U.S. House of Representatives Passes Bill to End HAMP Both houses of Congress introduced legislation this session to end the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which is a federally-funded program intended to lower mortgage payments for homeowners struggling with large home loans. Approximately 650,000 Americans have received aid under the program, according to the U.S. Treasury. Those who have received aid have reduced their mortgages by an average of $500 every month. Currently, in order to qualify for HAMP, the homeowner must not be able to make monthly ...

Starting a Small Business? Here are Business Structures to Consider Having a good idea for a small business is only the beginning. From tax considerations to legal liabilities and ownership share, structuring your business is a vital part of any start-up. Sole Proprietorships Sole proprietorships are the default classification of an individually-owned business for legal and tax purposes. The sole proprietorship is not considered a separate legal entity, meaning the business will not pay separate income tax. However, a sole proprietorship offers no legal barrier ...

California's "Three Strikes" Law Subject to Renewed Debate Critics Believe Harsh Law Leads to Overcrowded Prisons The "three strikes and you're out" law subjects anyone convicted of one or more serious or violent felonies to a 25-years-to-life sentence when convicted of a third felony, regardless of whether it was a violent crime. In fact, the three strikes law can apply for a third conviction of a misdemeanor, like petty theft, that is reclassified as a felony. This can lead to sentences absurdly long for the crime committed. Early this year, ...

Questions Surfacing Regarding Alcohol Breath-Tester Used in California Alco-Sensor V May be Inaccurate, Causing a Review of Pending DUI Cases Test results from the Alco-Sensor V, a new alcohol breath-testing device used in California, were recently discovered to be unreliable. Law enforcement officials use the device in the field to determine sobriety. In Ventura County, the District Attorney's Office sent out a memo to local attorneys noting the new device was "erratic." Because of this, Ventura County may throw out hundreds of cases from January 20 to ...

Legislation Targeting Synthetic Drugs Pennsylvania is joining at least 13 other states in proposing legislation that would add synthetic drugs to the state's list of illegal substances, including bath salts and a drug known as 2C-E. The bill has passed both the state House and Senate. Synthetically-produced drugs are designed to mimic the effects of other drugs. The drug 2C-E mimics LSD and Ecstasy, and was added to the bill at the request of the Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association. Other drugs that were already in the bill for consideration include synthetic ...

Pennsylvania House Passes Teacher Sex Crimes Bill Finding a disparity in the Pennsylvania law when it comes to teachers engaging in sexual activity with students, lawmakers passed House Bill 924, sending the bill on to the state Senate for consideration. The problem state representatives and prosecutors see is that the current law does not cover teachers, coaches or other individuals who instruct students in youth organizations and educational settings. The new proposal would include these professions in the law, as well as include any other school employee, such ...

Valid Texas Insurance Coverage Exclusions An insurance exclusion is an act, property or type of damage not covered by an insurance policy. The idea is to exclude some specific high-risk or extreme liability events that would otherwise have been covered by the general policy in order to lower the cost of the insurance. The following article will discuss certain policy exclusions that have been upheld as valid in Texas. Home and Real Property Insurance Exclusions Well-established valid exclusions for home insurance include flood or earthquake damages (although storm ...

East Coast Paddle, a one-stop paddleboard company based in New Smyrna Beach, is helping children breathe easier with a special event for more than 25 kids on July 30. East Coast Paddle is partnering with Pipeline To A Cure-FL*, a foundation benefitting awareness and research for the chronic lung disease, Cystic Fibrosis (CF), for the upcoming Surf Experience event. Aimed at opening the lungs of CF patients through ocean-based activities, Surf Experience will offer participants a day of therapeutic fun, featuring individualized paddleboarding lessons. East Coast Paddle ...

Stuttgart - Over 9,000 truck drivers accepted the challenge in the International competition for economic driving, which was held from June 1st to 30th, 2011. In national country leagues, participants from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Romania as well as South Africa and the Middle East went head to head against each other. In their respective countries, drivers from well-known companies such as Dreier AG, Sieber Transport AG, DOEGO Fruchthandel und Import eG, S.T.B. SRL, Smeets Beheer B.V., ...

New line gets good response at exclusive Mistal boutique. Continuing to delight connoisseurs of fine watches in Oman, Swiss luxury watch manufacturer ROGER DUBUIS recently successfully presented their exclusive Excalibur Lady collection in the Sultanate's capital city, Muscat. The exquisite collection was unveiled at Mistal, renowned distributor of luxury watches and part of the Ajit Khimji Group, another successful step in the ongoing partnership with the renowned Omani group. Combining the power of the iconic Excalibur model, with the subtle elegance of a totally ...

The rebranding of the report generator FastReport Studio involves the change of version names - the new names are meant to describe version targets more accurately, thus preventing confusion. Starting from version 4.9 FastReport Studio Developer Edition is named FastReport for COM/ActiveX, and FastReport Studio Business Edition - FastReport for Business. As for FastReport for COM/ActiveX 4.9, it offers a good number of new features. For instance, it now supports PNG image format with all its advantages (quality, alpha-channels, file size in BIFF and HTML). Besides, PNG ...

Label: Kusha Deep Music Title: If I Could Be Your Pill Artist: KDX Bring back the moment in your mind, when dance music was all about euphoria and unwavering positivity. The uplifting message to reach out for the endless possibilities and meeting like minded souls in clubs in London and Ibiza, who would then become friends for life, made the scene the biggest thing since the love in summer of 1967. Bring on the 21st century and a decade passed where music changed from being about passion to an obsession with bling culture, style over content and with production straight ...

BMC Messsysteme GmbH (bmcm), long-time manufacturer for PC measurement technology made in Germany introduces his latest developments in the range of data acquisition publishing the revised version of his "DATA ACQUISITION" catalog. The available product brochures from bmcm are categorized by the links of the measuring chain: sensors, measuring amplifiers, data acquisition systems, and measurement software. The "DATA ACQUISITION" catalog presents the product lines of external measurement systems for the LAN and USB interface, as well as the internal ...

Projects for the second phase of the largest investment in real estate in Brazil are set to start. With the publication of the rules and regulations for Minha Casa Minha Vida 2, pre-approval for the development of 860,000 homes should soon be underway. President Dilma confirmed the next stage of Brazilian investment in social housing in June. Last week, the ministry responsible for overseeing this huge project (Ministerio de Cidades) published the legal requirements behind the construction of 860,000 properties in Brazil. Developers of Brazilian real estate can now submit ...

italy.topseos.com, an independent authority on search vendors has named the Best Internet Marketing Services in Italy for the month of July 2011. Companies are already becoming serious about boosting the quality of traffic being directed to their site and have established an organic optimization cam-paign in place. Search engines are such an integral part of how visitors and potential clients find information on the internet, thus it becomes essential that websites are aligned with what the search engine is looking for. All the Search Engine Marketing services next to hundreds ...

Since Facebook is becoming more and more like an identity card nowadays, not having one is like living in exile. The crew at SWTORGuide.net (http://www.swtorguide.net) finally decided to create a fan page of their own. It's also a good channel for them to connect with all Star Wars geeks out there. No matter what planet you inhabit, you can go to their page then comment, suggest or even request an article you'd like to read. The page is there for that reason. Check out the latest news about SWTOR at their fan page and browse through the gallery to see the daily update picture. The ...

Online Community Reveals Its Thoughts on Today's Hottest Topics Reporting: 58% Feel War Will Break Out Between Israel and Iran 47% Have Sex Less Than 2-3 Times a Week 55% Feel Sarah Palin Should Not Run for Office in 2012 55% Approve of the Building of the Ground Zero Mosque 96% Believe Gay Marriage Should be Legal July 20, 2011 - Qwanz.com, a newly launched opinion-aggregating site, allows visitors to quickly and easily create polls or surveys, immediately access reporting and analytics tools, and influence public policy. Qwanz does this by gathering public opinion ...

This Summer will see the launch of twelve incredibly unique advancement experiences designed to enhance the performance of professionals and high achievers. Created by highly successful Executive Coach Cherie Concannon, the Concannon6 Experiences are the ultimate in executive development experiences. Aimed at high earning individuals from all sectors, who wish to attain both personal and further professional success, Cherie commented, "With a market saturated with monotonous training programmes and personal development courses, the Concannon6 Experiences stand ...

It's that time of year when the number of house break-ins tend to rise with the temperatures. The period from late July through August is a peak vacation time, which means many homes and apartments will be unoccupied and potentially vulnerable over the next few weeks. But there are ways to keep your home safer while on vacation, say home security experts. David Troiano, a registered master locksmith and head instructor at North Bennet Street School's popular locksmith training program (www.nbss.edu/education/programs/locksmithing), suggests a two-step approach to increasing ...

Senior citizens ought to know they have a choice of car insurance as long as they take a few necessary precautions. One of the leading online insurance services, Insure4USA, recently released an article titled "How to Purchase Car Insurance for The Elderly" which offers plenty of advice for seniors to reduce their insurance bills. According to the firm, recent research indicates that plenty of accidents involving motorists over 75 are a major cause for deaths and injuries as compared to other age groups. Therefore, it is important for them to consider several ...

Ambient Consulting, a worldwide, renowned IT consulting firm, has named Richard Monson-Haefel as Vice President of its new Strategic Mobility practice. With over 17 years of national consulting and mobile solutions experience, Monson-Haefel brings the expertise and credibility needed to provide effective strategies and mobile solutions for Ambient's clientele. Originally from the Midwest, Monson-Haefel has established himself as a national expert on software architecture, technical analysis and mobile application development. As the Sr. Technical Analyst for Burton Group ...

Advance, a world-leading manufacturer of professional floor cleaning equipment, offers automatic floor scrubbers that meet the requirements for National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) product certification. The mission of the NFSI is to aid in the prevention of slips, trips and falls through education, research and standards development. Featuring multiple certified models, Advance automatic floor scrubbers allow for increased operator and facility safety. NFSI product certification provides product manufacturers with the ability to have their products independently evaluated ...

Gold is attractive, having an exotic allure that has enticed and intrigued kings and potentates for millennia; even King Midas, of Greek mythology, yearned to have everything he touched turn to gold. Gold's beauty and desirability have never wavered for over five thousand years. Indigenous cultures of North and South America hoarded gold and used it to fashion amazing and intricate artifacts. El Dorado, the legendary golden city, has fascinated explorers from the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. In more recent history the 'Gold Rush' played a huge part in the history ...

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (PCMS) is pleased to announce its 2011/2012 City Flex Wind Series featuring exceptional artists at community venues throughout the city. Experience these world-class performers at affordable prices. Clarinetist, Anthony McGill, performed at President Obama's inauguration and is one of the top wind players of his generation. He'll be joined by veteran violist Michael Tree, from the Guarneri Quartet, and rising star pianist, Anna Polonsky, for a special all-Brahms program at the American Philosophical Society on Sunday, December ...

Today's job seekers are increasingly using blogs and personal websites to further market their expertise and enhance their online brand. A well crafted blog can be a great way of attracting the attention of the right people. However, before you begin waxing lyrical online, it's vital to consider exactly what you're going to write and who will end up reading it. As a job seeker you can take it as a given that prospective employers will search for you online and that if you include your blog or website address on your CV, it will be clicked on. A professional and ...