In the midst of the recession, bankruptcy filings rose steadily across the country, evidencing the struggle many Americans were facing as a result of the economic downturn. As the effects of the recession have waned, there has been a corresponding drop in the number of bankruptcy filings nationwide. The drop was most noticeable during the first quarter of 2012, when bankruptcy filings fell between 8 and 10 percent from the year prior. As the American Bankruptcy Institute reported to The Honolulu Star, one of the reasons for the decline is the low interest rates across ...

Oregon residents visiting emergency departments may notice that they are busier than they have been in the past. That is because every year more patients are going to emergency rooms. The medical problems the patients are bringing in are also more severe, sometimes caused by a lack of health insurance; some patients will wait until they absolutely must be seen by a physician, allowing their illness to worsen in the meantime. This means diagnosis and treatment take longer. The result is overcrowding in many emergency departments, harming patients who must wait too long ...

Divorcing parties may want to get out of a marriage with the property they feel they deserve, but they really want to avoid being stuck with their ex's debt. Stories abound about feuding spouses taking a "scorched earth" approach to failing marriages and running up credit card debt to punish the financially vulnerable spouse. In other situations, the split is amicable and the parties simply agree to divide the entire debt in half and pay their respective share. Regardless of the situation, there is a common misperception that agreements included in a court ...

One of the "collateral consequences" or extra-judicial results of a DWI charge is vehicle forfeiture. Specifically, when an Minnesota driver is charged with a 2nd Degree DWI or 1st Degree DWI, the vehicle used by the offender in the offense (i.e., the car, boat, snowmobile, or ATV being used while supposedly driving drunk or over .08) is subject to forfeiture. Forfeiture means the government seizes the vehicle. Permanently. Fortunately, a Minnesota DWI Vehicle Forfeiture can be challenged. An offender has 30 days to challenge the forfeiture. For an offender ...

Significant changes were made to "Melanie's Law" during this past legislative session in Massachusetts. "Melanie's Law" is, of course, the law prohibiting operating under the influence of liquor (OUI/DUI/"drunk driving"). General Laws Chapter 90, section 24 (together with its related subsections) spells out the details. Melanie's Law, which originally passed in October, 2005, was named for a 13-year-old Marshfield girl who was struck and killed by a car driven by a repeat OUI offender. The law allows prior convictions to be introduced in ...

Aer Lingus, proud sponsors of Ireland's Olympic Team, has welcomed Team Ireland on board its special homecoming flight. Flight number EI 159, an airbus A321, carrying 200 passengers, including Team Ireland, departed London Heathrow at 12.05 and arrived in Dublin at 1.25pm. As a memento of the official homecoming flight, each passenger received a gift of a retro sports bag, designed in the vintage Aer Lingus 'Irish Airlines' colours. The aircraft was met by Dublin Airport fire service and escorted to its parking stand at T2. The Athletes including medal winners Katie ...

Etihad Airways has signed a new multi-million dollar agreement to extend to 2019 its naming and marketing rights for Melbourne's Etihad Stadium, the city's premier sports and entertainment venue. The five-year extension was announced in Melbourne by James Hogan, President and Chief Executive of Etihad Airways, and Ian Collins AM, Chief Executive of the Melbourne Stadiums Limited, the company that operates Etihad Stadium. Mr Hogan said: "Placing the Etihad name on this world class sports and entertainment stadium, as well as activating our marketing and hospitality ...

The much anticipated annual online Belli Birthday Bash is bigger than ever with a star studded line up that is sure to be a show stopper! Beginning August 20th, and running through September 2nd, Belli Skincare, a line of luxurious physician formulated products which consider the specific skin care needs of pregnant women, new moms and babies, will be hosting an online party to celebrate the brand's birthday. To kick-off the party, Belli and its partner sponsors will have a drawing for a prize each day during the two week promotion. Then on September 2nd, one lucky grand ...

SkinMD Natural, a breakthrough dry skin treatment is a new product that binds with the outer layer of the skin to form a protective layer, contains 93% natural ingredients. The other 7% are on the FDA's most safe list. As consumers become more aware of the dangers of toxic chemicals, dry skin care manufacturers across the nation have jumped on the natural dry skin remedy bandwagon. But many of these products contain so many potentially toxic chemicals, the term "natural" is actually misleading. Recent FDA investigation into this area has shown that SkinMD Natural's ...

Relief may be your first reaction after a small house fire. The home was saved and no one was hurt. It doesn't take long, however, for other emotions to come into play. Is the structure of the home safe? Can belongings be salvaged from fire damage? Will home insurance cover the expense of repairs? After a fire, it's critical to take proper precautionary steps to ensure your family's safety and to return your life to normalcy as quickly as possible. These six tips can help. 1. Call the Fire Department Even a small fire in your home or garage can pose hazards after ...

On the 9th of August the Head of Development Department Denis Strakh announced new Gurtam product Wialon Kit on the first practical conference for partners in Perm hosted by Standard, the local leader of vehicle tracking market. Wialon Kit is a set of developers' tools for LBS providers and solution integrators of GPS and GLONASS technologies that provides them with the opportunity to build their own software solutions based on the telematics data from Wialon Data Center. This new product can be used as a platform that can be integrated into ERPs and other systems and ...

Not only did the London Olympics unify Great Britain, bringing communities together, giving us a national pride and a feel-good factor, but it highlighted that often overlooked yet invaluable activity - volunteerism. With some 70,000 Games Makers - volunteers with "enormous smiles and infectious enthusiasm" who staffed the Olympic venues - and over 100,000 people pledging at least an hour of their time under the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Hour initiative - community spirit is enjoying dizzy new heights. National newspaper The Telegraph* reports that the Government ...

It Works! Global, rated one of the nation's fastest growing companies in its category on the Inc. 500/5000 list, has seen explosive growth creating over $100 million in sales in the first seven months of 2012. It Works! hit this anticipated annual sales target five months earlier than expected and has seen a booming 400% growth rate in 2012. The company is currently writing checks to over 29,000 Independent Distributors and was also featured in the April 2012 Edition of Success From Home Magazine. They are a leading force in the industry with their first-to-market ...

This month we look at three key things to consider when you are writing for business purposes. #1 Tone: Depending on your recipient, your tone is going to be either formal, friendly or familiar. The latter is unlikely to be used in a business scenario, unless you are simply emailing colleagues that you know extremely well. A formal tone is needed for any communications with people you have yet to meet, for reports, references for past employees, proposals or informative/scholarly articles. Emails and blogs can - in fact, should - be friendly in tone, engaging the ...

Discover many of the benefits the International Space Station yields humanity, thanks to the international collaborative effort of the station partners as they launch the International Space Station Benefits for Humanity website. When the International Space Station was first imagined, the idea was to create an unprecedented research platform to support microgravity investigations for the benefit of all humankind. That goal is now a reality, and researchers have not waited for completion to begin working on studies to build on our knowledge of science and technology ...

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nationally recognized non-profit focusing on identity theft and related issues, has just launched a survey to discover the habits of consumers using public wireless Internet connections (public WiFi).  The ITRC is conducting this survey in order to better understand the best ways to help consumers protect themselves while online and on the go. "The ability to connect to the Internet is an integral part of many individuals daily life. This has led to the increased demand for public WiFi," says Nikki Junker, Social ...

TEMPE, Ariz. — Sustainability is a human decision — a responsibility that relies on good information and how we choose to use it — according to George Basile, a senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University, who made that point in this month's cover story in Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Reframing sustainability as a human decision challenge, rather than "some version of people, planet and profit coming together," was one of the subjects discussed by Basile in the "On the Record" feature with journal editor Jamie Devereaux. "Sustainability is ...

Dinosaurs-like creatures may have injured themselves during leisurely deep-sea diving trips and not from resurfacing too quickly, as previously thought. A recent study identified bone deformities on the fossilized remains of Ichthyosarians, which were giant dolphin-like reptiles that first appeared about 245 million years ago. The lesions were similar to those human divers develop as a result of changes in body pressure, and suggest the reptiles suffered from a version of 'the bends'. A new analysis by University of Melbourne pathologist Associate Professor John ...

A national team of researchers led by investigators at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed a multidimensional set of brain measurements that, when taken together, can accurately assess a child's age with 92 percent accuracy. "We have uncovered a 'developmental clock' within the brain—a biological signature of maturation that captures age differences quite well regardless of other kinds of differences that exist across individuals," said first author Timothy T. Brown, PhD, a developmental cognitive neuroscientist in the Department ...

AUDIO: In this interview Jay Bradner explains how his paper in Cell reveals a viable target for a male contraceptive. Click here for more information. Researchers have finally found a compound that may offer the first effective and hormone-free birth control pill for men. The study in the August 17th Cell, a Cell Press publication, shows that the small molecule makes male mice reversibly infertile without putting a damper on their sex drive. When the animals stop taking this ...

HOUSTON - (Aug. 17, 3012) – A small molecule that can worm its way past the barrier that separates blood and sperm and snuggle into a crucial pocket needed in the process of making sperm may spell the future for male contraception. The molecule called JQ1 inhibited the amount and quality of sperm produced by mice in studies led by Dr. Martin M. Matzuk, director of the new Center for Drug Discovery and vice chair of pathology & immunology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. James E. Bradner of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, pointing ...

It isn't uncommon for people to pass for ages much older or younger than their years, but researchers have now found that this feature doesn't apply to our brains. The findings reported online on August 16 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, show that sophisticated brain scans can be used to accurately predict age, give or take a year. It's a "carnival trick" that may have deeper implications for both brain science and medicine. "We have uncovered a 'developmental clock' of sorts within the brain—a biological signature of maturation that captures age differences ...

SEATTLE – Poxviruses, a group of DNA-containing viruses that includes smallpox, are responsible for a wide range of diseases in humans and animals. They are highly virulent and able to cross species barriers, yet how they do so has been largely a mystery because of their low mutation rates. While smallpox was considered officially eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980, concerns about its use as a bioterrorism agent – and the finding that other poxviruses, such as monkeypox, can be transmitted from animals to humans – have spurred renewed interest in understanding ...

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once described England and America as two countries separated by a common language. Now research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center suggests that common language may also be the divide standing between mothers of critically ill newborns and the clinicians who care for them. The study, published August 16 in the Journal of Perinatology, found that miscommunication was common, and that the most serious breakdown in communication occurred when mothers and clinicians discussed the severity of the baby's condition. Misunderstanding ...

SALT LAKE CITY – Scientists have discovered that poxviruses, which are responsible for smallpox and other diseases, can adapt to defeat different host antiviral defenses by quickly and temporarily producing multiple copies of a gene that helps the viruses to counter host immunity. This discovery provides new insight into the ability of large double-stranded DNA viruses to undergo rapid evolution despite their low mutation rates, according to a study published by University of Utah researchers in the Aug. 17, 2012, issue of Cell. Poxviruses are a group of DNA-containing ...