Woman Survives Grizzly Bear Attack

By MATTHEW BROWN and BEN NEARY (AP) – 1 hour ago
COOKE CITY, Mont. — One of the survivors of a deadly grizzly bear attack said Thursday she realized her only hope was to play dead after feeling the bear's jaw clamp onto her arm in the middle of the night.
Wildlife officials were testing the DNA of a bear captured at the site of the early Wednesday mauling to confirm it was the animal that also killed a Michigan man and hurt another camper near Yellowstone National Park, but they said they were confident they had caught the right animals.
"Something woke me up, and a split second later, I felt teeth grinding into my arm," Deb Freele of London, Ontario, said from a Wyoming hospital. "I realized, at that split second, I was being attacked by a bear, but I couldn't see it.
"It was behind me and I screamed. I couldn't help it — it's kind of like somebody else was screaming," she told The Associated Press. "And then it bit me harder, and more. It got very aggressive and started to shake me."
She kept screaming but then realized that if she didn't do something, she was going to die.
"I decided at that point, the only other thing I knew to do was to play dead, and I just went totally limp, got very quiet, didn't make a sound. And a few seconds later, the bear dropped me and walked away," she said.
The bear believed to be responsible for the rampage at the Soda Butte Campground was lured into a trap fashioned from culvert pipe and pieces of the dead man's tent. Wildlife officials left the 300- to 400-pound sow in place overnight to attract her young, and by Thursday morning two of her year-old offspring were in adjacent traps.
The third could be heard nearby through much of the day, calling out to its mother and eliciting heavy groans from the sow, which periodically rattled its steel cage.
By late afternoon, the cub could no longer be heard. Wildlife officials said it likely had sought cover as the day warmed up, and they hoped it would return Thursday evening because it could not be allowed to stay in the wild.
"Eventually he'll get hungry and he'll come back," said Fish Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Andrea Jones.
Montana wildlife officials identified the man killed as Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich. The bear pulled Kammer out his tent and dragged him 25 feet to where his body was found, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim.
Messages left Thursday for Kammer's mother-in-law and brother-in-law in Michigan were not immediately returned.
Freele and the other victim, Ronald Singer, 21, of Alamosa, Colo., were hospitalized in Cody, Wyo. Singer was treated and released, and Freele was scheduled to have surgery Friday for bite wounds and a broken bone in her arm, said West Park Hospital spokesman Joel Hunt.
Singer and his mother, Luron Singer, did not immediately return e-mail messages from the AP. But Luron Singer told The Denver Post that her son, a former high school wrestler, had been camping with his girlfriend.
When he felt the bear biting his leg, he started punching the animal, she said. His girlfriend screamed, and the bear ran away.
"He is doing fine," Luron Singer told the Post. "He went fishing today."
News of the maulings set residents and tourists on edge in Cooke City, a Yellowstone gateway community tucked into the picturesque Absaroka Mountains. Many were carrying bear spray, a pepper-based deterrent more commonly seen in Yellowstone's backcountry than on the city's streets.
Pennsylvania tourist Sheila McBride said she bought a can of the spray Thursday morning after hearing news of the attacks. She and her husband had no plans to hike or camp but were driving through the park in a convertible and wanted to be prepared in case they were delayed in a remote area by any road construction.
"We've got it in the back where we can grab it real easy," McBride said, pointing to her BMW. "If we're stuck in the convertible and a bear is coming over the mountain, we want to be ready."
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard said he was confident the killer bear was the one they had captured because it came back to the site of the rampage, which started around 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Sheppard said it was a highly unusual predatory attack, with campers in three different tents mauled as they slept.
"She basically targeted the three people and went after them," Sheppard said. "It wasn't like an archery hunter who gets between a sow and her cubs and she responds to protect them."
Wildlife officials said tent or sleeping bag fibers were in the captured bears' droppings, and that a tooth fragment found in a tent appears to match a chipped tooth on the sow.
Officials have said the bear will be killed if DNA evidence confirms it was the same one that attacked the victims. Aasheim said the test results were expected by Friday.
"Everything points to it being the offending bear, but we are not going to do anything until we have DNA samples," he said.
State and federal wildlife officials will determine the fate of the cubs, which are feared to have learned predatory behavior from their mother.
The bear attack was the most brazen in the Yellowstone area since the 1980s, officials said.
In 2008 at the same campground, a grizzly bear bit and injured a man sleeping in a tent. A young adult female grizzly was captured in a trap four days later and taken to a bear research center in Washington state.
"The suspicion among a lot of the residents is that the bear they caught (in 2008) was not the right one," said Gary Vincelette, who has a cabin in nearby Silver Gate.
Sheppard said there was no truth to that.
About 600 grizzly bears and hundreds of less-aggressive black bears live in the Yellowstone area.
The region is pasted with hundreds of signs warning visitors to keep food out of the bruins' reach. Experts say bears who eat human food quickly become habituated to people, increasing the danger of an attack.
Yet in the case of the Wednesday's attack, all the victims had put their food into metal food canisters installed at campsite, Sheppard said.
"They were doing things right," he said. "It was random. I have no idea why this bear picked these three tents out of all the tents there."
The 10-acre Soda Butte Campground in Gallatin National Forest has 27 campsites.
Two other campgrounds were also closed while the attacking bear or bears remained at large.
Neary reported from Cheyenne, Wyo. Associated Press writers Amy Beth Hanson and Matt Volz in Helena, and Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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Air Conditioning Company Makes an Acquisition

Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (FIX 11.52, 0.00, 0.00%) , a leading provider of commercial, industrial and institutional heating, ventilation and air conditioning ("HVAC") services, today announced that it has acquired ColonialWebb Contractors Company ("ColonialWebb") headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.

ColonialWebb is a large and important regional contractor with its principal operations in Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. ColonialWebb engages in a broad range of mechanical contracting projects, HVAC service and industrial refrigeration, primarily in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Initially ColonialWebb is expected to contribute annualized revenues of approximately $180 million to $190 million at profitability levels that are expected to be roughly equivalent to those generally earned by Comfort Systems USA operations. Because of the amortization of intangibles and other costs associated with the transaction, the acquisition is not expected to be materially accretive to earnings per share during the first 12 to 18 months after the acquisition.

Bill Murdy, Comfort Systems USA's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are extremely pleased that ColonialWebb is joining Comfort Systems USA. ColonialWebb has a long history of excellence throughout the mid-Atlantic region and will immediately become our largest subsidiary. With excellent capabilities, systems, resources and leadership at every level, ColonialWebb will continue to be a significant factor in the mechanical contracting and service industries overall, and we expect that, over time, interaction between our existing companies and ColonialWebb will strengthen and improve all of Comfort Systems USA."

The Company reiterated that its second quarter earnings release remains scheduled for close of business on August 2, 2010, with the analyst call the following day, August 3, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time. Details of the call are included below.

Mr. Murdy continued, "Earnings from our core operations were well within the expected ranges during the second quarter of 2010. As we reviewed our results, the Company decided that due to a period of weak results at one of our operations, it was appropriate to formally test the goodwill balances associated with that operation. As a result of that review, the Company expects that it will incur a noncash impairment of goodwill of approximately $5.7 million in the second quarter, so earnings per share calculated after giving effect to that impairment will be reduced by $0.09. As a result of this noncash impairment, reported earnings per share for the quarter will most likely be in the very low single digit range." Mr. Murdy concluded, "As we have discussed in the past, the cyclical nature of our industry results in the likelihood that from time to time we will incur individual goodwill impairments. Despite the noncash impairment of these intangible assets, our operations and outlook remain solid, and we look forward to discussing our ColonialWebb acquisition and our results during our analyst call next week."

As previously announced, the Company will host a conference call to discuss its financial results and position in more depth on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. Central Time. The call-in number for this conference call is 1-888-713-4218 and enter 15208700 as the passcode. Participants may pre-register for the call at https://www.theconferencingservice.com/prereg/key.process?key=PY4VJDERQ. Pre-registrants will be issued a pin number to use when dialing into the live call which will provide quick access to the conference by bypassing the operator upon connection. The call can also be accessed on the Company's website at www.comfortsystemsusa.com under the Investor tab. A replay of the entire call will be available until 6:00 p.m. Central Time, Tuesday, August 10, 2010 by calling 1-888-286-8010 with the conference passcode of 79634038, and will also be available on our website on the next business day following the call.

Comfort Systems USA(R) is a premier provider of business solutions addressing workplace comfort, with 84 locations in 74 cities around the nation. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.comfortsystemsusa.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the current plans and expectations of future events of Comfort Systems USA, Inc. and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future activities and results of operations to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, the use of incorrect estimates for bidding a fixed-price contract, undertaking contractual commitments that exceed our labor resources, failing to perform contractual obligations efficiently enough to maintain profitability, national or regional weakness in construction activity and economic conditions, financial difficulties affecting projects, vendors, customers, or subcontractors, our backlog failing to translate into actual revenue or profits, difficulty in obtaining or increased costs associated with bonding and insurance, impairment to goodwill, errors in our percentage-of-completion method of accounting, the result of competition in our markets, our decentralized management structure, shortages of labor and specialty building materials, retention of key management, seasonal fluctuations in the demand for HVAC systems, the imposition of past and future liability from environmental, safety, and health regulations including the inherent risk associated with self-insurance, adverse litigation results and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors are discussed under "Item 1A. Company Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this filing. Comfort Systems USA, Inc. expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, developments, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

SOURCE: Comfort Systems USA, Inc.

Russians Buy Long Beach Technology in Rocket Ships

Sea Launch Co., a Long Beach-based rocket launch company, said a Delaware judge on Tuesday approved a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan that would transfer control of the company from Boeing Co. to a Russian rocket engine maker.

The company, which uses a converted oil-rig to launch rockets near the equator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2009 after it could not pay a $52-million judgment against it in connection with a terminated launch contract. The judgment came shortly after a platform explosion in early 2007 destroyed a commercial satellite and set the company's operations back about a year.

Under the reorganization plan, an affiliate of rocket engine maker Rocket & Space Corp. Energia, based in Moscow, is investing $155 million for a 95% stake in the company.

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"It's extremely gratifying to be close to the finish line," said Kjell Karlsen, the president of Sea Launch.

The company was formed in 1995 by Chicago-based Boeing as an alternative to launching satellites from land. Initially, Boeing held a 40% stake, with the remaining shares held by Energia; Aker ASA, a Norwegian shipbuilder; and two Ukrainian rocket component makers.

Under the new plan, Boeing will have a 3% stake in the company with the remaining 2% owned by Aker.

Before the company can officially operate as a new entity, the U.S. State Department has to approve the transfer of export licensing agreements from Boeing to the Russian company, which is expected in September.

Despite the proposed new ownership structure, Sea Launch has said it would not abandon Southern California. Karlsen said the company planned to double its workforce to 100 employees as it ramps up for more launches next year.

Sea Launch, which counts DirecTV and satellite services provider Intelsat as customers, has no launches scheduled this year but has two on the calendar next year.

The company secured contracts last month with commercial satellite operators EchoStar Satellite Services and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. It did not specify a date for the launches. In addition, a company spokeswoman said Sea Launch has signed three more contracts but didn't provide details.

william.hennigan@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Obama on The View Thursday Morning

By Reuters / July 26, 2010

Los Angeles
President Barack Obama will appear on female chat show "The View" on Thursday, in what the ABC network said on Monday was the first appearance by a sitting U.S. president on a daytime TV talk show.Obama's July 29 appearance will be taped on Wednesday. He will be asked about jobs, the economy, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and family life inside the White House, ABC said in a statement.

Veteran journalist and "The View" co-host Barbara Walters, will also return to the studio for Obama's appearance for the first time since she underwent surgery in May.Obama appeared on "The View" in March 2008 when he was campaigning for the U.S. presidency, and his wife Michelle was a featured co-host in June of that year.

"We are so pleased and honored that President Obama will be a guest on 'The View.'...This shows that both the president and first lady feel that our show is an influential and important source of information and news," Walters, 80, said in a statement.

Walters added that she would return to the show full-time in September.

"The View", which debuted in 1997, features spirited conversations and interviews with celebrity guests by hosts, Walters, actress Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. It is one of the top daytime shows for female viewers.

In March 2009, Obama became the first sitting president to appear on a U.S. late-night talk show, when he was a guest on NBC's "The Tonight Show", hosted by Jay Leno.

Infants Safe after Amber Alert

By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer
A mother left her two youngsters, ages 6 months and 1 year, sleeping in her black pickup truck Saturday afternoon with the engine and air-conditioner running in front of Contreras Meat Market on Talmage Road east of Ukiah. When she returned from shopping, the truck and her children were gone.
The mom, Rocio Oliveros, called 9-1-1 about 3:30 p.m. with temperatures topping 101 degrees, and the Ukiah California Highway Patrol initiated a statewide amber alert about an hour later, describing the truck and the missing infants. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department initiated a reverse 9-1-1 call alerting homes and businesses in the Ukiah valley about the search for the missing children. An extensive search along area highways was conducted by every available law enforcement agency, including several helicopters.
The amber alert sign on Highway 101 caught the eye of a Redwood Valley man, who remembered seeing a pickup matching the search description parked on Oman Road. He drove back to the abandoned pickup, noticed the two children inside, and immediately called police at about 6:15 p.m. The good Samaritan opened the truck doors to allow air into the overheated cab. Saturday's temperatures in Ukiah at 6 p.m. were still above 100 degrees.
When found, the missing children were strapped into their car seats with the windows rolled up and the engine off, apparently out of gas, say police. The youngsters were dehydrated and very distressed, they were taken to UkiahValley Medical Center for examination as a precaution. Police estimate the thieves had abandoned the children and vehicle about two hours before they were recovered and credit the good Samaritan with saving the children's lives.
The CHP is continuing to investigate the theft and abduction, but have not made an arrest. Police are asking the public to help them locate the perpetrators by phoning the Mendocino County Sheriff's anonymous tip line at 467-9159 if they have any information.

Support for ADA Needed More Than Ever

July 26 marks a significant date in our country's history. Twenty years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. This landmark civil rights legislation established a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. It allowed for equal access to public accommodations, education and employment, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications. When President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law, he declared, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."
Since then, much progress has been made to eradicate the segregation of people with disabilities and to make the dream of access a reality. It is no longer unusual to see people with disabilities dining at restaurants, working in the office, participating in town hall meetings, shopping at malls, watching a movie or cheering at a stadium. Many people, particularly aging baby boomers, have found that an accessible society is good for everyone.
But although the ADA has led to great promise and opportunity for some of us with disabilities, in 2010 the "shameful wall of exclusion" is still a prevalent reality for many of us.
Despite Title I of the ADA, which guarantees individuals with disabilities the right to equality in the workplace, there is still a proliferation of sweatshops in our own backyard called "Sheltered Workshops" that employ people with developmental disabilities whoare paid 10 cents an hour and are exempt from Fair Labor Standards. And 20 years later, more than 1.6 million Americans with disabilities of all ages who can and want to live in their own homes in the community are incarcerated in nursing homes and institutions against their will.
Opponents of the ADA believe that requiring businesses to provide access to people with disabilities isn't "fair to the business owner" and that the market will eventually force them to be more accommodating. Similar arguments were made about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. History has shown, however, that the free market did not lead to a breakdown of racial segregation anymore than it has based on disability.
The creation of a society that values the dignity, equality, freedom and worth of every human being requires constitutional protection to end the historical practice of segregation. While the language of the ADA defines the law, its spirit defines our humanity.
As Justin Dart, widely known as the father of the ADA, once said: "ADA is a landmark commandment of fundamental human morality." It sends a resounding message to people with disabilities: You are equal. You are whole. You are a valued contributor to our society.
So on this 20th anniversary of the ADA, it is up to us to make sure that none of us are excluded from its promise, including those who use In Home Supportive Services; the youth with undiagnosed disabilities in Santa Clara County's juvenile justice system; the parents of children with disabilities who ask why their children are still left out and left behind; and the disabled veterans who are finding that, despite their sacrifice for America, they are excluded from America's promise.
We must renew our commitment to uphold the civil rights of people with disabilities and to fully include all our people in the life of our nation. Please join the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center in celebration of the ADA's anniversary at the West Coast Disability Pride Parade and Festival at 10 a.m. Saturday on North First Street in San Jose. (For details, go to www.svilc.org.) Add your voice to ours as we say, "Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down."


SARAH TRIANO is executive director of the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center. She wrote this article for this newspaper.

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One Woman Looking for Love

By Jane Atkinson, 18/07/2010

JUST like the characters in her favourite TV show, posh Christina Saunders knows good sex. And so she should, after seducing 1,000 MEN.

The university-educated brunette longed to be as confident in bed as Sex And The City maneater Samantha.

So she set herself a 10-year challenge - to get a thousand notches on her bedpost.

She said: "Sam went from one man to the next and was proud of it. I wanted to be confident like her. I got hooked on the buzz of one-night-stands."

She slept with at least one stranger a week, travelled the world hunting for men to bed, and took part in threesomes.But now Christina, 30, admits: "All I want is a man to love me - not one who just wants me for sex."

Attractive Christina grew up in a five-bedroom house in Hertfordshire where she enjoyed riding her pony and visiting Ascot races and Henley regatta every year. Her parents, who she describes as "very middle class", had no idea of her secret life. She sighed: "They would be devastated if they knew what I was up to."

Christina decided to copy Sam, played by Kim Cattrall, 53, during a bout of flu at university in Bristol.

Until then she hadn't been that interested in men, saying her first sexual encounter - with a friend while she was at secondary school - was "a disaster".

But when she fell ill in 2000, aged 20, a pal gave her the first series of Sex And The City to watch. Christina said: "The thought of four women gloating about sleeping their way around New York hadn't appealed to me but I had nothing better to do so I watched it.

"Samantha was sexy, confident and proud. She had a male attitude of sleeping around and it fascinated me."

Legislation Signed to Stop Dead Man Checks

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (AP) – 7 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation intended to slash by $50 billion the taxpayer money improperly paid to dead people, fugitives and those in jail who shouldn't be getting benefits.
But that goal, if achieved, would not even halve the $110 billion made in such payments last year.
The new law will strengthen the efforts by federal agencies to halt the flow of improper money in a series of ways. Among those steps: requiring more audits of programs and adding penalties for agencies that don't comply with the law. The legislation also broadens how any recovered money can be used.
Obama chose to sign the bill in front of cameras in the White House's State Dining Room in hopes of bringing attention to the new law. He announced a goal of reducing improper payments by $50 billion by 2012; the White House says that last year's total of nearly $110 billion in these payments was the highest ever.
The president said the ultimate to goal is to end all improper payments.
"We have to challenge a status quo that accepts billions of dollars in waste as the cost of doing business," the president said.
Bad payments range from outright fraud to checks issued to the wrong person or for the wrong amount because of a typo. The president said that every dollar wasted should be going toward helping people afford college, providing benefits to the military and many other legitimate uses of tax money.
For perspective, he said the $110 billion figure in wasted money last year was more than the budgets of the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration combined. "That's unacceptable," he said.
The bill marked the latest effort by the administration to get a tighter handle on Washington spending, a politically sensitive issue as more Americans show concern about the nation's mounting debt. The president used the opportunity to recite a series of other measures to target unneeded spending under his watch.
Last month, he ordered creation of a federal "Do Not Pay List" — a database that agencies ultimately must search before writing checks to individuals and contractors.
Obama has proposed a three-year freeze in spending not tied to national security. He has instituted changes in how government contracts are awarded to save billions in such costs, and he has directed agencies to sell excess or underused real estate.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Replace Air Conditioning Filters Says the Experts

The hot temperatures in Northeast Kansas are over-working many air conditioners. So much that Lower's Plumbing, Heating and, Air Conditioning has seen as many as 90 phone calls in one day. The dispatch at Lower's has seen double the amount of service calls in past few days because of the extreme heat."They're hot," dispatcher Pat Sigler said. "People are hot and they want to be cooled off and they want to know how fast we can get out there."

Service specialists like Scott Emperley respond to about 6 or 7 house calls a day. He says due to this summer's high temperatures, air conditioners can often become overworked, and often stop running, but says there is one important key to keeping your air conditioner functioning at its fullest.

"It's mainly replacing your filters," Emperley said. "Cleaning your condenser coils outside. Just keep it clean that's the main thing."

Emperley adds another way keep from taxing is to avoid adjusting your thermostat when temperatures exceed 90 degrees.

"I typically tell people to not set it back more than five degrees when they're gone from work and stuff," Emperley said. "On these hot days like this, I really wouldn't even suggest setting it back because it just has to work that much harder to catch back up."

The 17-year veteran also says fans can help lighten the load on your unit. He says while it may cost more in electricity, circulating the cooler air may reduce the stress on your air conditioner.

Emperley says most people are opting to repair, rather than replace their air conditioners. He says many people are finding ways to repair units on their own.

Google and China Aren't Playing Nice

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. said it will end technical support for two online services in China that it used to offer with local partner Tianya.cn as cooperation between the two companies is being wound down.
Google will stop support for the two Tianya social- networking services this week, according to a posting today on the U.S. company’s Chinese blog page. In addition, Google will close a self-developed website ranking page and a lifestyle site in China because of lower-than-expected demand, it said.
“It’s now a suitable opportunity” for Google to review its engineering team to allow them to focus on other new and existing products, according to the blog posting. The Mountain View, California-based company this month won renewal of its Internet license in China, defusing a censorship row with regulators of the world’s biggest online market.
“We are in the process of winding down our cooperation with Tianya,” Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell said in an e- mail today. In 2007, Google began offering the Tianya services after investing an undisclosed amount in the Chinese partner.
The renewal of the Internet license will help lift the confidence of advertisers in Google, Nelly Jin, an analyst at iResearch, said yesterday. The Shanghai-based research company has an “optimistic” outlook on Google’s operations in China.
Google had 27.3 percent of China’s search-engine market in the second quarter, declining from 29.5 percent three months earlier, iResearch said yesterday. Rival Baidu Inc.’s share rose to 70.8 percent from 67.8 percent, according to iResearch.
Uncertainty about Google’s Chinese operations after the censorship dispute with the government had affected the company’s business in China, according to iResearch’s Jin.
Stories on Google: {GOOG US CN } Stories on China’s Internet industry: {TNI CHINA INTERNET }
--Editors: Jonathan Annells, Suresh Seshadri.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net

Marketing Tips on Going Viral Campaigns

by Craig Reiss

Last week we saw two days that shook the viral marketing world. Old Spice, a long-neglected — if not forgotten — Procter & Gamble brand unleashed a social media blitz that may have changed the rules of social network marketing.
At first glance, an entrepreneur may dismiss the Old Spice phenomenon as an oddity of riches, something only a marketing behemoth like P&G could exploit. But when we dissect its marketing principles and practices, it becomes not only entirely applicable to the small business owner, but an essential (and low-cost) opportunity as well. Let's take a look inside.

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For P&G, it began with a Super Bowl ad last February that introduced its brand character, the Old Spice Man. Played by shirtless baritone Isaiah Mustafa, a handsome, former NFL wide receiver with a polished comedic sense of timing and washboard abs, the Old Spice Man promised women he was "the man your man could smell like," even if no man could ever be as truly manly as The Old Spice Man.
The original Super Bowl commercial was created by legendary ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, which is best known (before this) for its Nike, Honda and ESPN SportsCenter commercials. It has been viewed on YouTube more than 13 million times.
Five months later, Wieden posted a simple message on Old Spice's Facebook and Twitter page: "Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up @Old Spice." And show up he did.
As people tweeted questions about manliness to the Old Spice Man, he began posting near-real-time video vignettes responding to the queries, all in character and with no small degree of humor as he stood bare-chested, abdominals front and center in a bathroom set with the creative crew and comedy copywriters of Wieden + Kennedy behind the camera furiously writing jokes and chasing down props.

In a two-day blitz, the team produced more than 180 video "shout-outs," including a marriage proposal (she accepted) and exchanges with celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Demi Moore, Christina Applegate, Alysa Milano, George Stephanopoulos, Olympics speed skater Apolo Ohno, gossip blogger Perez Hilton, tech gadget blog Gizmodo, Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks and Starbucks (which now has 10 million fans on Facebook).
Key to the effort was the response to Kevin Rose, the founder of social network Digg.com. Rose tweeted the Old Spice Man about his own illness that day. Here's the accompanying video response.
Rose was enamored. He tweeted, "Holy sh*t, best get well video EVER from Old Spice." That message went out to his million-plus Twitter followers. A viral phenomenon was born.The decision to include Rose and the celebrities was no accident. The Wieden team purposefully selected not only persons with huge followings on social networks — followings that dwarfed Old Spice's own — but specifically those with particular credibility and influence over the technorati and social media addicts. The social media kingpins told their followers, their followers told their friends, and the math compounded exponentially, fervently and quickly. Old Spice's Twitter followers increased more than 1,000 percent. Nearly 600,000 people on Facebook gave its ads a thumbs-up "like it" vote. And, according to Advertising Age, the Old Spice commercials received more than 7 million online views this week alone — and that does not include the viral vignettes we're talking about here. The cost of media: nothing.
You can see all of the videos here.
So, you ask, what's this got to do with me? Your voice isn't as deep as Mustafa's, you're more prone to have flab than abs, and you don't have a big-time ad agency writing on-the-fly copy for you. Fear not. The underlying social marketing principles and tactics are completely relevant and totally within your grasp. You don't even need to be funny.
The Post-Old-Spice principles of social media marketing
1. Create a persona that is strong and on point
Start with selecting someone, or something, as the character that captures your brand positioning. It needs to inspire people to interact. It certainly can be you, but you'll want to consider carefully. Not only will it require a commitment of time, energy and dedication, but you're going to have to live by the results. I've seen a handsome British owner of a business use his picture in a promotional e-mail, and then send the same e-mail only changing the picture to a clerk from his mailroom. The mailroom clerk drew 20 percent more response. The owner stepped aside. Business is business.
In the case of The Old Spice Man, the character is meant to appeal to women (hey, most men don't wear a scent to please other men) with manly insult humor that would appeal to men. You can select a humorous persona, but make sure you can sustain it. You can probably hire a local stand-up comic to play the role for you. People will think it's you, only funnier.
There are other character options that may be far more appropriate and just as engaging as humor, such as providing service, knowledge, empathy, honesty, sincerity, advocacy and the ever-utilized fanatical price-slashing or stain-removing screaming crazy. Only you can pick what's right, but the goal is to create the viral phenomenon that will make people compete for your attention.
We're also assuming here that these are ultimately video-driven personas. Even so, it is vital that you can capture the personality in a written and spoken voice. You're going to need to entice people to join in before you can let them see your act.
2. Seed social networks with invitations to interact
Ask people to play along, and somebody will. If it's worth it, they'll tell their friends. Let's look at a few hypothetical examples.
Suppose you have an auto parts dealership. You can invite people to submit their greatest auto modification desires. You can find the greatest influencers through auto clubs, your knowledge of your customer base or even the best auto shops in town and have them be the answer men. Or prove your own knowledge by answering directly in your chosen persona.
If you own a gym franchise, you can have people enter a "Biggest Loser"-type weight reduction contest and let others cheer them on. Have a dance studio or music studio? Stage your own online "America's Got Talent." Own a bridal shop, invite brides to be to play "Say Yes to the Dress" and let others vote. Run a wine shop, take questions on how to match food with wine and let chefs from the best restaurants provide the answers and recipes.
3. Engage the engaged, the famous and the influencers
There is fame on a big scale, and there is fame on a local level. Seek out anyone intriguing, like the mayor or the local newscaster. The main objective here is to engage people that others will find intriguing or impressive.
Don't forget bloggers. They have followings, some considerably larger than you might expect. You are trying to have others do the heavy lifting of spreading the word and gaining more people to participate. You'll have the additional benefit of gaining more links to your website, which over time will increase your ranking with search engines, especially in local search —which for most entrepreneurs is the most important. Bloggers also tend to have their own Twitter and Facebook followings, which will help greatly in compounding your audience.
4. Personalize the response and people will compete for inclusion
Whether it is a contest, advice, or just a conversation, every time you make the exchange personal with that one customer you create demand from others to also want your character to give a "shout out" to them.
That is at the core of the Old Spice phenomenon. People started competing to be witty or provocative, making their best bets on what would intrigue the Old Spice Man to want to respond to them. Many thousands did not get a response, but it seemed like all of them did. And the ones that didn't kept trying harder to impress the Man. Also, every blogger or celebrity who did get a response wrote about it. It was a badge of honor.
5. Make it episodic and easy to share
This is all about interactive storytelling. The more stories, the more consistent the delivery of new episodes, the more frequently people will check it out, and the greater the odds to become either a media habit or an outright addiction.
This also provides the greatest opportunities for people to share a link to an episode with their friends. You want to take every opportunity to feed the virus.
You will also be able to measure which subjects and types of responses get the best results. As with anything in business, provide more of what people want and less of what they don't.
6. Keep the videos simple and short
Find the location that works. It doesn't have to be elaborate. The Old Spice Man never left the bathroom, never looked anywhere but right at the camera, never changed his posture. There is power in familiarity. There is an old saying: An idea is finished not when you've put everything you can think of into it, but rather when you've taken out everything you possibly can.
Limit the personality traits of your persona. Don't attempt sophisticated cinematography. There is a real estate agent in Canada named Ian Watt who bought a camera mount, hooked it to the dashboard of his car, turned it on and just started talking about his market while he was driving from place to place. He came across as wildly aggressive, on the go, in the know, always working for you, with a personality as driven as Gary Vaynerchuk.
Vaynerchuk, too, is a great example of minimalist consistency. His winelibrary.com videos are all shot straight on in the dingy, poorly lit conference room of his wine store in New Jersey. Doesn't matter. He became a self-proclaimed $60 million wine shop and a frequent guest on Leno and Conan O'Brien. Don't let the setting or the production distract you from putting across the persona.
7. Promote it with tie-ins offline
Put up signage in your store promoting what you're doing online. If you advertise, make sure to promote your online contests or character. It will go much further than the classic — and clichéd — line, "Visit our website."
Get yourself a cell phone with a video camera, shoot simple videos and upload them to your website and YouTube channel. Engage people of influence, especially those who are either well-known or thoroughly engaged in social media like Facebook and Twitter, to play along with you. Make your character strong, appealing and consistent. And enjoy the fruits of viral marketing.

Texas Shrimpers Open for Business

By SARAH PORTLOCK
Texas shrimpers concerned about what the BP oil spill means for them are preparing for what could be a shaky season and watching the horizon for longer term changes that could bring more shrimpers from neighboring Louisiana.

The commercial brown shrimp season opened on Thursday night, but state waters could close if oil spreads to Texas slowly or with a fast push from a hurricane. Unfishable waters are inching toward the Texas state line, forcing more boats into a smaller area, and shrimpers face nervous customers who wonder about the safety of Gulf seafood this year.

For the time being, fewer smaller out-of-state boats will likely be joining the Texas shrimp fleet, but shrimpers and wildlife officials say that could change. Many have been fielding calls from shrimpers and fishermen asking about license availability and state laws, apparently looking for options if the Louisiana oil spill closures turn out to be long-term.

"If they suspect that the fisheries are going to be closed for a long period of time in Louisiana and they want to continue to shrimp as a livelihood, they may be looking to see what the options or opportunities are to relocate to Texas to fish," said Lance Robinson, director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's coastal fisheries division.

Texas has several shrimping seasons, but brown shrimp reach their most valuable size this time of year and are the most lucrative. Scientists are predicting an abundance of them this year, but the overall catch will likely be lower in part because of the oil spill, said Roger Zimmerman, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab director in Galveston.

Prices are higher so far this year than last year, said Craig Wallis, who has been shrimping for 35 years out of Palacios, Texas. Dock-side prices jumped to $5.10 per pound for medium-sized brown shrimp this week, up from $3.50 in April. Last year, shrimp was going for $2.50 per pound, he said.

The number of licenses available in Texas has been capped since 2005 for conservation purposes, and lapsed licenses are not reissued. Out-of-state fishermen who want to sell shrimp in Texas or fish within nine miles of the coast need a state license, but the only way to get a new one is from an existing license holder.

Federal permits allow fishermen to trawl in Texas' waters beyond nine miles but not sell in-state. Currently, there are 651 resident and 123 non-resident licenses issued in Texas.

To hold onto the licenses, existing owners must renew by Aug. 31, and some Louisiana fishermen - busy with oil cleanup and cash-strapped from fishing bans - have been contacting the Texas Shrimp Association to ask if their valuable Texas licenses will still be valid if they don't renew them this year, said executive director Wilma Anderson.

Houston-based Texas game warden Maj. William Skeen said he hasn't seen any permit transfers yet.

"We're not aware of any yet, but it is an open market where that can happen," he said. "We're thinking that there might be some of that."

When Joel Davis heard his 83-year-old father-in-law was considering surrendering his Texas license because of his age and the cost of continuing to do business, Davis had another idea: sell it through online classified ads sites in Gulf states.

He got a half dozen calls but no takers so far, and plans to repost the ad soon.

"I specifically didn't put a price because I didn't want to freak people out and I want to be negotiable," said Davis after he consulted brokers and scouted prices of other license sales. "If you're serious about it and you've got a big boat and you're trying to come over there, it's the cost of doing business."

Davis told interested callers the price is $10,000.

Cost might be a big barrier keeping Louisiana shrimpers from heading to Texas, shrimpers say.

Every year as seasons open, large shrimping boats move from state to state in federal waters and stay out for weeks, freezing their catch and returning to a home port to sell. But that requires fuel, food, ice and crew costs that quickly add up, said longtime Louisiana shrimper Kimberly Chauvin.

"People just don't have that kind of money right now," said Chauvin, whose three boats were among the first hired to help BP with the oil spill cleanup.

But, she conceded, anything might be possible if the water closure that began May 2 drags on.

"People in dire situations will do what they need to do to go shrimping," Chauvin said.

Texas fishermen are nervous about the uncertainties caused by the spill but plan to stick it out.

Wallis said he's concerned about all the challenges but anticipates a good season anyway. And he's not worried about the possibility that more out-of-state shrimpers might be looking to fish waters off the Texas coast.

"We've been dealing with all these boats coming to Texas for a number of years, not just because of the oil spill, and it hasn't been a problem," said Wallis, who sent out seven boats this week. "The Gulf belongs to everybody anyway."

Volunteers Teaching in Katmandu

By Binju Sitaula

KATHMANDU, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Being far away far from theirs homes, missing family and friends, life becomes melancholy. Plus, it is pitiful to compromise with food and language in foreign land.

Despite these entire intractable situations, young Chinese volunteer teachers are delivering best of their work in southern neighbor Nepal. The 6th batch of the Chinese teachers has one voice, "Our life is not miserable in Nepal."

"Food is little problem for us but we can adjust with some of Nepali choices. Actually, if some Nepali visit China, they will also miss their food," said Huo Jintao, coordinator of volunteer teachers in Nepal. "We are OK with Nepali food MoMo (dumplings)," he told Xinhua on Friday.

These, Chinese volunteer teachers are not only enjoying their task of teaching students in various schools across the country but are also exchanging culture with Nepali students and teachers. Most of them are given Nepali name by their students and Nepali colleagues and can speak survival Nepali language.

"Every time I reach school, my students greet me in a loving way and I forget that I'm alone here in Nepal," said Sun Suxin who is known as Sun Maya amid her Nepali students. She teaches more than 100 students of primary level at Chitwan Boarding School in Chitwan district, some 85 km south of capital Kathmandu. Nevertheless, this is her second year of volunteering. According to her, students outside capital are more excited to have foreigner teacher.

"My school is not so big, it is small with friendly atmosphere. In the beginning it was little problematic that I have to eat my lunch in the school but later, it gave me pleasure to eat lunch together with other Nepali teachers and students," said Sun, adding "we sit together, cook and we exchange food. I teach them how to use chop sticks. I think we have a good beginning," Sun added.

Alike Sun, Li Yanxiao also rejoices teaching Nepali students. Besides teaching Chinese language, Li who has given Nepali name Pawan Kumar K.C. teaches Chinese Kung-fu to his students. " Everyone knows Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, students play Kung-fu with me," Li said.

Though Li is doing his good job, but he finds touch to teach younger students at pre-primary level. "They cannot understand my English and we can hardly communicate," said Li who has given with Nepali name Pawan Kumar K.C. and teaches more than 250 students at Everest English Boarding School in Biratnagar, some 240 km southeast of capital.

Abducted Child is Found in Arizona

By THOMAS WATKINS and BOB CHRISTIE (AP) – 6 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — A girl who was snatched seven years ago from a Los Angeles-area restaurant was raised by an Arizona couple who kept her out of school to hide her from authorities, officials said Thursday.
Amber Nicklas, who turns 8 this month, was abducted in 2003 and found Wednesday night in a home in north Phoenix that also served as a palm reading business.
The girl was emotional after being taken from the home but appeared in good health, police said Thursday. Investigators later discovered through interviews that she was kept out of school and could not read.
Amber remained in protective custody Thursday in Los Angeles and it was not clear if she would be reunited with her foster parents.
Authorities have not released any names or filed any charges but continue to investigate.
"This girl was taken away from the only parents and family that she knows yesterday," said Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump. "It was very traumatizing to the girl."
Investigators believe the couple were trying to hide Amber, noting that they changed the girl's name and birth date and she was found under a pile of clothes when authorities searched the home Wednesday.
Amber was 1 when she was abducted from her foster parents on Sept. 21, 2003, by three juvenile aunts during a visit to a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in the LA suburb of Norwalk, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Jerry Saba.
The foster parents were distracted by two of the aunts and the third aunt got away with the child, authorities said.
Two of the aunts spent time in juvenile camp for the abduction, but authorities would not release details on why they took the child or if they remain part of the investigation.
It was not clear how Amber wound up in Phoenix, though there apparently was some sort of connection between the aunts and the family there.
"This family has an acquaintance with the abducting family," Crump said. "They know each other, and that's all I know about."
The man and the woman in the Phoenix home said they were from Romania and initially claimed to have adopted Amber, though their stories were inconsistent, Saba said. Amber spoke some Romanian, though English is her main language.
The break in the case came in November when Saba got a tip that eventually led him to Phoenix. Saba on Wednesday accompanied Phoenix police and the FBI to the girl's home, where a woman tried to hide Amber in a bathroom shower under a pile of clothes and towels, he said. A baby girl and older boy were also in the house.
Authorities confirmed Amber's identity by comparing her footprint to that on her birth certificate, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Patrick Maxwell. She was upset at the prospect of having to leave the people she thought were her parents.
"The detectives said to the 'parents,' if you really care about this child, you need to go in there and tell her everything is going to be OK," Maxwell said. "They did that."
The man and woman in the home where Amber was found were detained then released after questioning. A second woman was detained and questioned elsewhere in Phoenix. She was also released.
Amber was returned to the care of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Officials would not comment on where she would go next. Maxwell said her birth parents are "out of the picture" and he would not say if the foster parents were notified.
Christie reported from Phoenix.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Challenged Adults Seeking Jobs and Entrepreneurship

David Shunkey is autistic and doesn't speak. Around the start of the recession, he got laid off from two jobs. Now he's trying to run his own business.

More mentally and physically challenged adults are looking to entrepreneurship as they get closed out of an exceptionally competitive job market, according to several organizations that help the disabled, including Community Options Inc., a nonprofit based in Princeton, N.J. of which Mr. Shunkey is a member. But in an economic climate that's been tough on entrepreneurs, the disabled are no exception, and many face extra challenges.

"It's more difficult for someone like David to obtain a normal job," says Heather Gooch, one of several Community Options workers helping Mr. Shunkey build a dog-treat business with an $850 state grant from New Mexico, where his enterprise is based. "He needs close supervision."

The unemployment rate for disabled workers was 14.3% in June, up from 9.3% two years earlier, when the Labor Department first began tracking such data for this demographic. In June, the unemployment rate for the rest of the U.S. was 9.4%.

Employment opportunities have historically been scarce for the disabled. Twenty years ago this month, Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act, barring employers from discriminating against qualified job applicants with disabilities. Last year alone, more than 21,000 claims were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against employers accused of violating the law.

With the poor economy further restricting employment options for the disabled, some organizations are seeing increased interest in programs designed to assist this group in starting businesses.

Applications for an entrepreneur boot camp for disabled veterans that's offered through a network of six U.S. business schools have risen every year since the program's inception in 2007, says Mike Haynie, its national director. This year he expects to receive more than 500 applications for the program's 150 seats.

Founded by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, the boot camp starts with a 40-day distance-learning course, followed by 10 days of on-campus classes. Participants are also paired with mentors and have access to free resources such as legal and accounting services from corporate partners and the schools' alumni.

After graduating from the program in 2008, former Marine Brian Iglesias co-launched New York film-production company Veterans Inc. with a fellow veteran. Mr. Iglesias's neck and shoulder were injured during combat, causing permanent nerve damage to his right arm and requiring a metal plate in his neck. He says he previously spent five months searching unsuccessfully for a job in the entertainment industry—even failing to land unpaid internships. "I was begging people to work for free," he says.

The 33-year-old Mr. Iglesias, who has a bachelor's degree in film production from Temple University, suspects that some employers were uncomfortable hiring him because of his war experience. "Out of all the people who are candidates, they think, a year ago this guy was being shot at," he says.

Every year since the recession hit, about 3,000 disabled adults have contacted Disabled Businesspersons Association for referrals to resources and volunteer mentors—three times as many as before, according to Urban Miyares, the San Diego nonprofit's president.

But success seems limited. "We have yet to show any significant increase in profit or individual incomes by these new business owners," he says.

Mr. Miyares speculates that because more disabled adults are pursuing entrepreneurship, competition for grants and other funding set aside by government agencies for this group has increased. As a result, disabled entrepreneurs may have less access to the start-up capital or cash flow they need to build and maintain a business, he says.

Meanwhile, it's been tough for business owners of all kinds to obtain credit. Only about half of small businesses that sought loans last year got all or most of what they needed, according to a survey from the National Federation of Independent Business, an association in Washington.

And for business owners with severe disabilities, there are many other hurdles. Mr. Shunkey, the autistic entrepreneur, relies on a team of supporters to ensure he doesn't get hurt while running his home-based start-up, David's Peanut Butter Puppy Bites LLC. Because the 54-year-old Mr. Shunkey is diabetic and has a tendency to eat or drink anything within reach, his helpers need to keep a close eye on him at all times. "If there's hot coffee left out, he'll just pour it into his mouth," says Ms. Gooch.

With the help of his support team, Mr. Shunkey sought his first customers by asking local pet groomers and supply shops to sell his product on consignment. While five businesses initially signed on, three have since backed out, says Ms. Gooch, adding that sales of Mr. Shunkey's dog treats, which are priced at $5 for a dozen, have totaled just $120 over the past three months.

When asked in a phone interview if he enjoys running a business, Mr. Shunkey nodded, according to Ms. Gooch. He didn't respond to subsequent questions.

New Health Care Businesses to Start Up

Trib Nation asked business reporter Bruce Japsen for some background about Aon’s acquisition of Hewitt Associates. These are two big names in Chicago circles but also nationally. Many companies turn to Hewitt for help with benefit management for employee programs, and the context of the national health care changes make this especially timely.
Aon Corp.'s $4.9 billion plan to buy Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates will add human resources consultants to the Chicago based giant insurance brokerage at a time of high unemployment and challenges employers will have dealing with health reform.

Going forward, employers are going to need more help implementing health benefits and new regulations coming under the health care reform law signed into law four months ago by President Obama. The legislation will bring health benefits to about 32 million uninsured.

The Aon-Hewitt deal is a sign companies are coming together to prepare for new business opportunities while helping employers and consumers deal with complex new legislation to gain economies of scale and build their businesses. While this could be good for those in need of health benefits, it could also mean a loss of a job as these large employers shed jobs as part of their mergers. Neither Aon or Hewitt has said yet how many jobs will be lost but they say their will be annual savings of more than $355 million as they reduce middle managers and back office workers in some areas.

Posted at 10:39:25 AM in Business, Health Care

The Closer TV Show Still Open for Business

In TNT’s top-rated drama “The Closer,” Kyra Sedgwick plays piqued like no other. The furrowed brow, the hands to her forehead, the amusingly amplified Southern drawl.

And the season six opener has her detective character Brenda Leigh Johnson in peak piqued form thanks to a new $10 million police building, which throws her off her routines. Despite donning a cheery, flowery dress, she kicks boxes, attacks an errant remote control and bitches to her boss Will Pope, played with bemused restraint by J.K. Simmons.

“Cops aren’t happy unless they’re miserable,” Pope notes, before asking Brenda, “Do I look fat?”

In the episode airing Monday at 9 p.m., she points to a sign that reads “Hard Interview Room” and asks,”What message is that supposed to send to suspects?” Pope shrug his shoulders: “It’s supposed to be intimidating.”

“I decide when to intimidate people around here,” she yelps, “not the building!”Sedgwick, in a phone interview from her home in New York last month, admits that any change makes her Georgia-based character “a bit cranky. I love being able to play that.”

Said crankiness is often comedic. Later in the episode, she dumps a cardboard box filled with mini chocolates into a desk drawer in front of wide-eyed visitors connected to a murder case.

“She really needs that chocolate,” Sedgwick said. “She is so into her addiction, she can normalize an abnormal situation.”

There’s nothing abnormal about the popularity of “The Closer,” the top basic cable series last year, averaging about 7 million viewers. “Monk.” “Burn Notice.” “Mad Men.” They haven’t come close.

Sedgwick is the primary reason and her peers know it: she’s earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding actress in a drama five years in a row.

“I’m amazed by how fresh the story lines are,” said Eric Dodd, a 46-year-old Atlanta TV news writer and producer. “And Kyra Sedgwick’s nuanced performance makes the series soar.”

Last year, he enjoyed Sedgwick’s real-life 18-year-old daughter Sosie Bacon playing her petulant niece. The story blurred fiction and reality for Sedgwick because Sosie was about to go to college. In the show, the niece was going home after an extended stay with Brenda and her husband Fritz.

“There was one moment in her last episode when she looked at me,” Sedgwick said. “She said, ‘Don’t you want me to stay? It was confusing. This was her last year at home. I’ve had to go through the process of letting go and pondering life without her. I started to cry. I lost it as Brenda. But it was a little bit of Kyra, too.”

Even after 75 episodes, Sedgwick said she’s not at all bored playing Brenda: “I feel like every new situation brings out something new in her. She’s constantly surprising me.”

On TV
“The Closer,” 9 p.m. Mondays, starting July 12

Some People Support Internet Taxes

Buying an $800 couch or television via the tax-free Internet can be nearly $80 cheaper than a purchase made in a high-sales-tax city like San Francisco -- such a deal. But the free ride is costing states and cities billions of dollars a year, and it damages local businesses that find it hard to compete.

The Main Street Fairness Act, introduced this month by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), would end the exemption for big Web retailers like Amazon.com and eBay that fear the change would be a body blow to their business. The Web sales tax issue has been debated and litigated for years, and it is hardly a popular cause, but with state and local governments deeply in debt, the chance to add a massive revenue stream may outweigh the political risks.
he seven-term Delahunt will not be running for re-election, but it would be unfair to see the timing as opportunistic. Delahunt sponsored a similar bill in 2008. I don't enjoy paying taxes any more than the next guy, but Delahunt was right then and he's right now. The Internet is no longer a baby that needs to be cosseted and protected from the real world, and favoring Internet business over brick-and-mortar ones via a tax exemption is not fair.

The budget hole provides the necessary opening for equal taxation
If you want government services, someone has to pay for them. The amount of money governments are losing due to the exemption is staggering. Uncollected use taxes (a use tax is pretty much the equivalent of a sales tax) for the six-year period ending in 2012 will range from $52 billion to $56 billion nationally, according to a 2009 study by economists at the University of Tennessee. New York City alone will lose at least $390.6 million in 2012; Chicago $229 million, they predict.

That huge black hole hasn't gone unnoticed, and several states (including North Carolina, New York, Colorado, and Rhode Island) are working on a separate track to change the rules. More states are considering similar action. And despite what you may have heard, don't think the 1998 Internet Tax Freedom Act forbids such taxation -- it doesn't. (More on that in a bit.)

On the other side are the big Internet retailers, such as Amazon.com and eBay, which have fought hard to maintain a status quo that gives them a marked advantage over local brick-and-mortar merchants. Amazon.com, the largest and best-known Web retailer, has fought efforts to collect sales tax from customers. The company argues that the crazy quilt of taxing jurisdictions -- there are approximately 8,500 in the United States -- makes doing so impractical.

Nonsense -- an industry that can deliver tailored ads to buyers in a fraction of a second could surely solve whatever technical problems exist. And it already has: Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, told the New York Times, "We collect and provide to each of the states the correct sales tax. There are vendors that specialize in this (we use Vertex). It's not very hard." Plus, national brick-and-mortar stores have done this for years.

I'm more sympathetic to the argument that small businesses on the Internet could be throttled by the policy change. However, the bill Delahunt sponsored in 2008 exempted businesses whose revenue was less than $5 million. The text of the current bill, HR 5660, likewise calls for a small-business exemption, but it does not yet specify a qualifying threshold.

The Tax Freedom Act isn't an obstacle
Although many people believe that the Internet Tax Freedom Act stands in the way of collecting sales taxes on Web-purchased items, it doesn't. The major thrust of the law is to forbid states from imposing a sales tax on Internet connection fees. It also stops states from imposing a sales tax on items sold via the Internet that aren't taxed in brick-and-mortar stores, an unlikely form of discrimination. And it forbids collecting higher taxes for e-commerce purchases than for brick-and-mortar and mail-order purchases.

What does stop states from collecting sales taxes on e-commerce goods is a 1992 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the states could not order retailers that don't have a physical presence in the state to collect sales tax. Back in 1992, that really meant mail-order catalog merchants, but by extension, it applies to Web retailers as well. However, there's nothing in the decision (Quill v. North Dakota) that forbids states from ordering buyers to pay the sales tax, says Michael Mazerov, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., who has written extensively about the sales tax issue.

And it doesn't stop states from taxing a company like Amazon.com that has a brick-and-mortar affiliate within their borders. Amazon.com affiliates aren't those third-party sellers on its website; they are typically companies that have an Amazon.com ad on their own website. When a consumer clicks on the ad and goes to Amazon.com to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a cut of the revenue.

Is the free ride fair?
Sure, your purchases will cost a bit more if you have to pay tax on Internet purchases. But is that relatively small savings worth the damage to your state and local governments? It's your services that will be cut.

What's more, exempting the Amazon.coms and the eBays is unfair to local merchants and to people who don't shop online, a population that tends to be older and poorer, argues Mazerov.

Raising taxes isn't popular or pleasant. But sometimes a little pain is worth enduring, especially when it makes the system fair for all.

I welcome your comments, tips, and suggestions. Post them here so that all our readers can share them, or reach me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net.

This article, "Why it's time to tax Internet sales," was originally published by InfoWorld.com. Read more of Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog and follow the latest technology business developments at InfoWorld.com.

For more IT analysis and commentary on emerging technologies, visit InfoWorld.com. Story copyright © 2010 InfoWorld Media Group. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Firm Opening Office in Phoenix

One of the world's largest commercial-real-estate-services firms has chosen what might seem like an inopportune moment to open its first full-service brokerage office in Phoenix.

The decision isn't as bizarre as it might seem to those outside the world of office-space leasing and shopping-center sales, according to Dennis Desmond, senior managing director for Jones Lang LaSalle in Phoenix.

Desmond, who joined the Chicago-based company in 2009 to staff up and then run the new Phoenix office, said it's a matter of being able to fire on all cylinders when clients need the extra boost.

While Jones Lang has been a full-service firm around the globe for years, he said, its business in Phoenix had been limited to facilities management, which consists of managing properties such as manufacturing plants or office towers on the building owner's behalf.

The recent rise in commercial-real-estate ownership by massive institutions, including Wall Street investment banks, corporate pension funds and big retail banks, has made it necessary for brokers who want in on that business to offer more services in a greater number of locations, Desmond and other Jones Lang officials said.

The shift to a full-service operation in Phoenix began in 2008, they said, when Jones Lang purchased real-estate-services firm the Staubach Co. from Dallas Cowboys football legend Roger Staubach. That immediately added a large, commercial-tenant-representation component to Jones Lang's Phoenix lineup.

In the two years since the purchase, it became clear that large, international real-estate firms such as Jones Lang could protect existing business, and pick up new business, because of their longer lists of services and geographic reach.

"Big, multinational corporations are the ones with the cash and the credit," Desmond said. What those clients want is a one-stop shop for all their commercial-real-estate needs in every major city, he said.

As a result of Jones Lang's expansion, several brokers from other Phoenix firms have come aboard.

Don Mudd, the former senior vice president of the former Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial brokerage in Phoenix, is one of those who has joined Jones Lang.

The independently owned Grubb & Ellis franchise where Mudd had worked changed its name and company affiliation in April to Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial. A new corporate-owned Grubb & Ellis office has opened under the leadership of Valley commercial-real-estate veteran Pete Bolton, who is senior managing director.

The commercial-brokerage business has been in turmoil since summer 2007, Mudd said, when brokers' phones suddenly stopped ringing.

"It was three years ago, almost to the day, and we were sitting around saying, 'What in the hell is going on?' " he said.

What had happened was gross oversupply of speculative office, retail and industrial space, commercial brokers now acknowledge.

It's unlikely the Valley will see any new office-for-lease projects developed for at least the next five years, Desmond said. It will be longer if Arizona doesn't attract some major new employers to the state, he said.

Fortunately, he said, a lot of businesses have been shopping around for inexpensive locations in which to expand or move, and Arizona commercial properties are very affordable compared with those in other cities, such as those in Southern California.

Another bit of good news is that all of the speculative office projects that were conceived during the real-estate boom are finally completed, Mudd said, which means the Phoenix area no longer will be seeing millions of square feet of unwanted office space opening up each year.

"The landscape you see now is the landscape we're going to have," he said.

Small Business Getting Health Care Employment Benefits Help

For decades, America's small-business owners have asked for more affordable health insurance coverage and more tax relief. The new health reform law-the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act-provides both.

First, it offers tax credits for small employers who pay at least half of their employees' health insurance premiums. Starting this year, businesses with fewer than 25 employees who make an average of $50,000 or less may be eligible for a credit of up to 35 percent of the premiums they pay on their employees' behalf. For small non-profits, it's up to 25 percent.

In 2014, those credits will increase to up to 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

Also in 2014, health insurance "exchanges" for small businesses will open in every state.

Currently, small businesses pay as much as 18 percent more than large firms for the same coverage. The exchanges will allow businesses with as many as 100 employees to pool their risk, lower their administrative costs and negotiate more effectively with insurance companies. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this could help drive down premiums by as much as 4 percent in the marketplace of small-business health plans.

The tax credits and the exchanges are just two of the new tools that will help small businesses get health insurance, some for the first time.

Even if a small-business owner with 50 or fewer employees decides not to buy health insurance with these incentives, there is no penalty. These small businesses are exempt from the employer responsibility provision of the new law. In this case, small-business workers will be able to use individual tax credits to shop for insurance in the exchanges. And it's important to note that 96 percent of businesses with more than 50 employees already offer coverage.

The new law also will prohibit insurance companies from dramatically increasing premiums for a small business just because one worker gets sick.

Overall, the health reform act is a critical tool that will help millions of small-business owners provide health insurance to people they often consider to be members of their extended family-their employees.

As a nation, we owe them nothing less as they work to grow, create jobs and lead us toward full economic recovery.

Franklin J. Sciortino is the U.S. Small Business Administration's Buffalo District director. For more information on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, visit www.sba.gov.

Jobs Coming to Missouri Declares Governor

Gov. Jay Nixon will visit Moberly on Friday morning to announce the arrival of a new business in Moberly, one that will initially creat at least 312 jobs and an estimated 600 jobs after several years of operation.

Mamtek International Ltd., a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of the artificial sweetener sucralose, will place a “state-of-the-art” production plant in Moberly. The multinational company has both Chinese and American ownership. Mamtek manufactures the SweetO brand of sucralose, a zero-calorie, zero-carbohydrate sweetener that can be used in a range of food and pharmaceutical products.

The plant will produce over 300,000 kilograms of sucralose and create the 312 jobs over the next 18 months, with an initial investment of $46 million in the local economy. This is according to a statement from the Midwest U.S.-China Association (MWCA), a nonprofit, bipartisan group that promotes opportunities between the American Midwest and China.

Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden is the chairman of the MWCA, which aided Mamtek in its site selection process and helped foster the relationship between Moberly are Mamtek. Several other luminaries of American politics are involved or have been involved with the MWCA, including Walter Mondale and Adlai Stevenson III (son of Adlai Stevenson II, the Democratic Presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956).

The MWCA informed the 12 states in its area about the Mamtek opportunity, and nine became actively involved in courting the company's new facility. Mamtek made 11 site visits before deciding to locate operations in Moberly, according to the MWCA.

See Friday's Monitor-Index for the full story.

Copyright 2010 Moberly Monitor-Index. Some rights reserved

New Sweet Shop Opens by Hard Working Women

GOING DOWN A STORM: Pam Wilson, owner of new shop 'Sweet!' High Street, Cleethorpe

A Cleethorpes painter and decorator has ditched the brush and roller for a scoop and scales by opening up a sweet shop in the resort.

Pam Wilson, 46, of North Street, has opened Sweet! taking over a derelict former barbers shop in the Dolphin Square units.

The new High Street store has already received five stars in North East Lincolnshire Council’s Scores on the Doors hygiene ratings, just days after opening.Miss Wilson said: “I’m really excited to have opened up this shop, and iI’m really chuffed to have the five star rating already.”

For more on this story, see today’s Grimsby Telegraph.

Online Game Information Released

Interplay Entertainment announces the first newsletter from the official FALLOUT ® ONLINE registration site.

Mutants and non-mutants who registered at the FALLOUT ® ONLINE site are starting to receive tales from the wastelands. Interested players who sign up are on the fast-track for beta-testing and get the added bonus of a free subscription to the pre-release electronic newsletter. (No additional flora will be harmed by the production of this newsletter.) Subscribers may end their participation at any time, again without cost or additional fees. We are just that kind and giving.

Interplay’s FALLOUT ® ONLINE is a massively multiplayer RPG set in the award-winning and best-selling FALLOUT ® universe. Player characters roam the desert wastes, the radiation-blasted mountain tops, and the mutated forests of the post-apocalyptic world -- a land where decisions have consequences and there are multiple solutions to every challenge. Players can decide to participate in the rebuilding of this broken land, seek the adrenaline pumping pleasure of conquest and destruction, or just go launch anvils and ride the merry-go-round.

The registration site is available at http://www.fallout-on-line.com. Register today. Registered players are winners. [1]

[1] In a very metaphysical way. Registration does not, by itself, actually win anything. It may earn a meager amount of our respect and affection, but results may vary.

About Interplay Entertainment

Founded in 1983, Interplay Entertainment is a developer, publisher and licensor of video game software headquartered in Southern California. The company has produced and licensed titles for many of the most popular interactive entertainment software platforms in the action/arcade, adventure/RPG and strategy/puzzle categories. Its portfolio of well-recognized Intellectual Properties includes Battlechess, Clayfighter, Dark Alliance, Descent, Earthworm Jim, Freespace, Giants, Messiah, MDK, Run Like Hell, Sacrifice. Interplay also holds exclusive distribution rights to certain existing Fallout and Redneck Rampage titles. For more information about Interplay Entertainment and its products, visit www.interplay.com.

Fallout ® is a registered trademark of Bethesda Softworks LLC, a ZeniMax Media company, in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995:

Statements contained in this release except for historical information are forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties inherent in such statements may cause actual future events or results to differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements. Specifically, there can be no assurance that the Company will complete a financing transaction, or any other strategic transaction on favorable terms or at all. Additional important factors that may cause a difference between projected and actual results for the Company are discussed in the Company's filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Company's annual reports on Form 10-K, subsequent quarterly filings on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K.

The Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by it or on its behalf.

Jubilee Reach Center Helps Bellevue Children

By Nicole Tsong
BEFORE THERE was Jubilee Reach Center, there was the sidewalk in front of Bellevue's Lake Hills Elementary School. Kids showed up as early as 6 a.m., dropped off in the dark by parents hurrying to early work shifts. There the children waited, sometimes as many as 10, sitting under a breezeway or chasing each other for up to an hour alone in the cold, dark and wet.

The school tried opening its cafeteria at 7:30 a.m. It wasn't early enough. Parents sometimes sat in cars with their kids until somebody on the staff arrived and let them sit in the school's entryway. Up to 25 kids often waited for the cafeteria to open.

In 2005, when Jubilee was still just an idea, its leaders asked the principal how they could help. Her response was swift — a program to get those kids somewhere safe and warm, where adults could keep an eye on them and keep them busy with homework or games.

A year later, the idea became reality — Jubilee was born as one of First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue's biggest, ongoing community projects. What began with a commitment by church leaders to serve their community has bloomed into the center, a nonprofit with programs that now serve 700 families with help from 500 volunteers recruited through a network of local churches and social-service agencies.

In just four years, many of its constituents agree, Jubilee has redefined the modern church safety net and the way social-service agencies can serve a community.

The needs are great in a city where at last count, 33 percent of its residents were foreign-born — the state's highest. And the Lake Hills neighborhood is one of the city's most diverse. Of the 500 or so students at Lake Hills Elementary, 60 percent speak a language other than English at home and 66 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Jubilee, housed in a rambling, two-story building a block from the school, seeks to identify holes in the system and come up with programs to fill them: A computer class for parents who didn't know how their kids were doing in school (parents graduate with a free computer); a dental van originally serving kids and now treating parents without health care; a coffee hour giving isolated moms a way to connect.

During the school year, Jubilee opens at 6 a.m. and soon bustles with energy. Sleepy-eyed kids slurp up bowls of Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops, then rush off to play the board game Mouse Trap or paint ceramic tiles. Some bounce around on pogo sticks while one boy begs program director "Ms. Mardi" Taylor to use the computer room. In the afternoon, kids from Lake Hills plus another elementary and two middle schools fill up on homemade snacks like pozole soup, then head to one-on-one tutoring or homework sessions overseen by volunteers.

"From my experience of living in Bellevue and teaching in Bellevue since the early '80s, I knew there were resources in the community and caring people," says former school principal Judy Buckmaster, who was at Lake Hills when Jubilee began. "I'd always thought, 'How could I reach out to those people and tap into that group?' This was the answer."

TO KNOW Jubilee, you must know First Presbyterian Church. To know the church, you must know Scott Dudley.

Dudley is the voice, the youthful face and the spiritual force behind First Presbyterian. The senior pastor is a not-so-senior 49, with three kids ages 10 and under. Easygoing and quick with a quip, he wears jeans unless it's Sunday. Meet him away from the church spotlight, and "pastor of 4,000 people" is not the first description that comes to mind.

But spend time with Dudley, and you'll find out Jesus changed his life. He wants the world to know how great Jesus is. But the man with the doctorate in English prefers to show, not tell. His church is evangelical, but avoids preachy pamphlet-pushing. He encourages parishioners to do work that prompts the question "Why?"The answer is Jesus, Dudley says.

"We'd rather provoke the question," he explains. "Shoving something down someone's throat never works. If they ask the question, no one feels oppressed by that."

Dudley's own path to senior pastor was less than straight ahead. After graduating from the University of Washington, the Tri-Cities native enrolled in seminary at Princeton University in New Jersey. Bored by seminary, he decided to be an English professor.

He was finishing his Ph.D. at Stanford University in California when he heard a local church needed help with Bible study for college students. He went on to become the church's college pastor and gained a following.

Still, when First Presbyterian asked him to apply for the job, he refused. He was only 40, had been divorced. He wanted to be a professor, not the head guy of a massive church with the administrative duties that came with it.

God knew better, Dudley says. It was 2002; he'd remarried. He and his wife, Christina, didn't want to raise their kids in the San Francisco Bay Area. And despite his refusal, First Presbyterian came back. By the end of that year, Dudley and his family had moved to Bellevue.

"It's the best thing that ever happened to me," he says now.

When Dudley arrived on the Eastside, he knew from experience he would likely find what he called "poverty of spirit" in the church's wealthiest homes. He did not expect to find real poverty.

As it turned out, Dudley inherited a church that already had a long history of community involvement. But the pastor saw the congregation was ready for more.

In 2005, First Presbyterian was in the midst of celebrating its 50th anniversary with a year of service in honor of Jubilee, a Christian concept in which slaves and prisoners are freed and debts are forgiven. The church was thinking big.

Parishioner Brent Christie also was searching for a new home for the Eastside Academy, a Christian high school for at-risk teens. He found an old school near Lake Hills Elementary, but it seemed too big for the small academy. Christie, Dudley and other church leaders hatched the plan for Jubilee. They developed a mission statement that reads "Bring Jesus' healing, build community, transform lives." But they remained mindful of Buckmaster and other school administrators who made it clear Jubilee was not to be an evangelical center.

The church wrapped the Jubilee project into an ambitious capital campaign to raise $14 million to pay for the building, rebuild a church property to house the Eastside Academy and build a school in Rwanda for street kids. Unlike other capital campaigns, the "Ripple Effect" was devoted to helping people outside the church. The response was overwhelming: $16 million raised.

Dudley says it comes down to this bedrock belief:

"A church should bless the community it's part of."

That conviction is never far from Dudley's sermons. On a spring Sunday, he appeals to his congregation not for money but for time. He shows a video featuring a volunteer at Jubilee and cites the biblical story of Ananais, who loved Paul even though Paul was persecuting Christians. After Ananais showed Paul love, Paul became an apostle and spread Christianity throughout the land.

Ananais changed the world through one small act, Dudley says, noting that we all want to feel like we matter. You don't have to be famous to know you made a difference, he adds.

"Great doors swing on small hinges."

THE CALL CAME from Lake Hills Elementary to the Rev. Tom Brewer, Jubilee's chaplain. A little boy had mentioned there was no water at his house. The school was asking Brewer if he would accompany a Spanish-speaking worker to make a house call.

When they arrived, they found five families living in one house. The landlord had taken their money and not paid the bills. They'd lived without water for 10 days, and the stench was unbelievable. One woman had a year-old baby, but no diapers and no formula.

They got to work.

Brewer persuaded the city of Bellevue to turn the water back on. Formula and diapers were delivered. In tears, the mother thanked him and called it a miracle.

Brewer's job is community care, a program that is difficult to explain yet in some ways is the most critical. Volunteers are partnered with a family, often for years. All volunteers must go through a background check; community-care volunteers attend another 10 hours of training with Brewer.

The problems the volunteers see are complicated, and can include serious illness and domestic violence. They're not tasked with fixing the family, Brewer says; their job is to listen.

"What people in general need in life is someone who takes them seriously and gives the message you have value," he says.

Two years ago, Brewer showed up on Rose Rios' doorstep. A former methamphetamine addict, Rios was trying to survive after a stint in prison for fraud and identity theft. She lived with her ex-husband in a house packed with 11 people; she and her children slept on the floor. Her daughter had developed rashes, and a school nurse noticed.

Brewer got her daughter to a doctor and helped pay the security deposit and first month's rent on another apartment. Since then, he has been a reference for a job and vouched for her so she could move into transitional housing managed by parishioners from First Presbyterian. Jubilee helped her furnish the place through its thrift shop.

Brewer has proofread her homework, gotten her a car donated by church members. When Rios, a Catholic, feels upset or wants him to pray for her, she e-mails him.

Rios has used other social-service agencies, but there are limits to how many times they can help, she says. Sometimes, they make her feel bad about coming back. Jubilee never makes her feel like a burden. "I never thought there would be people who'd help with all their heart, not pushing for something in return."

They've been her biggest support, she says, especially with her recovery from drug addiction. "They didn't make me feel like such a bad person in doing something wrong. They're proud I'm doing better."

Now 42 and clean four years, Rios feels more stable but is still barely getting by on less than $1,000 a month with two part-time jobs. She is looking for a third. When she has more time, she hopes she can volunteer and give back to Jubilee.

"I could never be where I am right now without them," she says. "I wouldn't have confidence in myself."

THE JUBILEE Reach Center is an easy place to linger. After ESL classes, students sit in the airy common area, talking with friends in their native language or in broken English. They eat fresh muffins that show up by midmorning on a counter perpetually set with tea, coffee and crackers. Guests wander the halls freely.

The open atmosphere can result in comical problems. Program director Taylor recently had to stop ESL students from taking starter plants set aside for before-school-program kids to plant in the center's garden. They figured the plants were free.

That openness also makes the center feel happy and safe, a crucial component when serving undocumented workers, as the center does. Jubilee asks its participants for an address, but not immigrant status. The center's families are roughly 59 percent Hispanic, 31 percent Asian Pacific Islander, 3 percent African American and 6 percent Caucasian.

The Bible calls to care for the poor, Dudley says by way of explanation.

That Christian mission drew volunteer Richard Miyauchi to Jubilee. He first came to the center to decide if he wanted to donate via a foundation in memory of his son, Michael, who died of cancer at age 20 in 2004.

Miyauchi, who attends partner church Lighthouse Christian in Bellevue, has been steadfast about volunteering for the after-school program ever since. He knows kids whose parents are struggling financially. "Nobody's home after school," he says, as a boy named Roberto stealthily moves a chair behind Miyauchi, then leaps onto his back for a piggyback ride. "They need some guidance."

Despite its Christian foundation, there are no worship services at the center. If someone asks, Brewer or other staff members will pray.

"They've built such a reputation that they don't go there," says Jeannie Anderson, coordinator for Wraparound Services, a city, school and United Way program that coordinates services for families at Lake Hills and works with Jubilee. "If people want additional information on religion or their relationship with God, they will gladly step in and provide that. But that is not their first priority."

Tammy Awdatalla, a single mom of four, knows that to be true. One day she couldn't pick up her kids right after school. She'd heard about Jubilee Reach in a parents' meeting, and told her kids to walk over and wait outside for her.

When she arrived, her kids were inside, drinking hot cocoa. A volunteer handed her paperwork for the after-school program. People were respectful when she told them she was Muslim, she says.

Her 7-year-old, Tamer, who speaks Arabic at home, was struggling in ESL classes. Jubilee gave him a tutor and by the end of the school year, he no longer needed ESL class. Eleven-year-old Arin was part of the kids' group that sang "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" to donors at a May fundraiser for Jubilee.

Raising kids the right way, alone, is hard, Awdatalla says. But her kids love Jubilee.

"There's no way you don't feel welcome there. It's like your home."

Nicole Tsong is a Seattle Times staff reporter. She can be reached at 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com. John Lok is a Times staff photographer.