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A sister has organised a charity day as a tribute to her brother who died in a road crash.
The Butchers Arms pub, on Hand's Road, Heanor, will host the event to raise money for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance Service (DLRAA).
Lisa Trussel, 45, of Julie Avenue in the town, lost her brother Daniel Pulford in a road traffic accident, aged just 25.
She said: "We will be forever grateful to DLRAA for trying to save Daniel. We hope that raising money for them could help to save another life."
After serving in the Armed Forces for three years, Daniel left to become a lorry driver for Heanor Haulage. But on September 4 2001, his lorry collided with a combine harvester. DLRAA arrived on the scene but 70 minutes later Daniel died from his injuries.
The fundraiser will take place from 2pm on Saturday, July 26, and will include a barbecue, cake sale, games and a bouncy castle. There will also be a raffle with prizes donated from local companies.
The mother-of-two urged people to head down to the event and show their support. She said: "The Air Ambulance rely solely on public funding, so every little helps. We are providing entertainment and refreshments and hope to make it a great family day out."


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Toyota Motor Corporation entered India in 1997 in a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) holds 89% of the share and Kirloskar Group owns the remaining 11%. Toyota entered the Indian Markets with Qualis. The company then ventured into the mid-size segment with the Camry. The company Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (TKMPL) according to its mission statement aims to play a major role in the development of the automotive industry and the creation of employment opportunities, not only through its dealer network, but also through ancillary industries with a business philosophy of 'Putting Customer First'.
TKMPL's current plant at Bidadi, Karnataka is spread across 432 acres and has a capacity of 110,000 vehicles per annum. TKMPL's second manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka has a capacity of 210,000 vehicles per annum. Both plants have a combined capacity of 320,000 vehicles per annum. On 16 March 2011, it announced that it was increasing production to 210,000 vehicles per annum due to increase in demand for its models especially the Etios and Fortuner.
Toyota India started a One make racing series in India with the Etios car called the 'Etios Motor Racing Series'. The series started in 2012, it witnessed an overwhelming response from the Indian youngsters, with 3300 applicants.

subset: commoncrawl


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Linke Turbidity factor, Ozone, Water Vapor and Angstroembeta
This service serves monthly climatological values of Linke Turbidity factor (Tl) for air mass 2, ozone (O3), water vapor (WV) and Angstroembeta (å). This is an outcome of the SoDa project which ended in 2003. New Tl values (2010) have also been computed by are not yet available on our SoDa website.
The data are available worldwide, for any geographical location, any month and any elevation. Provider: Meteotest, Switzerland.


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Where did the dynamic map preview go?
We have had to temporarily disable certain features as Google has started charging us a lot for using its Google Maps API. For now, we can only show the static map preview but hope to re-enable this feature soon. For more information see our Help page and sorry for the inconvenience!
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Culture of Safety
As a not-for-profit health care system and a community resource, we believe that you should know about our quality efforts.
At Lourdes, we have an organizational commitment to quality improvement. That's why you'll find Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) efforts throughout the organization, and why you will see Lourdes participating in quality improvement projects on both the local and national levels. We're creating a culture where everyone from the operating room staff to the receptionist in the lobby has patient safety on the forefront of their mind. All of us have the same single goal for you - returning you to good health.
Lourdes Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Program is a planned, systematic and organization-wide continuous effort to monitor and improve the performance of all care and services provided. Lourdes has implemented several multi-disciplinary Priority for Action Teams.
Priority for Action Teams
- Nosocomial (Acquired) Infection - Prevent pneumonia in patients who cannot breathe without a respirator; prevent blood stream infections related to catheters placed in the large vein above the heart.
- Pressure Ulcers - Eliminate bed sores by improving patient care processes and products used to prevent them.
- Perinatal Safety Innovation Project - Promote the safety of women and their infants during the time before and after birth by improving processes related to the management of patients undergoing assistance with or induction of labor; monitoring the heart rate of unborn infants; training staff to manage obstetric crises through simulation of emergencies.
- Surgical Complications and Surgical Sepsis - Eliminate post operative deep vein blood clots, heart attack, excessive bleeding; avoid leaving foreign object sin the patient during surgery; and eliminate infections at the operation site.
All these help us make sure that within our walls nothing prevents us from the goal of helping you heal.
Public Data
Joint Commission Quality Check
The Joint Commission has a longstanding commitment to providing meaningful information about the comparative performance of accredited organizations to the public. Accreditation is a way of evaluating quality and safety in our organization. Lourdes has undergone an unannounced, thorough on-site review of the quality and safety of care being provided and is committed to continuously meeting rigorous national standards. Our last survey was completed in 2010.
At Lourdes we are proud to have earned the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for our hospital as well as our Home Care and Hospice programs. It is an audit of the actual delivery of critical services and patient care.
To view Joint Commission Acceditation Quality Reports for Lourdes, visit the Joint Commission's Quality Check website.
New York State Department of Health Hosptial Profiles
The New York State Department of Health is dedicated to ensuring quality health care in all of the State's health care facilities. The NYSDOH strives toward this goal by measuring the care rendered to patients in comparison to a code of rules and regulations which all facilities must follow. This code involves minimum standards of care which facilities are required to provide.
View Lourdes Hospital's profile on the NYSDOH website.
Hospital Compare
The Hospital Compare website was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), along with the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA).
Hospital Compare displays rates for Process of Care measures that show whether or not hospitals provide some of the care that is recommended for patients being treated for a heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, asthma (children only) or patients having surgery. Hospitals voluntarily submit data from medical records about the treatments their patients receive for these conditions. The data include patients with Medicare, those enrolled in Medicare health plans, and those who don't have Medicare.
View information for Lourdes Hospital on Hospital Compare. You can choose do a general search, or search by medical condition or surgical procedure.


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The criminal investigation of Winder's utility billing operations nabbed a former assistant supervisor of meter readers, but it did not result in criminal charges against the former director of the department.
In response to an inquiry from the newspaper, Winder police Major Jim Fullington said Tuesday that Dawn Reidling is not facing any criminal charges.
"After discussing the details of the investigation with investigators, District Attorney Brad Smith stated there was not sufficient evidence at this time to pursue any criminal charges against Ms. Dawn Reidling," wrote Fullington, who was the special agent in charge of the GBI's Athens office during last year's investigation.
For the full story, see the Jan. 16 issue of the Barrow Journal.
No charges in Winder billing probe
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Here is a review from Erhan Altay of MMOHut for the game Asda Story.
Asda Story Full Review
By Erhan Altay
Asda story was originally released in Japan and Korea under the name 'MicMac Online' but has only recently been brought to the North American market by the publisher Games Campus. The open beta for the game started in August 2008 and new content and features continue to be developed. Even though the game is years old now, it still remains popular.
In The Beginning
Asda Story is not the most in depth MMORPG out there, this is evident from both character creation and class choices available. Besides selecting gender, hair and face styles, players can chose from several outfits that make them look like a knight or a Roman legionnaire. These outfits can be mixed and matched but its best to stick to one set to avoid looking too goofy. In any event, equipment picked up once you actually start playing will soon replace your starting clothes so don't get too attached. Like many other (Asian) MMORPGs, players do not immediately select a class in Asda Story. Instead, all players start as novices and must make the first class change upon reaching level 5. There are a paltry 3 class choices currently available; Fighter, Archer, and Mage. Luckily, each has three unique skill lines to add some variety but from my experience there is quite a bit of unbalance even between the three classes. I've found archers to be far more powerful than fighters, especially during the first 30 or so levels.
Asda Story lacks a formal tutorial but the game shouldn't be too difficult for anything with prior gaming experience to figure out. The interface, movement, and gameplay are standard MMORPG fare. Asda Story takes very little chances; movement is done through point and click, a toolbar is available to assign spells, skills, and healing items to. Combat is done by double clicking the target and waiting. There are no stat points you need to worry about, only a single skill point earned every level starting at level 5. Skills are broken down in a tree structure with lower level skills being prerequisites for the fancier ones. The game's graphics have a very manga/anime feel, even more so than other Asian MMORPGs. Where Asda Story does part ways with most free MMORPGs is its heavily quest driven progression. There are always quests available and the only logical way to level is by completing them. Simply killing a monster yields almost no experience while quests have massive experience rewards attached to them. I personally favor this quest driven system because it gives players a sense of purpose, at least until the leveling rate slows down and you realize the quests are all recycled on every new map. The only thing you need to worry about is death, which carries a stiff 10% experience penalty. This may not seem like much of a problem, especially during the first few levels but it throws off the whole quest line. It seems there are just enough quests each level to get you to the next level, dying means you'll have to grind back that 10% the hard way.
Asda Story focuses on PvE content and generally does a better job of it than most games. Even at lower levels there are instanced dungeons available which must be completed with a small group. The first of these is a cavern made of chess boards where players fight wave after wave of various chess pieces with the final boss being the Queen. The fact that there are dozens of quests associated with this dungeon and all the other zones adds to the players desire to complete all available content. The regular quests themselves are generic kill quests or something along the lines of 'go talk to that NPC than report back' but even this still beats grinding, especially with the auto walk feature available through the map. As mentioned earlier, the interface in Asda Story is standard fare but it does making tracking quests simple. NPCs relevant to quests that can be obtained or with those you have ongoing quests with are marked on the mini map and a quest log is available to give players all the relevant information regarding quests they've accepted.
PvP-wise, the game has a faction warfare PvP system. Players can join any of the game's three factions (Light, Darkness and CHaos) and participate in faction wars on instanced battlefields where the three factions must duke it out for supremacy. Each battlefield supports upwards of 90 players on the screen at once (30 from each faction). If a single battlefield fills up, another one will open up so players will never have to "queue up" to begin PvPing when battles take place. Participating in PvP is rewarding, as players can earn honor points and coins which can be used to purchase special faction warfare items and gear that isn't otherwise available in the game.
Soul Mates
The one unique feature that Asda Story does manage to bring in is the Soul Mate system. At first this may seem like a glorified marriage gimmick which is available in many games these days but its nothing of the sort. Firstly, you can become soul mates with any other players provided they don't currently have a soul mate already. There's no special procedure involved, just click add a soul mate and put in their name to await a response. As both you and your soul mate level, special skills become available based on your Soul Mate level. Soul Mates can teleport to one another, which helps cut the long travel times involved in Asda Story. Another skill allows players to actually level up their soul mate's character while they're not even logged in! Like most MMORPGs, Asda Story is best enjoyed with one or more friends who go into the game together, the soul mate system really compounds this by making the game much more accessible to those playing at least one other person. How much you'll enjoy Asda Story depends on what you're expecting. The game offers little but quest directed grinding but is simple to jump into. When I first started playing during the open beta the game, the newbie zones were far more crowded than they are now. Hopefully the content upgrades that were promised are delivered.
Final Verdict – Good
Asda Story doesn't reinvent the wheel, it's a simple MMOPRG with limited class choices (3) and basic gameplay. If you're looking for a no hassle anime styled fantasy MMORPG, give Asda Story a try. If you're looking for something you haven't seen before, look elsewhere.
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What is your favorite MMO Genre?
City of Heroes
Rating: 8.0
Pixie Hollow
Star Wars The Old Republic
Battleground Europe: WWII Online
Rating: 7.5
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Rating: 7.0
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BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Senior Megan Epperson (St. John, Ind.) posted a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs to earn tournament MVP honors, and lead the Lees-McRae College women's volleyball team to a straight-set sweep of Queens University of Charlotte in the championship match of the Conference Carolinas Tournament on Sunday afternoon in Williams Gymnasium.
Lees-McRae (27-8) won the match by scores of 25-21, 25-21, and 25-18, holding Queens (23-9) to a .034 hitting percentage while attacking at a .232 clip of its own. The Bobcats also posted 6.5 blocks and six service aces en route to the program's 13th conference tournament championship in the last 14 years.
Epperson and Taylor Clendenin (Statesville, N.C.) each posted a match-high 10 kills, as Lauren Fox (Garland, Texas) chipped in eight smashes on 12 swings to notch a .500 hitting percentage. Megan Mitchell (Minden, Nev.) recorded a match-high 31 assists to establish a new career-best with 1,173 helpers this season, while also chipping in eight digs. Sariah Suryadevara (Cincinnati, Ohio) added a match-high 14 digs, as Jessica Singewald (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) chipped in a contest-best four blocks.
Keri Kemp paced the Royals with 10 kills to earn a spot on the all-tournament team, as Jocelyn Kellinger and Erin Mooney added nine and six digs, respectively. Brittany Harvey added four kills to also earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
Lees-McRae started off strong, opening an early 13-8 lead on back-to-back Royal miscues before Queens responded with a 6-1 run to even the tally at 14-14 on a service ace from Taylor Riley. After the Bobcats reclaimed a 20-16 lead on a kill from Fox and Queens cut the margin to 20-19 on an LMC miscue, Lees-McRae went on a 5-2 spurt to close out the set and take a 1-0 advantage in the match.
The second set proved to be a tightly contested affair, with neither team claiming more than a two-point margin until the Bobcats launched a 9-1 run to take a 17-11 lead on a Singewald smash. Queens would cut the margin to 18-17 with a 6-1 run, and after the Bobcats stretched the lead to 21-17 and the Royals countered with a 4-1 spurt, Lees-McRae closed out the set on an Epperson kill and back-to-back aces from Suryadevara to take a commanding 2-0 advantage in the match.
Lees-McRae would rally from an early 8-5 deficit in the third set, going on a 5-0 run to claim a 10-8 advantage on a Royal miscue. The Bobcats would hold the lead for the duration of the set, pushing the margin to 22-15 before closing out the set and the match on an emphatic block by Epperson and Singewald.
The Bobcats will now await the announcement of the 64-team field that will compete for the 2011 NCAA Division II women's volleyball national championship, having clinched a spot in the field via the automatic bid from Conference Carolinas. The field will be announced via webcast on NCAA.com tonight at 10 p.m.
2011 Conference Carolinas all-Tournament Team
Jamie Murray, Erskine
Sarah Van Goethem, King
Keri Kemp, Queens
Brittany Harvey, Queens
Megan Mitchell, Lees-McRae
Lauren Fox, Lees-McRae
Megan Epperson, Lees-McRae (MVP)


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Too Much Grand Theft Auto: 12 Year Old From Texas In A Police Chase! "Trying To Call My Mom" (Dash Cam Footage)
"A pre-teen is behind bars after leading police on a high speed chase through Fayette, Texas. Deputies arrested a 12-year old boy who refused to stop. The chase was caught on dash cam" - AP
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|Members List
|Today's Posts
|Mark Forums Read
|Topic Review (Newest First)
|Jun 29th, 2013 03:00 AM
|All Hail Duke
4 years later and i never did that sh-t
or get pigeons to stop flying into my mouth
anyways the rights to this line (and others from the company) have been bought, so you may very well get some true mang lava at some point
|Nov 28th, 2009 02:03 PM
|Hey Duke, still having trouble with pigeons flying into your mouth?
|Nov 28th, 2009 01:47 AM
|All Hail Duke
since i have tons of free time due to the lack of having a job (fuck you economy/california) i got the idea to use my limited artistic skills and do a small painting of the Manglord emerging from the mang lava in his iron mangen,it'll be mangtastic
just have to do some sketches of the idea
|Oct 4th, 2008 11:28 PM
|I MUST have a bucket of Nickelodeon Slime.
|Oct 2nd, 2008 04:27 PM
|They just don't make toys like they use to.
|Sep 30th, 2008 01:48 PM
|The obvious thought - after playing with your Manglord and Manglava, wouldn't any normal kid desire to taste and perhaps eat them? So RoG, what do they taste like?!
|Sep 28th, 2008 05:05 AM
"He's pretty pissed off because he is always being put into uncomfrtable positions that even the most exerienced yoga instructors wouldn't dare..."
LOL! You made my day.
|Sep 28th, 2008 12:34 AM
|Another toy line I liked as a kid was Action Man. This was Australia's answer to G.I. Joe. He was the size of a Ken doll but he was far manlier, at least he had the balls to grow a beard in some versions of him. Once I had him have a smackdown battle with my cousin's Ken over Barbie, with my cousin participating of course (she was a bit of a tomboy, who thought Ken was a wimp too).
|Sep 27th, 2008 10:53 PM
Rog... I had Maxx from RoboForce and Remco's mini-monsters playset with all the monsters as well. You forgot to add that Remco made a GI Joe knock off called Sgt. Rock (actually it was based on a comic). I had Manglor as well. I wanted the volcano set SO bad, but after I tore Manglors legs off and could never get them back on right... I kinda lost interest. Man... thanks for the walk down memory lane. (I had totally forgotten about Roboforce.)
|Sep 27th, 2008 10:07 PM
Thanks to eBay the 80s never dies, but the owners of said 80s trend toys will eventually die. Which means their kids will be playing with this stuff and not us if we want to buy it.
Another toy that I WAS born in the right time to enjoy was Monster in my Pocket, not Pocket Monsters which came after that, which you might like to do a piece on. There were also these really cool angry insect toys which my mother hated that you could get back in the 90s.
And please one day do an article on Mighty Max toys, I remember owning at least ten sets of those, including a Zombie themed set which was in the shape of a zombified hand, and this awesome Mighty Mountain set which was my generation's Manglor Mountain of a sort, only this one stood the test of time, as my Mighty Mountain is in storage with my other old toys.
|Sep 27th, 2008 06:49 PM
"Nooooo! You're decreasing the value!!!"
Seriously, thanks for letting us have this chance to regret missing out on the 80's even more. Mang-Lava.
|Sep 27th, 2008 01:13 PM
|Oh man, I could have made some amazing messes with those toys. I seem to remember Hordak had a play set that used slime as well.
|Sep 27th, 2008 10:12 AM
|heh good review. saw these in a thrift store awhile back. Almost bought them.
|Sep 27th, 2008 05:37 AM
|All this emphasis on Mang reminds me of Scarface for some reason. *twiddles thumbs while people remember that movie*
|Sep 27th, 2008 01:44 AM
|Yah, Betelgeuse is technically the planet that Ford Prefect comes from in the Hitchiker's series, which makes it all the more surprising to see.
|Sep 27th, 2008 01:19 AM
|This is why I love I-mockery! Excellent job RoG, very funny and informative.
|Sep 26th, 2008 09:48 PM
MangDemon looks absolutely fucking awesome.
Oh, I can cuss on the internet, right?
|Sep 26th, 2008 08:15 PM
|Y'know, if they do indeed have a Mang-Lang, I wonder do they have Mang-Slang? Do the Mang-Scholars criticize the Mang-Youth for their Mang-disrepect of the Mang-Lang with their Mang-Slang? Are there Mang-Dialects in different parts of the Mang-Plantet? Are there deaf Manglors? Do they speak in Sign-Manguage? I think I need to lay down for a bit.
|Sep 26th, 2008 07:11 PM
I love that
|Sep 26th, 2008 06:37 PM
|Wow, that takes me back. I haven't seen those in what, 20+ years? I couldn't even remember what they were called. Good blast from the past RoG!
|Sep 26th, 2008 05:25 PM
|I had Manglor Mountain! I saw the commercial for it and immediately had to get it. My uncle bought it for me one night. As I recall, Masters of the Universe had a slime pit type of thing around the same time. For one brief period in toy history, slime was the in thing. The only Manglor figure I had was the one that came with the mountain, and as I recall the whole thing was a bit of a letdown. After using the mountain you had to wash it out immediately or the slime would dry up and get crusty.
|Sep 26th, 2008 04:03 PM
|Gotta love toys that they insist you break, only for the child to realise that the detached appendage will never again full mend back to the body. Those crafty marketing bastards!
|Sep 26th, 2008 01:37 PM
|Relaxing Dragon
-RoG-, you are 100% right; there needs to be more iron maidens included in toys today (why isn't there a Lego one yet? It makes so much sense).
Also, I must give kudos to Ideal for including Betelgeuse in that origin story. After all, Ford and Zaphod are from a small planet near there, so it's an awesome place.
|Sep 26th, 2008 01:07 PM
|First time poster, long time reader. Back in the 1980s, the Manglors got a beating on a one shot HBO special, that was something of a Consumer Reports for kids. It told the tale of one young boy who wanted a refund from Ideal after he discovered that the torn Manglors didn't actually return to their original form after being ripped apart. Instead of a refund, he got all new Manglors instead.
|Sep 26th, 2008 01:02 PM
CarpetGnome, that's what eBay is for. Just because you didn't grow up when those toys were all the rage, doesn't mean you can't still track them down and enjoy 'em.
JakeOfAllTrades, hehe thanks, I'll try to do more video reviews when I have the chance.
darkvare, unless mangos are made of highly volatile chemicals that can melt your soul... no, I don't think so.
Icculus, be careful what you say about the Mang-Wizards and Mang-Magicians. They may toil for years to come about how to Mang-Murder you for laughing at them. Man, you really can put "Mang-" in front of just about any word to make it better, can't you?
stonewar, was there really? I've seen a ton of old commercial collections and have never seen a commercial for that playset, nor do I remember ever seeing one for it when I was a kid. The only Manglors commercial I've seen is the one I included at the end of my video there. If you ever manage to find it it, let me know.
Angryhydralisk, if only that were true. The sad reality is that it would just be a fairly rigid clump of MANG-LAVA in a pool of Nickelodeon Slime. Sorry my friend, but the two are like oil 'n water.
Doctor_Who, thanks, but the only reason my voice only sounds like that is because I now gargle with MANG-LAVA on a daily basis.
|This thread has more than 25 replies. Click here to review the whole thread.


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Yeah, not so much. As stated in the "Overview on Posting":Saguache wrote:So hence forth, its not a question. You cannot agree or disagree with my mode of travel because it never was a question.
If you don't want people disagreeing with, or commenting on, your plans, the ePlaya isn't the place to post them.NOTE: Be prepared for public scrutiny and criticism of your posts & threads, it comes part and parcel with posting on public message boards.
As for telling everyone who disagrees with you to
you might want to listen to what people are saying, without the chip. Just because they disagree with you with all the subtly of the ePlaya doesn't mean they're just shooting your idea down for fun. There are accidents on 447 every single Burn, vehicles on the side of the road with debris strewn about. Did you ever think that maybe they're trying to help you (a) avoid causing one of those, or (b) avoid being one of those.Saguache wrote:Have a cup of shut-the-fuck-up


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| Token#:676624294164203 | Price: loading...
After a user buy this Token, the Price will raise to 160% of the previous price. Then the price will drop a little everyday , until a new user buy it.
(* example price diagram)
1.There is 4 levels Citiestoken:
The Owner of higher level token can earn 6% commission from Each transaction of the lower level token which covered.For example, the owner of the Level-Middle token {40.744,-73.995} can earn 6% commission on each transaction of this 100 level-small tokens: {40.7440,-73.9950}~{40.7449,-73.9959}, and no times limited. So, A higher levels(level-Huge,Large,Middle) Citiestoken just like owned a small Stock Exchange: The more flourishing the transactions, the more revenue.


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With roughly 40% of the U.S. corn crop headed to ethanol plants and livestock producers crying foul because corn prices are double what they were a year ago, the battle over ethanol subsidies is far from over. Senate majority leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised another vote on whether to end the subsidies within the next two weeks.
The U.S. Senate's rejection yesterday of a bipartisan amendment introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to eliminate the 45-cent-per-gallon blenders' credit as well as the 54-cent-per-gallon ethanol import tariff was only the first volley in what could be the dismantling of nearly $6 billion in ethanol subsidies that many—even some ethanol trade groups—agree have become unnecessary long term to support the industry.
A Split Vote
Despite touting their commitment to reducing the budget deficit, 59 senators voted against eliminating the subsidies, which livestock producers argue put upward pressure on corn prices, thus harming their business. Forty senators voted to eliminate the subsidies. Passage would have required 60 votes.
In a surprise twist, Feinstein who represents the nation's No. 1 dairy state voted against the amendment she co-authored in protest to Coburn's insistence on forcing the vote without Reid's approval. Despite pleading from Feinstein, Coburn refused to delay the vote in an attempt to block an effort by farm-state Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to channel the subsidies into building ethanol pipelines and flex fuel tanks, which would allow consumers to choose the blend of gasoline they want to pump into their gas tanks.
"We're going to see a phasing out of the support for biofuels in terms of federal policy," says Klobuchar. "But the time to do it is not in the middle of the year, after seven years of federal support, with five days notice." Both Klobuchar and Thune voted against the amendment.
Taxpayers have spent $22.6 billion on ethanol subsidies since 2005, according to Feinstein, and are expected to spend $31 billion in the next three years. By letting the subsidies continue, Feinstein argues that Congress has helped inflate food prices by providing incentives for growers to raise corn for fuel instead of food.
Some farm-state senators, however, remain fully committed to the subsidies. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, argues that because ethanol now accounts for 10% of the nation's fuel supply, it makes no sense for Congress to end the tax breaks.
"We'll get less domestically produced ethanol and be more dependent upon those oil sheiks. But it will also cost U.S. jobs. It will increase our dependence on foreign oil. It will increase prices for American consumers," Grassley says.
The battle to eliminate the current ethanol subsidies is far from over. The effort has strong support from many Democrats—as long as the savings are diverted to other channels designed to support and grow the industry. President Barack Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack have come out in support of diverting subsidies away from gasoline blenders and into the ethanol infrastructure, which includes flex fuel pumps and pipelines.
Republican residential hopefuls are mixed on the issue. Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, and Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania, have come out against ethanol subsidies, while Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, supports them.
Regardless of how the subsidy battle plays out over the next few weeks or months, the federal fuel standard that requires a 10-percent blend of ethanol into gasoline—which is not under attack—will keep ethanol plants running at near to full capacity for many years to come. And if Congress were to increase the standard to require a 15-percent blend—which the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved earlier this year for cars made in 2001 and later—a greater percentage of the nation's corn crop could be diverted to fuel.


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Murray adds to the buzz over 2014 governor's race
Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray made a high-profile declaration on Thursday that he is taking a serious look at the 2014 governor's race, a reminder to the political class that the earliest stage of the campaign has begun, with would-be-candidates floating their names and assessing their chances.
The list is fairly thin so far, and includes potential candidates —Senator Scott Brown among them — who may also be in the mix for John F. Kerry's US Senate seat, should he be named to a Cabinet post. Some other potential candidates are already taking themselves out of the running. Suzanne Bump, for example, said in an interview Thursday that she would focus on winning reelection as auditor.
Others who have expressed interest or are being talked about include Charles D. Baker, the Republican who lost to Governor Deval Patrick in 2010, as well as Democrats Martha Coakley, the attorney general, Steven Grossman, the treasurer, and Carmen Ortiz, the US Attorney.
But Murray's speech Thursday in front of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce set down a marker; it was also an attempt by the politically ailing lieutenant governor to continue a campaign to rehabilitate his image.
For more than a year, Murray has been under scrutiny, primarily for his close political connection to a controversial former Chelsea Housing Authority director who is under federal and state investigation, but also for a mysterious early-morning car crash that left his state-issued Ford Crown Victoria a smoldering heap of metal. Black-box data showed that he was driving at more than 100 miles per hour and without a seat belt.
Since those issues erupted, Murray has kept a lower profile on Beacon Hill, focusing on regional events meant to reinforce his image as busy figure in the Patrick administration.
On Thursday, while addressing the lobbyists and business leaders at the chamber breakfast at the InterContinental Boston, Murray demurred on his timetable for announcing a candidacy for governor while acknowledging, "I would like to be governor."
In remarks that sounded much like a campaign speech preview, he lauded the accomplishments of the Patrick administration and the role he has played on issues such as housing and homelessness, veterans' services, domestic violence, substance abuse, rail and freight, municipal matters, and education. Addresses to the chamber often serve as forums for high-profile announcements and political coming-out events.
After his speech, Murray told reporters that his decision about running for governor would be a personal one.
"I've been around the state more than anybody perhaps other than the governor the last six years," he said. "I know the issues. I know the people. I know the challenges. And I know the opportunities. I'm not going to rush into anything. I'm going to make my decision in due course."
Murray's popularity suffered earlier this year, evidence by a Globe poll in March indicating that 30 percent of respondents viewed him unfavorably compared with 29 percent who viewed him favorably. An October poll showed some improvement, with 27 percent offering a favorable opinion compared with 22 percent who said they viewed him unfavorably. Though he is known as a prodigious fund-raiser, he would need far more than the $246,165 now in his campaign account to mount a campaign for the corner office.
Still, he is better known than some of his would-be competitors. Grossman elicited a favorable response from 20 percent of respondents in October, compared with 9 percent who said they had an unfavorable opinion. More than half of voters said they did not know enough to comment.
Grossman has more money in his state campaign account, $321,273, than the others who have been mentioned. Through a spokesman, he declined Thursday to comment on his plans. But he has said in recent weeks that he would decide over the next couple of months.
In a late-October interview with the State House News Service, Grossman attempted to frame the issue himself. "Steve's going to take a hard look at running for governor in 2014 — that would be an entirely accurate statement," he said.
Coakley, on the other hand, would enter the race with instant name recognition and popularity, despite her high-profile loss to Brown in the 2010 special election for Senate. The Globe's October poll showed 49 percent of those surveyed said they viewed her favorably, compared with 27 percent expressing an unfavorable view. With $214,506 in her state campaign account, she would also need to accelerate fund-raising to make a serious run.
A top adviser said Thursday that Coakley has not completely ruled out entering the race but is leaning toward seeking a third term as attorney general.
Among those Democrats mentioned, Ortiz may be the least conventional. Her office is investigating the state Probation Department, which could be awkward if she were to enter the political fray as a participant.
"Ms. Ortiz plans to continue in her role as US attorney and remains focused on advancing the mission of the Department," her spokeswoman, Christina DiIorio-Sterling, said in an e-mail.
The Republican field is much clearer, with the potential that Baker could clear the field if he chooses to make a second attempt for the office.
"That's the one on the tip of everybody's tongue that's for sure," said Timothy Buckley, the state party spokesman. "Charlie Baker has a lot of fans who would like to see him take another run."
Buckley said Baker was very active in helping Republican legislative candidates in the recent election. He also served on as a campaign chairman for Richard R. Tisei, his running mate in 2010, who lost a bid this month to unseat US Representative John F. Tierney.
Baker did not return two phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment. His campaign account is down to $76,521. Because he is not an elected official, he has not been raising money.
Baker would also have to reintroduce himself to voters. The October Globe poll indicated that more than half of the respondents did not know who he is. Just 19 percent had a favorable opinion of him, compared with 15 percent who had an unfavorable opinion.
The other major factor on the Republican side is Brown, who is still considering his political future following his defeat this month to Elizabeth Warren. If Kerry joins President Obama's Cabinet, Brown may choose to run for the Senate again in another special election. If not, he may weigh a bid for governor.
His spokeswoman, Marcie Kinzel, declined to comment on his plans, referring instead to comments Brown made on Tuesday when he was asked whether he was interested in either job.
"I have a job to do right now. And there is not an opening right now for governor, nor is there an opening for senator. But there is an opening for a dad and husband," he said. "Life doesn't end when you lose an election."
Frank Phillips of the Globe staff contributed. Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@
globe.com. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at s_ebbert@