| A well-manicured Spanish ghost town
Francisco Hernando Village is neat and well-manicured for a ghost town. The complex near Sesena Nuevo, some 30 miles south of Madrid, should be home to around 40,000 people, but as I wander around I hardly see a soul. Will places like this be the key to next week's General Election? The climbing-frames and swings in the playground are in bright primary colours, their shine unscuffed by children's feet. No one disturbs the unbroken views across the park, with its neat line of spring flowers, shaded areas and rows of palm trees. No one stares across the large crescent-shaped lake at the 100-foot high fountain. Three sides of a large, new and modern block of flats, brown brick and big balconies, curve round a wide-open space complete with a court of ball games and a large swimming pool.
Onorato sounds off against Republicans
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato this afternoon blasted Republican members of County Council, accusing them of practicing "voodoo economics" because of their attempt to repeal the drink and car rental taxes tomorrow. "If the Republicans on [County Council] want to reopen the budget and repeal the [drink tax and car rental tax] I'm ready for the fight," said Mr. Onorato, speaking at a press conference in his Allegheny County Courthouse office. "They want me to give $28 million of property taxes to the Port Authority for the local match, and I won't do it. We're going to take this fight to the voters and we're going to have it out," he said. To that end, he has tapped into his campaign war chest and started a phone bank to call residents in the districts of three Republican council members sponsoring legislation to re-open this year's budget and repeal the drink tax: Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, Matt Drozd, R-Ross and Jan Rea, R-McCandless.
Readers divided on snubbing water curbs
A THIRD of AdelaideNow readers who voted in a poll said they would break water restrictions to save their gardens as temperatures continue to soar. From about 800 votes registered by 3pm, 34 per cent said they would break the water restrictions, while the same percentage said they would stick to the guidelines. The remaining 30 per cent said they would use grey water and rainwater on their gardens. One AdelaideNow reader, Sharon of Adelaide, questioned why residents would break restrictions for their gardens. "I can't believe currently that 34% of respondents would break water restrictions to water their gardens. Your garden won't save you when there is no water to drink, my friends," she said. The responses are in the wake of forecasts by the Bureau of Meteorology showing Adelaide could have a record-breaking string of 30C-plus days.
YELLOWPAGES.Travel Partners With CheapTickets.com and Donates 15% of ...
(CSRwire) YELLOWPAGES.travel, a tool that enables users to search the top 12 travel websites with one click, has now partnered with CheapTickets.com and donates 15% of net proceeds to multiple charities. Users of CheapTickets.com can now search the site along with 11 other major travel sites with one click and donate to multiple charities such as the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society amongst others. LOS ANGELES, CA - December 4, 2007 - /PRNewswire/ - Yellow Pages Corporation, operator of popular online YellowPages websites and telephone books including travel website aggregator YELLOWPAGES.travel, today announced it has partnered with CheapTickets.com. YELLOWPAGES.travel will also be donating 15% of the net proceeds received from all airfare, hotel and car rental bookings performed on the site to multiple charities.
Ferry Report Blames Owners, Corruption
A professor at the University of South Florida and one-time campaigner for President George W. Bush, Al-Arian was a prominent advocate of inter-faith dialogue when he was first arrested more than three years ago. His case won wide attention in the Arab world after Al-Arian was profiled in Egypt Today in December 2003. (See Shattered Dream by Yasmine Moll, page 72.) Al-Arian could serve up to five years in prison. The 48-year-old father of three will be deported at the end of his sentence. He has pleaded guilty to one charge of supporting PIJ, illegal under US law because the State Department has deemed PIJ a terror group. This conviction is the result of years of exhaustive investigative and prosecutorial work during which the government utilized the many tools we have available to us in the ongoing war against terrorism, the Orlando Sun-Sentinel quoted US District Attorney Paul Perez as saying.
Mets welcome Johan Santana to New York
Ruben Rosado was arrested today and charged in the Nov. 10 heist of the Investors Savings Bank in Piscataway, in which he allegedly made off with more than $93,000. Rosado's alleged accomplice in that crime admitted his role and fingered Rosado as his partner, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark today. Continue reading "Serial bank robbery crew is caught" » .
Your Health This Week The shocking end to that big diabetes study ...
Remarkably, these benefits continued for many years even after patients relaxed the blood sugar controls. Another large and important study of the effects of blood sugar control on type 2 diabetics in Britain showed a substantial reduction in most complications, though little or no cardiovascular effect. A few earlier and much smaller studies suggested that blood sugar control for type 2 diabetics might have harmful cardiovascular consequences, but the results of the large British study were very reassuring on that score. That's why the ACCORD results were so shocking. Conclusion (or lack thereof): Alas, we will probably be grasping for an explanation for some time. The cardiovascular problems showed up while the study was ongoing and still await detailed consideration. That is still probably a year or two away.
In Jubilee Park, $6M gift is reason for hope
The billionaire oilman's donation last week will pay for a new community building. It will build a resource center with space for police and other government services. It will provide cash to buy and clear dilapidated property. It is the latest, and perhaps most uplifting, move for a long-troubled area of South Dallas – one showing signs of reversing a deadening spiral of drugs, violence, crime and blight. Work begun by a Dallas church 10 years ago keeps gaining ground. Unofficially covering 62 blocks between Fair Park, Interstate 30 and East Grand Avenue, the Jubilee Park area was home to more than 1,600 mostly low-income residents in 2000. That year, 60 percent of the residents were Hispanic and 35 percent African-American.
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