mimblr.com

GILROY, Calif. - Calmer, cooler weather helped firefighters get a handle Sunday on a destructive wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that has brought a fierce start to the state’s fire season.
Easing winds and lower temperatures helped keep the blaze from spreading after flames charred nearly 6 square miles and destroyed at least 20 homes since Thursday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention.
“It’s really not moving at all,” said David Coursey, a department spokesman.
The fire was about 50 percent contained Sunday morning and was expected to be fully surrounded by early next week, fire officials said. The blaze still threatened 550 homes and 20 other buildings.
Hundreds of residents remain under evacuation following the outbreak of the fire in the mountainous region about 15 miles south of San Jose. Five firefighters have suffered minor injuries.
Nearly 2,900 personnel worked to cut fire lines through centuries-old redwood forests as a swarm of helicopters and air tankers doused flames from the sky.
State of emergency
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties to allow access to state funds. The firefighting effort has cost $6.1 million so far, Coursey said.
Smoke from the wildfire has left a haze over the San Francisco Bay area that was expected to linger through the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
About 2,000 residents have been asked or ordered to evacuate their homes since the fire started Thursday.
Some evacuees were being let in on an hour-by-hour basis to survey the damage, and plans were being put in place to allow many to return to their homes soon, officials said.
Investigators are still probing the cause of the fire, which broke out just as the state’s unofficial fire season got under way in mid-May. The blaze erupted following the state’s driest two-month period on record.

msnbc.msn.com

Eudora voters will have a choice in November to vote for both representatives in the Kansas Legislature.
The race for the 38th District Kansas House seat will pit two-term incumbent Republican Anthony Brown of Eudora against Democratic challenger Stephanie Kelton of Lawrence.
Brown and Kelton differ on key issues but both said they were motivated to run because they recognize the need to make tough decisions in hard economic times.
Kelton, an economic professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City with affiliations with two public policy research institutes, said she was running with hope of more directly influencing public policy.
“I am an economist; we have a economy teetering on the brink of recession,” said Kelton. “As important as some of these programs are we can’t say we’re going to have to increase taxes to keep them going. Families are strapped.”
“We are getting into an area where the economy is tight,” Brown said. “State revenues are down $81 million. We’re going to be forced into tough decisions.”
Brown said he was equipped to make those decisions because he understands the people of the 38th District, which snakes along Kansas Highway 10 from western Lenexa, western Shawnee, through northern Olathe, De Soto, Eudora and neighborhoods in southwest and northern Lawrence.
“We do have to have people (in Topeka) who are engaged in the community,” he said. “I’m someone who is willing to answer phone calls and e-mails and meet people.”
As an economist, she has written numerous public policy papers on health care, taxation, energy policy with the hope they would influence policy makers, Kelton said.
“After doing that for the last decade, I’m hoping to do that on the next level,” she said.
Brown and Kelton differ on two prominent issues of the last two legislative sessions. Kelton said she would have voted for the third year of the school finance plan approved in the 2007 session and wouldn’t have voted to grant permits for two coal-fired electrical plants in Holcomb that Brown voted for this year.

eudoranews.com

New Delhi, June 10 (PTI) Global broadcasters making big money from live telecast of cricket matches in India will have to pay taxes here, ruled the Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) while dismissing the plea of sports channel Nimbus, which said that it was not liable to be taxed.
Although the Singapore-based World Sports Nimbus (WSN) has decided to file an appeal against the CIT (Appeals) order with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), the tax case will have wide implications for foreign companies telecasting live cricket matches.
In the present case, assessing officer (AO) imposed a tax liability of Rs six crore on Nimbus on the income it had earned by telecasting live cricket matches during 2002 to 2005.
Nimbus, however, did not agree with the AO’s assessment and took up the matter with the CIT but failed to get any relief.
"The CIT has issued an order against the company against which we will be filing an appeal," company’s Chief Financial Officer Umeet Shah told PTI.
The decision of the Income tax Appellate tribunal in this case will have a bearing on the broadcasters of the high profile Indian Premier League (IPL), Sony-WSG combine.
Nimbus had entered into an agreement with Prasar Bharti in the year 2002 for production and generation of live television signals of cricketing events, both domestic and international in India from February 2002 to October 2004. PTI

ptinews.com

BARABOO, Wis. - A man charged with stealing art from a sculpture park and selling it for scrap was sentenced Thursday to eight months in jail.
Investigators say Howard J. Henn, 55, took metal used in the art of Lodi artist Tom Every, known as Dr. Evermor, at his outdoor sculpture studio.
Every’s “The Forevertron” was recently featured in “Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists.”
It was organized by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center last year and featured outsider art. It displayed more than 2,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs from 22 artists at its center and at five locations around the state, including North Freedom where “The Forevertron” sits.
It is a 300-ton sculpture that stands some 50 feet high and spans about 7,200 square feet.
That was untouched, but Henn was accused of stealing tons of valuable bronze, copper and brass scrap metal from the studio on Highway 12 across from the Badger Army Ammunition Plant between Baraboo and Prairie du Sac last July.
Henn appeared in Sauk County Circuit Court Thursday, where he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor theft charge and a count of receiving stolen property was dismissed, but used as a factor in sentencing.
A judge ordered Henn to Sauk County’s jail for eight months and to pay about $2,000 in fines, fees and restitution.
Every has previously said he is concerned thieves are melting down history and art.
“The metal came from breweries and power plants and recently, in the last four years, I got a lot of metal from the Badger Ordnance Plant,” he said in an interview last year. “Metal is metal. It has historic value for the shape and form it was in. So it isn’t just like now it’s worth $3 a pound for copper or $2 a pound for brass; we never looked at it that way at all.”

chicagotribune.com

Comcast ( NSDQ: CMCSA) Interactive Media is poised to turn a profit in 2008 according to EVP Sam Schwartz. He and CIM President Amy Banse discussed the state of the unit in a Reuters interview that follows closely on its announced acquisition of Plaxo. That acquisition followed the company’s purchase of Fandango a year earlier, though so far it sounds like partnerships with Google ( NSDQ: GOOG) and Yahoo ( NSDQ: YHOO) are the real moneymakers. Said Schwartz: "The Yahoo deal has been very lucrative for us and the Google (deal) continues to be lucrative and grow and we’ve bought a number of businesses? We’ll be there in 2008 in terms of profitability." In terms of actual numbers or margins or anything like that, Schwartz and Banse didn’t get into it. Also, it’s not clear how profits look once you factor in the cost of its acquisition strategy?Schwartz says more are in the works, probably focused in the online entertainment space, as well as advertising.
– Fancast: Comcast is in talks to bring the aggregation and streaming platform to customers at other cable networks. Banse tried to downplay the cannibalistic effects of the service: "We’re not asking programmers to collapse their windows because that’s how they make their money? We’re not saying everything needs to be online. We’re saying we can give you an on-demand experience on all platforms." For more on this basic tension Saul Hansell at Bits discusses today what it took for Comedy Central to bring fullDaily Showstreams, potentially to the chagrin of cable partners like Time Warner ( NYSE: TWX) Cable (and Comcast).
– Yahoo: Comcast announced last April that it had selected Yahoo to provide display ads for its Comcast.net portal. As CIM grows larger and builds its out its own ad sales force, is that deal threatened? Schwartz would only say that the company is "very happy" with the Yahoo deal. Of course. Companies are always very happy with their existing relationships until the day they’ve had enough.

washingtonpost.com

had a Honda Dog & soda, Honda also provided A beautiful wedding cake and a Grooms Cake with a Honda motocycle on top.
Terry & Buddy met online thru Yahoo personnels November 2006.Yahoooo thank you, We are so Happy & in Love.
After the Wedding ceremony, We along with several Rig Riders of Acadiana & Southern Cruisers went on a motorcycle ride before heading to Youngsville to the Reception held at the home of Dennis & Rosie Culver.
April 30 we Left for Hot Springs, along with some other couples. Stayed at Hot Springs Villiage.We had many great rides in Arkansas,I really like Hwy 7 and also enjoyed the No Helmet Law.Saw beautiful Scenery.

theadvertiser.com

Tennis team to face Tupelo for championship
By Josh Neaves
With two playoff victories over the past week, the Brandon Bulldog tennis team has advanced to the 5A State Championship.
Brandon played Tupelo for the championship on Wednesday at Bridges Tennis Center in Jackson. Scores and recap were unavailable at press time.
“Being the state championship, it’s going to be a tough match,” Brandon coach Scott Huskey said. “Tupelo is strong in both boys and girls singles, boys doubles and mixed doubles.”
Brandon defeated Terry, Gulfport and Oak Grove in the playoffs to reach the state finals.
The Bulldogs first defeated Gulfport 5-2. Winners were Kechinye Didia in girls singles, Clint Tullar in boys singles, Brandon McKay and Jonathan West in No. 2 boys doubles, Sara Lauren Peacock and Cecilly Monsour in No. 1 girls doubles and Maidee Parker Davis and Taylor Torrence in No. 2 girls doubles.
On Saturday Brandon defeated Oak Grove to win the 5A South State Championship, 4-3.
Winners for the Bulldogs included Didia, Peacock and Monsour in doubles, McKay and Adam Vonder Haar in No. 2 boys doubles and Lynn Marshall and Taylor Torrence in No. 2 girls doubles.
Huskey attributes the success of his team to the leadership of his seniors: Peacock, McKay and Marshall.
“Our senior leadership has been great,” Huskey said. “Our entire team has played well, it’s been more of a question of getting our line-up correct.”
While the senior class may have led the way, youth has also been prominent for Brandon.
Eighth-grader Didia has only lost one match in the regular season this year.
“She’s had a super season, she’s a great singles player,” Huskey said. “She has a good shot at doing well in the individual tournament.”

rankinledger.com

Department of Revenue and Taxation Director Art Ilagan said tax rebate checks will be mailed out soon. He mentioned also that individuals who owe the Government of Guam money will have their rebates go toward their debts to the government.
I know that the government has been for years not returning excess tax deductions to individuals who owe the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority. This got me thinking. Maybe this concept can work both ways and be a win-win for all.
Some people owe GovGuam money and GovGuam owes a lot of people money. Govguam has not paid out all tax refunds for several years. (By the way, I don’t like the word “refund”. It should be replaced with “overpayment.” “Refund” sounds like the government is doing you a favor. “Overpayment” makes it very clear that the government is holding your money that you overpaid). Govguam also owes money to vendors and contractors.
If GovGuam can take your money and pay your hospital debt, maybe it could be made possible to pay your vehicle registration renewal fee and streetlight fund payment, your tipping fee, your utility bills, and for contractors/vendors their business license fees, their Gross Receipts Tax, and so on, by having the Treasurer of Guam subtract your fees from GovGuam’s debt to you.
Maybe this can be made possible by using vouchers or a process like gift cards or debit cards. For sure this will be an additional task if implemented and may (or may not) complicate revenue projections. It surely will reduce total revenue collection. However GovGuam will not have to borrow money and eliminate loan interest payments to the banks.
This is just an idea and of course a professional feasibility study and economic analysis are needed to determine if it would work.
BEN C. LEON GUERRERO
The government’s practices once again seem to be at odds with both common sense and the best interests of the people of Guam.

guampdn.com

BOCA RATON, Fla., April 28 /PRNewswire/ — The Boca Raton Charter School, the city’s only International Baccalaureate Candidate School, has retained TransMedia Group to make public an unyielding landlord’s threats to evict its entire student body of 122 elementary school children on the eve of their graduation from the once rat-infested property he leased to them.
The Boca Raton Charter School, a not-for-profit elementary school, and the city’s only official International Baccalaureate Candidate School offering the acclaimed Primary Years Programme (PYP) to a diverse student body, pre-kindergarten to Grade 6, says that through TransMedia Group, it is sending an SOS out to the community on behalf of its non-tuition paying students who are about to graduate.
Anguished school officials want TransMedia to help find an angel who’ll spare its young students the humiliation of being kicked out on the street by a landlord whom they claim put a strain on their finances by refusing to pay for repairs it had to make for the children’s health and safety.
"We turned to TransMedia to help us out of this dire situation we are in before it traumatizes our children," said Deborah Nash-Utterback, Principal of Boca Raton Charter School.
School administrators claim the landlord took advantage of a situation in which he acted as an attorney in another school eviction case, then exploited the opportunity by buying this property and leasing it to that school at a higher rent, which may have constituted unethical conduct under rules governing attorneys.
The Boca Raton Charter School later took over the lease assigned to them by the landlord and attorney, Steven B. Greenfield.
In February 2006, shortly after moving into the property at 414 NW 35th St. leased from Greenfield’s company Commercial Boca Properties, Inc., besieged charter school officials said they discovered it was infested with rats and in a deplorable and unsafe condition with roof leaks, then lightning destroyed the fire alarm system that is functional but still not meeting city code, which ultimately put the non-tuition school in a financial bind.

earthtimes.org

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (WAVY.com) — Virginia Beach Volunteer EMT rescue worker Shaune Zenzel admitted Friday, that he did in fact break into two firehouses and steal morphine.
“I broke trust…I admitted it in writing…I admitted it to the police, I said I did it,” explained Zenzel during a jailhouse interview.
Zenzel says he has nothing to hide and during the interview told us his side of what happened early Friday morning.
He says he “did it out of a bad decision and desperation” and that he “was unable to get into better counseling.”
Zenzel faces two counts of Grand Larceny and accepts those charges. He told WAVY.com that he broke into two firehouses, one on Shore Drive and one on Ruritan Ct. in Va. Beach.
“It was out of character…it wasn't something I typically do,” said Zenzel.
Zenzel then proceeded to tell us that he broke into two drug boxes and stole morphine from inside.
Rescue workers arriving to work discovered the morphine missing and called police. After talking with rescue workers, police were able to develop a description of the suspect.
Zenzel says he “could've been slick about it” and no one would've suspected him.
He says he's been using painkillers to ease the pain from an accident he was in three years ago, but soon he says his body needed more.
“The only reason I did it was because it staved off the horrible symptoms of withdrawal,” said Zenzel.
Nonetheless, police arrested Zenzel at his home Friday morning. Zenzel says a part him wanted to be caught.
Volunteer EMT arrested for stealing drugs from fire stations
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (WAVY.com) — A Virginia Beach volunteer EMT rescue worker was arrested and charged with two counts of Grand Larceny Friday afternoon.
Beach police responded to separate burglaries at two different fire stations shortly after 6 a.m. Friday morning.

wavy.com