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RED BANK - A blaze at a home being renovated at 28 Rector Place started on the front porch, authorities said.
No injuries were reported and the cause is still under investigation.
One worker was at the scene of the unoccupied home, said Pamela Borghi, borough spokeswoman.
The fire was first reported at 8:30 a.m., Borghi said.
The Monmouth County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating.
This is a developing story. Check back with APP.com for more details.
Microsoft is clarifying and softening a bit its stance on how long and thoroughly it will support Windows 7 and 8 users who want to run those operating systems on Intel Skylake-based devices.
Microsoft is softening its stance on how long and how completely it will continue to support Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users running Skylake-based devices.
In a March 18 "Windows for IT Pros" blog post, Microsoft officials outlined the updated terms and conditions.
Instead of cutting off full, extended support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on Skylake on July 17, 2017, Microsoft will now guarantee full extended support to July 17, 2018 on the set list of devices it provided in February.
Microsoft also tightened up the wording as to what kinds of security updates Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users will get once that date comes.
These new clarifications also apply to users running Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 on Skylake-based embedded devices, not just PCs. Until today, embedded users were facing the same cutoff dates and vague support commitments.
In January, Microsoft execs said they would continue to provide "the most critical Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 security updates" which would "be released if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices,"
Before Microsoft's mid-January announcement, business users expected to be able to buy new Skylake/Intel sixth generation Core PCs and, if wanted and needed, downgrade them to Windows 7 or 8.1, yet remain supported by Microsoft.
Windows 7 SP1 is currently in extended support, meaning Microsoft had said it would provide users with all security updates on that operating system until January 14, 2020. Windows 8.1's period of extended support isn't set to end until January 10, 2023.
But Microsoft abruptly changed its support guarantee in January. As long as users were running older processors -- those in Intel's Haswell family, for example -- the same support cutoff dates remained for Windows 7 and 8.1. But users who wanted, for various compatibility/test/budgetary reasons, want to run 7 or 8.1 on Skylake or newer processors now faced a much shorter support runway.
Microsoft officials attributed today's changes to customer feedback. But the company is, unsurprisingly, continuing to advocate that users migrate to Windows 10 as soon as possible on all Skylake devices and their successors.
In preparation for becoming humanity’s overlords, robots have started controlling turtles. By first getting the reptiles to associate a red light with food, the shell-attached robots can dictate where the turtle moves around a tank, creating a rather unusual parasitic relationship.
Even with the huge progress made in recent years, robots still have some serious limitations. Making their motion robust enough to survive the rigours of daily life is an ongoing battle, as is the puzzle of providing them with enough energy to avoid spending hours recharging.
Nature, on the other hand, can do this easily. Millions of years of evolution have given rise to an incredible variety of efficient ways for animals to move, so researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon set about harnessing this factor.
Robots were first glued to the backs of five red-eared slider turtles. The robots comprised a processor, a frame that stuck out in front of the turtle’s head holding five red LEDs spaced apart, and a food-ejecting tube. They then had to ride their turtle through five checkpoints in a tank filled with water.
The turtles were first conditioned to associate a lit-up LED with food. The robot then simply guided it using the LEDs and fed it snacks as a reward for going in the right direction. Using this process, five robot-turtle pairs successfully completed the course, and each sped up with practice.
There are plenty of other animals that could also later be used to give robots a ride, says Dae-Gun Kim at KAIST. “It will be possible to apply it to various animals such as fish and birds according to task purpose,” he says.
In the future, Kim and his colleagues also want to be able to harness some of the animal host’s motion to provide the robot with power.
“These robots could be used for surveillance, exploration, or anywhere where it’s difficult for humans or robots to reach on their own,” says Nathan Lepora at the University of Bristol, UK.
Previously, insects have been controlled using electrodes and radio antennas connected to their nervous systems. This same approach could present ways for parasitic robots to directly control their hosts.
“There are definitely ethical considerations, but if robots and animals were able to team up to explore a disaster area, it could be really useful,” says Lepora.
The executive exodus continues unabated.
Another day, another executive departure.
At this point, Twitter's ongoing brain drain seems unstoppable.
Each executive's announcement is notable in different ways.
For starters, Messinger is a C-suite exec, and his departure will follow COO Adam Bain's departure just last month, as well as another high-level VP (Richard Alfonsi) a few weeks ago. Every company has turnover, but excessive turnover at the highest levels of a company is a particularly punishing combination. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in what remains of the management team.
While McFarland wasn't part of the C-suite, his departure has important implications for other reasons. McFarland was sort of an acqui-hire; he founded an ad tech company called TellApart, which was backed by Greylock Partners and subsequently sold to Twitter in April of last year for nearly $500 million, the vast majority of which consisted of stock. That means McFarland is exiting just a year and a half later. Presumably, some or all of McFarland's shares that he received have now vested (McFarland wasn't in a senior enough position to require Form 4 filings).
Greylock Partners has reportedly been trying to get McFarland to join its team for the better part of a decade, according to TechCrunch, so there's a bit more history and context surrounding his move. Note that Twitter just acqui-hired a new VP of product (Keith Coleman) earlier this month when it acquired Yes, Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
In case it wasn't obvious, it should be stated that acqui-hiring to replace talent at a large scale is simply not a sustainable strategy. Just ask a struggling Web 1.0 search company that went on an acqui-hiring spree, swallowing 53 companies and start-ups over the span of a few years, and now has little to show for it.
Will the bleeding ever end?
Throughout 2016, we've made progress refining our core service, launching live streaming video, giving people more control over their Twitter experience, and promoting and recruiting great talent. We've continued to increase the speed of implementing product improvements, and, as we've previously shared, we've seen the direct positive impact on audience engagement and growth, caused by the enhancements we're making.
To further accelerate this positive momentum, we're taking steps to streamline and flatten the organization by elevating our engineering, product and design functions, with each area now reporting directly to Jack. We believe these updates to our organizational structure will enable increased discipline in our product strategy and faster execution.
Going forward, if Twitter ever hopes to regain investor confidence, it will need to show that it can stem its talent losses.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has challenged President George W. Bush to a live, international television debate about the Iraq crisis, US station CBS News has reported.
The Iraqi leader also made clear that he would not accept demands that he destroy missiles which the United Nations says have a longer than permitted range.
CBS News anchor Dan Rather said he had an exclusive three-hour interview with Saddam and that the Iraqi leader envisioned a debate with Bush along the lines of US presidential campaign debates.
"I am ready to conduct a direct dialogue - a debate - with your president. I will say what I want and he will say what he wants," Saddam was quoted as saying.
"This is something proposed in earnest," Saddam said. "Out of my respect for the people of the United States and my respect for the people of Iraq and the people of the world. I call for this because war is not a joke."
"As leaders," Saddam said in his invitation to Bush, "Why don't we use this opportunity?"
Saddam also flatly denied that any of his most advanced al-Samoud missiles are in violation of UN mandates, Rather said.
"Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that," Saddam was quoted as saying. "We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range."
Rather said Saddam strongly indicated Iraq will resist efforts to begin the destruction of the missiles as demanded by by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer rejected the debate offer, saying it was "not a serious statement."
He said the notable part of the interview was Saddam's apparent refusal to destroy the al-Samoud missiles.
Saddam faces a test of whether he will destroy dozens of the missiles by March 1 as ordered by Blix.
Destruction of the missiles, which have a range that exceeds UN limits, would be a blow to Iraq as it prepares for a possible invasion by US forces.
"He (Saddam) won't even acknowledge that the missiles exceed the limit. This is one further and troubling piece of evidence that he has weapons that he has both failed to acknowledge or destroy. This underscores the very nature of the threat and the problem in the first place," Fleischer said.
Rather said he found Saddam to be outwardly calm but expecting that war will come.
"He know that the time for the invasion is very near. He takes seriously what President Bush has been saying," Rather said.
Saddam believes that if it comes to war, Iraq will have to "absorb a tremendous first and maybe second punch from the United States and its allies" but his country will be able to withstand that punch and emerge undefeated, Rather said, adding that Saddam did not accept that he lost the 1991 Gulf war.
Saddam made clear he did not plan to flee into exile before any invasion, Rather said.
My favorite new view: Turning onto Kern Street from Van Ness Avenue and looking past the pulsating Dancing Waters fountain straight into Chukchansi Park.
Pleasant reminder that baseball (and soccer) season is right around the corner.
“It actually looks like a real city when you look down the street now,” said Leon Alchian, owner of Majestic Jewelry & Loan on Tulare Street.
Of course, we didn’t obtain and spend $20 million in federal transportation grants just to make the streetscape look nicer.
Fulton Street is intended to be the catalyst for a revitalized downtown Fresno, one with nighttime-oriented restaurants and bars leading to increased foot traffic. But so far – three months in – that vision remains fleeting.
What’s the holdup? Primarily, the same bugaboos that have hindered downtown Fresno for decades: market forces and negative perceptions.
The most glaring wart on Fulton Street are all the empty storefronts – 18 of them between Tuolumne and Inyo streets, to be precise – plus a few that are occupied but seldom open. That tally does not include at least six larger multistory buildings (i.e. Bank of Italy, J.C. Penny, Helm, Gottschalks) that sit empty or nearly so.
The problem, according to real estate broker Rob Boese, is not a lack of interest from tenants, but a dearth of move-in ready spaces.
The vast majority of those 18 empty storefronts require extensive renovations, especially if someone intends to open a restaurant or bar. So negotiations between landlord and prospective tenant turn into a dance of who’s going to pay to fix up the building, and what the ensuing rents will be. Fresno’s cumbersome process for construction permits serves as an extra deterrent. One building owner told me it took him seven months just to get city approval to improve his exterior facade.
“There’s a very limited inventory of spaces that are ready to go,” Boese said, “and owners are reluctant to invest in major renovations unless they’re fairly certain it’ll pay off.
Fulton Street didn’t go from a major retail shopping hub to a motley assortment of government and law offices, low-cost clothing stores and botánicas overnight. Nor is it fair to expect things to reverse course in three months.
Regardless, even proponents like Downtown Fresno Partnership interim CEO Craig Scharton are growing frustrated by the slow pace of change.
Scharton wants City Hall to streamline the permitting process for outdoor dining – something he believes is vital to a nighttime entertainment district. He wants existing restaurants to expand their hours into the evening and weekends. And he wants property owners to invest in their buildings while being more reasonable in their demands for rent.
That’s the message Downtown Fresno Partnership members will hear at their Feb. 14 meeting.
“Property owners are going to be better off in the long run by attracting the right kind of tenants,” Scharton said. “Get them in now, fill this place up with fun, nighttime locally owned cool attractions, and then your rents and values will go up.
Carlos and Blanca Partida, owners of the Parsley Garden Cafe at 1237 Fulton, said business picked up in the weeks after the street reopened but has since slowed. They tried opening on Friday nights and Saturdays, advertising the expanded hours on social media, but quickly abandoned that idea because so few people came through the doors.
Regardless, their absentee Bay Area landlord still jacked up the monthly rent by $100 in December.
No one said downtown Fresno revitalization would be easy. But now that the pieces are in place, we continue to make it harder on ourselves.
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is small but packs quite a punch. In just a few choice exhibits, you'll be able to learn more about any sea treasures you might have uncovered at the nearby seashore. Popular exhibits include the sailors' valentines (19th century shell art that Bajan women designed for area sailors to take home to loved ones), the shell classification wheel (where you can positively identify Southwest Florida shells) and the life-size models that depict what life was like for the Native Calusa Floridians that once lived near the Southwest Gulf up until the 18th century.
Recent travelers found that the museum exceeded their expectations with the large display of shells from all around the globe, not just Florida.
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission ranges from $7 to $15, depending on age; children ages 4 and younger can enter for free. Visit the official website for further details.
Bowman's is well known for having beautiful, unusual shells, but you'll have to put a little effort into finding the true gems along this beach. Recent travelers found the best method is to step waist-deep in the water and dig your feet into the sand to find the shells.
Why Can’t Congress Quit Tax Extenders?
A bevy of temporary tax breaks were renewed Friday amid pressure from industry and individual members.
Racehorse owners are among the beneficiaries of the tax breaks that were extended in the budget bill passed by Congress early Friday.
Feb. 11, 2018, 8 p.m.
In 2015, Congress attached language to an end-of-year funding bill that made permanent most of a collection of temporary tax breaks known as extenders. Many of the rest, they said, were meant for the policy dustbin.
Fast-forward more than two years and to another funding measure, and Congress has resurrected many of those breaks—at least for the tax year for which Americans are currently filing, 2017. The budget bill Congress passed early Friday morning extends more than 30 expiring tax provisions, ranging from biofuel credits to tax breaks for electric motorcycles and racehorses, a move pushed by a variety of lawmakers with interests in the extenders package.
It’s part of a decade-long routine of periodically renewing the tax breaks, often retroactively, only to have them expire and then get renewed again at the last minute before filing season starts. Lawmakers have said for years they’ll drop the habit—they plan to hold hearings on extenders this year—but they haven’t been able to shake it. Compounding the issue, last year’s tax-code overhaul created a massive new set of temporary breaks for individuals set to expire in 2025.
Extenders are just too enticing as an easy out for advancing tax policy on the cheap, at least when it comes to budget scoring, critics of the practice say.
“So what happens is when the tax cuts are first put into place, if Congress isn’t willing to offset their cost and they are done through reconciliation or they have an amount they are limiting themselves to, one of the tricks they use is to say they will expire,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a deficit-hawk group.
And when the time comes for them to expire, there’s not enough political will to let them go. Interested groups ramp up lobbying to preserve their tax cut and are typically successful, MacGuineas said.
The Joint Committee on Taxation said the extenders portion of the budget deal, along with a few disaster-aid-related tax breaks, will cost $17.4 billion over a decade. $13.3 billion of that will come in 2018 as the bill sunsets most extenders at the end of last year, so taxpayers will be able to take advantage of them only in the filing season currently underway.
Typically, extenders packages have been passed near the end of the year, giving taxpayers enough time to prepare their returns with the tax breaks included. Congress missed that deadline this year, despite Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch introducing an extenders bill shortly after lawmakers passed the tax overhaul in December. That means individuals and businesses who have already filed their taxes for 2017 and want to take advantage of the extenders will need to file an amended return.
Though most of the tax breaks renewed are small-dollar, a few energy provisions are significant. Industry representatives had pushed for breaks like an extension to a $1-per-gallon tax credit on biodiesel and an extension to a production tax credit for nuclear-energy projects, a boon for Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, whose home state of Georgia has a nuclear power plant under construction that has run into financial difficulty in the past.
Many renewable-energy breaks were renewed for 2017, but the retroactive-only timeline wasn’t what GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of the biofuel industry’s biggest backers, had expected. Typically, those breaks are both retroactively renewed and also renewed for another one or two years.
“That’s not very good, and it’s contrary to the promise I got from the leadership of both the Senate and the House, including a Nov. 9 telephone conversation that I had with [House Speaker Paul] Ryan,” said Grassley, a member of the tax-writing Finance Committee.
It’s an example of the powerful backers many extenders have in Congress. Grassley has said those tax breaks were intentionally left out of last year’s overhaul bill, but on the promise from leadership that Congress would act on a package soon.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady has long said he’s opposed to using extenders as tax policy, but that each provision has an industry strongly tied to it and lawmakers advocating it.
A Ways and Means majority spokesperson said that the extenders package in the budget bill is meant to align the tax breaks with the pre-overhaul tax code, one in which individuals and businesses may have planned for extenders to be renewed. That’s why most of the extenders passed last week are already expired, sunsetting at the end of 2017.
And the committee says it hopes to axe as many of the tax breaks as possible this year.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, chairman of the Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee, told reporters last Tuesday that he plans to hold hearings in which supporters of the tax breaks will defend the provisions, set against the steep business tax cuts from last year’s overhaul bill.
“When you get a 43 percent cut in your taxes, you’ve got to take a hard look at whether these extenders make sense in today’s age, moving forward,” Buchanan said.