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Steiner said the permanent improvement levy money that was used for part of the project can’t be used towards salaries, benefits or school supplies. |
He said the new complex is a perfect use of the money, and he was pleased with how well it meshes with the existing buildings in the district. |
Steiner estimates it will take 15 to 17 years to pay off the building. |
2013 was the year when wearable computing became serious. Most of it so far is geekwear, and though there's nothing wrong with an affinity for the digital realm, a lot of people would prefer something a bit more understated. |
Enter the Misfit Shine. Like alternatives from companies like Nike and Fitbit, the Shine is a battery-powered, Bluetooth-connected, step-counting doo-dad. Unlike them, it's got an understated, unobtrusive design. It looks like a diminutive macaron but with a nice metallic finish with subtly glowing dots. |
It's not exactly something you'd want to show off, though you can get it in a few colors and wear it as a pendant if you want. But it doesn't look like you're trying to flaunt your tech cred if you clip it onto your clothing or fit it into a watchband. |
HTC, the company that made the first Android smartphone but that lost out to Samsung when it comes to market share and profits, fought back in 2013 with the terrific-looking HTC One. |
The phone mounts a beautiful 4.7-inch, 1920x1080 display into a sturdy all-enclosing aluminum unibody housing, and its thinness and heft give it a solid feel that's sadly rare in the world of mass-market plasticky phones. |
The difficulties of manufacturing this gem took a toll, since HTC couldn't keep up with demand. But the company's reputation came out ahead. The HTC One is a statement that Android can be classy. |
Apple's Mac Pro crawled to market. With its workstation line languishing, Apple spent a year teasing its new heavy-horsepower machine. It was worth the wait, and for some demanding customers, it'll probably also be worth a price tag between $3,000 and $9,600. |
In a computer world is moving to rectangular slabs of tablets and smartphones, the new Mac Pro's cylindrical design really stands out. The squat black shape somehow manages to combine a Darth Vader-esque seriousness with a unintimidating roundness. |
It's nice on the inside, too. Most of the time top-end components means lots of fans furiously trying to pump enough air through a chassis to avoid overheating, but Apple uses a single big fan on top to cool the machine. It draws air past a "unified thermal core" -- basically a big heat sink connected to the main proce... |
In the real world beyond Apple's marketing department, the Mac Pro's sleek lines will be degraded by all the cables that its owners will have to attach -- Thunderbolt 2, USB 3, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and of course power. If you need to plug and unplug cameras, monitors, USB drives, or external storage systems, you'll ... |
OK, so you're probably not quite ready to go buy your own personal aircraft. But if you were going to do your part to usher in the era of the flying car, the thing to have in your driveway is AugustaWestland's Project Zero. |
It's a tiltrotor, which means it takes off like a helicopter then move forward as its propellers pivot into a vertical configuration. It's electric, which means no pesky stops at the airport for aviation fuel, though its manufacturer wouldn't say anything about its range. It matches a sleek white fuselage with no-fooli... |
It's only a research and development prototype, so you won't see them flitting about. Too bad, because it's a sight to behold. |
Carl Zeiss has always been a premium lensmaker, but it's outdone itself with the Otus 55mm f1.4 lens. |
The German company flaunts its engineering heritage, perhaps to a fault: tight manufacturing tolerances and super-smooth focus rings will only get you so far in business. But the Otus marries that aesthetic with unparalleled image quality: the Otus does better wide open at f1.4 than most lenses do anywhere in the apert... |
Basically, Zeiss decided to see what would happen if it let its designers build a lens without being troubled by pesky details like a prohibitively high price. The Otus 55mm was the result, and Zeiss plans 85mm and wide-angle models, too. |
Sure, it's bulkier than other lenses of its focal length, and yes, it's only a manual focus lens. But it's a feast for the eyes. |
By now the iPad isn't much of a novelty, but it's still a worthy engineering achievement. In 2013, the iPad Mini moved up from second-class citizen to first-rate tablet. |
Its look barely changed from 2012, but one big change did come to how the world looks at an iPad Mini: its Retina display. The graceful arcs of letters and the crisp scenery of nature photos pop on a Retina display. And even though the rest of the iPad looks nice, let's face it: the screen is where the action is at. |
The iPad Mini also gets the same A7 processor as its big brother, the iPad Air, so it's nicer on the inside, too. |
Pulling out a tablet nowadays may not turn heads the way it did a few years ago. But iPad owners still can take satisfaction in its clean, uncluttered aesthetic and now its worthy display, too. |
For 2013, Jaguar's all-aluminum F-Type Coupe comes brings a tight, balanced design to the world of sportscars. It's got an all-aluminum build and streamlining perks like door handles that retract to become flush. |
It's got a long hood, but not too long. It's got powerful-looking haunches but doesn't look bulbous. It's tapered but not pinched. All in all, quite a looker -- as you'd expect for a $69,000 car. |
Microsoft's new Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard, the latest in a long line of ergonomic keyboards from the company, shows just how wrong most keyboards are. The history of the computing industry is one of adapting computers to humans, not humans to computers, and the grid of keys on most keyboards are just the thing for robo... |
The new Microsoft Sculpt keyboard has the organic, flowing design that not only is a better match for the human hand, it also looks terrific. It undulates pleasingly. |
Looks aren't everything, of course. If you're not an ergo keyboard convert, using it will take some getting used to. I'm a longtime Microsoft ergonomic keyboard user and still had to recalibrate my right-hand muscle memory for slightly longer reach to the equals and backspace keys. Also, the screened-on letters may wea... |
Nest Labs wants to bring a little glory to the mundane world of household devices, and its new 2013 product, the Nest Protect, succeeds. |
The company's first product was a thermostat that comes with a slick screen and a smartphone app. This year, Next expanded to the smoke detector market. The Protect comes with novelties like voice alerts and gesture controls that let you hush its alerts if the smoke problem is just an overenthusiastic toaster. |
If you want to rid your house of electronic gizmos, the Nest Protect won't help. But smoke detectors are required, and the Protect's whirling dots and glowing status ring looks a lot better than a plasticky puck with a blinking red LED. |
You pay for the Protect's features and look; they cost $129 apiece. But if you have several, they can communicate. And if you have a Nest thermostat, then a Protect that detects too much carbon monoxide can work with it to shut down the furnace. |
The JBL Pulse is a $200 portable speaker that offers eye candy along with ear candy. |
The speaker's rainbow-flavored light show accompanies the music playing on your Bluetooth-connected device. A digital-era lava lamp may not be your style, but CNET's David Carnoy found it mesmerizing. |
It's too bad the sound quality isn't top-notch, but hey, it is a portable Bluetooth speaker. It's for casual listening, not high-fidelity reproductions of a Brahms symphony. So why not give your visual cortex a treat? |
You may or may not think old-school vacuum tube technology makes for better sound quality than more modern electronics, but there's no denying they can look pretty cool. |
Where most amplifiers hide their inner workings away, the Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies headphone amplifier wears lets it all hang out. A pair of tubes show their warm orange glow in an unabashed display. A glass cover protects them while showing them off. |
The buttery-smooth volume knob is next to dual headphone jacks. There's one catch (aside from the $1,000 price tag): You'll have to find a cabinet behind which you can tuck away its an ungainly external power supply. |
For photo enthusiasts, full-frame cameras offer terrific image quality but painfully high prices. For those without the bottomless budgets, Sigma did well in 2013 with its 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM zoom. Think of it as Zeiss Lite. |
This wide-angle model offers terrific performance in a sweet little package. As my co-worker Lori Grunin notes, it brings the full-frame ethos to crop-frame SLRs. (Its equivalent focal length in full-frame terms is something like 27-52mm.) Its wide aperture means nicely blurred backgrounds and good performance in low l... |
Sigma has for years been mostly a low-budget alternative to house-brand lenses from Canon and Nikon. But with its reorganization, its "art" lenses have shown the company can also make smooth, solid, and polished high-end lenses, too. The 18-35mm will upgrade the look as well as the performance of any SLR. |
Suara Bangsamoro strongly condemns the twin bombings at Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu yesterdat that left at least 27 dead and more than 80 injured. We pray and sympathize with the victims and their families. We call on the immediate apprehension of the perpetrators. |
The series of bombings in Mindanao amidst Martial Law only proves its ineffectivity in securing peace in the region. In the 18 months of Martial Law with 75% of AFP troops positioned, thousands of checkpoints setup in Mindanao and billions of funds funnelled to intelligence operations, President Duterte and his militar... |
The blasts happened days after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), illustrating that unrest in Moro areas is far from over. We fear that this incident will be used as a justification by the government to pursue intensive militarization of Jolo and other Moro communities which will then lead to human r... |
We hope that this incident will not be used to divide the Moro and Christian people or the people of Jolo in general. In this difficult time, we need to stand together against inhumane attacks and violence. We demand justice for the victims of the bombing in Jolo! |
The Buffalo Bills have once again found themselves linked to the No. 1 overall pick in next month's NFL Draft. |
In his "Monday Musings" column this morning, CBS Sports' Pete Prisco mentions the Bills as a team that may want to trade up with the Houston Texans for the top spot. The target, according to Prisco, would be South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Prisco mentions how attractive a potential defensive line of Mari... |
Responding to a tweet from a reader later in the morning, Prisco offered some more on the origins of his report. |
@RyanTalbotBills I am saying that's what some league people told me. |
Prisco is not the first national writer to link the Bills to the No. 1 pick. Late last month, Bleacher Report's Dan Pompei reported something similar in his "Read Option" column. |
The Bills' annual pre-draft luncheon will be held Friday. General Manager Doug Whaley will assuredly be asked about the reported interest in the No. 1 pick. |
Just as assuredly, Whaley will offer some form of an answer that will be careful not to tip which way the Bills might be leaning. |
LaVerne Kelly, a retired public schools music counselor, died of a lung ailment April 22 at her son's Baltimore home. The Columbia resident was 83. |
Born LaVerne Beal Young in Sebrell, Va., she was the daughter of John P. Young and Leah Young, who was named the state of Virginia's first African-American Mother of the Year in 1952. |
Family members said the farm where she was born was on a portion of the Nottoway Indian reservation. She was an enrolled citizen of the Nottoway Indian tribe of Virginia. |
As a child, she exhibited musical talent. She attended a one-room school and was the class valedictorian at the Southampton County Training School. She received an academic scholarship to Virginia State University and earned a degree in music education and English. She later studied at the University of Maine and at th... |
In 1952, Mrs. Kelly was hired as an early African-American music counselor in 11 Baltimore County elementary schools. |
"These were known as 'colored' schools and had never before had a music counselor," said her son, Rufus G. "Rick" Kelly III of Baltimore. He said she was assigned to Towson's Carver Elementary. She was also associated with Fleming Elementary School. |
She later taught in Montgomery County at Stone Gate School in Silver Spring. She was also a music resource teacher at Baltimore's Calloway Elementary School. She retired in 1996. |
While in Baltimore County, Mrs. Kelly composed a song for the Teachers Association of Baltimore County when the two formerly segregated teachers' groups united. The song included the names of the past presidents of both associations. |
"My mother had the honor of conducting the music at their inaugural integrated banquet," her son said. |
She lived in Windsor Hills and was organist and choir director at the Forest Park Presbyterian Church. In 1969, she and her family moved to Columbia's Village of Oakland Mills. |
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Vaughn Greene Chapel, 8728 Liberty Road in Randallstown. |
In addition to her son, survivors include a daughter, Kimberly A. Kelly of Columbia; and a sister, Joyce Y. Bowman of Upper Marlboro. Her husband of 40 years, Rufus G. Kelly Jr., a teacher, died in 1994. |
WATCH: Air Canada has temporarily suspended its flights to London's Heathrow Airport from Halifax and St. John's. |
Air Canada flights from Halifax and St. John’s to London’s Heathrow Airport have been cancelled following Transport Canada’s announcement that all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets are banned from the country’s airspace. |
The airline says it is making adjustments to its flight schedules and, in the short-term, will be rerouting those who wish to fly on either route by connecting passengers to flights leaving from either Montreal or Toronto. |
FYI – the Air Canada routes from Halifax to London and St. John's to London's Heathrow Airport have been cancelled for the short-term, while passengers will be rerouted through the Montreal and Toronto Airports. |
“We are making adjustments to our schedule to minimize the disruption to customers as much as possible by optimizing the deployment of the rest of our fleet and looking at alternative options, including accommodating customers on other airlines,” said Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur in an emailed statement. |
There was some disruption at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Wednesday afternoon after Transport Canada’s announcement that all Boeing 737 MAX 8s were grounded. |
Passengers waiting to board a 2 p.m. flight to Toronto were at the gate when they found out — many from their cellphones — as the news broke on social media. |
Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced the decision in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday that killed all 157 passengers aboard, including 18 Canadians. |
The Ethiopian Airlines crash marked the second deadly incident in six months involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8, the first being the Lion Air crash in October 2018, which killed 189 people in Indonesia. |
Halifax airport officials say two routes are affected by the Transport Canada decision as well as all Air Canada flights to Toronto and London. |
Airport officials are asking customers to contact the airlines from which they’ve purchased tickets to get updates regarding their flight information. |
“We are in contact with Air Canada and any other airline that might be using this aircraft going forward to determine what their contingency plan is and to support them in that so they can continue with their service from Halifax Stanfield,” said communications manager Tiffany Chase with Halifax Stanfield International... |
Some customers who were grounded in Halifax on Wednesday had to scramble to make alternative flight plans, with Brian Wentzell telling Global News that he stands to lose thousands as flight delays could cause him to miss the boarding call for a cruise he had planned along the Mediterranean. |
“Just a few minutes before I was expecting to board, they come out and said it was cancelled. The decision was made in Ottawa to cancel those flights and so I was caught in it,” said Wentzell, who planned to fly to Toronto and then connect to a flight to Italy. |
“I had two cruises back-to-back so I’m out, right now, at least $3,000, and plus this (flight cancellation), at least four or five thousand,” he added. |
READ MORE: Trump orders ban on all Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights in U.S. |
Cathy Fancy said the cancellation will cut her week-long vacation down a day but said she’s OK with that. |
“If they feel there’s information that’s strong enough to influence them to take it out of service for now then I’m happy,” she said. |
Air Canada says it’s working with customers to rebook flights, but it’s not clear when regular flights from Halifax and St. John’s to London will resume. |
ST. CLOUD (AP) -- The former superintendent of the Rocori School District won't serve any jail time after pleading guilty to indecent exposure, unless he violates terms of his probation. |
The attorney for Scott Staska told a judge in Stearns County District Court Thursday that the superintendent's actions were the result of trauma and stress, including the 2003 school shooting in Cold Spring in which two students died. Defense attorney Wanda Gierman told the judge it may take years for effects of trauma... |
Staska was initially charged with 19 counts of exposing himself at gas stations and retail stores. He pleaded guilty to four counts in an agreement with prosecutors. Judge Shan Wang stayed a sentence of 90 days in jail on each count, meaning Staska won't serve time unless he violates probation. |
A 55-year-old Bunnell man was killed Thursday afternoon when he ran off the road and hit a light pole in Flagler County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. |
Joseph Robert Crawford was driving a tractor-trailer on Conservatory Drive when he drove off the road for an unknown reason and hit the pole about 1 p.m., the Highway Patrol said. |
The investigation is ongoing but authorities think a medical issue may have caused Crawford to leave the road, the FHP said. |
Information about whether he was wearing a seat belt was not released. |
I don’t know that it’s going to be the next film. I have multiple stuff in development. I’m hoping to shoot something at the end of the year. I have a couple of different things that are all in various stages of script, and outline, and finished script. We’ll see which one comes together and who wants to make them. |
They’re all things I might direct, but there’s one that I just made a deal to do a rewrite on an existing script. There’s another one that’s a book that I’m trying to sell. There’s another one that’s not quite in script form, the writer’s working on it. It’s an outline, and it’s going to be turned into a script. They’r... |
The last feature Ben Affleck directed was Live by Night in 2016. It wasn't exactly the success of Gone Baby Gone or The Town, never mind his Oscar-winning Argo. |
He's certainly kept busy on every other front, though. Right now he's promoting his role in the Netflix film Triple Frontier. He's also executive producing the TV series City on a Hill. We're also waiting to hear more about that true crime movie he's supposed to be directing, starring his buddy Matt Damon, following a ... |
On the acting and producing front, Ben Affleck will star in Torrance, which is set to come out this October, directed by Gavin O'Connor. O'Connor directed Affleck in The Accountant and supposedly they're still planning to make a sequel. Affleck also has a role in the political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted, directe... |
We've seen how easily plans come together and fall apart when it comes to making movies. After all, Ben Affleck was supposed to direct, write, produce, and star in The Batman movie. He's said to still be on board as one of the producers, but he admitted he and his fellow screenwriter couldn't "crack" the script. Rather... |
When Ben Affleck is good, he's great. He may have had his confidence shaken a bit after Live by Night and the back-to-back critical bashing of Batman v Superman and Justice League (which he didn't direct, but still). He's also been dealing with things in his personal life. But I'm hoping the pieces come together for hi... |
In the meantime, keep up with everything headed to the big screen this year with our handy 2019 movie guide. |
HLN host Ashleigh Banfield recently took the time during her segment on "Crime and Justice" to deliver an "open letter" to the anonymous woman behind Aziz Ansari's sexual misconduct accusations. "Let's take a moment to reflect on what you claim was 'the worst night of your life,'" Banfield opened wi... |
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