Global energy producer Royal Dutch Shell believes a policy-led shift to gas, carbon capture and nuclear power could keep a lid on climate change into the 22nd century.
At the same time the company says a more free market approach would result in carbon emissions some 25 per cent higher.
Sketching possible paths of development for global energy use, Shell, which has bet the most heavily of all the top oil firms on a big future for natural gas, promoted its use as a way to moderate greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2100.
Reuters Newsagency reports it also suggested: measures to promote compact and energy efficient cities; mandates for greater efficiency in transport and buildings; and a price on CO2 emissions that would speed the adoption of carbon capture technology.
In its first ?moderate growth? scenario, called ?Mountains?, Shell said, ?Cleaner-burning natural gas becomes the backbone of the world?s energy system, in many places replacing coal as a fuel for power generation and seeing wider use in transport?.
Oil use might peak in about 2035, and thanks in part to CO2 capture, the power sector could be producing zero emissions by 2060.
Reuters reports in its ?more prosperous, volatile world? called ?Oceans? where markets forces and civil society dominate, Shell envisages the power sector becoming emissions neutral some 30 years later.
In this scenario oil demand would continue to grow until after 2040 and high energy prices would encourage ?the development of hard-to-reach oil resources?.
Shell is the world number three investor-owned international oil and gas company by market value, behind Exxon Mobil and Chevron and ahead of BP.
However, it is the market leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG), a growth area of the natural gas industry, and it is set to extend that lead over the next few years.
On a barrel of oil equivalent basis, its fourth-quarter 2012 production was about half gas, a similar proportion to Exxon and a far higher one than both BP and Chevron.
Onetime Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dan Toler died on Monday of Lou Gehrig's disease in Sarasota, Fla., his official website is reporting.?
Toler was a member of the band from 1979-82, and his age has been reported variously as "in his early 60s" (according to manager Glen Halverson, who spoke to?Reuters), 64 (according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune) and 65 (according to Rolling Stone). Toler (also known as "Dangerous Dan") played on the albums "Enlightened Rogues," "Reach for the Sky" and "Brothers of the Road."?
He and his late brother, drummer David "Frankie" Toler, were members of other bands as well, including Dickey Betts & Great Southern. Both played with the Gregg Allman Band in the 1980s.
In 2009, Dan Toler paired with John Townsend for the Toler/Townsend Band, which released a self-titled independent album that year.
"His ability to make people laugh and feel good and happy was amazing," former bandmate Chaz Trippy told the Herald-Tribune. "That smile of his is just a force of life and, God, how he loved playing that guitar."?
After his brother died in 2011, Toler announced he had been diagnosed with the degenerative nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is often known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Fellow musician and longtime friend Bonnie Bramlett told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: "To see how Danny walked tall through that disease and play guitar so beautifully with his blue eyes burning (during a November 2011 benefit), what a hero.... He really showed people how to live, and how to die."
Toler is survived by his wife Debbie and their daughter Danielle Franz. A public memorial/celebration is slated to honor him in Sarasota on March 9.
Fast food linked to higher asthma and allergy risk
New study links fast-food consumption to a greater risk for developing asthma, eczema and allergies.
Tue, Jan 15 2013 at 8:56 AM
Teens and kids who eat a lot of fast food may be at greater risk for developingasthma, eczema?and allergies, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal's respiratory magazine,?Thorax.
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For the study, researchers from?the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom looked at surveys from more than 500,000 kids in 51 countries to determine how diet affected their allergy-related risks. They found that?eating fast food three times a week may lead to asthma, eczema?and itchy, watery eyes in children. ?
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Researchers surveyed kids and their parents to determine whether or not they experienced symptoms of allergies, asthma and eczema. Participants also shared what types of foods they consumed each week. In the study, children in their early teens who ate fast food three or more times each week had a 39 percent greater risk of severe asthma. For 6- and 7-year-olds, there was a 27 percent increased risk. Overall, kids who ate fast food three or more times a week had about a 30 percent increased risk of severe allergies. The results were consistent across all age groups regardless of gender or socioeconomic status. ?
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Interestingly, kids who ate fruit were able to cut their risk of developing these conditions. Researchers found that kids who ate three or more portions of fruit each week reduced their risk of severe asthma, eczema and allergies by between 11 and 14 percent.
PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) ? A radio transmitter and then a feast of quail and mouse led to the capture of a California zoo's bald eagle after three days on the lam.
The Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo's tame 24-year-old bald eagle Sequoia was enjoying her daily exercise Saturday at a park when strong winds spooked her.
Instead of returning to handlers, she flew north and roosted in Menlo Park.
The San Jose Mercury News (http://bit.ly/YUEwSH ) reports Sequoia was tracked Monday to a Redwood City tree.
The famished bird finally dropped from her perch to the arm of trainer John Flynn, who rewarded her with a quail and mouse feast.
Sequoia ventured out on her own eight times while at the San Francisco Zoo. She joined the Palo Alto zoo last year.
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Seasoned adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has had to quit his attempt to be the first person to cross the South Pole on skis during the brutal Antarctic winter.
Fiennes, who has abundant experience in harsh environments, will be evacuated from the coldest continent after developing a case of frostbite, according to a blog post on the website of the expedition, called The Coldest Journey. Fiennes and his team made the decision to have him evacuated while it was still possible before the beginning of the formidable winter, with its near-permanent darkness and temperatures as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).
"This decision has not been taken lightly and it is, naturally, a huge disappointment to Fiennes and his colleagues," the post said.
Fiennes will be driven by Ski-Doo, a type of snowmobile, some 40 miles (70 kilometers) from his team's current location to Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Station, located near the coast of East Antarctica, according to the blog post. From there, he will make his way by plane to Cape Town, South Africa.
The evacuation plan is currently being hampered by a blizzard at the team's location.
Once Fiennes is evacuated, the rest of the team has elected to carry on with the journey. They are still slated to begin their crossing on the originally planned date of March 21. The full crossing route will take them from Princess Elisabeth through the interior of the continent to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (named for the two explorers that raced to be the first to the South Pole), then over the Transantarctic Mountains onto the Ross Ice Shelf and to the United States' McMurdo Station, situated on the shore of the Ross Sea. In total, the trek will cover more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) and take six months.
Fiennes has gone on previous Antarctic and Arctic excursions, climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, according to his expedition biography.
Reach Andrea Thompson at athompson@techmedianetwork.com and follow her on Twitter @AndreaTOAPand on Pinterest. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? A poet jailed for a verse considered offensive to Qatar's ruler harshly denounced the Gulf nation's legal proceedings on Monday after an appeals court reduced his life sentence but still kept a 15-year prison term.
The rant in court ? rare in the tightly controlled Gulf Arab states ? underscored the free speech battles across the region as Western-backed authorities take strict measures against perceived political dissent in the wake of the Arab Spring.
From Kuwait to Oman, dozens of people have been arrested in the past year for social media posts deemed insulting to leaders or calling for political forms. For Qatar, the case also could bring added pressure from rights groups looking into labor conditions and other preparations for football's 2022 World Cup, which will be by far the most prominent international event hosted in the Gulf region.
"Unjust," shouted poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami in the heavily guarded courtroom in Qatar's capita, Doha, after his appeal to drop the conviction was denied. The court cut the life sentence handed down in November and imposed a 15-year term instead.
Al-Ajami faced specific charges from a poem posted online in 2010 that discussed the traits needed for a good leader ? which apparently was seen by authorities as a challenge to Qatar's emir and the ruling family.
He was more widely known for an Internet video of him reciting "Tunisian Jasmine," a poem lauding that country's popular uprising, which touched off the Arab Spring rebellions across the Middle East. In the poem, he said, "we are all Tunisia in the face of repressive" authorities and criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms, calling them "thieves."
Al-Ajami still can appeal the remaining prison term to a higher court.
"This sentence will not stand," said his brother Hasan. "When you strip away everything, this is just a case about power and pressure."
Qatar's attorney general, Ali bin Fetais al-Marri, told Al-Jazeera English that state prosecutors also will seek to restore the life sentence.
"We accept the ruling," al-Marri told the network. "However, we, as public prosecution, will resort to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment, hoping to restore it as was, a life term. However, in any case, we will honor the (decision) of the court."
Earlier this month, a Kuwait court sentenced three former opposition lawmakers to three years hard labor for insulting the country's ruler during speeches at political rallies. In January, a Kuwait blogger and online journalists received two-year sentences in back-to-back convictions for posts deemed "insulting" to the emir.
In November, the United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes. They include giving authorities wider leeway to arrest Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country's leadership or calling for demonstrations.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new bipartisan deficit-reduction plan to slash a massive $600 billion from U.S. healthcare spending over two decades has policy experts scratching their heads over how such an ambitious target can be reached.
Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson have yet to declare what they would do to wring savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, according to analysts who provide the two deficit hawks with their facts and figures.
Those ideas will be laid out in a detailed plan due to be issued at some point over the coming weeks.
But policy experts say the latest Simpson-Bowles plan may call for politically unpalatable steps, such as an increase in the Medicare eligibility age and a phasing out of the tax protection for employer-sponsored health insurance plans.
The $600 billion savings target is one-quarter of a $2.4 trillion deficit reduction plan that Simpson and Bowles released on Tuesday, as pressure mounted on Congress and the White House to find a way to avoid a package of automatic cuts known as the "sequester," due to take effect on March 1.
The plan also includes $600 billion in revenue from tax reform, $1.2 trillion from cuts in defense and non-defense spending and a shift to a slower inflation gauge for federal programs including Social Security.
"It might help Congress do something right for a change. Slim hope, but it's all we have," said Joseph Antos of the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
The approach to winnowing back the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare system appears at some level to split the difference between Democrats and Republicans. The spending reduction target is closer to larger Republican demands than to the $400 billion in savings offered by President Barack Obama.
However, much of the content appears to reflect Obama's priorities, from reining in the underlying healthcare cost curve to encouraging new payment structures that reward improvements in quality and efficiency rather than volume of treatments.
For now, experts said the plan provided too few details to know who would be on the hook for the biggest sacrifices.
"They have not made final decisions about the exact numbers or specific policies they will include in the plan they release in the coming weeks," said Ed Lorenzen, executive director of the Moment of Truth Project, a Simpson-Bowles led initiative that released the deficit reduction plan on Tuesday.
POTENTIAL ISSUES ON BOTH SIDES
Some analysts worried that the detailed plan would pose problems for Democrats and Republicans alike.
For example, the White House recently rejected the idea of raising to 67 from 65 the eligibility age for Medicare, the federal healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.
"It's impossible to get to $600 billion in healthcare savings without raising the Medicare age," said Topher Spiro, a former aide to the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy who helped draft Obama's healthcare reform law.
"I don't think it's constructive for them to move the goal posts, because it emboldens Republicans to demand cuts that are really unrealistic," added Spiro, now an analyst with the Center for American Progress, a Washington think-tank with close ties to Democrats and the Obama White House.
Bowles last proposed $600 billion in healthcare spending cuts in 2011 when he appeared before the so-called Super Committee, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers that ultimately failed to agree on a deficit reduction package that would have avoided the looming sequester.
The Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, the think-tank that sponsors the Moment of Truth Project, followed up his remarks with proposals that would cut $609 billion from healthcare spending over a decade. This list included $175 billion in provider payments, $112 billion in rebates and $125 billion from raising the Medicare eligibility age.
In an emailed response to a Reuters query, Lorenzen said those savings proposals are "not necessarily" a good guide to what the latest Simpson-Bowles plan will look like.
But analysts noted that the two men on Tuesday spoke of Medicare payments cuts to hospitals, doctors and other providers who have already seen more than $700 billion in reduced pay increases under Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Some worry that further cuts could force certain providers to stop serving Medicare's 50 million beneficiaries.
"Right now, we're looking an unprecedented reduction in provider payments," said Robert Moffit of the conservative Heritage Foundation. "If the current payment cuts are actually maintained, we will start to see a serious problems of senior citizens having access to care."
Simpson and Bowles also talked about "adjusting benefits to account for population aging," which analysts interpreted as a reference to the Medicare eligibility age. Moffit said such a move, along with further means testing for wealthy beneficiaries and changes in cost-sharing, would go a long way toward reducing the program's contribution to federal spending.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Ros Krasny and Maureen Bavdek)
Microsoft only provides sporadic updates to how the Windows Phone Store is doing, but today, it used the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to offer a few new numbers. According to Microsoft, there are now over 130,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store, and the average Windows Phone user has now downloaded 55 apps. App downloads, the company says, have increased by 75 percent since the Windows Phone 8 launch late last year, and paid app revenue has increased 91 percent. The Windows Phone developer ecosystem, too, is growing quickly, according to Microsoft. More than 40,000 new developers registered with the company in the first 90 days since the launch of Windows Phone 8, and there are now over 15,000 apps in the store that leverage features only available in Windows Phone 8. SDK downloads, too, are up and have now topped 500,000 ?since October 30, 2012. One thing that’s worth noting when looking at the number of new developers is that Microsoft reduced the price of registering as a developer from $99 per year to $8 for the first year during the eight days after the Windows Phone 8 launch, so the numbers may be a good bit higher because of this. New Dev Center App Microsoft also launched a mobile version of its Dev Center dashboard today. The Dev Center app?provides developers with easy access to all the key metrics about their app, including download data, crash trends and reviews. The app, of course, also features a live tile and lets developers share a link to their apps with others without having to go into the store first. To make Windows Phone even more attractive to developers, the company also teamed up with services ?like Box, mobile backend provider Buddy?and Photon Cloud, a service for game developers, to offer Windows Phone developers a number of special offers like free API calls and free service for a limited time.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? A poet jailed for a verse considered offensive to Qatar's ruler harshly denounced the Gulf nation's legal proceedings on Monday after an appeals court reduced his life sentence but still kept a 15-year prison term.
The rant in court ? rare in the tightly controlled Gulf Arab states ? underscored the free speech battles across the region as Western-backed authorities take strict measures against perceived political dissent in the wake of the Arab Spring.
From Kuwait to Oman, dozens of people have been arrested in the past year for social media posts deemed insulting to leaders or calling for political forms. For Qatar, the case also could bring added pressure from rights groups looking into labor conditions and other preparations for football's 2022 World Cup, which will be by far the most prominent international event hosted in the Gulf region.
"Unjust," shouted poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami in the heavily guarded courtroom in Qatar's capita, Doha, after his appeal to drop the conviction was denied. The court cut the life sentence handed down in November and imposed a 15-year term instead.
Al-Ajami faced specific charges from a poem posted online in 2010 that discussed the traits needed for a good leader ? which apparently was seen by authorities as a challenge to Qatar's emir and the ruling family.
He was more widely known for an Internet video of him reciting "Tunisian Jasmine," a poem lauding that country's popular uprising, which touched off the Arab Spring rebellions across the Middle East. In the poem, he said, "we are all Tunisia in the face of repressive" authorities and criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms, calling them "thieves."
Al-Ajami still can appeal the remaining prison term to a higher court.
"This sentence will not stand," said his brother Hasan. "When you strip away everything, this is just a case about power and pressure."
Qatar's attorney general, Ali bin Fetais al-Marri, told Al-Jazeera English that state prosecutors also will seek to restore the life sentence.
"We accept the ruling," al-Marri told the network. "However, we, as public prosecution, will resort to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment, hoping to restore it as was, a life term. However, in any case, we will honor the (decision) of the court."
Earlier this month, a Kuwait court sentenced three former opposition lawmakers to three years hard labor for insulting the country's ruler during speeches at political rallies. In January, a Kuwait blogger and online journalists received two-year sentences in back-to-back convictions for posts deemed "insulting" to the emir.
In November, the United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes. They include giving authorities wider leeway to arrest Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country's leadership or calling for demonstrations.
Men's Nordic Skiing at NCAA Central Region ChampionshipsHoughton, Mich.
The Gustavus men's nordic skiing team travels to Houghton, Michigan for the NCAA Central Region Championships.? Competition begins on Saturday, February 23 and concludes on Sunday, February 24, 2013.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? Investors are keeping a wary eye on Italy as the country heads to the polls Sunday and Monday to elect a new parliament. They fear that a new government and prime minister could weaken or scrap the economic reforms and budget cuts begun by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti during his 15 months in office and hurt Italy's chances of recovering from a decade of low growth.
While the markets are unlikely to punish Italy as they did in 2011-12, they will want to make sure a new government doesn't mean a return to Italy's bad old days.
Here are some questions and answers about this weekend's elections matter for Italy and the rest of Europe.
Q: Why all the worry?
A: Italy's economy ? the third-largest among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro ? has only grown less than a half percent a year on average for a decade. That is compared to 1.25 percent in other rich industrialized countries. Faster growth is needed to shrink Italy's mounting debt burden, which already equals 127 percent of its annual gross domestic product.
Because of its size, Italy's problems can dent market confidence in the whole eurozone. Doubts about Italy's ability to manage its debt caused markets to question whether the euro could survive in 2011-12.
Q: What's wrong with its economy?
Before it joined the euro in 1999, the country used to give its economy a boost by to devaluing its old currency, the lire ? a trick that used to make its exports cheaper.
Devaluation helped mask underlying problems such as labor rules that favor vested interests such as unions and established workers, which kill off job prospects for younger people; a high business tax burden and heavy cost to businesses from expensive public utilities and red tape.
Italy "remains in dire need of structural reforms to boost competitiveness and improve trend growth," wrote economists Norbert Aul and James Ashley at RBC Capital Markets. They noted that the only economies that have grown more slowly in the past 12 years are Zimbabwe, San Marino, and Portugal.
A growing economy would increase government revenue from business and income taxes and the country's debt.
Q: Where does Monti come into all this?
A: Italy's political parties installed Monti, a former EU commissioner and academic, as prime minister to lead a temporary crisis government of financial experts in November, 2011. His predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, resigned after high borrowing costs, fed by fears Italy would not pay its debts, threatened the country with financial ruin and rattled confidence in the eurozone.
Monti set about easing some of Italy's anti-business practices, such as labor laws that made it extremely difficult to fire longtime workers. He reduced the budget deficit with the help of an unpopular tax on homes.
Italy's deficit is down to around 3 percent of gross domestic output for last year ? not great, but it complies with the official limit for eurozone members.
However, in January, Monti resigned as Prime Minister after Berlusconi's party withdrew its support and criticized his cutbacks - hence the new elections.
Q: So now the elections are under way, what are investors afraid of?
A: Italy's Byzantine election laws could mean many different outcomes. The worst result would be no party or coalition being able to form a government, leading to new elections.
Researcher Vincenzo Scarpetta at the Open Europe think tank says the probability of this is "very low" but that re-run elections could mean "potentially, huge market pressure, which Italy can hardly afford." This pressure would come in the form of rising interest rates on government debt.
Another possibility could be a parliament so divided that it can't govern effectively, or a shaky coalition of parties with clashing agendas ? meaning that any policies would be the result of endless compromise and back-room deals. A badly split parliament "would surely affect investors' confidence as Italy's political future would remain unclear," said Aul and Ashley.
The return of a government led by Berlusconi's center-right coalition ? regarded as unlikely ? could also dismay markets given his call to repeal Monti's home tax and the lack of confidence markets showed in him in 2011.
Q: What do markets want to see?
A: Analysts say investors seem to be anticipating that the center-left Democratic Party, led by Pier Luigi Bersani will win. Bersani opposes budget austerity but is regarded as not totally against all efforts to improve conditions for business. Markets would like it best if he wins but still needs the seats won by small parties led by Monti to govern. That would mean the government might continue with some of the reforms.
Q: So should we expect market chaos and the eurozone crisis to erupt again?
A: Not right away, no. Italian law requires extensive consultation, so it could take weeks to tell who is in charge. In 2008, it took 24 days for Berlusconi to be sworn in despite a landslide win.
However, an anti-reform result could mean Italy's borrowing costs could rise in the days and weeks following the election.
That would be a sure sign that bond investors are more skeptical of the country's long-term ability to pay.
But it's considered unlikely that the yields would immediately rise to the record levels of last year that threatened to push Italy to default. That is thanks to the European Central Bank, which has done much to calm fears that a country will be unable to pay its debts. In September, the ECB offered to buy unlimited amounts of bonds issued by indebted countries, if they agree to reforms and to cut their deficits. No one has used the program yet but its mere existence has lowered Italy's borrowing costs.
Nonetheless, a new Italian government that rejects reform "will lead to more uncertainty, higher yields and a gradual process toward the situation we had last year," says Carsten Brzeski, an analyst at ING in Brussels.
The big problem is the long-term absence of growth rather than what the markets do next week.
Economists Aul and Ashley warn: "Whichever party ends up in power... needs to focus upon Italy's economic frailties as a matter of priority."
Tow truck drivers clean up and tow away cars involved in a drive-by shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, John Locher) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
Tow truck drivers clean up and tow away cars involved in a drive-by shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, John Locher) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
Smoke and flames billow from a burning vehicle following a shooting and multi-car accident on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas early Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The Las Vegas Strip became a scene of deadly violence early Thursday when, authorities say, someone in a black Range Rover opened fire on a Maserati, sending it crashing into a taxi that burst into flames, leaving three people dead and at least six injured. (AP Photo/Erik Lackey)
Tow truck drivers clean up and tow away cars involved in a drive-by shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, John Locher) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
Law enforcement personal investigate the scene of a mulit-vehicle accident on Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Road Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. Authorities say a Range Rover opened fire on a Maserati at a stoplight, sending it crashing into a taxi that went up in flames, leaving three people dead and at least six injured. Police were checking with nearby businesses to see whether a previous altercation prompted the car-to-car attack (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jeff Scheid) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
Tow truck drivers clean up and tow away cars involved in a drive-by shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal, John Locher) LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; LAS VEGAS SUN OUT
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Police on Friday searched for a Range Rover with dark tinted windows and custom rims that set off a fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip when someone in the luxury SUV opened fire on a Maserati driven by an aspiring rapper.
Kenneth Cherry's great aunt, Patricia Sims, of Oakland, Calif., told The Associated Press that Cherry's parents were flying to Las Vegas to claim their 27-year-old son's body.
"Right now my heart is breaking," Sims said. "This has really been a tragedy. Kenny was just a delightful kid."
Sims, 75, said Cherry recently moved to Las Vegas from Northern California, though she didn't know her nephew was a rapper using the name Kenny Clutch. Cherry was particularly close with his 106-year-old grandmother.
"I haven't been able to tell her," Sims said.
A taxi driver and his female passenger also were killed when the cab they were in was hit and exploded in flames early Thursday.
The cab driver, Michael Boldon, 62, was a father and grandfather with a passion for fast cars, his older sister, Carolyn Jean Trimble, told the AP.
Boldon was born and raised in Michigan and had been driving taxis since he moved to Las Vegas about 1 1/2 years ago. He loved watching car races and drove a Mercedes when he wasn't in a cab.
"Everybody just loved him," Trimble said. "When that car hit that cab, Mike had to be in there talking and laughing."
At least six other people, including a passenger in the Maserati, were injured in what marked the latest in a series of violent episodes in Las Vegas in recent months.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters the shooting was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and it traveled to one of the busiest intersections on the Las Vegas Strip. As bullets flew from the Range Rover, the Maserati ran a red light and smashed into the taxi.
Three more cars and a utility truck also collided as the Range Rover sped off in the darkness at about 4:30 a.m.
Police didn't release the names of the people involved but said the Maserati passenger was cooperating with police.
"We have numerous witnesses to this," Sgt. John Sheahan said. "But what is the genesis of this? We don't know yet."
Las Vegas police officer Jose Hernandez said Friday that the Range Rover was being sought in Nevada and the neighboring states of California, Utah and Arizona. It had a car dealer's advertisement in place of a license plate.
The effects of the shooting and crashes were felt hours later as the Strip remained closed, snarling traffic, until it reopened late Thursday.
"The people I feel sorry for are the people in the taxi," said Elvina Joyce, a tourist from Regina, Saskatchewan. "Seconds made all the difference in the world for them. Wrong place, wrong time."
The irony that a sports car would end the life of a man with such a love for fancy vehicles wasn't lost on Boldon's sister.
"He would have been tickled to death: 'Damn, of all things, a Maserati hit me, took me out like that,'" Trimble said. "I'm happy he didn't suffer."
The area near the shooting and crash has been the site of high-profile violence in the past.
Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1996 about a block away under similar circumstances, as assailants opened fire on his luxury sedan from a vehicle on Flamingo Road. The killing has never been solved.
Las Vegas has had several violent episodes in recent months.
Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed Feb. 16 in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
On New Year's Eve at Circus Circus, a man pulled out a revolver and fired it into the ground just off the main floor of the casino. Less than two weeks earlier, a woman allegedly slashed the face of a blackjack dealer at the Bellagio.
___
Associated Press writer Hannah Dreier in Las Vegas, and researchers Judith Ausuebel, Jennifer Farrar and Lynn Dombek contributed to this report
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PAT KIRBY, who teaches at Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhill, Dumfries, has been nominated for a lifetime achievement award by her head teacher.
Pat Kirby a teacher at Wallace Hall Academy Thornhill near Dumfries
Jim McEwan
SHE'S one of Scotland?s most dedicated teachers, whose commitment to learning goes much further than the classroom.
Pat Kirby set up a charity to secure jobs and work experience for her pupils.
Since founding the Queensberry Initiative three years ago, Pat now has more than 90 firms on board and has also helped get funding to secure the project?s future.
Pat, who teaches at Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhill, Dumfries, said: ?We want to provide the best possible chance of employment for our pupils. To do this, we work in partnership with farmers, country estates, colleges and universities to find the best possible way forward for our pupils when they leave school.?
Pat has also managed to secure funding for a minibus, which takes the children to their activities and is also offered to the wider community on a non-profit basis.
She said: ?I?ve been so thrilled with how well the charity has been received.?
As well as helping pupils into work, the scheme also employs two members of staff.
Pat?s latest venture is the establishment of a community orchard, which is led by a board of pupils working in association with local business advisers to run the growing enterprise.
Away from her first love of teaching, Pat, of Dumfries, has also shown a devotion to the overall welfare of her pupils.
She took up her first guidance post in 1992 and quickly established an open-door policy, where children who came to her were given advice and a caring shoulder to lean on.
Pat said: ?I?ve always liked to try to work with the ethos that there is much more to the job than the subject we teach.?
Tireless work and a selfless approach are just two of the reasons Pat, who has worked at the school for 22 years, has been nominated for a lifetime achievement gong at the Education Awards, in association with the Daily Record.
She said: ?To be nominated is an incredible achievement and one that I am very proud of.?
And Pat?s commitment does not finish when the school bell rings at the end of the day.
She is a founder member of Let?s Talk, a teacher stress counselling service, as well as being a member of the local Credit Union.
Despite shouldering all of this extra responsibility, she is still hailed by colleagues and pupils, past and present, as an outstanding teacher.
Pat retires in September and was nominated for the award by her head teacher Barry Graham.
Barry said: ?Pat?s extensive achievements will endure but there are many achievements still to come ? it would be fitting if this award was one of them.?
Awards up for grabs
Active Nation Award
Education Supporter of the Year
Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Secondary)
Global Citizenship Award
Health and Wellbeing?Award
Lifetime Achievement
Numeracy Across Learning?Award
Probationary Teacher of the Year
Teacher of the Year
Aiming High Award
Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Primary)
Gaelic Awareness Award
Head Teacher of the Year
Learning Through Technology
Literacy Across Learning Award
Parents as Partners in Learning Award
Sustainable Schools Award
? If you would like to nominate someone in one of?the categories, visit the website at www.scottisheducationawards.org.uk
? Nominations close at midnight tonight. The event will take place on June 10.
PNNL rolls out its clean energy tech at ARPA-EPublic release date: 22-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Franny White franny.white@pnnl.gov 509-375-6904 DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Solar energy, electric and natural gas cars, magnets for motors, efficient heating on tap
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Researchers from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will exhibit their work at the 2013 Energy Innovation Summit of high-impact energy research funded by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. The summit runs Feb. 25-27 at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Below is an overview of PNNL research that will be highlighted there.
Nighttime solar power with cheaper thermal energy storage Booth 1211
Solar power is a clean source of energy, but its use is limited to when the sun shines. One option that extends solar energy into the night involves capturing the sun's heat during the day and releasing it when it's dark. Called thermal energy storage, the practice has been limited because the molten salts typically used to store solar heat for power production require large, expensive equipment. PNNL materials scientist Ewa Rnnebro and her team have shown that a powder made of a proprietary metal hydride can store up to 10 times more heat per mass than molten salts and operate at higher temperatures. PNNL and project partners University of Utah and Heavystone Lab are developing a 3 kilowatt-hour thermal demonstration system that will collect heat for six hours and discharge it over another six hours. If successful, the project could make thermal energy storage systems smaller and more cost-competitive.
New fuel storage tanks lighten the load for compressed natural gas vehicles Booth 1237
With the nation's supply of natural gas increasingly abundant and inexpensive, the fuel is being considered as a cleaner way to power light-duty cars and trucks. But while more than 15 million natural gas vehicles operate throughout the world, only about 150,000 are running on America's roads. One challenge is that natural gas exists as a vapor, meaning it contains less energy per volume than the denser, liquid gasoline most of us pump into our cars. Natural gas must be compressed into a pressurized fuel tank to increase its energy density. PNNL engineer Kevin Simmons and his team are developing special, lightweight fuel tanks that make better use of the limited space available in vehicles. PNNL's fuel tank design uses a unique manufacturing method called superplastic forming. The method involves welding together metal sheets at specific points and blowing air in between the sheets to expand them, forming internal chambers like an air mattress. The expanded metal tank will conform to more of a vehicle's space than traditional cylinder tanks. It also helps the cars weigh less, which makes them more fuel-efficient. The PNNL tank is expected to cost $1,500 to make and pack 12 megajoules of energy per kilogram, about twice the energy density of today's metal compressed natural gas tanks. Lincoln Composites is a partner in the project.
Rare earth-free magnet makes electric motors cheaper with more abundant materials Booth 1114
From wind turbines to electric vehicle motors, magnets play an essential role in a variety of today's electronic devices. But there's a limited supply of the rare earth minerals that are traditionally used in these magnets. In particular, dysprosium is added to increase a magnet's operating temperature, which is high in motors. But dysprosium has been named a critical material with unstable availability. PNNL materials scientist Jun Cui and his team are developing a manganese-based nano-composite magnet that doesn't contain dysprosium or any other rare earth mineral. The new magnet can operate at 200 degrees Celsius. The team's immediate goal is to make a permanent magnet with 10 MGOe, or megagauss-oersteds, a measurement of magnetic energy. With additional funding, the team will work to develop a 20-MGOe magnet, which would be more useful for a broader set of commercial applications. Project partners include PNNL, the universities of Maryland and Texas at Arlington, Ames Laboratory, Electron Energy Corp. and United Technologies.
Membrane dehumidifier makes air conditioners up to 50 percent more efficient Booth 635
Americans unnecessarily spend billions of dollars on power bills when humid air causes their air-conditioning systems to be inefficient. To cut electricity use for cooling in hot, humid climates by 50 percent, a team led by ADMA Products and including PNNL and Texas A&M University is developing a novel dehumidifier. The system uses a thin membrane developed by PNNL chemical engineer Wei Liu and his PNNL colleagues that acts as a molecular sieve and soaks up water from the air. The membrane consists of a thin, foil-like metal sheet that's coated with a layer of a water-attracting material called zeolite. Just one-fifth the width of human hair and made from common, inexpensive materials, the membrane removes moisture from air many times faster than dehydration membrane products currently on the market. PNNL is developing a small, lab-scale prototype of its system, and the project team has created a manufacturing method that can be used at larger scales. Visit Liu at the ADMA Products booth, or hear him pitch the technology to a panel of investors at ARPA-E's Future Energy Pitching Session, which runs 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25. More info on the pitching session is at http://www.arpae-summit.com/Agenda/Future-Energy-Pitching-Session.
New way to heat, cool electric vehicles reduces drain on driving range Booth 1112
The combustion engines in gasoline-powered cars generate a lot of heat, which is great for heating the passenger cabin in winter. But energy-efficient electric vehicles produce very little waste heat. Providing electricity for the same amount of heat used in gasoline cars would reduce electric vehicles' driving range by up to 40 percent. PNNL engineer Pete McGrail is leading a team that includes the University of South Florida to develop a material called an electrical metal organic framework, also called an EMOF, for electric vehicle heating and cooling systems. The material would work as a molecular heat pump that efficiently circulates heat or cold. By directly controlling the material's properties with electricity, their design is expected to use much less energy than traditional heat and cooling systems. A 5-pound, EMOF-based heat pump that is the size of a 2-liter bottle could theoretically handle the heating and cooling needs of an electric vehicle with far less impact on driving distance. While using a unique testing system that applies voltage to the material, the team observed for the first time an EMOF transitioning from an off, or insulating, state to an on, or semiconducting, state. The transition demonstrated the project's premise, coincided with a change in the material's crystal structure and was completely reversible. The team is now making other EMOFs with similar switching abilities and higher adsorption capacities that improve performance in an electric heat pump.
###
Reporters interested in scheduling interviews with the PNNL scientists about the above projects should contact Franny White at frances.white@pnnl.gov, 509-375-6904 (office) or 360-333-4793 (cell). More information about these projects and other PNNL research, including transactive control of a smart power grid, is also available at the PNNL display, located at booth 1108.
The summit's Technology Showcase, where PNNL's project booths are located, is open 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 4:45-8 p.m. on Feb. 26, as well as 7:30-8:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. on Feb. 27. The locations of PNNL's booths can be found on this map: http://www.expocad.com/host/fx/techforums/13ae/default.html.
Press passes for the 2013 Energy Innovation Summit can be obtained at http://www.arpae-summit.com/Press/Press-Passes.
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. PNNL employs 4,500 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion, and has been managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by Ohio-based Battelle since the laboratory's inception in 1965. For more information, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PNNL rolls out its clean energy tech at ARPA-EPublic release date: 22-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Franny White franny.white@pnnl.gov 509-375-6904 DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Solar energy, electric and natural gas cars, magnets for motors, efficient heating on tap
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Researchers from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will exhibit their work at the 2013 Energy Innovation Summit of high-impact energy research funded by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. The summit runs Feb. 25-27 at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Below is an overview of PNNL research that will be highlighted there.
Nighttime solar power with cheaper thermal energy storage Booth 1211
Solar power is a clean source of energy, but its use is limited to when the sun shines. One option that extends solar energy into the night involves capturing the sun's heat during the day and releasing it when it's dark. Called thermal energy storage, the practice has been limited because the molten salts typically used to store solar heat for power production require large, expensive equipment. PNNL materials scientist Ewa Rnnebro and her team have shown that a powder made of a proprietary metal hydride can store up to 10 times more heat per mass than molten salts and operate at higher temperatures. PNNL and project partners University of Utah and Heavystone Lab are developing a 3 kilowatt-hour thermal demonstration system that will collect heat for six hours and discharge it over another six hours. If successful, the project could make thermal energy storage systems smaller and more cost-competitive.
New fuel storage tanks lighten the load for compressed natural gas vehicles Booth 1237
With the nation's supply of natural gas increasingly abundant and inexpensive, the fuel is being considered as a cleaner way to power light-duty cars and trucks. But while more than 15 million natural gas vehicles operate throughout the world, only about 150,000 are running on America's roads. One challenge is that natural gas exists as a vapor, meaning it contains less energy per volume than the denser, liquid gasoline most of us pump into our cars. Natural gas must be compressed into a pressurized fuel tank to increase its energy density. PNNL engineer Kevin Simmons and his team are developing special, lightweight fuel tanks that make better use of the limited space available in vehicles. PNNL's fuel tank design uses a unique manufacturing method called superplastic forming. The method involves welding together metal sheets at specific points and blowing air in between the sheets to expand them, forming internal chambers like an air mattress. The expanded metal tank will conform to more of a vehicle's space than traditional cylinder tanks. It also helps the cars weigh less, which makes them more fuel-efficient. The PNNL tank is expected to cost $1,500 to make and pack 12 megajoules of energy per kilogram, about twice the energy density of today's metal compressed natural gas tanks. Lincoln Composites is a partner in the project.
Rare earth-free magnet makes electric motors cheaper with more abundant materials Booth 1114
From wind turbines to electric vehicle motors, magnets play an essential role in a variety of today's electronic devices. But there's a limited supply of the rare earth minerals that are traditionally used in these magnets. In particular, dysprosium is added to increase a magnet's operating temperature, which is high in motors. But dysprosium has been named a critical material with unstable availability. PNNL materials scientist Jun Cui and his team are developing a manganese-based nano-composite magnet that doesn't contain dysprosium or any other rare earth mineral. The new magnet can operate at 200 degrees Celsius. The team's immediate goal is to make a permanent magnet with 10 MGOe, or megagauss-oersteds, a measurement of magnetic energy. With additional funding, the team will work to develop a 20-MGOe magnet, which would be more useful for a broader set of commercial applications. Project partners include PNNL, the universities of Maryland and Texas at Arlington, Ames Laboratory, Electron Energy Corp. and United Technologies.
Membrane dehumidifier makes air conditioners up to 50 percent more efficient Booth 635
Americans unnecessarily spend billions of dollars on power bills when humid air causes their air-conditioning systems to be inefficient. To cut electricity use for cooling in hot, humid climates by 50 percent, a team led by ADMA Products and including PNNL and Texas A&M University is developing a novel dehumidifier. The system uses a thin membrane developed by PNNL chemical engineer Wei Liu and his PNNL colleagues that acts as a molecular sieve and soaks up water from the air. The membrane consists of a thin, foil-like metal sheet that's coated with a layer of a water-attracting material called zeolite. Just one-fifth the width of human hair and made from common, inexpensive materials, the membrane removes moisture from air many times faster than dehydration membrane products currently on the market. PNNL is developing a small, lab-scale prototype of its system, and the project team has created a manufacturing method that can be used at larger scales. Visit Liu at the ADMA Products booth, or hear him pitch the technology to a panel of investors at ARPA-E's Future Energy Pitching Session, which runs 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25. More info on the pitching session is at http://www.arpae-summit.com/Agenda/Future-Energy-Pitching-Session.
New way to heat, cool electric vehicles reduces drain on driving range Booth 1112
The combustion engines in gasoline-powered cars generate a lot of heat, which is great for heating the passenger cabin in winter. But energy-efficient electric vehicles produce very little waste heat. Providing electricity for the same amount of heat used in gasoline cars would reduce electric vehicles' driving range by up to 40 percent. PNNL engineer Pete McGrail is leading a team that includes the University of South Florida to develop a material called an electrical metal organic framework, also called an EMOF, for electric vehicle heating and cooling systems. The material would work as a molecular heat pump that efficiently circulates heat or cold. By directly controlling the material's properties with electricity, their design is expected to use much less energy than traditional heat and cooling systems. A 5-pound, EMOF-based heat pump that is the size of a 2-liter bottle could theoretically handle the heating and cooling needs of an electric vehicle with far less impact on driving distance. While using a unique testing system that applies voltage to the material, the team observed for the first time an EMOF transitioning from an off, or insulating, state to an on, or semiconducting, state. The transition demonstrated the project's premise, coincided with a change in the material's crystal structure and was completely reversible. The team is now making other EMOFs with similar switching abilities and higher adsorption capacities that improve performance in an electric heat pump.
###
Reporters interested in scheduling interviews with the PNNL scientists about the above projects should contact Franny White at frances.white@pnnl.gov, 509-375-6904 (office) or 360-333-4793 (cell). More information about these projects and other PNNL research, including transactive control of a smart power grid, is also available at the PNNL display, located at booth 1108.
The summit's Technology Showcase, where PNNL's project booths are located, is open 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 4:45-8 p.m. on Feb. 26, as well as 7:30-8:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. on Feb. 27. The locations of PNNL's booths can be found on this map: http://www.expocad.com/host/fx/techforums/13ae/default.html.
Press passes for the 2013 Energy Innovation Summit can be obtained at http://www.arpae-summit.com/Press/Press-Passes.
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. PNNL employs 4,500 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion, and has been managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by Ohio-based Battelle since the laboratory's inception in 1965. For more information, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This streak of light shows the meteor?s entry into Earth?s atmosphere. It was photographed by a European weather satellite.
Credit: EUMETSAT
Mother Nature provided a surprise light show over Russia early on February 14. That?s when a major meteor entered Earth?s atmosphere. The object was originally 17 meters (55 feet) in diameter. That?s as wide as a 5-story building is high. It had also weighed a whopping 10,000 metric tons, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA).
The meteor was traveling about 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) per hour. It created a brilliant streak as it traveled across the sky for nearly 33 seconds. The meteor then exploded about 20 to 25 kilometers (12 to 15 miles) above Earth?s surface.
Visit the new?Science News for Kids?website?and read the full story:?Meteor explodes over Russia
Since Marc is so quick to post exciting things all of his agents are doing, their accomplishments, and their praising testimonials, I thought it was about time someone did it for him. ?Congratulations to DWELL broker/owner Marc Rasmussen for becoming a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist and a member of the prestigious Million Dollar Guild!
Marc went down to Miami to a conference at the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, which exists to help real estate professionals provide high quality service to buyers and sellers of the luxury market.? The 2-day intensive-study course covered topics such as trends and amenities in today?s luxury market and creating marketing plans for multi-million dollar property, meaning that DWELL is even better equipped now to serve million dollar buyers and sellers.? Laurie Moore-Moore, President of the Institute and author of Rich Buyer, Rich Seller!? The Real Estate Agents? Guide to Marketing Luxury Homes, said that ?Marc Rasmussen is an example of a broker who works to hone the special skills and competencies necessary to provide exceptional service in the fine homes and estates marketplace.??? Now there?s a ringing endorsement!
The designation Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist (or CLHMS designation) is given to agents and brokers who have documented performance in the Top 10% of their market, and have successfully demonstrated their expertise in the luxury home and estate market.? Marc has been selling real estate since 2000 and opened his brokerage DWELL Real Estate in 2011.? He truly made waves this past year in the Sarasota real estate market, seeing as his brand-new firm sold a whopping $36,000,000+ in their first full year of existence, and has multiple agents who have sold million-dollar-plus properties.? ?Marc himself is a member of the prestigious Million Dollar Guild, a special designation of the CLHMS, which recognizes performance that includes at least two single-family property closings at $1,000,000 and above per year.?
Marc is a go-to person when the news needs a real estate market update; he?s the professional from whom professionals go to seek advice.? (Did I mention he?s just a lovely boss?)?? Now he adds to that list the CLHMS designation.? Congratulations on your hard work, Marc!
And just because I?ve got your attention: if you are a luxury home buyer or seller, please get in touch with us here at DWELL, 941.822.0708, to help with any of your needs.? We?re especially suited to assist you and work every day to better our qualifications to serve the luxury Sarasota market!
Microsoft only provides sporadic updates to how the Windows Phone Store is doing, but today, it used the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to offer a few new numbers. According to Microsoft, there are now over 130,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store, and the average Windows Phone user has now downloaded 55 apps. App downloads, the company says, have increased by 75 percent since the Windows Phone 8 launch late last year, and paid app revenue has increased 91 percent. The Windows Phone developer ecosystem, too, is growing quickly, according to Microsoft. More than 40,000 new developers registered with the company in the first 90 days since the launch of Windows Phone 8, and there are now over 15,000 apps in the store that leverage features only available in Windows Phone 8. SDK downloads, too, are up and have now topped 500,000 ?since October 30, 2012. One thing that’s worth noting when looking at the number of new developers is that Microsoft reduced the price of registering as a developer from $99 per year to $8 for the first year during the eight days after the Windows Phone 8 launch, so the numbers may be a good bit higher because of this. New Dev Center App Microsoft also launched a mobile version of its Dev Center dashboard today. The Dev Center app?provides developers with easy access to all the key metrics about their app, including download data, crash trends and reviews. The app, of course, also features a live tile and lets developers share a link to their apps with others without having to go into the store first. To make Windows Phone even more attractive to developers, the company also teamed up with services ?like Box, mobile backend provider Buddy?and Photon Cloud, a service for game developers, to offer Windows Phone developers a number of special offers like free API calls and free service for a limited time.
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Public release date: 22-Feb-2013
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Since Marc is so quick to post exciting things all of his agents are doing, their accomplishments, and their praising testimonials, I thought it was about time someone did it for him. ?Congratulations to DWELL broker/owner Marc Rasmussen for becoming a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist and a member of the prestigious Million Dollar Guild!
