each field. We need more water in minimum till fields than in conventional because we have to grow a cover crop. We spray Pix instead of cutting back on water."
The Applings like the convenience of pivots.
"It's easier to manage," David says. "We can crank them up and get some moisture and hold it and then wait for rain. We can add 1inch in four days and then shut it off for four days. It is convenient."
Williams depends on natural rainfall and says rain was limited on the 2005 crop. "But it came at just the right time," he said.
They all agree that timing, whether it's a Pix application, irrigation, weed control, insecticide spray, harvest aid or planting, makes a big difference in getting the crop off to a good start and keeping it healthy.
Tillage also plays a role and each has a different system that works for specific operations.
Bearden likes to break his land.
"I'm not a no-till farmer," he says. "I still break with a moldboard plow in the winter if moisture is adequate. If not, I may just list it up."
He says deep tillage in sandy land helps hold the soil in place. "That works best for me," he says. "I don't need separate pieces of equipment for dryland and irrigated acreage."
Williams cut back on tillage. "I'm doing less but not quite no-till."
The Glens follow a minimum till program on part of their land.
"Half of our irrigated acreage is in minimum-till production," Tammy says. "With circle rows, furrow dikes and drag hoses on our pivots we can come close to drip irrigation production and efficiency."
The Applings put about one-third of their dryland acreage in wheat and plant no-till cotton in stubble the next spring. The third year, that acreage goes into conventionally tilled cotton.
Pest management
Managing pests – diseases, insects and weeds — may be easier than it used to be with improved technology like Roundup Ready, Liberty Link and Bollgard cotton, along with some varieties resistant to disease and nematode pressure. Growers say the Boll Weevil Eradication Program, now in effect all across the Southwest, makes the task easier and allows them to make more cotton. But eliminating the boll weevil makes room for other pests.
Reynolds says Bollgard 2 improves efficiency and production. "I use Temik at planting and that usually gets me through early squaring," he says.
Bearden says lygus and aphids replace weevils and worms as key problems. "We can get one bug complex under control and then we have problems with something else," he says. "Lygus began to show up after we took care of the boll weevil. We need to save those early-season bolls. We mange each pest differently, but I see no need in growing a pound of cotton and letting something get it."
He's also watching aphids closely. "We don't want to develop a reputation as a sticky cotton area. We have not had that reputation but we don't want to risk it."
The Appling family operation relies on an Extension integrated pest-management agent to check some of their acreage; they do the rest on their own.
They credit the Boll Weevil Eradication Program with improving pest control. Scouts found no weevils in their area this year.
"This is one great success story," Joe says.
Williams says Bollgard II varieties have worked, but did not yield as well as other varieties. "We had no real bollworm pressure this year," he says, "and Bollgard may have helped with that."
He also likes seed treatments to help with early-season insect control. "I used to apply a lot of in-furrow insecticides. Now, I use seed with the insecticide on it."
The Boll Weevil Eradication Program that began diapause control this fall will remove another costly pest from his cotton operation. "I think the program helped the crop this first year," he says. "Spray applications kept them from stinging late bolls. We had a lot of weevils in the area."
All of Reynolds' acreage is in Bollgard varieties except for his refugia.
The Glens rely on their consultant for pest management recommendations. "He suggests a routine early spray to control lygus, then recommends we allow beneficials to build up to get cotton to where Bollgard II takes care of the worms.
" Our crop consultant recommends Bollgard on every irrigated acre," Glen says. "It will pay for itself by saving trips across the fields and insecticide use. Bollgard II controls more worms than Bollgard I." She says the newer Bollgard is more effective on fall armyworms.
A combination of herbicide resistant varieties, over-the-top applications of Roundup or Ignite, and some traditional weed control strategies help keep weeds in check for these five farm operations.
Bearden uses Roundup Ready and Liberty Link, a pre-plant, yellow herbicide on all his cotton and adds Caparol and Treflan over the top "right behind the planter."
"We use a yellow herbicide on everything," David Appling says. "We'll put a band of Direx on most acreage at planting."
In season, they use Roundup and cultivate. They rely on shielded sprayers for post-emergence controls.
"Morning glory has been a problem in some fields," Mark says. "Roundup is not particularly good on morning glory, so we've tried some Liberty Link varieties. That's not a complete answer but it's another useful tool."
Economics dictate some weed control practices. "We used to spot spray a lot to get clean fields," Joe says. "We don't do that as much now. We can't afford to plant without Treflan and Direx."
Williams says Roundup Ready Flex varieties may allow him to use hooded sprayers less often to clean up weeds. "I sometimes get a little splash-back from the sprayers. He typically uses some Caparol "on better ground and Prowl for grass control."
He says his control program has done a good job on Texas tie vine, Texas panicum, and devil's claw.
Reynolds always uses a yellow herbicide, banded at planting, and then Roundup over the top. "I'm just beginning to use Ignite and I think Roundup Flex looks good, too."
He says the extended application window with both Roundup Ready Flex and Liberty Link varieties add flexibility to his weed control strategy and give him better options for troublesome weeds such as morning glory.
The Glens use Roundup Ready technology on much of their acreage.
Fungicide-treated seed helps reduce damage from seedling disease for Bearden. The Glens use a nematode tolerant variety, Stoneville 5599, to limit damage. Tammy Glen also says disease and nematode activity seem less in minimum-till fields.
A plant growth regulator plays a crucial role in irrigated cotton. Glen likes to get some Pix in the cotton early in the season so the plant begins early on to concentrate energy for boll development instead of vegetation.
Ed Reynolds says Pix is especially important in drip irrigation to "keep plants from making too much stalk.
The Applings like to keep harvest prep "as simple as possible," Mark says. Reynolds says the process is a bit more complicated with drip irrigation.
"We need a bit more management and expense with drip," he says. "It also takes more water to assure adequate penetration because foliage is heavier."
Each operation employs unique tactics that help maintain yields.
Williams says rotation plays a key role in his production scheme. He's planting about 750 acres of cotton, a little less than he used to plant, and 1200 acres of milo and "mostly corn. I rotate everything and I have about quit growing anything on root rot ground."
Bearden credits an excellent labor force for maintaining high yield and quality standards.
Glen says technology has improved their operation and looks ahead for even more significant changes.
Global Positioning System agriculture may be the next innovation, she says.
"We can control our pivot systems now by phone and slow them down or speed them up, depending on conditions. We have towable pivots and we want the unit to be in a dry place so we can move a vehicle in to pick it up. We can reset it through the computer and walk it to the tow area. That saves time."
She also keeps track of water pressure. "And if the system gets shut down or stuck, it calls in."
e-mail: [email protected]


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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands before a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new 4 World Trade Center in New York
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his final major policy speech before leaving office at year's end, on Wednesday warned that a budding U.S. urban revival is threatened by mushrooming public pension and health-care costs.
Bloomberg, addressing the Economic Club of New York just two weeks before his three terms in office are due to end, said the "golden age of the suburb is over, and it has been replaced by a new urban renaissance that is re-defining the future."
But he also urged the nation to confront what he said was the biggest looming crisis facing cities: exploding public pension and health-care costs.
"It is forcing government into a fiscal straight jacket that severely limits its ability to provide an effective social safety net," Bloomberg said. "The costs of today's benefits cannot be sustained for another generation - not without inflicting real harm on our citizens, and on our children and grandchildren."
The mayor, who was elected as a Republican and later gave up his party affiliation, led the city in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and during the recession that hit six years later.
He has been credited with making the city safer, greener and more livable as he pioneered public health and anti-carbon initiatives that have become models for other cities.
Bloomberg argued that exploding pension costs faced by the city have limited what it can spend on other priorities such as affordable housing and called on his successor, Bill de Blasio, to take up "comprehensive benefit reform."
He also echoed President Dwight Eisenhower's critique of the "military-industrial complex" by repeatedly criticizing what he termed the "labor electoral complex."
After the speech, Harry Nespoli, chairperson of the Municipal Labor Committee, fired back with a statement.
"Unlike the private sector, where workers jump from job to job and have higher pay, our municipal workers spend their entire professional lives working for the city knowing that they will be able to have a secure retirement," he said.
"As Mayor Bloomberg goes off into his retirement, he should realize that others who have worked just as hard deserve it as well," Nespoli said.
Bloomberg will be succeeded on January 1 by de Blasio, currently the city's public advocate. An unabashed liberal who won in a landslide, de Blasio has vowed to address a gap between rich and poor that he blames in part on Bloomberg's policies.
As mayor, De Blasio must confront another legacy of the Bloomberg administration: expired contracts for all public sector unions that potentially leave the city with a bill that could top $7 billion, if retroactive wage increases were to be paid.
On Wednesday, De Blasio named Dean Fuleihan, a long-time former state legislative budget negotiator and adviser, as his budget director.
Fuleihan said the first budget of the de Blasio administration will tackle "economic inequality in our city head-on," including expanding access to affordable housing and early education.
(Reporting by Edith Honan; editing by Gunna Dickson)


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About Leighton Meester(Click Here To Hide)
Leighton Meester has helped to make "Gossip Girl" a hit with her portrayal of the rich and spoiled Blair Waldorf. Most recently Leighton Meester starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie "Country Strong". She also plays the role of a troubled college student in the upcoming drama-thriller "The Roommate".
No fan sites added yet


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I don\'t know.
Just got to thinking this with the influx of abusive posts lately...
Does anyone else want a limit placed on the font size allowed in posts?
Government is like fire - a handy servant, but a dangerous master - George Washington
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force. - George Washington.
Join the UnError community!
Hi Striek.....how are ya?
I have voted no...........I saw your comment and thought that some of the responses to the posts that you mention could only be done effectively in "brightly coloured capital letters"
There is no virtual baseball bat on AO?
Doin' great... Just got back from my cousin's wedding. After 3 months of stressful planning and worrying, it went off without a hitch (except for the marriage). Everyone was happy with it.
By sorry, no virtual baseball bat here. Maybe instead of beating someone with a stupid stick someone could write a "stupid virus" which we could infect people with.
Instead of being "beaten one too many times with a stupid stick", we'll coin a new phrase: "He's got the stupid virus."
Here's another new phrase I just made up: "The guy's just not processing on all threads." Maybe we could apply that to a few people, too.
ummm i think there is a limit
font size 1
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appears to max out after 6
You can never restrict font size, even if it does max out @ six, there are easy ways around it....
Forum Rules


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A national movement for children and young people, open to everyone from birth to adult. We offer a place where children will grow in confidence, learn about the world and start to understand how to value our planet and each other.
Each term we have a pretty packed calendar of events. On group nights we do craft activities, we cook, we sing, we play games, we let everyone know our news, and generally have a good time. Sometimes we have visitors (like the reptile man, or the samba drummers). We do lots of special trips - bug hunts, camps, BBQ nights, midnight walks, etc.
Pop in and see what you think.
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Midwest Mariapolis 2016
Four days. Four hundred participants. Christians from many denominations. Faithful of varied religions. Young. Old. Newly arrived immigrants. Some for the first time. Others over many years. Coming together to live and share messages of hope and communion in a world so in need of Unity. These would describe the 2016 Midwest Mariapolis, as would be true for so many other locations around the world where local Mariapolis gatherings are held.[more]


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SQL Server Data Quality Services (DQS) is a knowledge-driven data quality product that is new to SQL Server 2012. The technology was from Microsoft's acquisition of Zoomix in 2008. DQS enables you to build a knowledge base and use it to perform a variety of critical data quality tasks, including correction, enrichment, standardization, monitoring, and de-duplication of your data. DQS also enables you to perform data cleansing by using cloud-based reference data services provided by reference data providers. In addition, DQS provides you with profiling that is integrated into its data-quality tasks, enabling you to analyze the integrity of your data and provides suggestions for updating your data, along with the percent of confidence that the changes are correct.
DQS consists of Data Quality Server and Data Quality Client, both of which are installed as part of SQL Server 2012. Data Quality Server is a SQL Server instance feature that consists of three SQL Server catalogs with data-quality functionality and storage. Data Quality Client is a SQL Server shared feature that business users, information workers, and IT professionals can use to perform computer-assisted data quality analyses and manage their data quality interactively. You can also perform data quality processes by using the DQS Cleansing component in Integration Services (SSIS) and Master Data Services (MDS) data quality functionality, both of which are based on DQS.
The MDS Add-in for Excel uses DQS to compare two sources of data: the data from MDS and the data from another system or spreadsheet.
More info:
Introducing Data Quality Services
SQL Server Data Quality Services
Data Quality in SQL Server 2012 Part 3: Introducing Data Quality Services, Data Quality in SQL Server 2012 Part 4: Data Quality Services Client,
Video Presentation: Introducing SQL Server 2012 Data Quality Services
Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Data Quality Services – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
SQL Server Data Quality Services – First Look
Video Introduction to SQL Server 2012 Data Quality Services
Video Enterprise Information Management (EIM): Bringing Together SSIS, DQS, and MDS
Video SQL 2012 Data Quality Services-Knowledge Driven Data Quality
Video Data Quality Services-Making Data Suitable for Business
Video Using Knowledge to Cleanse Data with Data Quality Services
Data Quality Services "How Do I?" Videos
Video Integrating DQS, MDS and Your Data Warehouse
Data Quality Services Performance Best Practices Guide
SQL SERVER – Step by Step Guide to Beginning Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012 – Introduction to DQS


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A few shifts on the top line is not "trying". And seriously shouldn't it be the veterans helping the rookie put up points (especially when two are Art Ross winners and one is a Selke winner) not the other way around?Topper wrote: He has been tried on the 1st and second lines, neither places he was able to put up points and neither place did he help his line mates put up points.
No he should keep his spot in the lineup because when it comes down to it there are several other forwards that have been worse.Now you say he should keep his place because his intentions are good.
Were not the Sedins also inept? Hodgson also received nearly 7 minutes of icetime in the third. More than Vopatti, Weise, Malhotra, Hansen, Higgins, Booth, Burrows, Kesler,....actually everybody but Henrik. In last nights game he received over 5 minutes of icetime in the third with the canucks trailing (more than Malhotra, Weise, Ebbett...I'm guessing they were the ones demoted).Maybe you would also like the one were I pointed out Cody's ineptitude with the Sedins in the third period vs Mini and his demotion to the 4th line. You claimed that was not the way you saw it.
Plenty of occassions Burrows also looks inept with the Sedins. Or hell perhaps the Sedins were inept (as they were) and not helping a rookie along.


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Movie Guru
Needs your put
Deciding to sell games is a tough decision for any game, but especially for me. But my shelves are full and it's time to let some go. At 668 titles (not counting expansions) I can't even play them all in a year...or two years...or even probably five.
Having decided to sell some of my games, I decided it was time to give some of them one last play and see if I could go through with it. The results follow:
San Juan
Despite calls for another day of Eclipse, the two most ardent proponents of the game, Jon and Trent, weren't able to come to this gameday. Brett came, though, and he showed up with this:
The DC Comics Deck Building Game
Another fine game clone brought to you by Cryptozoic!
Essentially, this is rethemed Dominion. A lot of things are so similar as to
After a terribly long hiatus, about 7 weeks during which we had only one gameday (and which I failed to blog about), we finally got the guys together yesterday for a little tabletop merriment. Jon, Trent and I started the day off with a playtest of a developmental game, which I don't think I can report on here because it hasn't been released yet. Bill and Alex arrived an hour late, but then we were ready to go. After some deliberation we chose...
This is a combined post from the past two gamedays which spans three weeks because of the Games Plus Auction in the intervening week. I did not post following the 3/2/14 gameday because, frankly, we only played one new game and it didn't warrant a full post. Then the next week was thwarted by a combination of the auction and a very terrible bout of food poisoning. Crap...I'm rambling again!
3/2/14: Santiago De Cuba
Game day yesterday was a small affair...only Alex and Anthony joined me. Still, we made good use of the time and had some quality fun.
Perry Rhodan - the Cosmic League
I covered this game in the previous post. I hadn't been to my basement in the intervening week, so it was still on the table when Anthony arrived, and Alex was running a bit late. So we played a game.
We completely forgot a critical rule early on. When rolling for flight, all rolls


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Description:IBM 2GB (2x1GB) ECC DDR2 SDRAM RDIMMPC2-5300 CL5 667MHz DIMM Memory KitPart Number(s)
IBM Option Part# 41Y2769
Note: Our Part# 41Y2769 is guaranteedgenuine IBM product with an IBM serial number and logo. We do not sell 3rd party IBM memory.
Overview:The new IBM memory upgrade offerings let you upgrade standard system memory capacity, helping to improve overall system performance.


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For three years, the Hampton hospital's psychiatric unit has denied inpatients any visitors.
Virginia Sen. Jim Webb intends to investigate the visitor policy at the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center psychiatry unit, he told reporters Thursday.
Webb's probe comes in response to a Daily Press report Sunday that exposed a three-year-old policy at the hospital that psychiatric inpatients are not allowed to have visitors.
Hospital officials said the policy was adopted for patient safety to curb the smuggling of contraband into the unit.
There were two overdoses in 2000 and 2001. The second was fatal. Both were linked to contraband.
The policy appears to violate both VA regulations and generally accepted medical practice. The psychiatric unit acknowledges that it still has problems with contraband.
Webb said he had asked an assistant to contact Nancy Washabaugh, whose husband died two weeks after being admitted to the Hampton VA.
Other than during one consultation, she was not allowed to see him during his stay.
Floyd "Chip" Washabaugh died of a pulmonary embolism two weeks after he was admitted to the psychiatric unit. Pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs, can be caused by prolonged immobility or lengthy bed rest.
"We're going to take her situation on, and we're going to bring it to a resolution," Webb said.
Webb said he understood that the policy was aimed at preventing patients from obtaining illegal drugs. But he added, "that, in and of itself, does not justify the fact that she was not able to see her husband."
Webb, a former Marine with combat experience in Vietnam, is a freshman Democrat who serves on the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees in the Senate.
"We're going to get to the bottom of it, and we're going to report to the people on it," he said.
Webb's comments follow action taken by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Unit, which faxed a letter to the hospital Wednesday calling the policy "cruel and demeaning." The ACLU threatened to pursue a lawsuit if the no-visitors policy is not immediately rescinded.
A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday that they had not received the ACLU letter.
U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, toured the VA hospital on Wednesday and said hospital officials told him the policy was under review. Scott said he expected more visitors to be allowed after the review was completed in a few weeks. *
Online extra
Go to dailypress.com/webb to listen to audio of Sen. Jim Webb speaking about his plans for an investigation.


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Summons for Lewis W. Washington, John H. Allstadt, John E. P. Dangerfield, Alexander Kelly, Emanuel Spangler, Armstead M. Ball, Joseph A. Brua, William Johnson, Lewis P. Starry, Archibald M. Kitzmiller, Wm. Small, Geo. H. Furtney, Lind F. Currie, John McClellan, Asa Maisteten to testify in Commonwealth vs. Aaron D. Stephens, January 28, 1860
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John Brown Documents held by the Jefferson County Circuit Clerk's Office


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This category lists all stamp issues for 2018 - as per the Stanley Gibbons Australia Catalogue. Overprinted Mini Sheets and other products issued for Stamp Shows and other events by organisers are listed seperately in the Overprints & Special Issues category. Australian Territories issues are also listed in seperate categories for each territory, Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.


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Question: At our parish when the Psalm is sung, the text used routinely varies from my new and authorized prayer book. Is it acceptable for the musicians to change the words as they do?
— Jim Schafbuch, via email
Answer: No, if that is what they are doing. The proper responsorial Psalm from the day should be said or sung, however there are exceptions. Liturgical norms state the following:
"The responsorial Psalm, ... should, as a rule, be taken from the Lectionary. It is preferable that the responsorial Psalm be sung … In order, however, that the people may be able to sing the Psalm response more readily … Psalms … chosen for the various seasons of the year … may be used in place of the text corresponding to the reading whenever the Psalm is sung. If the Psalm cannot be sung, then it should be recited … There may [alternately] be sung either the Responsorial Gradual from the Graduale Romanum, or … Graduale Simplex … or an antiphon and Psalm from another collection … providing that they have been approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop. Songs or hymns may not be used in place of the Responsorial Psalm" (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 61).
As can be seen, an exception can be made for reasons stated to using the Psalm for the day. In some parishes, the ability of the musicians and or the people to learn and use different responses each week varies a good bit. Thus pastoral provision permits the use of certain seasonal Psalms and refrains. Substituting hymns in place of the responsorial Psalm is not permitted and only texts approved by the bishops are to be used.
Thus it is possible to see how the words of the Psalm that are sung may differ from what is in your prayer book, but only if the variant text is approved by the bishops.
Question: Why doesn't the Church speak more about exorcism and have exorcists speak out more about possession?
— Name withheld
Answer: Major exorcism is a matter of supreme discretion and confidentiality. The identity of the diocesan exorcist is not generally made known, except to those who need to know.
While procedures in dioceses vary a bit, it is most common that the exorcist works with a team that includes at least one other priest, a medical doctor and a properly trained psychotherapist who all assist in the assessment of whether a person is actually possessed.
If major exorcism is considered advisable, the exorcist proceeds with it, but only with the explicit approval of the bishop, who must concur with the judgment to go ahead with the major exorcism.
The exorcist should work with at least one other assisting priest and an appropriate team. Exorcism is rarely a "one and you're done scenario." Generally exorcisms are conducted over a series of sessions, sometimes weeks or months apart.
If one suspects demonic possession, the first place to begin inquiry is always with the parish priest, or another trusted priest. If that priest has reason to suspect possession (rather than obsession or torment) then he should contact the diocese and request consultation with the appointed exorcist.
Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, D.C., and writes for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., blog at blog.adw.org. Send questions to Pastoral Answers, Our Sunday Visitor, 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750 or to firstname.lastname@example.com. Letters must be signed, but anonymity may be requested.
Copyright © 1996-2018 Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.


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St. Louis Children's Hospital Calls for Hospitals, Clinics to Track Radiation Exposure Levels for Children's Imaging Tests
|Christi Lappe, RT(R), Radiology, talks with Judah Morris, 15, after her exam on the new Flash CT scanner at St. Louis Children's Hospital. The Flash CT is faster and reduces radiation exposure compared to standard CT scanners.
A safe imaging measure from St. Louis Children's Hospital has been recommended nationwide implementation by a subcommittee of the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The measure calls for hospitals and clinics using computed tomography (CT) systems to record the intensity of X-ray radiation exposure after each test. The exposure amount would be listed in a pediatric patient's electronic medical record. St. Louis Children's Hospital has tracked exposure data since 2009.
The recommendation, forwarded in September, calls for including the St. Louis Children's Hospital measure in the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act 2013 Core Set of Children's Health Care Quality Measures. The act includes provisions to strengthen the quality of care provided and health outcomes of children in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
"A better understanding of X-ray use in children is needed to improve the balance between the risks and benefits of imaging," says James Duncan, MD, PhD, interventional radiologist with St. Louis Children's Hospital, associate professor of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine and chief quality and safety officer for the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. "The St. Louis Children's Hospital measure will track how well each facility captures its data."
A CT scanner uses X-rays to take cross-section pictures of the inside of the body in "slices." Children frequently undergo computed tomography (CT) scans to determine the cause of their illness and guide subsequent treatment. While CT and other imaging studies have revolutionized health care, the number of CT scans performed on children nationally has increased five-fold over the last 15 years. Ninety percent of those scans were performed at non-pediatric hospitals, where adult rather than "child sized" doses of X-rays might be used.
|Dr. James Duncan discusses preventing excessive radiation exposure during your child's scans.
"We see this when families bring in outside CT studies for us to review," Duncan says. "The result is that we sometimes see exposures that are 10 times higher than would have occurred at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Our concern is that these X-ray exposures could lead to future health problems such as cancer. While the risk to any single child is extremely small, a large number of CT scans can heighten the risk."
St. Louis Children's Hospital performs about 100,000 imaging exams annually, and about 6,000 of those are CT scans. St. Louis Children's Hospital manually customizes the dosage of CT scans for patients, cutting dosage by about half and thereby minimizing a child's risk. St. Louis Children's Hospital has protocols in place to ensure doctors always choose the imaging procedure that uses the least amount of radiation. Duncan says the hospital uses MRI and ultrasound whenever possible because they do not use ionizing radiation, but the exams are not always the most appropriate diagnostic tools.
"A child should never be exposed to the amount of radiation we would consider appropriate for an adult patient," says Robert McKinstry, MD, PhD, Chief of Radiology, St. Louis Children's Hospital. "We ensure all of our patients receive the lowest possible dose in the safest environment of care."
View the Radiation Exposure Recommendation
About CT Scans:
While an X-ray can provide a great deal of diagnostic information, a CT scan offers far greater detail about internal organs and other structures. A CT uses X-rays to take cross-section pictures of the inside of the body in "slices". The slices are then reconstructed into an image. That level of detail can significantly advance a child's medical treatment. However, clinicians must weigh the diagnostic benefit of CT against the risk posed by radiation exposure.
- A typical adult chest CT emits approximately 175-times-greater the dose of radiation as a routine chest X-ray.
- Using Flash CT technology, a pediatric CT scan performed at St. Louis Children's Hospital is comparable to only 44 X-rays (75% less than a standard adult CT).
- No other center in the region offers pediatric scans at such a significantly reduced dose.
- The number of CT scans performed on children has increased five-fold over the last 15 years.
- 90% of CT scans are performed at non-pediatric hospitals.
- Since 2005, the number of CT scans performed at St. Louis Children's Hospital has decreased by half.


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Managing a Loved One's Money
Naomi Karp from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers advice on avoiding scams and financial exploitation
Jose Luis Pelaez/Getty Images
Millions of Americans are managing money or property for a family member or friend who is unable to pay bills or make financial decisions. This can be overwhelming, but it's also a great opportunity to help someone they care about, and protect them from scams and exploitation.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) Office of Financial Protection for Older Americans has released four easy-to-understand booklets to help financial caregivers. The Managing Someone Else's Money guides are for agents under powers of attorney, court-appointed guardians, trustees and government-benefit fiduciaries (Social Security representative payees and Veterans Affairs fiduciaries).
The guides help those serving as fiduciaries in three ways:
- They walk them through their duties.
- They tell them how to watch out for scams and financial exploitation and what to do if their loved one is a victim.
- They tell them where to go for help.
Aarp: Michael JN Bowles
The guides can be downloaded from the CFPB website at consumerfinance.gov/managing-someone-elses-money. You can also order free print copies and free bulk orders.
Question: How do I know if there has been a conflict of interest?
Naomi Karp: A conflict of interest happens when you make a decision about money or property that may benefit someone else at the expense of your loved one. For example, it may be a conflict of interest if you use your mom's money to buy a car and then use the car mainly for your own needs. Or you use your dad's money to pay your son to do repair work. One of your duties as a financial caregiver is to act only in the best interest of the person whose money you are managing.
Question: My name is on my mom's checks, but my brother is now executor of her will. What is my responsibility in this regard? I was sick some years ago and not expected to live, so I relinquished my role as executor.
Naomi Karp: A joint account is one way that financial caregivers can assist with managing money. With a joint account, a caregiver can write checks and make deposits on another person's behalf.
But people who open joint accounts or add someone to their account for convenience should be aware of a few things. If the money belongs to the older account holder, is not meant to be a gift to the joint-account holder and isn't meant to change the person's estate plan, there may be some risks.
For example: The family member can withdraw money for his or her own use or mismanage the money, creditors of either person may try to collect debts from the account, and when one account holder dies, the other may get all the money in that account.
So, say the older person has a will and wants all property to be evenly divided among three children; if only one of the children is on the joint account, that person will likely get all remaining money in the account even if that means the money and property isn't evenly divided among the heirs.
An alternative that doesn't create these risks is a "convenience account" that some states have. You still can have a family member write checks and make deposits and withdrawals, but it doesn't change the ownership of the money in the account — and it doesn't give the person the right to keep the money when you die.
You asked about a situation where one person is the joint-account holder and a sibling is the executor. Being an executor means you handle the estate after the person dies. So one person can be a joint-account holder during the parent's life, and another person can be the executor. Talk to a lawyer for more information about joint accounts and estates, particularly because each state's laws are different.
Question: My mom moved in with us a little more than a year ago due to physical needs, and until recently seemed mentally sharp enough to manage her finances. Now that's slipping — two overdrawn accounts in one week, confusion over which account she used to write a check, etc. I want to help her manage her finances (and don't want creditors calling our house), but she is resisting mightily. She wants to prove she's competent to do it herself and is totally in denial when presented with evidence to the contrary. How can I persuade her that it would be a good idea to let me be involved in managing her money?
Naomi Karp: This is a really tough one. Just as many older people resist giving up driving, they also fight giving up their "financial driver's license." Unfortunately, when people develop even mild cognitive impairment, their ability to handle finances is impaired.
One thing you might do is try to convince your mother that, as a first step, you help her with bill paying. She wouldn't give up her own management of finances; she would just be getting some help. That way you could monitor how things are going.
There are also money-management programs that help with bill paying, if you think having a neutral third party would help. To find one, contact your local Area Agency on Aging through eldercare.gov.
But if your mom has a progressive condition and is likely to continue to decline, it may be important for her to designate someone to handle her finances now, while she still has the capacity to make a power of attorney or a trust. Perhaps having a trusted professional, such as her primary care physician or a family lawyer, make the suggestion would make it more likely to happen.
It's best to make a private arrangement, such as a power of attorney or a trust, rather than having to go to court later to file for guardianship, which is expensive, time-consuming and public. Try to have your mom get some legal advice about the best arrangement for her.
Question: After my mom died, my sister took everything, even money that was in probate. Selfish, but she will get her just reward in the end.
Naomi Karp: Sadly, family members, neighbors, friends, caregivers and other trusted people may take advantage of an incapacitated person. We call this financial exploitation.
Unfortunately, sometimes the perpetrator is an agent under a power of attorney or a guardian or has some other authority to handle the person's money — and that may make it easier for them to take money without permission.
The best preventive measures are to be sure that your loved one only gives the power to handle his money to someone he really trusts. And even then, he should make sure other family members and friends know that the person will be managing his money so they can keep an eye out.
Here are some common signs of financial exploitation:
- Money or property seems to be missing.
- Sudden changes in spending or savings, such as taking a lot of money out of the bank without explanation or using the ATM a lot (especially someone who doesn't usually use it), or making new or unusual gifts for family members or a "new best friend."
- A relative or caregiver keeps someone from having visitors or phone calls and doesn't let the person speak for himself. If you think a relative has been exploited, call the police, sheriff or your local adult protective services agency. You can also alert the bank or credit card company, call the long-term care ombudsman if the person is in a nursing facility, and talk to a lawyer.
For more information about financial exploitation and what to do about it, check out our Managing Someone Else's Money guides and also our Money Smart for Older Americans guide on preventing financial exploitation.
Question: At what point is it better to have a guardianship of a parent instead of power of attorney?
Naomi Karp: Planning in advance is optimal. If your family member created a power of attorney or trust then you probably won't need a guardianship. However, if the person becomes incapacitated and doesn't have either than a family member may need to file for guardianship.
In some cases, the person's only income may be Social Security or veterans benefits. In this case, the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs can appoint someone to receive checks and spend it on the person's care.
Question: What do you do if you've been appointed guardian, but your siblings act suspiciously and think that the money is being mismanaged?
Naomi Karp: If you are the guardian, you'll have to realize that not all family members may agree with your decisions about your parent's money. Sometimes, sibling rivalry going back many years might still cause tension when parents become sick or incapacitated. To help avoid friction, make sure you do your job as the guardian very well by carrying our all of your duties.
The CFPB's Managing Someone Else's Money guide for guardians of property tells you what your duties are and how to be sure you do the right thing.
Sharing information may help, too. For example, if you are a guardian, you will have to prepare accountings for the court about your dad's income and assets and how you spent the money. Unless your dad told you not to, it's often a good idea to share information and deal with questions about a decision when it happens than to deal with resentment that builds up over time. The court can tell you whether you are required to share accountings. Some family members or friends may not have your parent's best interest at heart. If that's the case, it may be better not to share the information or to ask the court not to share it. Use your best judgment.
Sometimes a family counselor or a mediator may be able to help when you have a lot of family friction over your parents' money. The Association for Conflict Resolution has listings of mediators. See the Where to Go for Help section of the CFPB's guides.
Question: Have you heard of the True Link Visa card that is for older adults? It allows an administrator to monitor and manage what companies are allowed to charge to the card. You can block certain vendors and types of transactions. Is this a good thing to pursue?
Naomi Karp: There are some banks that currently allow third-party "view only" access that will allow you to monitor activity on accounts. I suggest checking with the bank of the older adult and seeing if this is an option.
Question: How can I protect my mother's money while she's in a nursing home?
Naomi Karp: You and several others have questions about nursing homes and financing.
If you have questions about what happens to your relative's or friend's money or property if she is in a nursing facility, talk to your state Medicaid agency or consult an elder-law attorney, who can advise you on planning for long-term care and the relevant laws. The Managing Someone Else's Money guides have some resources for finding legal help. Also, the American Bar Association has a Web page, findlegalhelp.org. You can find a listing of state agencies that provide Medicaid or medical assistance on the federal website benefits.gov.
Question: What do I need to do in order to have my name added as power of attorney? Have it on the mortgage? What do I have to do so I can pay her bills through her accounts?
Naomi Karp: You are smart to think about how you can handle finances for your relative if she is sick and can't handle her own money. A power of attorney is one of the ways that people arrange for someone else to manage their money and property if they can't do it themselves. Powers of attorney are legal documents.
People plan in advance by naming someone else to make decisions for them if they become sick or injured. Sometimes they are called durable powers of attorney because they remain in effect after the person loses the ability to handle his or her own affairs.
In order to make a power of attorney, your mother must understand what it means to give someone else the power to manage her money. Once a person becomes incapacitated — let's say due to Alzheimer's disease or another dementia — it's probably too late to make a power of attorney.
That's why it's so important to plan ahead. If a person receives a diagnosis, she may still be able to make legal arrangements before the disease progresses, so consult a lawyer promptly in a case like that.
Once you become an agent under a power of attorney, you can do all of the things the document says you can do. So, for example, usually you can pay bills, make mortgage payments and possibly even sell real estate if the document gives you that power.
But you have to remember that it's not your money and that you are acting for your relative's benefit.
As I mentioned earlier, my agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has guides to help you carry out your duties. You can find the Managing Someone Else's Money guide for agents under power of attorney atconsumerfinance.gov/older-americans, and then click on the power of attorney guide.
Even though no one likes to think about the possibility that he or she may become incapacitated, it always helps to plan for that possibility.
Editor's Note: This Q&A originally appeared on Facebook. It has been edited for clarity.
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