Sunday, March 31, 2013

Bonus Quote of the Day (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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Business, labor close on deal for immigration bill

FILE - In this May 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday, March 29, 2013 to end a fight over a new low-skilled worker program that had threatened to upend negotiations on a sweeping immigration bill in the Senate providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants already in the U.S. Schumer, who's been brokering talks between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that negotiators are "very close, closer than we have ever been, and we are very optimistic." He said there were still a few issues remaining. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this May 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Big business and major labor unions appeared ready Friday, March 29, 2013 to end a fight over a new low-skilled worker program that had threatened to upend negotiations on a sweeping immigration bill in the Senate providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants already in the U.S. Schumer, who's been brokering talks between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that negotiators are "very close, closer than we have ever been, and we are very optimistic." He said there were still a few issues remaining. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

(AP) ? Prospects for a Senate deal on an ambitious rewrite of the nation's immigration laws improved markedly as business and labor appeared ready to set aside their differences over a new low-skilled worker program holding up the agreement.

The AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries. But on Friday, officials from both sides said there was basic agreement on the wage issue, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said a final deal on the low-wage worker dispute was very close.

That likely would clear the way for Schumer and seven other senators in a bipartisan group to unveil legislation the week of April 8 to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, strengthening the border, cracking down on employers, allowing in tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers and providing a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

"We're feeling very optimistic on immigration: Aspiring Americans will receive the road map to citizenship they deserve and we can modernize 'future flow' without reducing wages for any local workers, regardless of what papers they carry," AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser said in a statement. "Future flow" refers to future arrivals of legal immigrants.

Under the emerging agreement between business and labor, a new "W'' visa program would bring tens of thousands of lower-skilled workers a year to the country. The program would be capped at 200,000 a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market.

The workers would be able to change jobs and could seek permanent residency. Under current temporary worker programs, personnel can't move from employer to employer and have no path to permanent U.S. residence and citizenship. And currently there's no good way for employers to bring many low-skilled workers to the U.S. An existing visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year and is supposed to apply only to seasonal or temporary jobs.

The Chamber of Commerce said workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department determines prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it varies from city to city.

There was also disagreement about how to deal with certain higher-skilled construction jobs, such as electricians and welders, and it appears those will be excluded from the deal, said Geoff Burr, vice president of federal affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors. Burr said his group opposes such an exclusion because, even though unemployment in the construction industry is high right now, at times when it is low there can be labor shortages in high-skilled trades, and contractors want to be able to bring in foreign workers. But unions pressed for the exclusion, Burr said.

The low-skilled worker issue had loomed for weeks as perhaps the toughest matter to settle in monthslong closed-door talks on immigration among the senators, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, when the legislation foundered on the Senate floor after an amendment was added to end a temporary worker program after five years, threatening a key priority of the business community.

The amendment passed by just one vote, 49-48. President Barack Obama, a senator at the time, joined in the narrow majority voting to end the program after five years.

___

Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-30-Immigration/id-51f78aac15a646e3b109a9b176cede5f

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Songkick Concerts (for Android)


Hardcore music fans have their beloved bands' tour schedules seemingly imprinted on their souls, but those of us with more casual devotions may have trouble keeping tabs on our favorite artists' performance dates. Enter Songkick Concerts, a slick Android app (free) (also available on iOS) that notifies you when an artist plans to come to your town. Concertgoers, consider Songkick Concerts a must-have download.

How Songkick Concerts Works
Songkick Concerts lets you obtain concert information in two ways. One option is the active way. Tap the "+" icon, key in an artist's name, tap the search button, select the artist's database entry, and then tap "Track." You'll know that an artist is on tour if you see a red "On Tour" sash adorning the listing. If the artists aren't on tour, Songkick Concerts simply displays "No Upcoming Events."

If tapping icons is a bit too much exertion, you can simply let Songkick Concerts dig up tour information for you. When you launch the Songkick Concerts, the app automatically scans your device's music file library (as well as Last.FM and Pandora mobile apps) for artists to match against its database?and it works surprisingly well. Nine of the ten music tracks on my Samsung Galaxy Note II?pulled an artist entry?even a song from the relatively unknown Death Grips. Songkick Concerts didn't recognize a Heems track, but overall I was impressed that the app has its ear tuned to both popular and underground acts.

The Songkick Concerts Experience
The Songkick Concerts homescreen features three areas: "Artists," "Calendar," and "Locations."

"Artists" displays a thumbnail grid of performer images showing performers you manually added and those which Songkick automatically generated based on your music file collection. When you bring a finger to the icon of an artist on tour, Songkick Concerts displays the tour dates, tour venues, and locations. Tapping the entry takes you to a second screen where you can let others know if you're attending ("I'm going"/"I might go"), check out the venue location on Google Maps, view other artists in the event lineup, purchase tickets (from the likes of LiveNation, Stubhub!, and others sellers), and view other Songkick Concert users who plan to attend the same show.

"Calendar" displays the shows you may attend and artist tour dates. It also lets you add a date to Google Calendar if you prefer to house tour information there?a nice touch. "Locations" lets you add cities that you're willing to visit to attend shows. For example, I inputted Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, so Songkick Concerts only displayed tour dates from artists who are planning to appear in those cities. Songkick Concerts makes finding concerts very simple.

Party On, Wayne
Whether you're a concert frequenter or simply want to see a live music show once in a while, Songkick Concerts is the Android app to download. Songkick Concerts not only lets you view when your favorite performers are coming to town, but lets you purchase tickets, too. It quickly became my go-to app whenever the idea of attending a live show popped into in my head. Music fans: get this app.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/kbu74RSzcXs/0,2817,2417193,00.asp

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NY awards $46M for 76 solar energy projects

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state is awarding $46 million to help finance 76 large-scale solar energy projects across New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday the money will go to 28 recipients for projects at businesses, factories, municipal buildings and other large energy users. The solar power projects will use a mix of public and private dollars and are expected to be on line by the end of the year.

They will total 52 megawatts.

The money comes from the state's NY-Sun initiative and is awarded on a competitive basis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-awards-46m-76-solar-150954556.html

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Army formally declines Purple Hearts for Fort Hood shooting victims

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The U.S. Army on Friday formally declined to award Purple Heart medals to the victims of Major Nidal Hasan's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, saying the move would damage his ability to receive a fair trial.

The Army in a position paper said that awarding the medal to those wounded and posthumously to those killed in the November 2009 attack would 'set the stage for a formal declaration that Major Hasan is a terrorist' because the medal is presented to military members who are 'wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States.'

Hasan, 42, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire on a group of soldiers who were preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, killing 13 and wounding 32 before he was shot and permanently paralyzed by two civilian Fort Hood police officers.

He faces the death penalty if he convicted by a military jury on 13 specifications of premeditated murder. His court martial is set to begin in July.

The Army formalized its ongoing opposition to awarding the Purple Hearts in a position paper responding to language inserted in the Defense Authorization Bill, which would require the Secretary of the Army to award the medal.

Some of Hasan's wounded victims and families of the deceased have filed a federal lawsuit and among the demands is that each of the victims be awarded financial compensation and a Purple Heart.

"U.S. military personnel are organized, trained and equipped to combat foreign, not domestic, forces or threats," the Army wrote. "To expand the Purple Heart award criteria to include domestic criminal acts or domestic terror attacks would be a dramatic departure from the traditional Purple Heart award criteria."

A spokesman for the Secretary of the Army did not return a phone call seeking further comment.

Neal Sher, the New York-based lawyer for the Fort Hood victims, called the Army's claims 'rubbish.'

"This is a cynical travesty," Sher said. "The only thing the government has done is guarantee that anything done to help the victims will effectively impair and prevent Hasan's prosecution. These victims have been given the back of the hand by their government."

The Army says it has the interest of the victims in mind, saying any government declaration that Hasan is a terrorist could mean a delay of another 'year or more' in a trial which has already been pushed back several times by lengthy debates over Hasan's beard and other side issues.

"Such an unprecedented action would thwart the real and lasting measure that will bring closure to the grieving and harmed victims, the trial itself," the Army concluded.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/army-formally-declines-purple-hearts-fort-hood-shooting-235520037.html

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Japan jobless rate up, prices, manufacturing fall

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's jobless rate edged higher and industrial production fell slightly in February as consumer prices also fell, underscoring the fragility of the recovery of the world's third-largest economy.

The government data released Friday showed the main consumer price index fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier as deflation continued to defy the combined efforts of the government and central bank to move toward a 2 percent inflation target. However the CPI was up 0.1 percent from January's figure.

Unemployment rose to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent the month before, while industrial production slipped by 0.1 percent in the first decline in three months. The unemployment rate for those below the age of 35 is significantly higher, at over 6 percent.

Japan's central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, said Thursday that he believed the economy was improving after years of stagnation and would enter a moderate recovery by midyear. But he acknowledged high uncertainty because of the global economy.

Kuroda has pledged to work with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government in achieving the 2 percent inflation target set in January, preferably within two years, and ending years of growth-inhibiting deflation.

After taking power late last year, Abe's administration embarked on an aggressive stimulus program of government spending, monetary easing and planned reforms aimed at improving Japan's competitiveness. Revised figures show Japan's economy likely emerged from a recession late last year, but other data has been mixed.

The government's strategy will depend on getting consumers, whose spending accounts for the lion's share of economic activity, to spend more, and that in turn will hinge on encouraging companies to raise wages and increasing higher. Many companies huge cash reserves after having shed debt from the collapse of the economic bubble over 20 years ago but are wary of increasing investment given the existing weak demand and the aging and shrinking of the Japanese population.

Friday's data, coupled with signs of weakening retail sales, show the scale of the challenge in restoring consumer confidence.

By boosting inflation, Japan's planners hope to persuade consumers to spend more now in anticipation of price increases in the future. That could prove a daunting challenge given a drop in real wages over the past two decades and the weak job market, said Susumu Takahashi, head of the Japan Research Institute and a member of a government economic advisory council.

To achieve the inflation target the government must change expectations, he said.

"The only way is for the deflationary way of thinking to change. Without that it will be very hard," he said.

Speaking to lawmakers about the central bank's semiannual report, Kuroda said prices are unlikely to rise for the next few months but after that Japan would see some progress toward its inflation target as the economy moved toward a "moderate recovery path."

The central bank asset purchases and other strategies adopted so far have not been sufficient to reach the inflation target, he said, reiterating his intention to manage market expectations and "make clear that we have adopted the uncompromising stance that we will do whatever is necessary to overcome deflation."

Kuroda was appointed to succeed former BOJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa when he stepped down on March 19, three weeks before his term expired. The parliament is expected to approve his appointment to the five-year term, which is due to begin April 8.

The central bank is due to hold its first regular policy meeting under Kuroda April 3-4, though it may wait until later in the month to embark on any significant moves, such as a boosting its purchases of government bonds to help increase the amount of money available in the economy and encourage more investment by the private sector.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-jobless-rate-prices-manufacturing-fall-005246909--finance.html

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Head-on collisions between DNA-code reading machineries accelerate gene evolution

Mar. 28, 2013 ? Bacteria appear to speed up their evolution by positioning specific genes along the route of expected traffic jams in DNA encoding. Certain genes are in prime collision paths for the moving molecular machineries that read the DNA code, as University of Washington scientists explain in this week's edition of Nature.

The spatial-organization tactics their model organism, Bacillus subtilis, takes to evolve and adapt might be imitated in other related Gram-positive bacteria, including harmful, ever-changing germs like staph, strep, and listeria, to strengthen their virulence or cause persistent infections. The researchers think that these mechanisms for accelerating evolution may be found in other living creatures as well.

Replication -- the duplicating of the genetic code to create a new set of genes- and transcription -- the copying of DNA code to produce a protein -- are not separated by time or space in bacteria. Therefore, clashes between these machineries are inevitable. Replication traveling rapidly along a DNA strand can be stalled by a head-on encounter or same-direction brush with slower-moving transcription.

The senior authors of the study, Houra Merrikh, UW assistant professor of microbiology, and Evgeni Sokurenko, UW professor of microbiology, and their research teams are collaborating to understand the evolutionary consequences of these conflicts. The major focus of Merrikh and her research team is on understanding mechanistic and physiological aspects of conflicts in living cells -- including why and how these collisions lead to mutations.

Impediments to replication, they noted, can cause instability within the genome, such as chromosome deletions or rearrangements, or incomplete separation of genetic material during cell division. When dangerous collisions take place, bacteria sometimes employ methods to repair, and then restart, the paused DNA replication, Merrikh discovered in her earlier work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

To avoid unwanted encounters, bacteria orient most of their genes along what is called the leading strand of DNA, rather than the lagging. The terms refer to the direction the encoding activities travel on different forks of the unwinding DNA. Head-on collisions between replication and transcription happen on the lagging strand.

Despite the heightened risk of gene-altering clashes, the study bacteria B. subtilis still orients 25 percent of all its genes, and 6 percent of its essential genes, on the lagging strand.

The scientist observed that genes under the greatest natural selection pressure for amino-acid mutations, a sign of their adaptive significance, were on the lagging strand. Amino acids are the building blocks for proteins. Based on their analysis of mutations on the leading and the lagging strands, the researchers found that the rate of accumulation of mutations was faster in the genes oriented to be subject to head-on replication-transcription conflicts, in contrast to co-directional conflicts.

According to the researchers, together the mutational analyses of the genomes and the experimental findings indicate that head-on conflicts were more likely than same-direction conflicts to cause mutations. They also found that longer genes provided more opportunities for replication-transcription conflicts to occur. Lengthy genes were more prone to mutate.

The researchers noted that head-on replication-transcription encounters, and the subsequent mutations, could significantly increase structural variations in the proteins coded by the affected genes. Some of these chance variations might give the bacteria new options for adapting to changes or stresses in their environment. Like savvy investors, the bacteria appear to protect most of their genetic assets, but offer a few up to the high-roll stakes of mutation.

The researchers pointed out, "A simple switch in gene orientation ?could facilitate evolution in specific genes in a targeted way. Investigating the main targets of conflict-mediated formation of mutations is likely to show far-reaching insights into adaptation and evolution of organisms."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Sandip Paul, Samuel Million-Weaver, Sujay Chattopadhyay, Evgeni Sokurenko, Houra Merrikh. Accelerated gene evolution through replication?transcription conflicts. Nature, 2013; 495 (7442): 512 DOI: 10.1038/nature11989

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/S-XGYhm7TK4/130329125307.htm

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What You Need To Know About Prostate Cancer 03/28 by ...

  • On AirLoading

    NRA President David Keene joins The Don Smith Show this week to talk about the ongoing battle on gun legislation.

  • Former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino, who served on the protection details of both G.W. Bush & Barack Obama joins the show for an enlightening interview.

  • Top Motivational Speaker & Navy SEAL, David Rutherford ignites audiences with his high energy, no nonsense approach to motivation.

  • Join Sonny Clark & Roger Noriega for the play-by-play here on The Couch Potato Sports Show - Home of the IFL on BlogTalkRadio!

  • Arthur and Eli are joined by Jeff Falick, an atheist rabbi, to discuss how priests and rabbis are given authority.

  • NWP welcomes Pastor Kevin Brown who says we don't have to wait for Easter to forgive ourselves and resurrect our lives.

  • Over 13 million men suffer from low testosterone, and 90% are untreated. Welcome Dr. Kyle Fogel, board-certified physician and natural medicine specialist.

  • The bugs come out with Integrated Pest Management with Baldo Villegas to discuss the management of beneficial and harmful insects and fungal diseases for roses.

  • K9 Sports Konnection discusses the many factors that can be used to help the active dog and handler.

  • Tashera Simmons; wife of multi-platinum rapper DMX joins the show, in late 2010 Tashera founded the Women Of Strength Organization.

  • Raiders Rewind breaks out its baseball & softball previews for North Brunswick Township(NJ) High School, featuring softball standout Marylynn Muldowney.

  • Join hosts The Bad Seed and Nadine Michel as they welcome Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's DJ; DJ JAM, to the show.

  • Uncover the essence of what makes motorcycling so much more than just a way to get from here to there with The Ride So Far author Lance Oliver.

  • AreYouScreening.com host and BFCA film critic, Marc Eastman, and co-host extraordinaire, Shane Leonard, review G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

  • Old Soul and R & B singer Tess Henley shares her hot new album with Dice Raw and reflects on her career and the loss of her cousin Carly Henley.

  • Celebrity Chef Jeffrey Saad, host of the Cooking Channel series United Tastes of America, joins the show to discuss his book Jeffrey Saad?s Global Kitchen.

  • Tim and Jill will be discussing the history making Supreme Court decisions this past week; Prop 8 and DOMA, on how they effect the LGBT community nationwide.

  • Paul Gant's GO4IT (@goforitgant) to be joined by actor, Robbie Jones, one of the stars of Tyler Perry's movie "Temptation" who will discuss the movie and more.

  • This week Dawn and Jen will dig deep with Special Guest, Kris Hughes, Animal Communicator, Intuitive and creator of her own unique oracle system.

  • Singer & co-founder of her band, Tanadra has been making waves on the independent circuit with her band & EPs, she joins Lee Sanders for a candid interview.

  • Actress and model Lesli Kay is best known for her roles on CBS Daytime dramas, most notably, for her portrayal of Felicia Forrester on Bold and the Beautiful.

  • Join Where Is My Guru as we welcome author of Dharma Punx and Against The Stream, is a Buddhist teacher, author and counselor Noah Levine.

  • Pastor Timothy Henderson honors us by talking about Good Friday and Easter. Learn about these significant holidays and join the celebration.

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hilarytopper/2013/03/28/what-you-need-to-know-about-prostate-cancer-3

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    Schoolboy Q Jokes And Bullies His Way Through New York Show

    Black Hippy MC gives fans a taste of Oxymoron at two sold-out shows Thursday night.
    By Rob Markman


    ScHoolboy Q
    Photo: Getty Images

    Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704573/schoolboy-q-new-york-show.jhtml

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    Friday, March 29, 2013

    Power Play International, a Leading Social Media Marketing and ...

    Power Play International, a Social Media Marketing and Website Design Agency, today released its enhanced web services.

    New York, Melville (PRWEB) March 26, 2013

    Power Play International, a Long Island Web Design Company as well as a leading Internet marketing company headquartered in Melville, New York, today released its increased web services roll. The list is critical to companies seeking to update their online business existence, manage their on-line standing as well as for those ?small businesses just starting out.?

    ?The Internet Market is competitive on an international scale,? notes Dean Spinato, President and Director of Business Development, Power Play International, Inc. ?Even successful web businesses need to update to keep up with ever-changing search engine algorithms, search engine optimization is constantly shifting?all businesses must be prepared for Google Penguin. With the latest Google Penguin algorithm update, designed to weed out Internet pollution and junk, Google is getting more particular about how sites are judged on quality,? Mr. Spinato states. However, it is important to understand what businesses need, then choose a firm that can meet if not exceed your expectations. Tendencies that have become essential include: custom content development, social media extensions, applicable web design, media experience and cellular sites. The key is finding a good price for a clients business that will be best served by a job.

    The manner that Power Play International reacts to their client?s needs to keep up and grow their businesses. PPI will work with the client to develop a branded web design that will best meet your business goals. Power Play International will complete and collaborate a comprehensive intake form to identify their needs. As a guide making use of this, NYC Web Design team will create a design and execution strategy that accomplishes the companies vision. This will be an interactional process that results in a unique site and on-line engine that will forever improve the companies brand.

    About Power Play International:

    Power Play International is a gifted, seasoned team of web development professionals. Long Island Web Design?s customer list includes members of the sports world, attorneys, financial consultants, music business professionals and many cable TV news guests.

    Based in New York City NYC Web Design, Power Play International is well prepared to manage a variety of Internet service needs, from helping a newly created business get on the Web, to creating impressive sites for individuals without a Web presence as well as redesigning existing websites with modern design trends and an easy to use content management system. Power Play International will provide the VIP treatment the customer deserves.

    Here at Power Play international, the main goal is to strive on giving the chance for company and individuals to grow with the internet. Power Play International is very excited about the new inventions developed for creating the next generation of interactive websites and how it can be tailor-made to match your needs.

    For the original version

    Article source: http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/Power-Play-International-a-Leading-Social-Media-4385273.php

    Source: http://residualrx.com/2013/03/28/power-play-international-a-leading-social-media-marketing-and-website-2/

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    HomeVestors Continues Aggressive Trademark Enforcement in First ...

    HomeVestors Franchise Continues Diligence in Protecting its Trademarks?

    DALLAS - March 27, 2013 // PRNewswire // - HomeVestors of America, Inc. ("HomeVestors"), known for its registered trademark We Buy Ugly Houses?, has been diligent in protecting its trademarks. Since its incorporation in 1996, HomeVestors has aggressively defended its federally registered trademarks and enforced its right to prevent third parties from infringing these marks, in third-party websites, domain names, and in keyword advertising.

    In the first quarter of 2013 alone, HomeVestors has initiated enforcement action against as many as fourteen new third-party infringers and has already secured victory in five matters. HomeVestors is also pursuing a number of Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy ("UDRP") proceedings against parties that are incorporating HomeVestors trademarks into domain names. HomeVestors also continues to see an increase in third-party use of the federally registered HOMEVESTORS? mark, or confusingly similar variations thereof, an indication that the HOMEVESTORS? brand continues to grow and gain strength and recognition throughout the United States. HomeVestors is, of course, diligently pursuing those matters as well.

    HomeVestors is the #1 buyer of houses in the U.S. The first franchise company of its kind, HomeVestors has been franchising since 1996. HomeVestors currently has over 300 independently owned and operated franchises in 37 states. Franchisees are authorized to use the WE BUY UGLY HOUSES? and HOMEVESTORS? trademarks in connection with their franchised business. Use of such trademarks by unauthorized third parties, however, is prohibited.

    "HomeVestors continues to aggressively pursue infringers of both its WE BUY UGLY HOUSES? and HOMEVESTORS? marks," explained HomeVestors litigation attorney Darin Klemchuk of Klemchuk Kubasta LLP. "It will continue to pursue every infringement of which it becomes aware in order to maintain the vast goodwill and national recognition in its marks."

    HomeVestors has owned and used the HOMEVESTORS?, WE BUY UGLY HOUSES?, the UG? family of marks, and other proprietary trademarks continuously for many years. Over the years, HomeVestors has spent significant amounts of time and resources in developing its brand and maintaining the goodwill it has built in its trademarks.

    About HomeVestors of America, Inc.

    Dallas-based HomeVestors of America, Inc. is the #1 buyer of houses in the U.S. HomeVestors trains and supports franchisees that specialize in buying and rehabbing residential properties. Most commonly known as the "We Buy Ugly Houses" company, HomeVestors strives to make a positive impact in each community. In 2012, for the seventh consecutive year, HomeVestors was among the prestigious Franchise Business Review's "Top 50 Franchises," a distinction awarded to franchisers with the highest level of franchisee satisfaction. For more information, visit www.HomeVestors.com.

    About Klemchuk Kubasta LLP

    Klemchuk Kubasta LLP is a law firm offering a full array of intellectual property related services, including litigation and enforcement of all forms of intellectual property, as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights. The firm also provides legal services relating to trade secrets, unfair competition, domain names, e-commerce, privacy policies, Internet law, commercial and business litigation, technology transactions, and international business and trade. Located in Dallas, Texas, Klemchuk Kubasta LLP supports a diverse client base ranging from startups to established market-leading companies. Klemchuk Kubasta LLP also serves as local counsel for IP and commercial litigation cases pending in Texas, including the federal courts in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas. Additional information about the firm and its attorneys may be found at www.kk-llp.com.

    Contact:

    Calise Partners
    Susie Lomelino
    slomelino@calisepartners.com
    214.564.3285

    SOURCE HomeVestors of America, Inc.

    ###

    Social Reach:

    Viewer Response:

    Source: http://www.franchising.com/news/20130327_homevestors_continues_aggressive_trademark_enforce.html

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    Ky. lawmakers override religious freedom veto

    FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky lawmakers have voted to override the governor's veto of a bill intended to better protect legal claims of religious freedom.

    The law will give stronger legal standing to people in court who claim the government burdened their ability to practice their religion. The legislation protects "sincerely held religious beliefs" from infringement unless there is "a compelling governmental interest." The courts will still consider and rule on each matter.

    Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed the bill Friday over concerns that someone's claim of religious freedom could undermine civil rights protections for gays and lesbians and lead to costly lawsuits for taxpayers.

    But bill sponsors said it would only provide a higher level of legal protection that already exists on the federal level and in at least 16 states. The debate pitted civil liberties groups like the ACLU against religious organizations such as the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. Lawmakers voted Tuesday to override.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ky-lawmakers-override-religious-freedom-131607876.html

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    Thursday, March 28, 2013

    HBT: Jeter backing off, trying to eliminate pain

    By backdating his season-opening stint on the disabled list Derek Jeter is eligible to play for the Yankees on April 6, but it sounds like that has little chance of happening.

    Jeter last played in a minor-league game Saturday, serving as a designated hitter, and general manager Brian Cashman told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he won?t play in another game until next week at the earliest.

    ?We?re just trying to back off and eliminate the pain,? Cashman said. ?We?ll back off completely. He won?t be doing anything; he won?t be playing any games here for the next few days.?

    That obviously doesn?t sound like the plan for someone who?ll be ready for play regular season games by April 6, so the Yankees are looking at Eduardo Nunez as their starting shortstop for a while.

    Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/28/brian-cashman-on-derek-jeter-were-just-trying-to-back-off-and-eliminate-the-pain/related/

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    All Things Appy: 5 Best Android News Apps

    With the unexpected news that Google's RSS feed reader, Google Reader, is being put out to pasture, many users are scrambling to find new tools for news consumption. There are still plenty of excellent free news apps out there, and here's a look at the top five available for the Android platform. Google Currents is a pretty, magazine-like aggregator with a true offline solution that works well in airplane mode.

    Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/2a0c7245/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C776310Bhtml/story01.htm

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    DOMA: Defense of Marriage Act up next at Supreme Court (Los Angeles Times)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294909004?client_source=feed&format=rss

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    Pivot, network for millennials, tries to change TV

    NEW YORK (AP) ? Pivot is the name of a TV channel aimed at 15-to-34-year-olds who want to change the world.

    In the process, they could help Pivot change the television business.

    Announced last December, the new venture was officially unveiled Wednesday at a news conference disclosing program and distribution details as well as its name and August 1 sign-on date. It initially will be available in more than 40 million homes.

    Pivot is a division of Participant Media, founded in 2004 by entrepreneur-philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who helped mastermind eBay. Since then, Participant has produced more than 40 fiction and nonfiction films (winning 35 Academy Awards) that include "The Help," ''Charlie Wilson's War," ''Food, Inc.," ''An Inconvenient Truth" and Steven Spielberg's recent "Lincoln."

    The company is dedicated "to creating lasting sustainable change through the power of storytelling," said Pivot president Evan Shapiro, "and now we're bringing that to TV.

    "The mandate of Pivot is entertainment that inspires social change and our target is millennials, but other than that we are a general entertainment network with all types of content: drama, comedy, talk and documentaries," said Shapiro, who before joining Participant served as president of IFC and Sundance Channel, and executive-produced such documentaries and series as "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" and the Peabody Award-winning "Brick City" and "Portlandia."

    Pivot will program around the clock (no long-form infomercials padding fringe periods). Documentaries will fill much of the schedule, including those from the Participant library, film festivals and world premieres.

    Acquired series include "Friday Night Lights," the inspiring high school football drama, and "Farscape," a cult classic previously aired on the Sci-Fi Channel about a diverse group of passengers of a space vessel forced to work together to survive.

    Pivot also will introduce its viewers to "Little Mosque on the Prairie," a long-running Canadian sitcom focused on a Muslim community in a fictional Saskatchewan prairie town. "It has never been seen in the United States because the word 'mosque' is in the title," Shapiro said.

    Pivot plans 300 hours of new programming its first year.

    New series will include an audience-collaborated variety show produced and hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a talk-reality show with Meghan McCain (daughter of former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain), and, from writer Craig Pearce ("Moulin Rouge" and the upcoming "The Great Gatsby"), a fanciful drama titled "Will," about a young, as-yet-unproven William Shakespeare that mashes up his era with modern times (and is billed as a blend of "Deadwood," ''8 Mile" and "Shakespeare in Love").

    "Jersey Strong" is a docu-series from the producers of "Brick City" that focuses on two unconventional families in Newark, N.J. ? a man and woman raising children and and mentoring young people who themselves are members of two rival gangs, and two women in a same-sex relationship who run a law firm.

    Each night the network will air "TakePart Live," a talk show whose topics will be chosen earlier in the day by viewers going online to TakePart.com, Participant Media's social action hub.

    Pivot is entering into a programing and marketing relationship with Rolling Stone magazine, and will co-produce 10 documentaries with Univision, which will air each film in Spanish while Pivot airs the film in English.

    A slogan of Pivot is "It's Your Turn," which addresses the 27 million-member audience segment the network has dubbed "passionate millennials."

    Not only is the new network gearing its programs to this group, it's also tailoring its distribution strategy to how they consume media, Shapiro said.

    Reports are rampant that younger audiences are shunning traditional TV in favor of YouTube videos on the Internet, and that they are "cutting the cord" of cable programming as a moneysaving move or because they deem TV an outmoded way to watch.

    Pivot's research has found otherwise.

    "There is no such thing as a cord-cutter," Shapiro said. "They all have broadband ? and it's bringing them everything they want, including video. So we decided to reframe the conversation."

    Pivot has identified two main groups within its prospective audience: cable TV subscribers who watch "television" across multiple platforms, and viewers who subscribe only to broadband.

    Pivot will accommodate both groups.

    "It's the first channel that's available both through traditional pay-television bundling, and via your broadband provider as a stand-alone (service)," he said. For an extra monthly fee (described as less than the cost of a cup of diner coffee) through the Pivot app on any device, "subscribers will be able to take this channel, both live streaming and on-demand, with you wherever you go in the world."

    Online features will include a "Take Action" button to access information about social issues touched on in each program, customized to the viewer's locale and interests.

    Shapiro believes this dual source could be a game-changer for the TV industry, making a "television" channel available to any viewer regardless of the chosen delivery device. Pivot could be the first of many "a la carte" broadband channels offered to subscribers weary of paying for whole tiers of cable-TV networks.

    Such an arrangement meets the demands of younger viewers, said Shapiro, as overwhelmingly expressed in Pivot's research: "I want to watch what I want where I want when I want."

    How will Pivot be greeted by this demanding audience?

    "The market is a gauge of our success. But social change is an equally important, if not more important, gauge." Together, said Shapiro, they're what the company refers to as its "double bottom line."

    ___

    Online:

    http://www.participantmedia.com/tv/

    ___

    Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pivot-network-millennials-tries-change-tv-163920351.html

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    Communication with Mars to go silent for a month

    From the Earth's perspective, Mars will be disappearing behind the sun for a month, meaning that NASA's robotic Mars explorers will be on their own. ?

    By Mike Wall,?SPACE.com / March 25, 2013

    This diagram illustrates the positions of Mars, Earth, and the sun during a period that occurs approximately every 26 months, when Mars passes almost directly behind the sun from Earth's perspective. This arrangement, and the period during which it occurs, is called Mars solar conjunction.

    NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Enlarge

    An unfavorable planetary alignment will force NASA's fleet of robotic Mars explorers to be a lot more self-sufficient next month.

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    Mission controllers won't send any commands to the agency's various?Mars?spacecraft?for much of April, because the sun will lie between Earth and the Red Planet during that time. Our star can disrupt and degrade interplanetary communications in such an alignment, which is known as a Mars solar conjunction, so spacecraft handlers won't take any chances.

    "Receiving a partial command could confuse the spacecraft, putting them in grave danger," NASA officials explain in a video posted Tuesday (March 19) by the agency's?Jet Propulsion Laboratory?(JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

    Transmissions from Earth to the?Mars rover Curiosity?are slated to be suspended from April 4 to May 1, officials said. No commands will be sent to Curiosity's older rover cousin Opportunity or NASA's Mars-orbiting craft ? Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) ? from April 9 to April 26.

    Both rovers will continue to do stationary science work throughout the conjunction period, relying on commands sent up to them beforehand. [How NASA Deals with a Mars Solar Conjunction (Video)]

    "We are doing extra science planning work this month to develop almost three weeks of activity sequences for Opportunity to execute throughout conjunction," Opportunity mission manager Alfonso Herrera of JPL said in a statement.

    MRO and Mars Odyssey will continue science observations as well, though on a more limited basis. The orbiters will also continue their role as rover communication links, receiving data from Opportunity and Curiosity.

    Odyssey will send information ? its own observations and the rovers' data ? Earthward throughout the conjunction period, though the mission team anticipates some dropouts, so Odyssey will send the data again later as needed.

    MRO will take a different tack, storing everything from April 4 until after conjunction. The spacecraft's operators estimate it will have about 52 gigabits of data onboard when it's cleared to transmit to Earth again on May 1.

    Mars solar conjunctions occur every 26 months, so all of the spacecraft have dealt with them except Curiosity, which landed on the Red Planet last August. Opportunity has been through five conjunctions since arriving on Mars in January 2004, but Odyssey is even more experienced.

    "This is our sixth conjunction for Odyssey," Chris Potts of JPL said in a statement. Potts is mission manager for Odyssey, which has been orbiting Mars since 2001. "We have plenty of useful experience dealing with them, though each conjunction is a little different."

    Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall.?Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.

    Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/h-YlkQ_DgwY/Communication-with-Mars-to-go-silent-for-a-month

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    Google Play Movies & TV adds in-content 'Info Card' search

    Google Play Movies & TV

    Update brings Google Play Moves & TV to India as well!

    Google has just updated its Play Movies & TV app to include what it calls "Info Card" search, giving you information about the movie you're watching when you pause. Similar to what Amazon offers on its Kindle Fire tablets, Info Cards give you contextual information about the movie when you pause it, listing the actors in the scene, related movies and the soundtrack playing at the time. The cards are of course in the new "Google Now" card style, overlaid on the movie along the right side and look like what you'd get if you performed a Google search on the actor from a device.

    Info Cards are available for only certain movies -- and certainly a limited selection -- that have an Info Cards "badge" on them, so be on the lookout next time you're renting or buying something from Google Play. Also included in this update is Play Movies & TV content for India, which is again a huge deal.



    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/7ePsdbpjsBY/story01.htm

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