Creative Ways to Promote Your Business Online

When your startup is in its infancy you may not exactly be rolling in money. Spending big bucks on publicity may be a no-no for you. But there?s no need to fret. There are a lot of ways in which you can make your brand more visible. Thanks to the internet there are several ways for you to achieve this without emptying out your bank account. Let us take a look at some of them:

• Use local listing services: register your business with Google Places, and you?ll be amazed how easily it shows up on Google maps and SERPs. All it involves are filling out a form and registering and waiting for them to verify and confirm via telephone or email. And best of all, it won?t cost you a cent. Just a little patience till it is set up. Bing too has something similar; check it out as well.

• Leverage Social Media: It has become a necessity in today?s world to keep up with the competition. Again, creating a business page on FB or tweeting offers and updates to your audience on Twitter is totally free. You can also network with industry peers on LinkedIn.

• Blog: Blogging will help you interact with your customers and gain more publicity for your brand. Do keep in mind however that this has to be a continuous process, and not just a onetime thing.

• Post videos and images: make use of YouTube for uploading promo videos; make it interesting, wacky even so that people feel like viewing it. Flickr is a great place for you to showcase still photos for your company. Make sure the photos and videos are relevant for your business, and that you link back to your ecommerce site from the sites where you upload them. You could upload videos of events you sponsor, product launches, how-to (especially if you have products that have to be assembled), troubleshooting, and more.

• Don?t ignore SEO: make sure your business site is optimized so that Google picks it up and displays it when people search. There are several ways to do this, like using relevant keywords, using descriptors, tags, minimizing use of Flash and JavaScript and so on.

  Image from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

• Press Release: shout out your business achievements through press releases; there are people who follow this stuff. This is a potent tool that can help you publicize your business without spending a load of money. Sites like 24/7 Press Release and PRLog are some of the reliable sites you can use for this purpose.

• Be active in online communities: every industry has online communities and forums which you can be part of. You can participate by posting about your business only occasionally (tom-tom your business here and you may find that you are tossed out), offering valuable info or solutions to customers (even if they have not bought your product as such). This will help you build relationships in the community. Ensure to include a link to your business site in your signature.

• Use QR Codes: Quick response codes can be scanned by everyone with Smartphones and this will grant them easy access to the website or FB page of your company. Using these codes on banners and outdoor signs will spread awareness about your business. Make sure you have them on flyers, visiting cards, brochures and any other material that you print. This way you have an instant interaction with your customers and they can get quick info on your products.

• Get on Pinterest: This site with its online pinboards is driving sales in a big way. You could even pin your YouTube and Vimeo videos here, in addition to still photographs. People especially love to see behind the scenes videos. You could video shoot your employees on a typical day at your business or something similar.

Andrea Walter, a freelance writer, is writing? for Buy Verizon ? Find the best Verizon fios California on tv, internet, and phone.

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Source: http://www.ebestproducts.com/2013/03/creative-ways-promote-business-online/

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Three dozen indicted in Atlanta cheating scandal

ATLANTA (AP) ? Juwanna Guffie was sitting in her fifth-grade classroom taking a standardized test when, authorities say, the teacher came around offering information and asking the students to rewrite their answers. Juwanna rejected the help.

"I don't want your answers, I want to take my own test," Juwanna told her teacher, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

On Friday, Juwanna ? now 14 ? watched as Fulton County prosecutors announced that a grand jury had indicted the Atlanta Public Schools' ex-superintendent and nearly three dozen other former administrators, teachers, principals and other educators of charges arising from a standardized test cheating scandal that rocked the system.

Former Superintendent Beverly Hall faces charges including conspiracy, making false statements and theft because prosecutors said some of the bonuses she received were tied to falsified scores. Hall retired just days before the findings of a state probe were released in mid-2011. A nationally known educator who was named Superintendent of the Year in 2009, Hall has long denied knowing about the cheating or ordering it.

During a news conference Friday, Howard highlighted the case of Juwanna and another student, saying they demonstrated "the plight of many children" in the Atlanta school system.

Their stories were among many that investigators heard in hundreds of interviews with school administrators, staff, parents and students during a 21-month-long investigation.

According to Howard, Juwanna said that when she declined her teacher's offer, the teacher responded that she was just trying to help her students. Her class ended up getting some of the highest scores in the school and won a trophy for their work. Juwanna felt guilty but didn't tell anyone about her class' cheating because she was afraid of retaliation and feared her teacher would lose her job.

She eventually told her sister and later told the district attorney's investigators. Still confident in her ability to take a test on her own, Juwanna got the highest reading score on a standardized test this year.

The other student cited by Howard was a third-grader who failed a benchmark exam and received the worst score in her reading class in 2006. The girl was held back, yet when she took a separate assessment test not long afterward, she passed with flying colors.

Howard said the girl's mother, Justina Collins, knew something was wrong, but was told by school officials that the child simply was a good test-taker. The girl is now in ninth grade, reading at a fifth-grade level.

"I have a 15-year-old now who is behind in achieving her goal of becoming what she wants to be when she graduates. It's been hard trying to help her catch up," Collins said at the news conference.

The allegations date back to 2005. In addition to Hall, 34 other former school system employees were indicted. Four were high-level administrators, six were principals, two were assistant principals, six were testing coordinators and 14 were teachers. A school improvement specialist and a school secretary were also indicted.

Howard didn't directly answer a question about whether prosecutors believe Hall led the conspiracy.

"What we're saying is, is that without her, this conspiracy could not have taken place, particularly in the degree that it took place. Because as we know, this took place in 58 of the Atlanta Public Schools. And it would not have taken place if her actions had not made that possible," the prosecutor said.

Richard Deane, an attorney for Hall, told The New York Times that Hall continues to deny the charges and expects to be vindicated. Deane said the defense was making arrangements for bond.

"We note that as far as has been disclosed, despite the thousands of interviews that were reportedly done by the governor's investigators and others, not a single person reported that Dr. Hall participated in or directed them to cheat on the C.R.C.T.," he said later in a statement provided to the Times.

The tests were the key measure the state used to determine whether it met the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools with good test scores get extra federal dollars to spend in the classroom or on teacher bonuses.

It wasn't immediately clear how much bonus money Hall received. Howard did not say and the amount wasn't mentioned in the indictment.

"Those results were caused by cheating. ... And the money that she received, we are alleging that money was ill-gotten," Howard said.

A 2011 state investigation found cheating by nearly 180 educators in 44 Atlanta schools. Educators gave answers to students or changed answers on tests after they were turned in, investigators said. Teachers who tried to report it faced retaliation, creating a culture of "fear and intimidation," the investigation found.

State schools Superintendent John Barge said last year he believed the state's new accountability system would remove the pressure to cheat on standardized tests because it won't be the sole way the state determines student growth. The pressure was part of what some educators in the system blamed for their cheating.

A former top official in the New York City school system who later headed the Newark, N.J. system for three years, Hall served as Atlanta's superintendent for more than a decade, which is rare for an urban schools chief. She was named Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators in 2009 and credited with raising student test scores and graduation rates, particularly among the district's poor and minority students. But the award quickly lost its luster as her district became mired in the scandal.

In a video message to schools staff before she retired in the summer of 2011, Hall warned that the state investigation launched by former Gov. Sonny Perdue would likely reveal "alarming" behavior.

"It's become increasingly clear that a segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them," Hall said. "There is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct. I am confident that aggressive, swift action will be taken against anyone who believed so little in our students and in our system of support that they turned to dishonesty as the only option."

The cheating came to light after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that some scores were statistically improbable.

Most of the 178 educators named in the special investigators' report in 2011 resigned, retired, did not have their contracts renewed or appealed their dismissals and lost. Twenty-one educators have been reinstated and three await hearings to appeal their dismissals, said Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Stephen Alford.

APS Superintendent Erroll Davis said the district, which has about 50,000 students, is now focused on nurturing an ethical environment, providing quality education and supporting the employees who were not implicated.

"I know that our children will succeed when the adults around them work hard, work together, and do so with integrity," he said in a statement.

The Georgia Professional Standards Commission is responsible for licensing teachers and has been going through the complaints against teachers, said commission executive secretary Kelly Henson. Of the 159 cases the commission has reviewed, 44 resulted in license revocations, 100 got two-year suspensions and nine were suspended for less than two years, Henson said. No action was taken against six of the educators.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-dozen-indicted-atlanta-cheating-scandal-214241949.html

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Angels' C.J. Wilson: Rangers' communication problem is why many ...

Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson wasn?t thrilled with his contract negotiations with Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and his former employers in Texas and believes that may be a trend that is hurting the club.

Pitcher C.J. Wilson poses during the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Photo Day on February 21, 2013 in Tempe, Arizona. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

In a visit with SVP and Russillo on ESPN Radio, Wilson was asked to compare his current team with his former team in Texas.

?The attitude is different with the fans and the front office is definitely different,? Wilson said. ?I would say that there?s a lot more communication in Anaheim. There?s a lot more interpersonal relationships with the front office here than there is there.?

Wilson believes the Rangers management?s approach to their players has led to some of the exits from the three-time playoff contender.

?That?s one of the reasons why I feel like a lot of the guys have left Texas over the past couple of years because of communication issues with the agents and the players and the general manger,? Wilson said. ?They get very tenuous. When you?re a free agent and the team that you?re with tells you that they don?t think you?re that good or whatever, it doesn?t give you any incentive to sign back. They?ve played the whole wait-and-see card. It didn?t really work with [Josh] Hamilton and it didn?t work with me, either.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized by SportsDayDFW sports. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/angels-c-j-wilson-rangers-communication-problem-is-why-many-are-leaving.html/

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ON CONNECTIONS, PERHAPS COINCIDENCE?

In olden times, when people wrote on paper and employed postage stamps, letters created unlikely connections.

The most remarkable set of correspondence in American history was surely the letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson after the two men left the White House.

In England, there were the letters, written sometimes during Cabinet meetings, sometimes three times a day, between H.H. Asquith, who became prime minister of Great Britain in 1908, and Venetia Stanley, a London socialite. And there were the letters between David Lloyd George, who succeeded Asquith as prime minister in 1916, and Frances Stevenson, who became his second wife.

Not long ago, The New Yorker magazine published a series of affecting letters between the writer Daniel Mendelsohn and the novelist Mary Renault. These provide poignant insights into a young man's searchings and longings.

Hardly anyone pays attention to the letters between Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States, and his father, the notary public who swore in his son by the light of a kerosene lamp in a Vermont farmhouse in August 1923, but they offer great insights into a man whose virtues only now are being celebrated.

In her provocative and readable new biography of Calvin Coolidge, Amity Shlaes examines those letters and quotes one that the young Coolidge, then a student at Amherst College, wrote his father on the occasion of the death of Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1894. Referring to "the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table on whom the years sat so lightly and who had just declared that he was 85 years young," Coolidge noted with great regret that only "Gladstone is left of those great men who were born in 1809."

Indeed, the year 1809 produced perhaps the most unlikely connections of all time.

William Ewart Gladstone, four times Britain's prime minister, was but one of several giants born in 1809. The others included Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, the poets Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Lord Tennyson, the composer Felix Mendelssohn, the American frontier explorer Kit Carson, the inventor Cyrus McCormick and the author Nikolai Gogol.

How are we to account for this astonishing blossoming of political, scientific and artistic power from the boys of 1809? Was it merely a coincidence that so much genius was created in a single year, or did social, political and cultural events conspire to produce an especially fertile environment?

While the crop of 1809 was unusually bountiful, we stand in wonder, too, at other examples of generational fecundity -- the ties that bind but mystify.

How was it possible for Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederic Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, three of the titans of serious art music, to all have been born in the year 1685, with Handel and Bach born just over a month apart? (Taking this one step further, what are we to make of the death of Joseph Haydn in that luminous year of 1809? And could it be possible that Kit Carson's birth in December 1809 -- on Christmas Eve! -- was some celestial compensation for the death of another explorer, Meriwether Lewis, a few months earlier?)

History is full of surprising connections, none more beguiling than the West Point Class of 1915, known as the class the stars fell upon. That class produced nearly five dozen generals, accounting for more than a third of the class. Among them were two with five stars (Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley), two with four stars and seven with three. The West Point Class of 1976 has produced two four-star generals (nearly three dozen generals in all) and is the only class to have produced commanders of two concurrent wars, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Their only known rivals for achievement might be the Harvard Business School Class of 1949, which counts among its ranks onetime chiefs of Xerox, Johnson & Johnson, Capital Cities/ABC, General Dynamics and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under their sway were the Hilton Hotels, Rockefeller Center, the Chicago Bulls -- and a powerful government bureaucracy.

"People push each other to excel, but some of it is circumstantial, having to do with the opportunities presented to a certain group at a certain time," says Laurence Shames, who wrote a book about this group of Harvard overachievers. "The men of the Class of '49 may not have been smarter than others, but they had a great deal more life experience, partially because they were veterans of World War II. They had values beyond business and beyond making money that gave them a riper sense of leadership."

These clusters of excellence have occurred throughout history, thrusting men and women of talent together and then, through the friction of their interchanges and the fertility of their friendships, elevating all of them to greater heights. Perhaps that explains why Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times, John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, and Yo-Yo Ma, the celebrated cellist, all took degrees from Harvard College in 1976, the year that produced so many West Point generals.

And consider the men who were at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, with Franklin Pierce, later the 14th president. They included William Pitt Fessenden, a distinguished senator and treasury secretary, and the writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Pierce later appointed Hawthorne consul to Liverpool.

Coolidge was not isolated from this cluster phenomenon, either. Three members of his Amherst Class of 1895 were state legislators, one was an editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette (a precursor newspaper to today's Post-Gazette), one was the winner of a great balloon race and another, Dwight Morrow, was an ambassador, a senator and eventually the father-in-law of Charles Lindbergh.

Coolidge also was close to Harlan Fiske Stone at Amherst, who was a class ahead of him. Coolidge appointed Stone, who had been a Wall Street lawyer, as his attorney general and, later, to the Supreme Court. Franklin Delano Roosevelt elevated him to chief justice in 1941.

This theme can be carried too far, of course, and we're probably already past that point. So consider the year 1961. Among those born that year were Eddie Murphy (April 3), Boy George (June 14), Meg Ryan (Nov. 19), Heather Locklear (Sept. 25) and Aaron Sorkin (June 9). None of them has much if any connection with a man born Aug. 4, 1961. You know him as the 44th president of the United States.

COPYRIGHT 2013 THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/connections-perhaps-coincidence-050010795.html

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EPA takes aim at auto emissions, sulfur in gas

FILE - In this July 10, 2012 file photo, Suzanne Meredith, of Walpole, Mass., gases up her car at a Gulf station in Brookline, Mass. Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - In this July 10, 2012 file photo, Suzanne Meredith, of Walpole, Mass., gases up her car at a Gulf station in Brookline, Mass. Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration proposed new regulations Friday to clean up gasoline and automobile emissions, claiming the new standards would provide $7 in health benefits from cleaner air for each dollar spent to implement them. The costs likely would be passed on to consumers in higher gasoline and automobile prices.

The Environmental Protection Agency said the new rule would reduce sulfur in gasoline and tighten automobile emission standards beginning in 2017, resulting in an increase in gas prices of less than a penny per gallon. The agency estimated it also would add $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025, but predicted it would yield billions of dollars in health benefits by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution.

EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe said the proposal is designed to "protect the environment and public health in an affordable and practical way."

The oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats wanted EPA to delay the rule, citing higher costs. An oil industry study says it could increase gasoline prices by 6 to 9 cents a gallon.

"Consumers care about the price of fuel, and our government should not be adding unnecessary regulations that raise manufacturing costs, especially when there are no proven environmental benefits," said Bob Greco, an American Petroleum Institute official. "We should not pile on new regulations when existing regulations are working."

Environmentalists hailed the proposal as potentially the most significant in President Barack Obama's second term.

The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. For states, the regulation would make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For automakers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

The Obama administration already has moved to clean up motor vehicles by adopting rules that will double fuel efficiency and putting in place the first standards to reduce the pollution from cars and trucks blamed for global warming.

"We know of no other air pollution control strategy that can achieve such substantial, cost-effective and immediate emission reductions," said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Becker said the rule would reduce pollution equal to taking 33 million cars off the road.

But the head of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Charles Drevna, questioned the motives behind the agency's regulation, since refining companies already have spent $10 billion to reduce sulfur by 90 percent. The additional cuts, while smaller, will cost just as much, Drevna said, and the energy needed for the additional refining actually could increase carbon pollution by 1 percent to 2 percent.

"I haven't seen an EPA rule on fuels that has come out since 1995 that hasn't said it would cost only a penny or two more," Drevna said.

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute estimated that lowering the sulfur in gasoline would add 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon to refiners' manufacturing costs, an increase that likely would be passed on to consumers at the pump. The EPA estimate of less than 1 cent is also an additional manufacturing cost and likely to be passed on.

A senior administration official said Thursday that only 16 of 111 refineries would need to invest in major equipment to meet the new standards, which could be final by the end of this year. Of the remaining refineries, 29 already are meeting the standards because they are selling cleaner fuel in California or other countries, and 66 would have to make modifications.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule was still undergoing White House budget office review.

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinacappiello

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-29-EPA-Cleaner%20Gasoline/id-d690c0bf0adb4abf8a565c838a05bad2

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How to Tone Your Butt Without Stepping Foot in a Gym - Body Health

H?w ?? ??? ??t th?t coveted tight bum ?n time t? sport ???r skinny jeans? Fitness expert David Kirsch shares h?? expertise ?n h?w t? tighten up ??r glutes without having a gym membership ?n? using ??tt?? equipment.
People wh? ?r? working t? tone up th??r butts need t? ??? ??tt?? t? n? weights, using th??r body weights ?? th? ?n?? resistance, ???? Kisrch. One ?f th? best pieces ?f equipment f?r a tight butt ?? a bosu ?r stability ball. If ??? want a toned, tight bottom, ??? ?h???? stick t? exercises ??k? plie squats, lunges, b?nt leg deadlifts, platypus walk ?n? sumo lunges. D? 15-25 reps ?f each ?f th? moves below ?n? ????ll b? turning heads ?n n? time!

HOW TO GET TONED GLUTES:
Sumo Lunges

Stand w?th ???r legs shoulder length apart.
Lift ???r r??ht leg fr?m th? knee ?n? m??? ?t ?n a circular roundhouse.
Land out t? th? side, wider th?n ??? ?t?rt?? ?n? immediately squat down, channeling a real sumo wrestler.
A? ??? come out ?f th? squat, lift ???r r??ht leg ?n? kick out, leading w?th ???r heel.

(Each element ?h???? flow smoothly ?nt? th? next. Th?r? ?r? n? br??k? ?n a sumo lunge!)
Platypus Walk

St?rt ?n a plie squat position, w?th ???r hands behind ???r head ?n? ???r thighs parallel t? th? ground
Waddle forward! R??ht foot ?n front ?f ??? left, stay engaged ?n th?t plie squat. Now reverse?

(M?k? sure ???r knees stay out ?n? ???r weight stays back ?n ???r heels throughout th? movement)

B?nt Leg Deadlifts

Holding a body bar, dumbbells, medicine ball (a broomstick ?r a baby w??? ?? ?n a pinch!) stand ?n ???r ?t?rt position, w?th ???r legs shoulder width apart.
Hinge ?t th? waist. A? ??? bend forward, soften ???r knees ?n? stick ???r butt out.

(Modification: If ????re feeling shaky, hold th? back ?f a chair ?r th? edge ?f a table f?r balance.)
(Modification: If ????re feeling ?r??t, try lifting ???r alternate leg ?? ??? ?? down.)

Plie Squats

St?rt w?th ???r feet wider th?n shoulder-width distance ?n? turn ???r toes out. Weight ?? still ?n ???r heels.
Keeping ???r weight ?n ???r heels ?n? ???r knees turned out, squat down ?n? up.

**Tuck ???r pelvis ?n, ?n? stick ???r butt out. Th? more ??? engage, th? more ????ll shape th?t booty.
Advanced modification: Plie Toe Squats. Once ????ve mastered th? plie squat, turn ?t up lifting ???r heels up ?? ??? squat. Th?? puts greater emphasis ?n ???r inner thighs, butt ?n? core.
Lunges

St?rt w?th heels under shoulders, chest-width apart.
Y??r front heel ?? th? anchor f?r a lunge. Bend ???r knee t? a perfect r??ht angle.

**Th? perfect lunge w??? give ??? two r??ht angles. D? n?t allow ???r knee t? pass ???r toes.

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from your own site.

Source: http://mybodyhealth.net/how-to-tone-your-butt-without-stepping-foot-in-a-gym/

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Fisher House Foundation Dedicates 60th Facility Worldwide at South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio

Comfort home will provide free temporary lodging for Veterans? families

San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) March 28, 2013

The Assistant VA Secretary for Public & Intergovernmental Affairs Dr. Tommy Sowers and Marie Weldon, Director of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) joined Fisher House Foundation Chairman and CEO Ken Fisher today to dedicate the new South Texas VA Fisher House, increasing the network of Fisher Houses serving military and Veterans? families worldwide to 60. This new Fisher House will be the eighth in San Antonio ? creating the largest concentration of Fisher Houses in a single city.

?The mission of Fisher House Foundation partnered with the VA?s mission demonstrates our commitment and compassion to our Nation?s heroes and their families,? said Marie Weldon. ?We are proud to have such an amazing and beautiful resource to offer as a home away from home during their stay in San Antonio. We expect that our Fisher House will be well-utilized and it is very much appreciated.?

The 16-suite, 13,400 sq.-ft. ?comfort home? joins the network of other Fisher Houses operating in the United States and Europe, and was gifted to the VA as part of today?s ceremony. This new home will serve the families of military and Veterans, including those who have suffered severe multiple traumatic injuries while serving their country. Each bedroom suite comes equipped with a private, handicapped-accessible bathroom. Common areas include a fully equipped kitchen, large communal living, dining and family rooms, and patio.

?We are always proud to dedicate a new Fisher House, because we know it will serve thousands of families for years to come,? said Ken Fisher. ?This new home represents a special benchmark, our 60th Fisher House in the world, here in San Antonio, where so many of our military live, serve, raise their families, and seek out medical care. Whether a Veteran of past or current conflicts, we owe our Veterans and their families a debt that can never be repaid.?

The Fisher House program was started by the late Zachary Fisher, founding partner of Fisher Brothers, a New York City-based real estate and development firm. After hearing about the challenges military families faced supporting a loved one in the hospital and the need for an affordable place to stay, Zachary began to construct comfort homes that would provide free, temporary lodging for the families of Veterans and military service members while a loved one was receiving medical care. In the more than 20 years of the program?s operation, hundreds of thousands of families have benefited from the accommodations and support structure of the houses. The model has also been exported to the United Kingdom, where a Fisher House has been completed in Birmingham, and will care for families there.

Construction of this Fisher House was supported by: USAA, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, the Clear Channel Veterans Day Campaign, Imperial Brands / Sobieski Vodka, the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund, Valero Energy Foundation, Jay Leno, Ted L. McIntyre II and Family, BMI Defense Systems, Inc., Newman?s Own Foundation, Bill O?Reilly and ?The Factor? Viewers, the Greehey Family Foundation, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the Wohlers Family Foundation, the Motorola Foundation, the Tawani Foundation, and Whataburger.

About Fisher House

Fisher House Foundation is best known for a network of comfort homes where families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide, close to the medical center or hospital it serves. Fisher Houses have up to 21 suites, with private bedrooms and baths. Families share a common kitchen, laundry facilities, a warm dining room and an inviting living room. Fisher House Foundation ensures that there is never a fee. Since inception, the program has saved military and Veteran families an estimated $200 million in out of pocket costs for lodging and transportation.

Fisher House Foundation also operates the Hero Miles Program, using donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members as well as the Hotels for Heroes program using donated hotel points to allow family members to stay at hotels near medical centers without charge. The Foundation also manages a grant program that supports other military charities and scholarship funds for military children, spouses and children of fallen and disabled Veterans.

http://www.fisherhouse.org

About VA San Antonio Healthcare System

The STVHCS is a highly affiliated tertiary health care system comprised of three divisions referred to as the Audie L. Murphy Campus, Kerrville Campus, and Satellite Outpatient Clinic Division. In addition to the acute care services in medical, surgical, mental health, physical medicine and rehabilitation, geriatric and primary care, STVHCS provides specialty care programs in spinal cord injury, community living centers, domiciliary, substance abuse, bone marrow transplant, and radiation oncology. As the part of the VA Polytrauma System of Care, STVHCS is one of five Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers nationwide. STVHCS serves one of the largest primary service areas in the nation and is part of the VA Heart of Texas Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN 17).

http://www.southtexas.va.gov

Jody Fisher
Rubenstein Communications
212-843-8296
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fisher-house-foundation-dedicates-60th-facility-worldwide-south-200228183.html

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Netflix Lobbying Yields Enhanced Facebook Integration

Netflix Inc. has unveiled new social features to make it easier for subscribers to discover new TV shows and movies and discuss them with their friends.

Starting Wednesday, subscribers to Netflix's streaming service can link their accounts to Facebook, allowing them to see what their friends have watched. Through this integration, new recommendations will appear in the subscriber's Netflix queue under rows labeled "Friends' Favorites" and "Watched by your friends."

In a nod to privacy considerations, Netflix subscribers can opt to share what they've watched only within the Netflix experience -- or choose to share viewing information on Facebook.

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All Netflix subscribers will have access to these features by the end of the week, the company said.

"There are few better ways to find a movie or TV series you'll love than hearing about it from your friends," Netflix product vice president Tom Willerer said in a statement. "Facebook already makes it easy for our international members to connect with friends over TV shows and movies and we're thrilled to now bring this experience to our U.S. members."

The new features follow a recent a change in U.S. law, which had barred services from disclosing an individual's video viewing habits.

As the features are rolled out, Netflix subscribers will see an option on the service to connect to Facebook and agree to share information about what they've been watching. After making that choice, rows of movies and TV programs watched by friends will display within the lists of recommendations.?

By default, this viewing information will be contained within the Netflix universe. Subscribers can share the information more broadly on Facebook by changing their "social settings" on Netflix.com.

"Over the years, Netflix has deepened its Facebook integration to enable people to discover movies through friends and to share what they're watching," Facebook director of platform partnerships Justin Osofsky said in a statement. "With their integration, Netflix has a new opportunity to reach more than one billion people on Facebook."

ALSO:

Netflix's Ted Sarandos: Disney deal a game-changer

Binge-viewing is transforming the television experience

Legislative change would allow Netflix users to Facebook their video viewing

?

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927012/news/1927012/

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CE-Oh no he didn't!: HTC's CMO Ben Ho says the Galaxy S 4 is just 'more of the same'

First it was Apple, then LG, and now we have HTC also trolling Samsung's Galaxy S 4 launch in New York. Before the doors opened at Radio City Music Hall, the Taiwanese company kindly gave out hot cocoa and snacks while showing off the One to folks lined up in the cold outside. This was followed by HTC's complementary entertainment during Samsung's event with a series of surprisingly relentless tweets -- one of which even bore the hash tag "#theNextBigFlop" to mock Samsung's "The Next Big Thing" slogan. Ouch.

To wrap up the day, HTC's fresh CMO Ben Ho got in touch to say that the again-plastic Galaxy S 4 is just "more of the same," and that his company's "all-aluminum unibody HTC One" with "original cutting-edge technology, mouth-watering design and a premium feel" is really what people are after. Here's his full statement:

"With a continuation of a plastic body, and a larger screen being the most obvious physical change, Samsung's new Galaxy pales in comparison to the all-aluminum unibody HTC One.

"This is more of the same. HTC remains the best option for those people looking for the best technology wrapped in premium design. Our customers want something different from the mainstream, who appear to be the target for the Galaxy.

"Our customers want original cutting-edge technology, mouth-watering design and a premium feel from their mobiles, which is why we created the HTC One."

Looks like "quietly brilliant" is no more for HTC then?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/z1TO2WYi8fI/

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Find a Mentor to Take Your Career to the Next Level

If you feel a bit stagnant in your current role, or just want a way to learn the skills you'll need to get promoted or move up in your career, find a career mentor. A mentor can offer you the benefit of experience, unbiased advice, and expertise you can learn from in the skills that are necessary for the direction you want to take your career.

Over at the Glassdoor Blog, writer Donna Fuscaldo explains that finding a mentor may be a challenge, but it's a worthwhile one to tackle if you think you'll be staying at a company for a while, or you think there's someone at that company who has something valuable to teach you. It might be tempting to just march up to the CEO or the COO and ask them to be your mentor (since after all, you'll be running the place someday or starting your own company, right?) but if you don't already have a relationship with one of those executives, it's probably not a good idea.

Instead, pick a director or manager in another department that you've had positive dealings with in the past. Ask them to chat over lunch, and let them know that you're interested in learning from their expertise, and want to know if it would be okay to ping them from time to time about how things are going, or to ask their advice now and again. Ideally, your career mentor is someone you already know and has skills that you know you'll need. Fuscaldo explains:

Once you've pinpointed your mentor or mentors you have to come up with a good reason why you want that person to advise you. For instance, if you admire how that person handles herself in a meeting, then ask her for tips on giving presentations. If you want to improve your customer relations skills, compliment your potential mentor on his knack for dealing with disgruntled customers. "You have to say, ?the reason I am hoping you'll mentor me in this one area of my career is because I love the way you handle yourself in meetings,'" says Bauke. "It's easy for them to say yes because there's something you admire about them." By providing specifics, you are giving the mentor a path for success instead of making it feel like work for them, she says.

You may also consider having more than one mentor, if you can't find one person with the skills you want to pick up. The word "mentor" is often taken to mean someone who needs to be hands-on and supervisory in nature, but that's not necessarily the case: someone you grab lunch with from time to time and talk to somewhat regularly is more than enough. Half of finding a good mentor is eliminating the stigma around the title and just asking someone who has the job that you want for advice.

We've talked briefly about how to find a mentor or even why you might want to consider a younger mentor if you're looking to make a career move, but in any case, a good mentor can help you grow your professional network (which remember, is just code for "friends who are willing to help each other out professionally when they can",) teach you the ins and outs of the types of jobs you're interested in, and offer you the kind of unbiased, unclouded advice that will help you make smart decisions for your career.

How To Find A Career Mentor | Glassdoor Blog

Photo by auremar (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/WMMPb-aumD8/find-a-career-mentor-to-take-your-career-to-the-next-level

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No. 8 Louisville beats No. 24 Notre Dame 73-57

Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, left, attempts a shot over the defense of Louisville's Gorgui Dieng during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday March 9, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, left, attempts a shot over the defense of Louisville's Gorgui Dieng during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday March 9, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Notre Dame's Eric Atkins, center, fights his way through the defense of Louisville's Peyton Siva, left, and Russ Smoth during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday March 9, 2013 in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Louisville's Peyton Siva, right, hugs head coach Rick Pitino following their 73-57 victory over Notre Dame in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday March 9, 2013 in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino sends a play into his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, Saturday, March 9, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Louisville defeated Notre Dame 73-57. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Louisville's Luke Hancock, left, attempts to shoot over the defense of Notre Dame's Zach Auguste during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday March 9, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. Louisville defeated Notre Dame 73-57. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng added another major achievement to their impressive legacy at Louisville.

Siva and Dieng, who helped the Cardinals win the Big East tournament and advance to the Final Four last season, played key roles Saturday in a 73-57 victory over No. 24 Notre Dame that gave Louisville a share of the regular-season conference title.

Dieng had 20 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, and Siva posted 13 points and five assists in his final home game for the Cardinals (26-5, 14-4 Big East), who finished tied for first place with Georgetown and Marquette.

Louisville receives a bye into Thursday's quarterfinals at the Big East tournament, where coach Rick Pitino's team will defend its 2012 championship.

Dieng and Siva were honored before the game as part of Louisville's senior day festivities. Dieng, a junior center from Senegal, is expected to enter the NBA draft after the season.

Siva's brother and sister drove for two days from Seattle, joining more than 30 family members on hand for the celebration. Siva's father, a regular at Louisville games, kneeled at midcourt and kissed the Cardinals logo following the pregame ceremony.

"It really was a storybook ending for the two guys playing tonight," Pitino said.

Siva's family inundated him and his teammates with candy-filled leis following the game, a nod to their Samoan heritage. He called the gathering, many watching him in person at Louisville for the first time, his favorite moment ever.

"They kept covering me with these leis and I kept telling them I can't see or breathe," Siva said. "It's part of our tradition ? they did it my senior night in high school. My teammates stole all of them and ate all the candy already. Hopefully they don't have a stomach ache tomorrow."

Siva ranks second in school history in assists (631) and is five steals shy of breaking the Louisville record. Pitino couldn't introduce his point guard before the game, only mentioning his name to avoid emotions overtaking him.

After the win he called Siva "the most unbelievable young man to ever put on our uniform."

When Louisville played at Notre Dame a month ago it took five overtimes before the Fighting Irish won 104-101 in the longest regular-season game in Big East history.

In fact, five of the last six and six of the past eight matchups between the schools went to overtime before Louisville took charge on Saturday.

Pitino set a goal for his team to close the season with seven straight wins following the Notre Dame marathon. His team completed the task Saturday and will face the winner of the St. John's-Villanova game on Thursday in the Big East quarterfinals.

Garrick Sherman led Notre Dame (23-8, 11-7) with 14 points. The Fighting Irish will play Wednesday in the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Louisville shot 67 percent (16 of 24) for its best first half of the season.

"We kind of ran into a buzz saw today," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.

The Irish held the Cardinals without a field goal for nearly six minutes early in the second half to cut the lead to 45-40 on Pat Connaughton's 3-pointer with 12:42 left. That was as close as Notre Dame got. Dieng's turnaround jumper on the baseline with 10:33 left gave Louisville a 49-41 lead and started a 10-2 run.

Siva's third 3 of the game with 2:26 left and alley-oop layup on the next possession sealed the win.

Louisville never trailed and led by as many as six throughout most of the first half before Siva helped break the game open. His two 3-pointers, with an alley-oop assist to Chane Behanan in between, gave the Cardinals a 30-21 lead at the 6:14 mark.

Kevin Ware followed with a steal and layup that put Louisville up by 11, its largest advantage of the half. Siva's floater in the lane with 51 seconds to go gave the Cardinals their 37-27 lead at the break.

Notre Dame had held three of its previous four opponents under 50 points, but Louisville's strong first half ended any chance of repeating that defensive effort.

Irish guard Jerian Grant, whose 12-point flurry in the final 45 seconds of regulation sent the first matchup to overtime, was held to eight points after scoring 21 in each of his last two games.

Louisville earned its second Big East regular-season title since joining the conference in 2005. The Cardinals also won in 2008-09.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-09-BKC-T25-Notre-Dame-Louisville/id-6d84130e20354613ae66e4d502c9c073

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Welsh-born Swedish Princess Lilian dead at 97

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2005 file photo, Princess Lilian during a lunch at the city hall in Stockholm. Welsh-born Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose decades-long love story with the king's uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the royal household, has died. She was 97. The Royal Palace says Lilian died Sunday March 10, 2013 in her home in Stockholm. (AP Photo/Erhan Gzner, Scanpix, File) SWEDEN OUT

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2005 file photo, Princess Lilian during a lunch at the city hall in Stockholm. Welsh-born Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose decades-long love story with the king's uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the royal household, has died. She was 97. The Royal Palace says Lilian died Sunday March 10, 2013 in her home in Stockholm. (AP Photo/Erhan Gzner, Scanpix, File) SWEDEN OUT

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2005 file photo Princess Lilian of Sweden is seen in Stockholm. Welsh-born Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose decades-long love story with the king's uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the royal household, has died. She was 97. The Royal Palace says Lilian died Sunday March 10, 2013 in her home in Stockholm. (AP Photo/Henrik Montgomery, File) SWEDEN OUT

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Welsh-born Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose decades-long love story with the king's uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the royal household, died Sunday. She was 97.

A brief statement on the Royal Palace's website said Lilian died at her home in Stockholm. It didn't give a cause of death, but Lilian suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had been in poor health for several years.

Lilian met Sweden's Prince Bertil already in 1943, but the prince's obligations to the throne and Lilian's status as a divorced commoner prevented them from making their love public, and it would take more than 30 years before they could marry. The couple's sacrifices and lifelong dedication to one another gripped the hearts of Swedes. Their story has been described as one of the most touching royal romances of our time.

"If I were to sum up my life, everything has been about my love," the witty, petite princess said of her husband when she turned 80 in 1995. "He's a great man, and I love him."

Born Lilian Davies in Swansea, Wales, on Aug. 30, 1915, the charming blue-eyed beauty moved to London as a 16-year-old to embark on a career as a model and an actress, showcasing hats and gloves in commercials and taking on small roles in movies. She met British actor Ivan Craig, whom she married in 1940.

After World War II broke out, Craig was drafted into the British army while Lilian stayed behind in London, working at a factory making radio sets for the British merchant fleet and serving at a hospital for wounded soldiers.

At the time, Prince Bertil was stationed at the Swedish Embassy in the British capital as a naval attache. The couple first laid eyes on each other in the fancy nightclub Les Ambassadeurs shortly before Lilian's 28th birthday in 1943. Lilian then invited him to a cocktail party in her London apartment. But it wasn't until he fetched her with his car following an air raid in her neighborhood that the romance blossomed, Lilian recalled in her 2000 memoirs, "My Life with Prince Bertil."

"He was so handsome my prince. Especially in uniform. So charming and thoughtful. And so funny. Oh how we laughed together," Lilian wrote.

Lilian was still married at the time, but the situation resolved itself since Craig, too, had met someone else during his years abroad in the army, and the couple divorced on amicable terms.

Upon Bertil's return to Sweden, however, his relationship with a commoner became a delicate issue.

Bertil became a possible heir to the throne when his eldest brother died in a plane crash, leaving behind an infant son ? the current King Carl XVI Gustaf. Two other brothers had dropped out of the line of succession by marrying commoners.

Bertil's father, King Gustaf VI Adolf, ordered him to abstain from marrying Lilian, since that would jeopardize the survival of the Bernadotte dynasty.

Instead, the couple let their romance flourish in an unofficial manner, living together in a common-law marriage for decades.

They first lived in their house in Sainte-Maxime in France, but later shared their time between the French village and Stockholm, where Lilian discreetly stayed in the background for years.

Despite the royal reluctance to recognize her officially, Lilian's charm and warm personality soon won the Swedes over, and magazines depicted the happy couple playing golf and riding around on the prince's motorbike. When Prince Bertil had to use a walking frame after an operation, she cheerfully nicknamed it his "Bugatti."

In 1976, some 33 years after they first met, the new king finally gave them the approval they had been waiting for.

On a cold December day the same year, Lilian, or "Lily" as the prince used to call her, became princess of Sweden and duchess of the southern province of Halland in a ceremony at the Drottningholm Palace Chapel just outside Stockholm. The bride had by then turned 61 and the groom 64.

The couple never had any children.

Prince Bertil died in the couple's residence Villa Solbacken in Stockholm in 1997 after unspecified lung problems.

Lilian took over some of her husband's duties, especially as an award presenter for various sports associations.

Health problems forced her to cut back on some of her royal duties. In 2006 she stopped attending the annual Nobel Prize banquet, and the next year she also stopped taking part in the award ceremony.

In 2010, the palace said Lilian suffered from Alzheimer's disease, preventing her from attending the wedding that summer of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-10-Sweden-Obit-Princess%20Lilian/id-f07a35901f8c44c4b00380e96bc78abf

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U.S. Air Force stops reporting data on Afghanistan drone strikes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Afghanistan war, said in a statement the data had been removed because it was "disproportionately focused" on the use of weapons by the remotely piloted aircraft as it was published only when strikes were carried out - which happened during only 3 percent of sorties. Most missions were for reconnaissance, it said.

The debate over the use of drones in Afghanistan and elsewhere was triggered in part by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA.

The Air Force Times said air force chiefs had started posting the drone data last October in an attempt to provide more detail on the use of drones in Afghanistan.

The newspaper said the statistics were provided for November through January, but the February summary released on March 7 had a blank spot where the drone data had previously been listed.

"A variety of multi-role platforms provide ground commanders in Afghanistan with close air support capabilities, and it was determined that presenting the weapons release data as a whole better reflects the air power provided" in Afghanistan, Central Command said in its statement.

"Protecting civilians remains at the very core of AFCENT's (Air Force Central Command's) mission," it said. "The use of all AFCENT aerial weapons are tightly restricted, meticulously planned, carefully supervised and coordinated, and applied by only qualified and authorized personnel."

The statement said the decision to stop reporting the drone strikes was taken with the International Security Assistance Force - the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.

Brennan was sworn into office on Friday following a protracted confirmation battle that saw Senator Rand Paul attempt to block a vote on the nomination with a technical maneuver called a filibuster, in which he tried to prevent a vote by talking continuously.

Paul held the Senate floor for more than 12 hours while talking mainly about drones, expressing concern that Obama's administration might use the aircraft to target U.S. citizens in the United States.

(Reporting By David Alexander; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-air-force-stops-reporting-data-afghanistan-drone-084024541.html

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Brennan at CIA fills 3rd key national security job

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013 file photo, CIA Director nominee John Brennan, testifies before a Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Democrats push for quick confirmation vote on John Brennan's nomination to head CIA, but Republican senator mounts lengthy debate. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013 file photo, CIA Director nominee John Brennan, testifies before a Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Democrats push for quick confirmation vote on John Brennan's nomination to head CIA, but Republican senator mounts lengthy debate. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., leaves the floor of the Senate after his filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director on Capitol Hill in Washington, early Thursday, March 7, 2013. Senate Democrats pushed Wednesday for speedy confirmation of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director but ran into a snag after Paul began a lengthy speech over the legality of potential drone strikes on U.S. soil. But Paul stalled the chamber to start what he called a filibuster of Brennan's nomination. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

This video frame grab provided by Senate Television shows Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. speaking on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday night, March 6, 2013, shortly before 10 p.m. EST. Paul was still going strong with his self-described filibuster blocking confirmation of President Barack Obama?s nominee John Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. (AP Photo/Senate Television)

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., walks to a waiting vehicle as he leaves the Capitol after his filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director on Capitol Hill in Washington, early Thursday, March 7, 2013. Senate Democrats pushed Wednesday for speedy confirmation of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director but ran into a snag after Paul began a lengthy speech over the legality of potential drone strikes on U.S. soil. But Paul stalled the chamber to start what he called a filibuster of Brennan's nomination. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate's approval of John Brennan to be CIA director, after contentious debate on the use of armed drones against terrorism suspects, puts in place a third key member of President Barack Obama's second-term national security team.

Brennan won Senate confirmation on Thursday after the administration bowed to demands from Republicans blocking the nomination and stated explicitly there are limits on the president's power to use drones against U.S. terror suspects on American soil.

Last week Chuck Hagel won Senate confirmation to be defense secretary, joining Secretary of State John Kerry in Obama's revamped national security lineup.

The Brennan vote was 63-34 and came just hours after Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, used an old-style filibuster of the nomination to extract an answer from the administration on the drone question.

Brennan won some GOP support. Thirteen Republicans voted with 49 Democrats and one independent to give Brennan, who has been Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, the top job at the nation's spy agency. He will replace Michael Morell, the CIA's deputy director who has been acting director since David Petraeus resigned in November after acknowledging an affair with his biographer.

The confirmation vote came moments after Democrats prevailed in a vote ending the filibuster, 81-16.

In a series of fast-moving events, by Senate standards, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a one-paragraph letter to Paul, who had held the floor for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday and into Thursday.

"It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: 'Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?" Holder wrote Paul.

"The answer to that question is no."

That cleared the way.

"We worked very hard on a constitutional question to get an answer from the president," Paul said after voting against Brennan. "It may have been a little harder than we wish it had been, but in the end I think it was a good healthy debate for the country to finally get an answer that the Fifth Amendment applies to all Americans."

However, Paul's stand on the Brennan nomination and insistence that the Obama administration explain its controversial drone program exposed a deep split among Senate Republicans, pitting leader Mitch McConnell, libertarians and tea partyers against military hawks such as John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

The government's drone program and its use in the fight against terrorists were at the heart of the dispute.

Though Paul held the Senate floor for the late-night filibuster, about a dozen of his colleagues who share his views came, too, to take turns speaking for him and trading questions. McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian who faces re-election next year, congratulated him for his "tenacity and for his conviction."

McConnell said in Senate remarks on Thursday, "The United States military no more has the right to kill a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil who is not a combatant with an armed, unmanned aerial vehicle than it does with an M-16."

Paul's filibuster echoed recent congressional debates about the government's authority in the anti-terror war and whether the United States can hold American terror suspects indefinitely and without charge. The disputes have created unusual coalitions as libertarians and liberals have sided against defense hawks.

The latest GOP split also underscored the current rift within the rank and file over budget cuts, with some tea partyers willing to reduce defense dollars to preserve tax cuts but longtime guardians of military spending fighting back.

During his talkathon, Paul had suggested the possibility that the government would have used hellfire missiles against anti-war activist Jane Fonda or an American sitting at a cafe. During the height of the Vietnam War, Fonda traveled to North Vietnam and was widely criticized by some in the U.S. for her appearances there.

McCain derided that notion of an attack against the actress and argued that Paul was unnecessarily making Americans fear that their government poses a danger.

"To somehow allege or infer that the president of the United States is going to kill somebody like Jane Fonda or somebody who disagrees with the policies is a stretch of imagination which is, frankly, ridiculous," McCain said.

McCain found himself in the odd position of defending Fonda's constitutional rights over her July 1972 trip to Hanoi that earned her the derogatory nickname "Hanoi Jane."

"I must say that the use of Jane Fonda's name does evoke certain memories with me, and I must say that she is not my favorite American, but I also believe that, as odious as it was, Ms. Fonda acted within her constitutional rights," said McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 5? years. "And to somehow say that someone who disagrees with American policy and even may demonstrate against it is somehow a member of an organization which makes that individual an enemy combatant is simply false. It is simply false."

Graham expressed incredulity that Republicans would criticize Obama on a policy that Republican President George W. Bush enforced in the terror war.

"People are astonished that President Obama is doing many of the things that President Bush did," Graham said. "I'm not astonished. I congratulate him for having the good judgment to understand we're at war. And to my party, I'm a bit disappointed that you no longer apparently think we're at war."

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Richard Lardner and David Espo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-08-Brennan-CIA/id-f55e4223a63049209b9b231e4102ec4c

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Holly Madison Baby Name: What'd She Go With?!

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Northeast Ohio sports scoreboard for Thursday, March 7, 2013

Plain Dealer staff, March 07, 2013 11:10 p.m.

Girls basketball

District semifinals

Division III

REGION 10

Bucyrus Wynford27

Columbus Africentric34

?

Findlay Liberty-Benton36

Archbold47

?

REGION 12

Casstown Miami East52

Anna62

?

Middletown Madison67

Fayetteville-Perry58

?

Division IV

REGION 13

Lake Ridge Academy28

Berlin Hiland38

?

Lowellville36

Cortland Maplewood45

?

REGION 14

Arcadia46

Pettisville36

?

Leipsic29

Ottoville52

?

REGION 15

Sycamore Mohawk47

Reedsville Eastern63

?

Waterford50

Newark Catholic52

?

REGION 16

Maria Stein Marion Local66

Ft. Loramie71

?

?

Boys basketball

District semifinals

Division I

ALLIANCE DISTRICT

Overtime

#3 Hoover6 15 19 18 9--67

#2 Green16 14 10 18 8--66

Hoover (21-4): Blackledge 10-2-23, Evans 2-2-6, Iero 8-25, MacLay 1-0-3, Schick 3-0-8, Shingleton 1-0-2

Green (21-3): Corle 2-4-8, Fanelly 13-2-29, Janini 2-0-5, Keeslar 1-0-3, Marciniak 1-2-5, Pritchard 1-0-2, Reale 3-7-14

CANTON DISTRICT

#2 Mass. Perry17 9 12 13--51

#3 Barberton10 15 17 15--57

Massillon Perry: Unavailable

Barberton: Graham 0-1-1, Painter 3-2-9, Sabol 6-4-22, Williams 1-2-4, Williams 8-5-21

COPLEY DISTRICT

#9 Stow10 5 3 9--27

#3 Hudson8 8 12 19--47

Stow-Munroe Falls (12-13): Beech 6-7-21, Bower-Malone 1-0-3, Williams 1-0-3

Hudson (20-4): Albright 1-0-2, Boslet 5-3-17, Brandy 2-0-4, Gedeon 3-1-7, Guadagni 1-0-2, Mushock 0-4-4, Zuccaro 2-3-8, Zullo 1-0-3

EUCLID DISTRICT

#1 Mentor22 28 22 12--84

#9 Will. South10 10 13 11--44

Mentor (20-5): Berger 2-1-5, Brentar 3-0-8, Foreman 1-0-2, Fritts 4-4-12, Gallagher 3-0-7, Hagey 1-0-2, Krizancic 7-0-18, McClure 4-0-9, Nelson 3-2-8, Ours 1-0-2, Potter 3-0-8

Willoughby South (12-13): Chakirelis 3-7-17, Crozier 1-1-3, Hughes 1-0-3, Hunt 4-2-10, Robinson 1-0-2, Walton 2-0-5

GRAFTON DISTRICT

#2 Elyria8 15 20 12--55

#3 Westlake12 24 14 20--70

Elyria (18-6): Bender 10-5-27, Duckett 1-0-2, Dukes 0-2-2, Kurtz 1-0-2, Schultz 1-0-2, Smith 0-2-2, Walton 7-2-18

Westlake (14-9): Beach 6-4-19, Lackner 2-2-6, Mackenzie 7-5-19, Skelly 5-0-10, Strodtbeck 1-4-6, Turk 2-6-10

SOLON DISTRICT

#3 Shaker Heights16 15 12 26--69

#5 Bedford6 14 17 16--53

Shaker Heights (17-6): Ahmad 6-0-13, Blackwell 4-6-14, Griffin 2-0-5, Hurley 6-7-19, Leach 2-4-9, Roy 3-1-9

Bedford (18-6): Beidleman 4-0-8, Carter 1-0-2, Fisher-Grace 4-1-9, Jeffrey 1-0-2, Meredith 4-10-20, Prewitt 3-0-6, Smith 2-1-6

Division II

ASHTABULA DISTRICT

#6 Warrensville Hts.16 12 24 14--66

#1 Lake Catholic14 19 14 18--65

Warrensville Heights (14-10): Brown 1-0-2, Franklin 8-3-20, Goodwin 6-0-16, Hall 7-1-15, Howze 0-1-1, Howze 3-2-8, McGhee 2-0-4

Lake Catholic (13-9): Baniewicz 4-2-10, Cosgriff 4-3-12, Grosel 2-0-4, Haddix 1-1-3, Meola 3-1-9, Powers 9-7-27

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#2 West Geauga10 11 17 12--50

#3 University14 9 13 18--54

West Geauga (16-6): Bidar 5-3-13, Formichelli 6-2-14, Iacampo 0-1-1, Rabe 5-4-17, Rakich 1-0-2, Zurcher 1-0-3

University School (17-7): Austin 3-3-9, Bentz 7-3-20, Black 2-0-4, Bonner 4-2-10, Calo 1-0-2, Gibbons 3-0-7, Scadlock 1-0-2

WESTLAKE DISTRICT

#2 Benedictine10 6 11 5--32

#3 Rocky River10 4 9 7--30

Benedictine (9-16): Jones 2-0-4, Layne 1-0-2, Meek 2-0-4, Parr 5-1-11, Philpotts 1-0-2, Powell 3-0-6, Steele 1-0-3

Rocky River (15-8): Bremkamp 2-0-4, Connors 4-0-9, Dickey 1-2-4, McCrone 2-2-6, McNamara 2-3-7

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Wrestling

LORAIN COUNTY ALL-STAR MEET

106?First place: Downs (Wellington) d. Clark (Columbia) 4-2; Third place: Rizzo (Avon) d. Burns (Brookside) 6-3. 113?First place: Collier (North Ridgeville) m.d. Wonder (Brookside) 15-4; Third place: Carte (Midview) d. Filiaggi (Elyria Catholic) 7-5. 120?First place: Dickson (North Ridgeville) m.d. Stiner (Keystone) 11-1; Third place: Bartlome (Lorain) p. Gothier (Avon) 1:07. 126?First place: Bernosky (Avon Lake) d. Kuchenrither (Avon) 3-2; Third place: French (Brookside) p. Harsar (Elyria Catholic) 1:27. 132?First place: Ma.Hollingsworth (Clearview) d. Logan Stiner (Keystone) 4-3; Third place: Mi.Hollingsworth (Clearview) d. Overall (Elyria) 4-2. 138?First place: Funderburg (Amherst) t.f. McKenzie (Keystone) 17-1; Third place: Provoznik (Wellington) d. Lupico (Midview) 4-1. 145?First place: DeLorge (Avon) d. Williams (Amherst) 2-1, OT; Third place: Murdock (Avon Lake) d. Standen (Brookside) 3-2, OT. 152?First place: Williams (Amherst) d. Foster (Clearview) 12-5; Third place: Mayer (Avon Lake) m.d. Thomas (Oberlin) 10-0. 160?First place: Riley (North Ridgeville) p. Rice (Vermilion) 1:20; Third place: Barnicle (Avon Lake) over (Keystone) by injury default. 170?First place: Neal (Lorain) m.d. King (Keystone) 15-3; Third place: Dec (Wellington) d. Blakley (Avon) 7-3, OT. 182?First place: Kirresh (Avon) d. Eibon (Amherst) 3-2; Third place: Fries (Brookside) p. Schumaker (Columbia) 1:59. 195?First place: Au.Kuchta (Elyria Catholic) d. Breeding (Amherst) 4-1; Third place: Chizmadia (Keystone) d. Resseger (Lorain) 2-1. 220?First place: Ad.Kuchta (Elyria Catholic) d. Mendoza (Brookside) 7-1; Third place: Travagliante (Avon) d. Bustance (Keystone) 3-1. Hvy?First place: Halstead (Elyria) d. Arnold (Clearview) 5-1; Third place: Bailey (North Ridgeville) p. Moody (Amherst) 2:30.

WRESTLERS OF THE YEAR

Division I: Eli Garcia (Lorain)

Divisions II-III: Matt Hollingsworth (Clearview)

COACHES OF THE YEAR

Division I: Erik Burnett (Elyria)

Divisions II-III: Jim Pycraft (Keystone)

Source: http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/1669929997228537772/northeast-ohio-sports-scoreboard-for-thursday-march-7-2013/

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