Split (1)

train · 2.59M rows

text stringlengths 10 37.6k
The commitment of Nkemdiche is just another reason why Clemson is primed to emerge as a consistent force in the ACC. The hard part now is making sure Nkemdiche remains committed to the school and isn’t persuaded to change his mind and head to an SEC power. After all, we are talking about the world of recruiting.
But, for now, Clemson fans should be excited that Swinney and Co. were able to reel in the biggest fish in the Class of 2013 pond.
The “intelligent stoplights” installed recently at intersections throughout Costa Rica are saving the country hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel, if not more, said Karla González, who heads the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).
The stoplights have been installed at hundreds of intersections throughout San José, and they are equipped with cameras that are monitored at a control center in downtown San José. By monitoring traffic flow, traffic specialists in the control center have fine-tuned the lights’ timing to improve traffic flow.
Speaking to the press this week to review her ministry’s achievements and plans halfway through the Oscar Arias presidency, González said that on one particular route alone, the improvements translate into nearly $1 million in saved gasoline.
The minister said that the time to travel from the U.S. Embassy in the western San José neighborhood of Pavas to the eastern suburb of San Pedro has shortened from 29 minutes to 21 minutes, according to a study by MOPT.
The difference in those few minutes, González said, equals a savings of $785,000 in fuel that would be wasted in bad traffic.
The minister also highlighted other efforts by the ministry to improve San José’s traffic congestion, including plans to create new bus routes that skirt the city’s boundaries, rather than entering downtown, to link outlying neighborhoods.
The minister also said the government is continuing to pursue plans for a metropolitan electric train. However, it was reported the following day that those plans appear to have been set back considerably as the Comptroller General annulled a feasibility study that would have laid the foundation for the project.
While González had assured press the contract for the project – which will be awarded as a concession to a private company – would be awarded before President Arias’ term ends in 2010, the daily La Nación reported it would likely be a year later than planned.
Currently, the Costa Rican Railroad Institute (INCOFER) runs a diesel passenger train through the Greater Metropolitan Area. González said a MOPT study found that 900,000 Costa Ricans have used the train.
The minister noted her agency has increased its “execution rate,” or the amount of its allotted budget that it spends each year to 105% in 2007, with the extra 5% coming from a loan from the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (CABEI).
This compares with an 86% rate in 2005 and 78% in 2006, the last two years of former president Abel Pacheco’s administration.
, which runs south from the Pacific port town of Quepos, should be finished by the end of this year.
Coalition MPs are calling for the government to consider reducing the petrol excise tax and expanding forced divestiture powers to break up petrol companies in an attempt to reduce prices at the bowser.
The Liberal MP Craig Kelly told Guardian Australia the government should consider reducing excise by 25%, or 10c a litre, at a cost of $3.5bn a year when the budget situation allows.
The Morrison government has looked to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to put pressure on petrol companies but has so far resisted calls to expand divestiture powers beyond electricity companies.
On Tuesday the prime minister, Scott Morrison, left the door open, warning petrol companies the government would “consider any number of measures” if they did not do the right thing by consumers.
Petrol prices are at 10-year highs in some parts of Australia owing to higher global oil prices and a weaker Australian dollar. In New South Wales the average price of unleaded petrol was $1.57 on Monday, with drivers in some cities paying up to $1.65 a litre.
On Tuesday, Kelly – the chair of the backbench energy committee – said “any amount” of reduction in the fuel excise tax would make a difference but consumers were unlikely to notice the effect of suspending the indexation, which would reduce prices by just 1c a year.
By contrast “consumers would see” the impact of a 10c-a-litre reduction, although he conceded it would cost “a substantial sum of money”.
Kelly blamed petrol retailers, noting that their margins had “jumped up significantly in the last few years” and the sector was “not as competitive as in the past”. He noted the US has anti-trust divestiture powers and said he “couldn’t see why they shouldn’t be part of our competition laws”.
The Liberal MP said shareholders would be “no worse off” as they gained shares in constituent companies when the larger company was broken up, meaning the plan did not infringe property rights.
Expanding the divestiture power “economy-wide” could occur immediately if Labor offered bipartisan support, he said, but a fuel excise reduction would be “on the wish list” when the budget situation improved.
Australia is on track to return to budget balance in 2019-20 and the budget has experienced a $9bn improvement since the 2018 budget in May.
On Tuesday the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce told the Australian the government did not have the “will” to bring petrol prices down and it would extend divestiture powers beyond the electricity sector if it was serious about helping drivers.
The Nationals senator John Williams reportedly said the excise should be frozen if the international oil price rose to $120 a barrel.
On Thursday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, resisted calls to extend divestiture powers beyond the electricity sector, arguing it was “somewhat different to other sectors”.
Frydenberg has also said the government had no plans to change the fuel excise indexation, blaming global oil prices and a lower exchange rate for price spikes.
On Monday, Morrison told 95.5 FM that the ACCC was the “cop on the beat” designed “to make sure that all these petrol companies … do the right thing by customers”.
“There are some things we can’t control, what’s happening with international oil prices and things like that … but we can ensure that the people who are selling it here behave,” he said.
But on Tuesday Morrison said the government was taking action against electricity companies “to make sure we have the big stick to force those prices down and I expect them to respond” and would consider measures to reduce petrol prices as well.
We write as leaders of faith in Orange County who profoundly care about our community. As clergy, we have a unique perspective on the lives of women, men and families. In recent years especially, we've seen our congregants lose their jobs — and their health insurance — making it very difficult to access and afford basi...
Planned Parenthood serves these families when they have nowhere else to turn and plays a vital role in the health care of our community. We know that if one of our congregants needs care, we can count on Planned Parenthood to provide them with quality services and compassion.
Last year Planned Parenthood provided family planning services to 70,433 women and men in Orange and San Bernardino counties. It is among the most trusted brand names in Orange County precisely because of the quality service they provide our community. Through Title X funding, signed into law by President Nixon in 1970...
This is why we are very disappointed with the vote taken by the U.S. House of Representatives, which strips millions of American women of access to basic preventative health care by eliminating Title X and defunding Planned Parenthood. We hope that our representatives in Washington will put basic health services and th...
Let me see if I have this straight. I compared the salaries of the superintendents of the two largest school districts in the country to that of Newport-Mesa Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard. The New York City schools superintendent is paid $250,000 per year. Los Angeles Unified Supt.-to-be John Deasy turned down $55,000 of his o...
What makes Jeffrey Hubbard so special that he earns more than $300,000? To top it off, he is being given, not earning, this salary while being on paid administrative leave while awaiting trial on two felony indictments. There seems to be something wrong with this picture. Yes, he is presumed innocent until proven guilt...
The Bennett family stood in front of the Kaiser Permanente headquarters in Oakland on Wednesday, ready to wage a war against their health maintenance organization to get medical coverage for their two sons, who are suffering from a rare and fatal disease.
Instead, they came away with $1 million dedicated to researching their sons' illness.
In a case that illustrates the tensions between patients and their HMOs -- and what kinds of treatment are covered -- Kaiser chose to compromise.
In an unexpected turnaround, the HMO, which rejected coverage for the Bennett boys, agreed to contribute a $1 million grant to Duke University in North Carolina to find a cure for the children's disease, known as the Sanfilippo syndrome.
Duke University, in turn, is expected provide the experimental treatment that John and Alicia Bennett have been seeking for their sons, Hunter, 4, and Tommy, 2.
"Words cannot describe it," Alicia Bennett said. She, along with her husband and a band of consumer advocates, learned of Kaiser's contribution just minutes before they planned to blast the HMO for rejecting coverage for the boys. "I'm just thankful, relieved."
The Bennetts have a third child, Ciara, 6, who also suffers from Sanfilippo syndrome. But her disease has progressed too far for treatment.
All three children lack the essential enzymes to break down chains of sugar molecules, and deadly amounts of these sugar molecules stored in their cells gradually build up and eventually destroy their organs. Most children with the syndrome don't live past their teenage years.
The disease affects 1 in 70,000 children, and there is no cure. The Bennetts say an experimental treatment conducted by a doctor at Duke University is their only hope.
The treatment, a form of stem-cell transplant, costs $600,000 per child. Kaiser Permanente has refused to cover the treatment for Hunter and Tommy, saying that the treatment could actually do more harm than good.
An independent medical review conducted by the panel of doctors through the state Department of Managed Health Care, the agency that oversees the state's HMOs, agreed with Kaiser's conclusions and decided not to force Kaiser to cover the treatment.
But Kaiser's $1 million grant may turn things around for Hunter and Tommy.
"At least they get a chance," said John Bennett. "It's better than no chance at all."
Kaiser, meanwhile, issued a statement Wednesday saying that it supports the need to research the disease while firmly asserting that it continues to stand by its original decision to reject coverage for Hunter and Tommy.
"Our deepest and most thoughtful, informed, scientifically reviewed decision has been that the proposed experimental treatment is both without any substantive evidence of value and too risky for the children and is therefore not a viable option that we can cover as a benefit," said Kaiser's chairman and chief executive...
Daniel Zingale, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, said his office has received 250,000 complaints since it opened in January 2001. Issues range from obtaining a phone number for an HMO to challenges like the one filed by the Bennetts.
Fewer than 1,000 cases have come in front of the independent medical review board, Zingale said. About two-thirds of them have gone in favor of the HMOs.
Zingale said that the HMOs tend to prevail at that level because they know they have to have the medical evidence to back up their contention that a particular treatment should not be covered.
Company spokeswoman Beverly Hayon said that Kaiser chose to make the $1 million contribution to Duke University because it was compelled by the Bennetts' story, but still disagrees with the treatment that the family is seeking.
"We've been desperately trying to mitigate this heartbreaking story," she said. "We're all torn by it. But we don't endorse this procedure."
If Duke University wants to use the $1 million to help the Bennetts, then that is the university's decision to make, Hayon said.
"We'd like to see Duke University do research into this disease," she said. "How they choose to use that money is up to Duke."
Joanne Kurtzberg, the doctor at Duke who pioneered the stem-cell transplant to be used on the boys, said the university is still waiting for official word from Kaiser about the grant.
She said there is no doubt how the university will use the money once it's in hand.
"It would definitely be used to treat these kids, there's no question about that," she said.
Hayon said Kaiser has always tried to steer away from covering experimental treatments.
California statute dictates that an experimental treatment can only be used if it is shown to be more beneficial than standard therapy. But with rare diseases, there is no standard therapy.
Jerry Flanagan, consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said that for patients who suffer from rare diseases, obtaining coverage is an uphill battle.
"The problem for people suffering from rare diseases is that there are only a few patients who suffer from it, and there isn't a large body of medical data to show the effective treatment," Flanagan said.
He added that HMOs have been inconsistent in the way they treat rare diseases. While one may agree to cover an experimental treatment, another might reject it.
The Bennetts are willing to take what they can get. Alicia and John Bennett plan to take their sons to Duke University as soon as they get the signal. They are preparing to stay in North Carolina until the procedure is completed.
There are risks involved. And although the treatment is not a cure, it may delay the effects of the disease and extend the children's lives.
"It's very scary -- you never know what's going to happen," Alicia Bennett said. "Obviously, we know what's going to happen if we don't do it."
The 500th anniversary of Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses is soon upon us (next week on Halloween), and this year’s Reformation Day has not lacked for media coverage and internet hype. Some of what people are celebrating about the Reformation is valid, but some is not.
Christians of all stripes are marking the day, with some celebrating the recovery of the Gospel and some lamenting the church divisions associated with the Reformation. Secular folks too are using the anniversary to call attention to the Reformation’s cultural contributions. A number of those alleged contributions cont...
Some of the cultural contributions cited are certainly valid. For example, Luther’s desire for all Christians to read the Bible was accompanied by initiatives that made that possible: Bible translations into vernacular languages, printing presses making Bibles universally available even for the poor, and–most dramatica...
Some of the cultural contributions being cited are real, but indirect and perhaps exaggerated: freedom, individualism, democracy, human rights.
Some of the cultural contributions being cited are just wrong: rationalism, skepticism, secularism.
Some of the religious contributions that the Reformation is being either credited with or blamed for are also off the mark. Individuals now being able to interpret the Bible any way they liked? The replacement of sacramental Christianity? The ability to start new churches reflecting whatever people want to believe? Thr...
What are some other misconceptions that you are seeing amidst all of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation hype?
Are there some assertions being made about the Reformation that you would like to challenge? Or solicit opinions about?
Illustration: Free image from GraphicsBuzz.
When I was little, I wanted to own an inn like the one in the movie Holiday Inn. It would be a magical place where you only had to work holidays and an overnight stay came with a gourmet meal and a floorshow featuring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
I never quite learned to sing or dance like Bing or Fred. Life changed my career path. Kids changed my life path. But the truth is, the desire to work for myself, to create a business from the ground up, never left me. I had the spirit of an entrepreneur.
So I started a small gourmet food company called the Sensible Gourmet in 2004. Within four years I had grown-- and failed.
It took many years to recover from the financial and emotional impact that comes with starting and closing a business. By the end of last year I was finally ready to try again. Ideas began to brew. As much as I wanted to insist that I was a fearless entrepreneur, I was scared.
I was scared that I would again find myself deep in debt and dealing with devastating heart-break that comes with failure. And then, like the windshield wipers on my minivan of self-doubt, a link to the application for the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families appeared in my inbox, and I knew I had to go.
I filled out the application, gathered my letters of recommendation, and waited anxiously for the phone interview that would determine whether or not I would get my chance.
There are few days in my recent life that compare with getting that acceptance letter. I cried. I knew that EBV-F was the answer I had been waiting for. It was the extra push I needed to jump head first back into the pool of small business ownership.
First, there was the online course. Thirty days of grueling self-study. And by grueling, I don’t mean in the elevator’s-broken-and-I-had-to-take-five-flights-of-stairs kind of way. It was much tougher than that. I received my course materials and books on Saturday with an assignment to read 450 pages by Monday! I settl...
And then I cried some more. Not because I didn’t understand what I was reading, but because the ideas presented on all of those pages made so much sense!
After four years of reflection and regret about all of the mistakes that had cost me my business, here in the pages of these course-provided textbooks, were the answers and ideas that I needed to start again.
Before I knew it, it was time to head to Syracuse University for our in-person training. Even the online course had not prepared me for what was about to ensue. For six days we sat in a state-of-the-art classroom and absorbed all the ideas, principles and resources that would ensure our success.
Professors, instructors, guest speakers and previous EBV-F graduates shared their knowledge and experience. They answered our questions and challenged us to think about business in new ways. My brain hit maximum overload in about three day. Like the rest of the amazing 21 students in the class, I persevered.
Each night after class we worked to prepare a venture pitch to be presented on our final day. We conducted research, brainstormed, and tried to put concrete numbers and plans to the opportunities we wanted to pursue.
By the time I made it back home, I wasn’t the same. The fires of entrepreneurial desire had been rekindled in my heart and I was ready to do it. Only this time, I knew I would succeed.
If you want to find out more about the EBV-F program that is free for military families, click here.
Veronica Jorden is the Marketing Director for the Military Spouse Business Association and the Red, White, and Blue Pages. Her approach to business and marketing stems from the “typical” and varied military spouse career path and the hard knock lessons learned from her own small business experience. She is a former sol...
CHARLOTTE � Gov. Pat McCrory's top lawyer says his administration was forced to hire an outside attorney to deal with a federal investigation into its regulation of Duke Energy's coal ash dumps because North Carolina's attorney general is politicizing the issue.
Attorney General Roy Cooper is seeking the Democratic nomination to run in 2016 against McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke for more than 28 years.
McCrory Chief Legal Counsel Bob Stephens says Cooper has complicated the issue by using Duke's massive coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic sludge to raise money for his campaign.
He was referring to a Cooper for North Carolina website, which asks people to sign a petition urging the governor to clean up North Carolina's water.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.