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He also said he wants his customers to interact with store clerks. If they see something they like, tell them. If they don't, tell them why. |
"We want our customer to ask us questions. We want our customers to tell us what they liked and didn't like so we can make improvements as we go along," Orlick said. |
The second Bloomingdale's Outlet will open in August at The Paragon Outlets Mall in Grand Prairie. |
BP has signed a deal with Russian-state backed oil explorer Rosneft to explore the oil and gas potential of Siberian fields through a new joint venture. |
BP will own 49pc of the newly formed Yermak Neftegaz while Rosneft, which itself is 20pc BP-owned, will hold 51pc of the venture, which intends to explore Rosneft’s West Siberian and Yenisey-Khatanga basins. |
While Rosneft will contribute its licence areas and operational experience in West Siberia and the Yenisey-Khatanga regions to the team-up, BP will contribute $300m in two installments to the project. |
Gary Anthony Williams has joined the cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, where he’ll star as one of the franchise’s longstanding villains, ‘BeBop’. A mutated pig almost always paired off with a fellow mutant, ‘Rocksteady’, Bebop is a henchmen of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle arch villain Shredder (and thus is a quasi... |
Williams joins Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Stephen Amell, Tyler Perry and Brian Tee in the Paramount sequel directed by David Green from a script by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec. Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form are producing. The film is currently filming, and is set for release Ju... |
Wendy Allen cleans out her house before being evicted this week. |
Colorado Legal Services will give a presentation on tenants' rights during a meeting of the Housing Advocacy Coalition from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at First United Methodist Church, 420 N. Nevada Ave. For more information, call 634-0738. |
Wendy Allen left home for a few hours one morning and came back to find that her landlord had removed all of her belongings from her house, placed them in the garage, and posted a notice saying Allen was evicted. |
Allen says the eviction, sparked by a lease dispute, was illegal because it didn't follow the process required by Colorado law -- giving a three-day notice, and then seeking an eviction order from a county magistrate. |
So Allen got legal help and challenged the action, allowing her to stay in her southeast Colorado Springs home until last week, when the matter went to court. |
She ultimately lost, because the magistrate ruled that no official lease agreement had existed between the two parties -- even though Allen's landlord had cashed a rent check and given Allen keys to the house. |
The case, Allen says, shows how few rights tenants have in Colorado, and how much power landlords have. |
"At any point, you are subject to a landlord having a bad hair day," she said. "If you own property, you're basically God." |
But at least Allen had the opportunity to challenge the eviction in court. |
Tenants wouldn't even have that, if a bill introduced by Rep. Bill Cadman, a Colorado Springs Republican, were to become state law. |
In a proposal so far-reaching that even the Colorado landlords' lobby is questioning it, Cadman has written a bill that would enable landlords to evict tenants without going to court. |
Local tenants-rights advocates have expressed shock over the proposal, labeled House Bill 1039, which was to go before the state Legislature's Committee on State, Veterans and Military Affairs on Thursday afternoon. |
Attorney Steve Flynn of Colorado Legal Services, which often represents low-income tenants in court, says the bill eliminates the opportunity for tenants to challenge unjustified evictions. |
"There's just no due process," Flynn said of the bill. "The landlord can just say, 'Rent is due,' and give a notice [to vacate the home]. Forty-eight hours later, they can just lock it and take possession of the tenant's property, and that's that." |
Cadman, however, says tenants who are wronged can still sue for breach of contract. |
"Nothing in here removes any of your right to due process," Cadman insisted. |
Cadman says he decided to introduce the bill after listening to local landlords complain about how long it takes to evict tenants who aren't paying rent. |
"They said, 'How come, if someone doesn't make payments, we've got to take them to court?'" Cadman recounted. |
No other type of contract works that way, he says. |
"Ford Motor Credit doesn't have to go to court to take your car back," Cadman pointed out. "If you stop paying for it, you lose it." |
Under current law, a tenant who challenges an eviction can remain on the property for weeks, Cadman says. Though a landlord can usually get an eviction order within two weeks, it can take several weeks more before a sheriff's deputy is available to serve the order. |
"This is insane," Cadman argued. "It's almost literally taking your property hostage -- and the onus is on you to go to court to get your property back." |
But Flynn and others say Cadman wants to give more power to landlords in a state where the rules are already lopsided in their favor. |
"Landlords almost always win," said Cyndy Kulp of the Colorado Springs-based Housing Advocacy Coalition, which is organizing opposition to Cadman's bill. |
"Colorado already has an extremely expedited process" for evictions, he said. Landlords "have got it good enough already. Why do they need to make it harder on the tenants?" |
Meanwhile, representatives from the state landlords' lobby, the Colorado Apartment Association, said they weren't sure they would support Cadman's proposal. |
"I don't know if it's constitutional, what he's trying to do," said Jamie Glonek, the association's government affairs director. "There has to be some sort of due process [and] I think going to court is probably the only way to do it. You can't just kick somebody out and say, 'You violated this contract' -- that means ... |
Glonek said the association would like to work with Cadman to propose changes that would expedite the eviction process by some other means. |
Meanwhile, Allen and her teen-age son were planning to move to a homeless shelter Wednesday, where they'll stay while looking for a new home. |
If the eviction process is expedited, more tenants than ever will live in "constant fear" of becoming homeless, Allen says. "No one should have to live like that." |
After he spoke with us about the neuroscience of gift-giving, neuroscientist Daniel Ariely actually went out and polled 5,000 gift givers about the last gift they received, and how much they liked it. As we said—so consider this a last-minute, gentle reminder—people like surprises. |
Now, there's a risk here that scares most of us when it comes to gifting something that the person different ask for (we offered some strategies). But Ariely's survey found that givers who take the risk often undervalue the joy of an unexpected gift—especially when it's a complete surprise—and, most importantly, that r... |
But again, it needs to be a good gift. Something with thought. Something that can make someone grow. And, according to Emmy Rossum, not a pet that they aren't expecting. |
So do it: Take a risk. Believe in it. And then hope for a small holiday miracle. |
The State Duma’s legislative committee has approved an amendment banning any US involvement in the adoption of Russian children. On Wednesday the Lower House will consider the second reading of the bill. |
The amendment bans both individual adoptions by US citizens and US companies and organizations acting as intermediaries for those who seek to adopt Russian kids. They were submitted jointly by United Russia and Liberal Democratic MPs. |
United Russia, the majority party in Parliament, is ready to support the ban on US adoptions according to Deputy Duma Speaker Sergey Neverov. He added that if the ban is approved it must remain in force for as long as US courts pass ‘biased’ rulings in cases involving adopted Russian children. The minority factions als... |
Other suggested amendments deal directly with the potential for US citizens to influence Russian politics. These include a ban for US citizens to head or even to work in Russian NGOs that are engaged in political activities. It is also proposed that all NGOs receiving funding from the United States be closed. |
The bill has been poignantly named after the Russian two-year old Dima Yakovlev, who died after his American adoptive parents left him in a car for nine hours in hot weather. |
Dima Yakovlev’s death is not the first case involving Russian children who've been allegedly murdered or tortured by their adoptive parents in the US in recent years. Since the early 1990s, according to Russian officials, at least 19 Russian children have been killed by their foster parents in the US. |
About 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by American couples the largest number of all those sharing adoption arrangements with Russia. Relations were strained when an adoptive mother put her 7-year-old son back on a plane to Russia saying he was no longer wanted, forcing a moratorium on adoptions in the US, unt... |
President Vladimir Putin slammed American authorities last week for their vindicatory reaction over Russian orphans dying in US foster families. |
"We are indignant not so much at these tragedies – even though it’s the worst thing that can happen – as at the reaction of the [US] government, a vindicatory reaction. That’s what is bad,” the Russian President said. |
Criticisms have been leveled against the American judicial system for not sufficiently responding to cases of abuse of Russian children by their American adoptive parents. |
Balanced response to Magnitsky Act? |
Russia has instituted a special post of the ombudsman for children’s rights. The man who currently occupies this position, Pavel Astakhov, is a staunch supporter of a total ban on foreign adoptions. The ombudsman reiterated his position this week saying that all Russian children must remain in Russia if it is possible... |
Astakhov also said that Russia must reply to the demonstratively unfriendly policy of the United States and the ban on adoption could be such a reply. |
Despite nearly unanimous support in the Parliament, the move to ban adoptions has attracted lots of criticism from both government officials and public activists. “This sort of an eye for an eye type of logic is faulty, as it can only increase the suffering of children who cannot find adoptive parents in Russia,” Educa... |
Human rights activist and Public Chamber member Olga Kostina however believes that the new legislation would hit decent foster families instead of targeting the officials who abuse their authority and transfer children for money. |
Kostina believes that Russia’s response to the Magnitsky Act should only be noticeable by those politicians who introduced it and not the ordinary citizens and children. |
“I would, for example, make a list of those who promote the ‘orange revolutions,’” she suggested, adding that with this bill in its current form Russia joins the US in a competition of stupidity and idiocy. |
The leader of the Fair Russia party Sergey Mironov said that though he personally supported the ban on adoptions, the priority should be put on making adoption inside Russia easier. First, the procedure must be simplified and second, the adoptive parents must receive some benefits from the state. |
The Magnitsky Act, approved by the Senate on December 6 and signed by President Obama on December 14, imposes an entry ban and a freeze of US assets on a group of Russian MP’s, law enforcement and court officials who are allegedly complicit in the death of Sergey Magnitsky – an auditor who worked for a British investme... |
Two prison doctors were tried and sentenced for criminal negligence but a part of the US political and business community, led by Magnitsky’s former employer William Browder, have been pressing for more investigations and punishments. Browder is currently under investigation in Russia in the same tax evasion case. |
Russia has repeatedly blasted the Magnitsky Act as an attempt to pressure justice in a sovereign country. |
Last week Russia’s Lower House passed the retaliatory Dima Yakovlev bill in its first reading. It proposes denying Russian visas and freezing all financial assets of American citizens involved in the violations of the rights of Russians abroad. |
Sen. John McCain of Arizona cast a pivotal vote to sink the GOP's health care efforts. |
Skinny repeal lost by the thinnest of margins: one vote. |
Way to represent, Sen. John McCain. |
On Tuesday, Arizona’s senior senator delivered an inspired, impassioned and desperately needed call for this nation’s leaders to work together to develop with a healthcare plan that works for the American public. |
Late Thursday, McCain delivered on those words, voting to oppose a “skinny repeal” of Obamacare. One that would have resulted in 15 million people becoming uninsured by 2018. One that would have pushed premiums up by 20 percent next year. |
One that had been labelled a disaster by the very senators who supported it. Yet they supported it anyway. |
Credit to McCain who listened to the people of Arizona and had the tenacity to demand better than for which his colleagues were willing to settle. According to a poll taken on Wednesday, just 6 percent of Arizona's voters supported this bill. |
GOP 'health' bill isn't about health. It's about winning and job protection. |
Listen, again, to McCain’s words on Tuesday. |
Sen. John McCain literally put his life on the line this week to fly to Washington, to make a point, to take stand. |
To send a message that now is the time for our leaders to ignore “the implacable partisans on either side” and for once to do what is best for the American public. |
Skinny repeal lost by a skinny margin of one vote. Sen. John McCain's vote. |
Earlier this week, I posed the question: is McCain's finest moment yet to come? |
Tonight, we got the answer. |
Paramount is currently trying to find a new director for its floundering film franchise, but what the series really needs is to return to television. |
It's hard to believe, but right now we exist in a world where Star Trek is only a film franchise. For the last half-century, Stark Trek has operated mainly on the small screen, including a recent 18-year run. Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987, and some form of Trek stayed on the air until the finale of S... |
Paramount is now searching for a director to helm a sequel to Abrams's Star Treks. But here's a better idea: Why not make a new Star Trek television show? |
Abrams's 2009 Star Trek was a success—a rollicking adventure that tapped into the rascally side of the Kirk-led U.S.S. Enterprise. The director openly drew influence from the original Star Wars trilogy to breathe new life into a franchise that had petered out with increasingly staid films featuring the Next Generation ... |
Abrams has moved on to a galaxy far far away, and screenwriter Roberto Orci (who co-wrote the last two films) was hired as his replacement, hardly an inspiring choice considering he'd never directed before. Now that he's departed, Paramount is considering a list of perfectly competent replacements, most of whom are lik... |
A new TV version of Star Trek, though, would be refreshing and well-timed. The public's appetite for science fiction feels stronger than ever, from the swathe of superhero stories flooding the blockbuster market to super-popular cult TV like Doctor Who and Orphan Black. There's a definite marketplace gap for cerebral, ... |
Besides, television is a much better sandbox for the broad universe of the show. While Abrams's recent films took advantage of big budgets to give viewers cool action storytelling, that's nothing a thousand other franchises can't do. But Star Trek could always attempt much more than that, exploring ethical dilemmas of ... |
There has, in fact, been rumbling about a new Star Trek TV show for years, but it hasn't amounted to much. Director Bryan Singer worked on an idea for a show called Federation set centuries after The Next Generation, in an era of decline for Starfleet, but it never got past the pitch stage when Paramount hired Abrams t... |
Last summer, there was word that Netflix had reached out to CBS about maybe getting the rights to the Trek franchise for TV, but that amounted to the thinnest of rumors. The property's value is undeniable, but someone has to decide what to do with it first. With the film series ongoing, CBS and Viacom (who jointly own ... |
Writers like Bryan Fuller (who currently helms NBC's brilliant Hannibal) have said they'd love nothing more than taking a crack at a Trek TV show, no matter what the universe they have to operate in. Surely that prospect alone is enough to get any sci-fi fan salivating—and that's before you hear that his dream captain ... |
It was another fruitful evening for Coshocton's tennis team. |
GRANVILLE – Jim Magness suffered a rare loss in No. 1 singles, but visiting Coshocton still came away with a 4-1 win against Granville in a nonleague match on Tuesday. |
Coshocton, coming off a heartfelt 3-2 win against unbeaten New Philadelphia a day earlier, improved to 12-0. |
Magness lost 2-6, 4-6, but his brother Sam Magness came back to win 6-1, 6-3 in No. 2 singles and Cameron Wiandt won 6-1, 6-3 in No. 3 singles. |
In doubles, Thomas Gauerke and Mitchell Milliken won 6-3, 6-3 and Emily Hartley and Katie Tupper cruised 6-0, 6-2. |
First names were not available for Granville. |
WATTS BAR MAIN CHANNEL LUXURIOUS LIVING!! This magnificent masterpiece offers 5 bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms with amazing views from nearly every room in the house. Turn-Key with the most elegant furnishings and decor. The captivating main level offers a state of the art kitchen with granite counter tops, stainless ste... |
Net Neutrality: If You Like Your Wireless Plan, You Can Keep Your Wireless Plan? |
Net neutrality means the opposite of a free and open internet and could restrict consumer options, according to a dissenting government official. |
The Democrat majority on the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote in favor of net neutrality regulations on Thursday, February 26. The details contained in the 322-page plan are being kept under wraps and will not be released to the public before the vote, however. |
Bootstrapping from an 80-year-old law, the Communications Act of 1934, the FCC plans to reclassify internet service providers as so-called common carriers or public utilities like the phone companies, thereby making them subject to government regulation. |
The Obama administration insists that the new rules will “safeguard competition and user choice” by treating all internet traffic equally. |
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