Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Road bike specially made for ex-NBA center stolen
MURRAY, Utah (AP) — At 7-foot-6, former NBA center Shawn Bradley needs just about everything custom-made, from clothes and chairs to countertops and doorways.
Yet the Utah resident remained dumbfounded Thursday over why someone would steal a bike so large it is probably useless to anyone but him.
The road bike has an 80 centimeter carbon fiber-aluminum frame — about 50 percent larger than that for a normal-sized person. Trek never even included a serial number when it built the bicycle in 2006 because it is so unique.
"It's a stolen bike, not the end of the world," Bradley said from his home in Murray, about 10 miles south of Salt Lake City. "It's just kind of a weird …
Michelin grants 3rd star to French eatery
There are three new stars in the firmament of French gastronomy: "L'Auberge du Vieux Puits," in a village in southern France, has climbed to the Michelin Red Guide's top ranking, where it joins 25 others at the summit of fine dining, Michelin announced Monday.
One restaurant, "La Maison de Marc Veyrat," on Lake Annecy in the Alpine foothills, lost its perch at the top _ and all of its stars _ with the departure a year ago of chef Marc Veyrat, always distinguishable by his large black hat.
In the Michelin Red Guide's 2010 edition, 10 eating establishments in France gained two-star status, bringing the total in that category to 77.
…False start just a bump on Tracy's road to victory
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. On a day where driver after driver yanked offhis helmet and climbed out of his car in disgust, no one's daystarted worse than Paul Tracy's.
On the front straightaway of the first lap, a malfunctioningthrottle sensor shut off Tracy's Honda engine. After spending half aminute restarting his engine, he was 23rd-dead last among the cars onthe track after one lap.
No one's day wound up being better, though. In a race ofattrition, Tracy guided his Team Kool Green Reynard to victory Sundayin the Motorola 220 at Road America.
"It's always satisfying to win, but this is one of the mostsatisfying wins I've ever had," Tracy said after a race in which …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tigers 9, White Sox 1
| Chicago | Detroit | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ab r h bi | ab r h bi | |||
| Pierre lf | 5 1 2 0 | AJcksn cf | 4 1 1 0 | |
| Vizquel 2b | 3 0 1 1 | Rhyms 2b | 4 1 1 0 | |
| Lillirdg 2b | 1 0 0 0 | Damon dh | 5 1 2 2 | |
| Rios cf | 3 0 0 0 | …
Palestinians: Israel must back 2-state solution
Israel must declare its support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state if peace talks are to resume, the chief Palestinian negotiator said Saturday.
In neighboring Jordan, senior officials from several Arab states reiterated their support for an Arab peace initiative offering recognition to Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, including land the Palestinians want for a state.
However, Israel's previous centrist government did not accept the initiative, and it is even less likely to win the support of the new right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
…
Australia Ferry Crash Kills 3
SYDNEY, Australia - A passenger ferry collided with a pleasure boat under Sydney's iconic harbor bridge Wednesday night, killing at least three people and injuring eight others, officials and witnesses said.
The ferry plowed over the smaller boat, throwing its passengers into the water in the collision, which occurred about 10:45 p.m., witnesses and New South Wales state police said.
All of the casualties were aboard the smaller boat. Two men and a woman were killed, and police divers were searching Thursday for a 14-year-old girl who was thrown from the wooden pleasure cruiser, police said.
"The boat basically just disintegrated," said witness Clive Marshall, …
Company puts off launch of luxury trains to Tibet
The launch of the first luxury train service from Beijing to Tibet has been postponed from April until next spring, the operator said Monday, amid China's economic slowdown and a security crackdown.
"Our official launch has been rescheduled to spring 2010," Erena Chan, sales and marketing director for Tangula Luxury Trains, said Monday in an emailed response to questions.
"The decision was taken by our management in light of the current business climate and all the financial indicators in the near term," she said.
Chan said that some trips would be available later this year, however, ahead of the train's official launch.
…Zion residents oppose dump expansion
A standing-room crowd of about 120 residents jammed Zion's cityhall Wednesday night to urge the zoning board to block a 200-acreexpansion of a waste dump bordering the far north suburb.
"For $300,000 now, we're going to sell out Zion for the next 20years," said Lois Fisch. "What about our grandchildren?"
Browning-Ferris Industries of Houston, the second-largest wastemanagement firm in the country, has proposed that Zion annex andrezone about 200 acres of unincorporated Lake County so the companycan enlarge its 150-acre dump site.
"Look at the people here," said Desiree Brush. "Why would youwant to put manufacturing in a residential area? Where are …
Gunmen hold hostages in Pakistan army headquarters
Heavily armed militants were holding between 10 and 15 soldiers hostage inside army headquarters Saturday after they attacked the complex in an audacious assault on Pakistan's most powerful institution.
The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.
It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike …
Austin's Girls just want to have fun
Remember when you played tag as a kid? There was always anobject - a pole, a big rock, a tree - that was designated as a "free"zone. If you were tagged while touching the free zone, you stillweren't "it."
Austin is a similar place of refuge for anyone in Texas who is alittle different and doesn't want to be hassled by small-mindedrepressors. Austin is San Francisco with a hot summer and betterMexican food. If you're a homosexual, poet, songwriter, punk rocker,political activist or hippie, you move to Austin or suffer rednecks.If you're all of the above, as are the four members of Two NiceGirls, there is no other place in Texas you want to live.
Two Nice Girls is …
Planned Community Act worries lawyers
The devil, they say, is in the details. And at least one attorney believes the details of the year-old Uniform Planned Community Act could become a nightmare for some of his clients.
Attorney William H. Poole Jr. of York said the act expands the definition of a planned community to include small single-family developments, and that could cause some trouble down the road for those residents. And Poole said his clients aren't prepared to deal with bureaucratic and legal snafus that could result from the change.
The Uniform Planned Community was an effort to consolidate a number of laws which governed condominiums and other types of residential developments, according to Poole. The act included a definition of a planned community, something that had not existed previously in the other laws.
That definition is the crux of the problem, according to Poole.
Say, for example, you move into a development with a restrictive covenant in which all of the residents have agreed to pay for any future repairs to a retention pond in the development. If the pond needs repairs in the future and you are assessed fees for that, you will now fall under the act.
What triggers the act, Poole said, is the creation of a homeowners' association and the assessment of fees. So, if the retention pond holds water and you are never assessed any fees for repairs, you're not subject to the act, according to Poole.
Home buyers who ask for disclosure statements with special homeowners' association covenants might run into problems because the agreements are often made orally and no documentation exists, Poole said.
Poole also believes a municipality may have some financial responsibility under the act. For example, he said, if a homeowners' association builds a retention pond and later abandons maintenance on it, the municipality may be forced to assess taxpayers a fee to pay for any pond repairs, if needed.
UPCA's chief draftsman David Haas, an attorney with the Philadelphia law firm of Duane, Morris and Heckscher, sees things differently.
According to Haas, UPCA was an effort to serve as a "comprehensive guide" for the creation, governance management and marketing of all planned communities, especially those communities that didn't fall under previous state regulations governing condominiums and cooperatives.
The definition of a planned community in the act, according to Haas, is one having common facilities or improvements, such as streets, water management, recreational facilities, etc., whose maintenance or repair is the responsibility of the development owners under terms of covenant, easements or agreements imposed on the property.
A planned community must also be "declared" -- plats and plans filed say the area is being developed as a planned community -- and common elements are defined, Haas said. Also, the act creates a governing body for the planned community.
In addition, other interests are spelled out: rules governing ways the community can be expanded or changed; time requirements for selling any rights and responsibilities to common areas; anything agreed to be done for the community association must be done or have a promise of its being completed, including a third-party guaranty, bond, escrow or letter of credit.
The UPCA protects the rights of property buyers, Haas said. Disclosure statements containing a community description, options reserved by the property's owners, financial information, how the community is organized and other critical information are the chief means of buyer protection. Any deposits made on the property prior to its purchase remain in escrow until closing.
"The UPCA reflects a balancing of the interests of developers, lenders, homeowners, managers of planned communities, government authorities and those who provide service to planned communities in Pennsylvania," according to Haas. "While it does create substantive requirements for existing and newly created planned communities, it places significant emphasis on disclosure as a means of promoting market-based controls."
Haas said UPCA's greatest contribution is that it serves as a "comprehensive framework for all common interest ownership communities and developments in Pennsylvania ..." and that it replaces "a hodge-podge of common law schemes based on private restrictive covenants with no consistency, community-to-community or project-to-project."
Pete Andrews, a York attorney with Countess, Gilbert and Andrews, shares some of Poole's reservations about UPCA.
"The biggest problem is that it is a disruption of the orderly transfer of property," Andrews said. "Sellers don't know what obligations are to be met. Buyers don't know how to meet the proper obligations."
Andrews said the bill is meant to impose a condominium-like set of rules on any development. Andrews sees UPCA as very similar to existing state condominium and resort regulations. "It almost mirrors them," he said. "The structure is the same, it's complicated, difficult for people who didn't know they were in a planned community to comply."
Andrews said trying to use condominium regulations to resolve a "relatively small" problem of defining and regulating properties that were planned with common ground is part of UPCA's problems.
Andrews also said many area home buyers and homeowner associations don't know about UPCA's regulations. Realtors are aware of the regulations, he said.
Rob Sowers, residential and condominium manager and vice president for Clabell Management, part of Lancaster's Horst Group, said UPCA is not a problem for his business. Sowers manages a number of homeowners associations and 3,500 condominiums.
"Most statues are written to protect people from people who would take advantage of them," Sowers said. "UPCA is not at all a problem for us. We've always done business that way."
Sowers said UPCA helped clarify some nebulous issues surrounding planned communities by bringing regulations governing homeowners associations more into alignment with those covering condominiums.
He said Horst/Clabell was already using disclosure statements and other documentation similar to UPCA's requirements.
"We found that this was really just good business. The new act didn't do anything all that strange," Sowers said.
"I'm not a big believer in lots and lots of rules," Sowers said. "But the Condominium Act helped clarify some significant problems before this. UPCA is a good attempt to get everything under same umbrella."
Walt Zehring of Rausch Real Estate in Lebanon manages nine residential units. Zehring said he had no problems with UPCA regulations. However. keeping people up on current information within the homeowners association is not easy unless people get active and go to association meetings, Zehring said.
Zehring could understand why municipalities would have problems with UPCA, especially when they might be asked to cover costs of properties formerly governed by association rules.
Haas said UPCA's future is linked to an education process about the bill. As more people become aware of the bill's provisions and how these rules affect them, the process will get smoother.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
No. 25 West Virginia Pummels St. John's
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Darris Nichols scored a career-high 20 points and No. 25 West Virginia beat St. John's 73-46 on Saturday for its second ever 3-0 start in the Big East.
Frank Young added 12 points and Joe Alexander had 10 as the Mountaineers (13-1) won their eighth straight.
West Virginia, picked to finish 12th in its 11th season in the conference, has already beaten three teams picked higher in the preseason poll. The Mountaineers have trailed for just 2:24 in 120 minutes of Big East play and are holding opponents to less than 50 points per game.
West Virginia, which led 30-23 at halftime, used a 12-0 run to go up 49-30 with 12 minutes left.
Nichols made a 3-pointer and layup on consecutive possessions for a 61-38 lead with 5:12 remaining and St. John's never got closer than 21 points.
Lamont Hamilton had 15 points for the Red Storm (10-5, 1-1), who lost their sixth straight to the Mountaineers. Daryll Hill, who had averaged nearly 25 points in his last three games against West Virginia, was held to five.
The Red Storm, coming off a 65-53 win over DePaul in their Big East opener, lost for only the second time in 10 games.
West Virginia is off to its best start since the 1981-82 team started 24-1. The Mountaineers go on the road for six of the next eight, including games at No. 17 Notre Dame and No. 15 Marquette.
West Virginia's only other 3-0 start in Big East play came last season when the Mountaineers won their first eight league games but skidded to a third-place finish.
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