| Briefly in Tompkins
All contest participants will receive free admission passes to the Sciencenter. The Sciencenter will select three winning entries for each grade level. Winning entries will be featured on the museum's Web site and each winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the Sciencenter Store. Entries are due Feb. 1 and should be addressed to Sciencenter Cosmic Contest, 601 First St., Ithaca NY 14850. Include your name, title of your entry, your home or school address, and your grade, teacher, and school. For complete contest guidelines, visit www.sciencenter.org. Contest encourages reuse of T-shirts The 2008 eco-fashion design contest Green T, a SewGreen project, is under way, focusing on the cotton t-shirt as a symbol of the problems with the conventional apparel industry. The goal of the contest is to reduce purchases of conventional cotton Ts, buying organic, not treating T-shirts as throw-away items and putting old ones to use in creative new ways.
The Politics of An Economic Nightmare
A possible economic meltdown is worrisome enough, but a possible meltdown in an election year is downright frightening. For months now, Republicans have been pushing the White House to take some action that looked and sounded big enough to give them some cover if and when things got worse. President Bush has now responded with a stimulus package more than twice as large as the one Bill Clinton briefly entertained at the start of 1993 but couldn't get passed. Not to be outdone, Democrats want to appear at least as bold, which means they'll suspend pay-go rules and throw fiscal responsibility out the window. In other words, hold your noses, because the "bipartisan" stimulus package that's about to be introduced could be a real stinker, including tax cuts for everyone and everything under the sun — except, perhaps, for the key group of lower-income Americans.
BrazAlta Resources Corp. Announces New Director
Hensman is Chairman of the Board of Governors of CI Funds, Lead Director of Creststreet Power and Income Fund and a member of the Board of Directors of Rifco Inc. and Creststreet Mutual Fund Ltd.
BrazAlta is also pleased to announced that all matters presented to shareholders at the annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on November 14, 2007 were approved.
The board of directors now consists of, David R.P. Mears, John Ross MacMillan, Robert E. Wilson, Louis W. MacEachern, Douglas R. Anderson, Lyle F. Dunkley, Alessandro Novaes and Stuart Hensman.
BrazAlta is a publicly traded Canadian based international oil and gas corporation with operations in Brazil, Northern Ireland and Canada.
BCH Ltd. is BrazAlta's drilling services subsidiary which provides drilling and workover services in Brazil.
Rules for deducting casualty losses
Baltimoresun.com's tax-advice column features three experts from the Hunt Valley accounting firm SC&H Group answering questions about preparing your return every Monday until April 17. To be included in the following weeks, please use the form at the right side of this page to submit your questions.
Bernie Weill, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Can I deduct losses on my house destroyed by a fire during 2005, although I have not yet settled with the insurance company as of Dec. 31, 2005?
SC&H Group: Generally, you can deduct a casualty loss only in the tax year in which the casualty occurred. To determine your deduction for a casualty or theft loss, you must first figure your loss.
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Latvia's real estate star falls
With real estate prices having risen 500 percent since 2002, Latvia has long been an investment hot-spot where the sector has outstripped its counterparts in EU member states. But the Baltic state's property firms are getting gloomy as a government anti-inflation drive bites and jitters spill over from the United States' home loan crisis. "Activities in the market have slowed down considerably. People are waiting, though nobody can really predict what will happen in the future. The situation is bleak," said Aigars Smits, head of the Arco Real Estate company. Real estate prices began dipping in Latvia in May, after the government introduced a package of measures to fight rampant inflation, including stricter rules on issuing mortgages. Latvian authorities say that the number of real estate transactions has now shrunk to the level of 2001, before the boom kicked in.
Keeping it Real
According to Hartwell, “The purpose of CiC is to promote visual art in Egypt through both photography and video." The CiC hosts lectures, exhibitions, film screenings and workshops in addition to maintaining the darkroom, which is open solely for black and white (B&W) photograph development every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 12–5pm. According to Mohammed El-Maymony, a CiC photographer, very few people use the darkroom — especially Egyptians. “Visitors to the darkroom are mainly foreigners who also have their own darkrooms at home, and that was not the objective behind having a darkroom. Our main objective is to attract the public and educate them about the uses of the darkroom." “We're finding that there are people out there who want to use the darkroom, but we haven't really tapped it in the market," Hartwell explains, “We'll give it another six months, and if we find that we don't have a lot of people coming in to use it enough we might make a smaller darkroom because we need more space." At the moment, CiC provides visitors with equipment required for developing film, including 35 millimeter (mm) and 120mm film tanks, reels, a washer and a dryer, as well as an enlarger for printing.
Low Interest Rates Spur Mortgage Refinancing
Homes sales may get a boost when the fed's recent interest rate drop translates into mortgage rates. The cut will make it easier for many people to get into a new home and will also enable people to refinance to avoid future hardship. Several loan officers and mortgage lenders all say the same thing -- now is the time to refinance your home. But before you do, consumers need to understand the process is not cut and dry. Loan officers around the valley say more and more homeowners need to look into refinancing to take advantage of the low interest rate. Different loans can either lower your monthly payment or even shorter your term But it's not that simple. In order to refinance, you have to have decent credit and have some equity built up in your home.
'Student' conman obtains £10,000
A CONMAN posed as a student to obtain almost £10,000 in loans, a court heard. David Jones, aged 32, of Hardy Mill Road, Harwood, used the identities of his brother and a friend to con a student loans organisation. Today he pleaded guilty to obtaining money by deception, attempting to obtain money by deception, and making a false representation. .
Highway Patrolman receives special recognition
Promoted to sergeant in September 1999, he was transferred to the Marietta Post, then to Warren in August 2000, Canton in March 2003, and to Lisbon in October 2006. He currently resides in Alliance with his wife, Kimberly, and their three children.
The Ace Award is part of the Ohio State Highway Patrols Blue Max program, which is an incentive recognition system that rewards troopers for recovering stolen vehicles and on-the-spot suspect apprehension. Award winners receive a certificate, special Ace license plates for display on their patrol vehicle, and a uniform ribbon.
Five stolen vehicle recoveries with on-the-spot suspect apprehensions in one calendar year earn the Ace award. Since the Blue Max program inception in 1972, more than 550 Ace awards have been issued.
The RFID Hacking Underground
James Van Bokkelen is about to be robbed. A wealthy software entrepreneur, Van Bokkelen will be the latest victim of some punk with a laptop. But this won't be an email scam or bank account hack. A skinny 23-year-old named Jonathan Westhues plans to use a cheap, homemade USB device to swipe the office key out of Van Bokkelen's back pocket. .
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