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Waiting for their homemade boat “The Dip Ship” to be inspected prior to the fourth annual “Anything Floats Race” Saturday, Wayne Devine of Harveys Lake and his crew fueled up on cheese fries. 

While recent months have seen continued change to the downtown Iowa City landscape, one restaurant with local roots has decided to go against the redevelopment grain.Following aggressive historic rehabilitation and modernization efforts at its corporate flagship restaurant, Pancheros Mexican Grill, 32 S. Clinton St., will opt out of turning its upper building floors into office, residential, or retail space. 

The Whitman has been getting a lot of attention lately, though very little of it has been directed at the building itself. Ever since word got out in March that Chelsea Clinton was buying at the Madison Square Park luxury condo conversion, discussion of the finishes and floorplans have fallen by the wayside. 

But last night at the penthouses unveiling, the talk turned brick-and-mortar again (or rather, plank rift oak and marble slab), with hardly a mention of the former first daughter. (Though on the elevator ride up, we couldnt help but wonder what it would be like to share it with Hillary, Bill and their sizeable secret service entourage.)

As for the finishes, they adhere to the very tasteful and a more than a little soporific model thats so in vogue right now (and for good reasonclassy and a little dull tend to sell very well). Like the other units in the building, it has a cavernous living room in the front, with bedrooms arrayed along the Western side of a very long hall. The buildings long, rectangular footprint is not an ideal one for residential layouts, but apparently that didnt discourage Ms. Clinton. Or any of the other buyers, whoever they may be. 

Laura Balser and her husband, Matt Smith, bought a penthouse condo for $2.4 million at the W Residences in downtown Atlanta in 2009. For the next three years, they remained the lone occupants of the 74-unit tower. 

Because the concierge desk was fully staffed, "we got treated like rock stars," says Lt. Col. Smith, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard. Occasionally the couple would use the hallway outside their home as overflow space. They let their cats roam, and once Ms. Balser, a principal at human-resources firm Mercer, lined the hall with 200 gift bags that she filled with pens, notepads and other items in a factory-line procession. 

The W, which sits near the soon-to-come College Football Hall of Fame and the Center for Civil and Human Rights, went through foreclosure in 2009 and relaunched at the end of 2011, with prices 40% to 65% below the initial pricing, says Erik Dowdy, associate broker at the W Residences in Atlanta. Today, 33 of the 74 units have been sold and seven more are in contract, most of which were listed under $900,000.Most of aftermarket hid Cheap Granite Tiles for motorcycle are similar or the same with following one. "At the current rate, we probably have a year or two of inventory left," Mr. Dowdy says. 

After years of surplus inventory and virtually empty high-rise residences, the market for luxury condos in Atlanta is heating up, albeit at prices below the market's peak in 2006. In the past six months, 14 new condos for $1 million or more have sold, compared with nine new condos that sold for $1 million or more during all of 2011, according to Haddow & Company, an Atlanta-based real-estate consulting firm. In the city's overall condo market, inventory has evaporated by 90%; within the past five years, condo inventory has gone from 5,000 units to 500 units,Choose your favorite China Granite Countertops paintings from thousands of available designs. according to Metrostudy, a housing-data firm. 

Even so, it has been a difficult recovery for Atlanta, where luxury condos are relatively new, says Josh Herndon, an associate at Haddow. In the mid-2000s, people who had been living in the suburbs, where land was relatively inexpensive, started moving closer to downtown for the restaurants, sports teams and cultural offerings. That spurred a building boom "inside the perimeter"the more urban areas within the I-285 beltway. However, many of the luxury towers weren't completed until 2008, when the U.S. housing market was going bust. By the end of 2008 the city had a nearly nine-year inventory of unsold condos, Mr. Herndon says. The bust forced a number of developments into bankruptcy proceedings, and these companies are just now beginning to regain their footing. 

A good example is the St. Regis Residences in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood. In April, Jimmy and Lynn Hayes bought an unfinished 5,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, 3?-bath condo there for $4.1 million. They are in the midst of customizing it and expect their new home to be completed by the end of the year.Browse our Granite slabs collection from the granitetrade.net! Mr. Hayes, the CEO of Cox Enterprises, a media company, says he and his wife had been looking to move from a single-family home to a condo for a few years, but wanted to wait until the timing was right in the market. 

In February 2012, the developer of his South Carolina home filed for bankruptcy. Although a new owner and reorganization resolved the situation, Mr. Hayes says the experience made him more cautious. "I didn't want to go through the uncertainty again," he says. 

The Mandarin Oriental Residences in the Buckhead neighborhood has had a similar story. In 2010, iStar Financial, the building's lender, foreclosed on the hotel and 25-condo residence, then called the Mansion. John Kubicko, iStar's senior vice president, says the company signed a longterm management agreement with the Mandarin before relaunching it in late 2012. 
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If only walls could talk. In 1886, a flamboyant New Iberia landowner built a unique, four-story columned mansion that was inspired by the fanciful steamboats of the era. With a grand entrance hall, thick curving walls, soaring French windows, two-story-high rounded bays and ornate balustrades, it resembles a grounded steamboat with its half-circle bow facing Main Street and its stern facing Bayou Teche. 

If Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have any tricks up their sleeve today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, theyve been much harder to spot.Inside the Brickyards pristine pit wall garages (which still have a fresh sheen after being built just more than a decade ago for the since-departed Formula One series), the No. 48s workspace is shrouded in a conspicuously unique way. 

The foundation and its network of friends put things back together one person, one family at a time, says Price of Austintown.Residents of Moore, Okla., which was devastated by a killer tornado May 20, are the latest Mission of Love beneficiaries. 

This years self-guided driving tour includes several new builds with spectacular design features, highly efficient cooling and heating units in new housing, and existing homes with innovative upgrades by the owners. The tour also includes Biz611, a business incubator, demonstrating sustainable commercial construction in downtown Hendersonville. The six tour sites are evenly divided between Henderson and Buncombe Counties. 

Spain For the third time in a week, I'm touring the Alhambra, one of the most popular sites in the world's fourth most-visited country, and finally I have it all for myself.You will never need to change the bulbs and your granitetrade will last for years and years.Not a pushy guide but a bullfrog in one of the fountains is the loudest sound on a late May night in this hilltop Islamic palace complex in southern Spain. 

Find the tools to remodel your home and the building blocks for a fulfilling life at the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association’s 50+ Coastal Lifestyles Expo. Whether you have recently retired to Southeastern North Carolina or are a senior looking to learn about financial and physical wellness, the expo – being held from 10 a.m.These Shun Stone Building Materials can, apparently, operate entirely off the grid. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Wilmington Convention Center – has gathered a lineup of experts, advisers and local business owners for those navigating life after 50. 

The first Sensational Saturday Market held on Cross Hill car park on Saturday has been hailed as a great success by organisers and traders alike.Organised as part of the Real Driffield Sensational Summer Campaign by the Town Team, the aim was to add an exciting new element to the Driffield high street experience, and judging by the response from the general public, it would seem that the market did just that. 

When the Leap Motion controller was revealed to the world, it brought with it the promise of a new and unique computer user experience. And, ever since we first got to see what the Leap Motion controller could do -- grant folks the ability to interact with a computer by waving their fingers and fists -- we've wanted one of our own to test out. Well, our wish was granted: we've gotten to spend several days with the controller and a suite of apps built to work with it. Does the device really usher in a new age of computing? Is it worth $80 of your hard-earned cash? Patience, dear reader, all will be revealed in our review. 

As the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in an Arizona wildfire on June 30 were laid to rest last week, the thoughts of wildland firefighting professionals turned to the fundamental question of firefighter safety.The issue strikes very close to home for Sisters wildfire firefighting contractor Dave Vitelle, who owns and operates Bear Mountain Fire. 

A portrait of the late Labour party leader Michael Foot, wearing his trademark Plymouth Argyle scarf and bulky coat, is to be sold at auction to help pay for a memorial to him in his home city.The lack of a Foot monument in Plymouth three years after his death is a cause for sadness and frustration among his many friends and admirers in Devon. 

Redesigned for extended stays, Hyatt House Bridgewater recently announced the completion renovations to all public areas of the hotel, following the guestroom renovations of last year.The worlds most efficient and cost effective Shun Stone Bathroom Decoration Products? 

The Justice Department declined to prosecute cases involving the improper scrutiny of the personal tax records of political candidates and donors by government officials, The Washington Times first reported. 

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George has notified Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, that a review, requested by Grassley, revealed four cases since 2006 in which unidentified government officials engaged in unauthorized access or disclosure of tax records of political donors or candidates, including one case described as willful unauthorized access. George added that four other allegations were not substantiated by evidence. 

George explained that of the four substantiated cases, three were inadvertent, however Georges office referred one of the inadvertent cases to the Justice Department. According to George, the Justice Department concurred with our assessment that there was no willfulness and declined to prosecute. 

The inspector general also referred the case described as willful unauthorized access to the Justice Department. The Justice Department again declined to prosecute.In a July 12 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Grassley demanded information by July 26 on Holders knowledge of the cases, the reasons for declining prosecution, the specific offices to which the cases were referred, the individuals responsible for declining prosecution and the political affiliations of the victims. 

Although [the eight instances] may not be indicative of wide spread targeting, any instance is cause for concern, Grassley wrote in the letter. Even more alarming, in at least one instance TIGTA referred evidence of willful unauthorized access to the United States Attorneys Office, but criminal prosecution was declined. Decisions such as these directly impact the political process and should be subject to the scrutiny of the American public. 

In a statement, Grassley reiterated that the IRS is required to act with neutrality and professionalism, not political bias and added that the Justice Department should not hide behind taxpayer confidentiality to avoid answering why the department did not prosecute cases dealing with violations of such laws. 

With the IRS on the hot seat over targeting certain political groups, its particularly troubling to learn about willful unauthorized access of tax records involving individuals who were candidates for office or political donors, Grassley said.Most of aftermarket hid Shun Stone Granite Tiles for motorcycle are similar or the same with following one. The public needs to know whether the decision not to prosecute these violations was politically motivated and whether the individuals responsible were held accountable in any other way. 

George further told Grassley that TIGTA investigators are also currently investigating two allegations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted for audit candidates for political office.As the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in an Arizona wildfire on June 30 were laid to rest last week, the thoughts of wildland firefighting professionals turned to the fundamental question of firefighter safety. 

The issue strikes very close to home for Sisters wildfire firefighting contractor Dave Vitelle, who owns and operates Bear Mountain Fire.Safety is supposed to be the absolute priority on any fire, Vitelle notes,This is a great Shun Stone Conservation solution! but safety sometimes comes into competition with firefighters' dedication to fighting a blaze and saving people's homes."Often times in the heat of firefighting, all perspective is on getting out and fighting fire, and personal safety comes second," Vitelle told The Nugget. 

An investigation is underway to determine what happened to the 19 firefighters lost in the Yarnell Hill Fire. The Arizona Republic reports that preliminary information indicates that, "by the time Prescott firefighters realized they were being enveloped by the Yarnell Hill Fire on Sunday, it was too late to use the escape route they had planned or reach a safety area that had previously been cleared." 

Exactly how and why the catastrophe evolved - from the decision-making process to extreme weather factors - will be mapped out in a full investigation now being conducted by a national team of fire experts.Vitelle says that whatever the combination of factors that led to disaster are determined to be, the adequacy of and adherence to safety protocols will be a consideration."It's definitely obvious that some safety policies were violated," he said.How to change your dash lights to Shun Stone Crafts Products this is how I have done mine. 

Why and how that came to happen remains to be determined, Vitelle noted. It's not a question of willful disregard of safety. Monday-morning quarterbacking of decisions made in the heat of battle is facile. A catastrophic event is usually the culmination of a series of decisions, any or all of which may be sound at the time."There's always a sequence of events and a sequence of decisions that are made," Vitelle said.The 25-year wildland firefighting veteran emphasizes that in no way is he casting blame on any individual in that observation."You don't ever want to blame the victim," he said. 

Wildland firefighting is a dangerous trade, conducted in a dynamic and shifting environment. The kind of country where the Yarnell Hill Fire raged is especially dangerous because fire can move so fast through brush and grassland."Generally speaking, your fatalities or your near-misses occur in grass or brush fuel types," Vitelle said. 

The more unstable the weather, the more dynamic the situation, the more important safety protocols become. Yet there are other pressures. Homes were threatened in the Yarnell Hill Fire.While homes are supposed to be a distant second to lives and safety in firefighters' thinking, in reality, they feel pressure to catch the fire and save property.And as more and more people seek homes in the "wildland-urban interface" (which makes up so much of Sisters Country), there's more property to defend. 

In a commentary in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, wildland firefighter Peter M. Leschak put the onus of responsibility on property owners to minimize risk:"Over the past couple decades, increasing numbers of residences in the wildland-urban-interface (WUI) have more often become the focus of wildland fire-suppression efforts. Fires that used to be relatively low-key, or even allowed to burn, are now aggressively attacked in order to save buildings," Leschak wrote. 

"The WUI is a dangerous place to work, not least because firefighters tend to take more risks in order to save homes. In 2006, five Forest Service firefighters were killed defending a house from a fire in California. Such operations should not even be necessary. If residents of the WUI took the time and effort to prepare their property for the impingement of wildfire, high-risk defense by fire crews would not be required." 

There's inherent risk in the trade, and Vitelle recognizes that strong, aggressive firefighters will sometimes push the envelope - just as an athlete will try to push though an injury or a construction worker might do something risky to get the job done. 

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The U.S. Senator who pushed for an investigation into alleged corruption at the Harris County Housing Authority and got it, now says the federal audit released last month did not go far enough. 

 
In the last few months, 32-year-old Amber Patton has worked at minimum wage cleaning hotel rooms C and, when she hurt her ankle and couldnt work, she sat at home jobless. 

Behind China's two investigations into irregular pricing of infant formula and pharmaceuticals announced this month is one powerful institution and its struggle for relevance as Beijing attempts a transition to a more consumption-led economy.The investigations have entangled big foreign companies including Danone SA, Nestle SA and GlaxoSmithKline. But some analysts say there may be something deeper at work - jockeying over the direction of policy in the world's second largest economy in the years ahead. 

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Beijing's economic superagency, sets policy for strategic industries, approves big investments, mergers and acquisitions, and has the authority to influence prices for everything from liquor to gasoline.But in recent months, as President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have begun an attempt to steer China's economy away from its reliance on state-led investment towards a more consumer-focused model, academics and even senior officials have begun to publicly cast doubt on the NDRC's role. 

While the NDRC has always had a price-setting role, its decision to launch high profile predatory pricing probes into infant formula and drugs now could be a bid by the commission to prove its usefulness as a regulator.That the main economic policy body in the fastest-growing major economy over the past decade might feel the need to shore up its position says much about the debate raging among Chinese policymakers. In key areas, the new leaders are trying to shift China's priorities in ways that represent a challenge to the NDRC's traditional dominance. 

Evidence that dominance could be under threat includes the fact that Premier Li made the reduction of bureaucratic approvals - one of the NDRC's main roles - a key plank of his reform plan announced in March.In May, Li also rejected a 40 trillion yuan ($7.16 trillion) urbanisation plan that the NDRC had proposed, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, although the commission denies this.Most of aftermarket hid Shun Stone Granite Tiles for motorcycle are similar or the same with following one. 

Xi and Li remain committed to urbanisation, but the push now is "less about building stuff", says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of GaveKal Dragonomics Research, and more about helping migrants live "more fully-fledged urban lives".Reducing bureaucratic red tape - such as the NDRC approvals process - is another way the new administration would like to shrink the role of the state in the economy. 

There are also concerns among academics about the NDRC as an institution. Founded in 1952 as the State Planning Commission, it is deeply rooted in China's command economy past, even as it crafts policies for its mostly capitalist present.Part of the debate is about whether, through its investment approval function, the NDRC is allocating resources as efficiently as possible, says Shi Lei, professor of economics at Fudan University. Overcapacity plagues many industries in China. 

With so much power concentrated in one institution, corruption is another worry - Liu Tienan, former NDRC vice chairman,How to change your dash lights to Shun Stone Crafts Products this is how I have done mine. is under investigation over allegations he took bribes to help a businessman defraud banks.The NDRC is no stranger to controversy. It has faced challenges to its power before and has found ways to survive and even increase its influence. 

Indeed, this month's drugs and formula investigations could well be a sign that the NDRC is adapting to the new mood in Beijing by strengthening its role as a regulator.Especially since the 2011 introduction of regulations governing its role in implementing the 2008 Anti-Monopoly Law, the NDRC has been stepping up its investigations into pricing practices.In March, it imposed a 449 million yuan fine on two domestic liquor firms for setting minimum resale prices and a 10 million yuan fine on eight real estate companies for misleading customers and violating pricing regulations. 

In January, it found six foreign LCD manufacturers guilty of price fixing and fined them 353 million yuan.Few sectors pack the symbolic punch of infant formula, both for Chinese consumers and the government. Since 2008, when melamine in infant formula killed six babies and sickened 300,This is a great Shun Stone Conservation solution!000 others, the infant formula industry has epitomised the trade-off between rapid economic growth and health and safety. 

Driving down prices also supports Beijing's efforts to shift the economy away from a reliance on exports and investment toward a greater dependence on consumption. Drugs and infant formula are both commonly perceived as too expensive."Every time price reductions are made, it's mainly a public relations exercise," said Zhou Zhang, an analyst at China Merchant Securities. "The NDRC trumpets how big reductions will be, but when it comes down to it, prices only fall a bit. The NDRC's main consideration is public relations."

The NDRC did not respond to a request for comment. One person with knowledge of the NDRC investigations said that they were being conducted at an unusually rapid pace.The infant formula investigation also appears to cover not collusion among companies, but how the retail prices for these products are set - an issue where China's laws differ from those in other countries, including the United States. 

All of the infant formula companies targeted have reduced prices in China since the NDRC announced its investigation.That might be good for consumers in the short term, but Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Centre for Chinese Politics & Business at Indiana University, questioned the NDRC's credentials as a consumer watchdog, given its central role in China's export- and investment-led expansion of the past two decades. 
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In a corner of the garage, Bert Otto makes his way to the high-back swivel chair. It's his little oasis in the tumble of his workshop, in the riot of equipment and projects, items stored or in transit. The chair is his meditative place, and it's where he spends hours and hours - and hours. 

With traditional dances, food and storytelling, the first Wheaton World Tour was a successful effort to celebrate diversity in the city, organizers say.A www.granitetrade.net concept that would double as a quick charge station for gadgets."The crowd really enjoyed it," said Laurie Swanson Oberhelman, member of the city's community relations commission, which spearheaded the event. "Everyone was so enthusiastic, I can't image we won't do it again, as long as the band is willing."