Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York Sponsored Content Brought To You By NY Auto GiantDestination: Seaside Heights, NJRide: Chevy Corvette Stingray ConvertibleWow Factor: Off The ChartsWith winter finally in the rear-view mirror, everyone can now look forward to blue skies and beautiful weather. This brings us to our next order of business: finding a fantastic summer vacation spot! For this particular Travel Diary, we will be leaving Long Island temporarily and visiting our neighboring state of New Jersey. Specifically, we will be going to Seaside Heights. From the beach to the boardwalk, whether you’re traveling with friends or family, Seaside Heights offers anything and everything for a memorable vacation.First things first: choosing a place to stay. If you’re searching for cozy, family friendly digs, head over to the Sunburst Motel. Reviews highlight this spot’s excellent customer service and cleanliness. It offers free parking and Wi-Fi as well as a mini-refrigerator in the rooms. Hang out by the pool before walking to the boardwalk.However, if you aren’t too keen on staying at a motel, look into renting a house instead. Whether you’re traveling with a large group, or just another person, this could work out amazing for you. Since house sizes vary, accommodating different parties is quite easy. Some houses can sleep two people, while others can fit up to 10 comfortably.NY Auto Giant will have you behind the wheel of your very own 2015 Chevy Corvette Stingray Convertible today!Now, the only real way to arrive at a destination as jazzy as Seaside Heights is in style! So get behind the wheel of an all-new 2015 Chevy Corvette Stingray Convertible and smile as the heads turn your way, with everybody thinking: “Who in the world is that!?” Numerous colors are offered—some very summer-appropriate, such as Laguna Blue Tintcoat, Velocity Yellow Tintcoat and Shark Gray Metallic. This gorgeous beast boasts 460 horsepower and an eight-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission. (Try saying that five times fast!) With Active Fuel Management (AFM), this eye candy chariot is better on gas, which will make your drive to the shore more efficient. Once you decide on where you are staying and how you are getting there, we suggest checking out Casino Pier and Breakwater Beach Waterpark for an afternoon loaded with fun. There are water rides for young children as well as adults, a lazy river, and on the boardwalk is the Shake Shoppe Arcade, where you can not only play games, but indulge in tasty, luscious burgers and ice cream. Speaking of burgers and ice cream, let’s not forget about food. Be sure to stop by the Bobbler’s Family Restaurant. This place is famous for its outstanding breakfast dishes. For lunch, visit Klee’s Bar and Grill—perfect for those who are hungry and on their way back from the beach. The laidback atmosphere and delicious food makes it a must-try. Plus, the customers rave about the fries! Marucas Tomato Pies is another necessary stop; some may even say this place could give New York pizza a run for its money. Known for out-of-this-world-sized slices and rich, soothing sauce, you might be heading over there more than once during your special trip! Click Here To Learn More About NY Auto GiantThere are live concerts on the beach, yoga at sunset, arcades, waterparks, and way too many additional simply fantastic adventures to list here. So head over to NY Auto Giant, hop into one of these hot hot hot diggity rides, and let’s celebrate the summer! To get behind the wheel of a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible of your own, call Ronnie DeTommaso of Atlantic Cadillac and Chevrolet of Huntington or Bay Shore.And always remember: top down!
On Compliance: NCUA fidelity bond rule changes
NCUA headquarters continue reading » As we all know in credit union land, the Great Recession marked big changes in the National Credit Union Administration’s perspective on the responsibilities of credit union directors for the oversight and management of their credit unions.In late 2010, NCUA revised its Rules and Regulations Section 701.4 to clarify directors’ fiduciary duties and to mandate directors’ acquisition of financial skills necessary to meet those duties. In early 2011, then-NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz issued NCUA Letter to Federal Credit Unions 11-FCU-02, further emphasizing the expectations and obligations of credit union directors.The overarching message of enhanced director responsibilities has been heard by many credit unions during their regulatory exams in the past decade. Consistent with this theme, NCUA has amended Rules and Regulations Part 713 to expand your board’s responsibilities related to the review, approval and purchase of your credit union’s fidelity bond.To help ensure your credit union’s compliance with the Part 713 revisions, please take note of the following:
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Colorado E coli cases prompt beef recall
Aug 25, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – Four cases of infection with Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Colorado have led an Illinois company to recall about 406,000 pounds of ground beef and beef steaks, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the recall by Quantum Foods of Bolingbrook, Ill., on Aug 20. “The recall was initiated after epidemiological case studies conducted by public health officials concluded the recalled product may be linked” to the four cases in Colorado, the FSIS said.The products subject to recall were produced Jun 23 and 24 and distributed nationwide to restaurants, military installations, and retail stores and also through door-to-door sales, the agency said. Each box bears the establishment code “EST. 213-D” inside the USDA seal of inspection.The affected products include ground beef patties, chopped steaks, Salisbury steaks, and sirloin steaks. The FSIS announcement included a long list of products sold in various package sizes and under various labels.E coli contamination in beef is typically associated with ground meat, not steaks, because surface bacteria can be mixed into meat during grinding and then survive cooking if not heated enough. The FSIS stated, “Generally, steaks are not considered a high-risk source of E. coli O157:H7. However, some of the products subject to recall were needle tenderized and that process may have transferred the bacteria from the surface to the inside of the product.”The FSIS has not received reports of any more E coli cases associated with the recall since the Aug 20 announcement, spokesman Matt Baun told CIDRAP News today. He had no details about the four cases, and a call to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment was not returned in time for this report.Consumers with questions about the recall can call Craig O’Brien, vice president for quality assurance at Quantum Foods, at 630-679-2384, the FSIS said.See also:Aug 20 FSIS news release
Orchestra not the scapegoat for ballet
Re Dec. 29 letter, “SPAC must support New York City Ballet,” by Sheila Parkert: Since I only attend the ballet once a year, and mainly because the admission comes with the season pass, I admit the announcement didn’t affect me greatly. But I empathized with the concern over something that affects the core group of ballet fans greatly. The NYCB has a passionate following, is an important part of the Saratoga experience and should be retained.Parkert lost me when out of the blue she decided to throw the Philadelphia Orchestra’s residency under the bus, declaring that they have never been threatened with a reduction in their dates. That’s not true, as both classical parts of the SPAC season have been under siege since the Herb Chesborough days. Why a seemingly passionate fan of the arts would think that a reduction in the orchestra’s schedule would translate to a restoration of the ballet residency is kidding herself. Those days of the classics dominating SPAC are long gone. If the orchestra was reduced, those dates would go to Live Nation concerts.The ballet fans were warned in a way when first the NYCB was threatened with outright elimination a couple decades ago, and then with cutting a week out a few years back. That should have caused the ballet fans to rally and attend the subsequently restored performances in greater numbers. But in reality, after a short boost in attendance, things went back to what they were. Those two weeks, consisting of 14 separate performance dates, have contained individual pieces done three or four times each. The repetition keeps patrons from attending more frequently. That is unlike the Philadelphia Orchestra where the 12 dates over three weeks contain different concerts of a wide variety that encourage attending frequently. And many of those dates contain programs like playing along with movies, circuses and Bernadette Peters that fall more under an umbrella of popular fare.I wish ballet fans well in their struggle, but I think that them trying to boost the attendance in the ballet week would be a more effective weapon than offering up the orchestra as the fall guy. Simply wishing for a return to the days of Balanchine and Ormandy and thinking because they were the reason the place was built everything should stay as it was is foolhardy, because that era will never come back.Jim EcclesSaratoga SpringsMore from The Daily Gazette:Foss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationEDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homesSchenectady, Saratoga casinos say reopening has gone well; revenue down 30%EDITORIAL: Thruway tax unfair to working motorists Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Swiss government must address impact of low rates on pension funds – KPMG
Swiss defined benefit pension funds are struggling to stay on an even keel in today’s low-interest-rate environment, a survey of key assumptions used by 92 Swiss pension foundations by advisers KPMG has found. The firms under scrutiny were reporting under either IFRS or US GAAP at the 2014 year-end.Among the 92 sponsors, many saw their pension balance sheet positions worsen significantly over the course of 2014.The main cause of this was a dramatic slump in discount rates, with this year’s median being 110 basis points lower than last year’s. Graham Middleton, a Switzerland-based partner at KPMG, said: “The root problem here is that the Swiss pension system will struggle if this low-interest environment continues for a period. People are looking at every lever that exists.“But, addressing the underlying impact of continual low yields and longevity improvements, through legislative changes, is something that will need to be taken up first at a federal government level.”The effect of the lower discount rate was, however, offset, at least partially, by strong asset performance.According to the Credit Suisse Schweizer Pensionskassen Index, assets held by autonomous foundations on average returned approximately 7-8% – some 5 percentage points above discount-rate averages.The KMPG experts behind the report also warn that the next wave of annual reports from Swiss companies could contain yet more bad news.Middleton said: “Most companies take the calendar year-end for annual reporting purposes. This means we will have very few companies reporting the effects of the January currency event before the New Year.“Nonetheless, during July and August, we can expect to see some companies posting results based on the June position.“What is significant here is that we will potentially be seeing companies using discount rates of less than 1% outside Japan for the first time. If that continues into next year, our survey will make for interesting reading.”One of the main drivers behind the depressed yields is the decision by the Swiss national bank to scrap its cap on the Swiss franc’s exchange rate against the euro.The move prompted a collapse in the single currency against the franc and a fall in Swiss equities, and helped to depress European sovereign debt yields further.Aon Hewitt partner Olivier Vaccaro told IPE he agreed with the KPMG findings.“At the end of the year, depending on duration, we had discount rates of 10-year duration of 0.87%, for 15 years we had 1.12% and for 20 years we had 1.25%,” he said.Vaccaro said the range at year-end among Aon Hewitt clients was 1.1-1.2%, depending on duration.He added: “So far this year, we have seen further falls since the start of the year, and so we are currently looking at 0.54% over 10 years, 0.69% over 15 years and 0.76% over 20 years.“That adds up to a fall in the range of between 35 and 50bps since the end of last year. We are looking at something like a 7-8% increase in DB liabilities. This will have an impact on the P&L position, mainly due to the increase in the service cost.”KPMG also noted that companies have taken a number of steps to mitigate the impact of falling bond yields by:discounting on the basis of AA-rated bonds only, instead of a mix of AA and AAAusing synthetic bond yields – specifically those reached using currency swaps – in place of real-world yieldslooking to non-CHF denominated bond marketsThe auditor said that, by its understanding of acceptable practice under IAS 19, the use of synthetic yields is “not appropriate” and that relying on non-Swiss franc yields is “generally not appropriate”.Alongside these developments, Swiss preparers have also explored the use of different discount rates to value pensioner liabilities and employee liabilities – and also to determine service cost under IAS 19.KPMG manager Daniel Tonks said: “There are one or two companies in the Swiss market that have introduced split discount rates under IFRS, and this follows the adoption of such in the UK in recent years.“The audit judgment is that this is generally acceptable, and the audit considerations in Switzerland follows the same thought process.“We are talking about a relatively few number of cases where this is happening, but it is worth pointing out that it would be considered a change in methodology and has to be adopted consistently in future years. “If discount rates stay at their current levels, I would expect more people to be considering this and other options. The fact discount rates are so low is focusing people’s minds.”Olivier Vaccaro said the outcome of any such move would depend on the structure of the pension fund because “there is a lower sensitivity to discount rate changes among inactive members than active members”.KPMG supports this approach as auditors and notes that, although it has little impact on a sponsor’s balance sheet position, it will help to reduce future service cost.
Chad jails Hissene Habre’s policemen to life in prison
“It took 24 years, but I finally got to face down the man who threw me in prison,” said Souleymane Guengueng with a big grin outside the courthouse in this dusty capital. “He couldn’t even deny what he did.”Guengueng, who barely survived two-and-a-half years of mistreatment in the dungeons of former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, swore that if he got out alive he would bring his jailers to justice. When Habré was overthrown in 1990 by the current president, Idriss Déby Itno, and fled across the continent to Senegal, Guengueng rallied wary survivors and widows to his quest for justice. Twenty-one officials of Habré’s political police – the dreaded DDS – are now standing trial here, while Habré himself is in pre-trial detention in Dakar, Senegal.
Costume Parade 2012
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LocalNews Costume Parade 2012 by: – February 21, 2012 Share Carnival Princess 2012 – Adecia Burton. Several costume bads paraded through the streets of the captial City of Roseau on Tuesday 21st February,2012.The 2012 Carnival Princess- Adicia Burton, Miss Teen Dominica -Mernel Christmas, Miss Dominica – Nadira Lando, Mr. Dominica – Nigel Peters, Miss Plus Size and Elegant -Tamayo Joachim , Miss DSC Mas Jamboree – Makerah George and the Calypso Monarch Dennison “Dice” Joseph were all part of this costume parade including the Mercury Costume Band, Friendship Crew, Religious Ones and Carnival Corner among others.[nggallery id =142]
Cardinals Track Results
St. Louis Track competed against South Ripley, Jac-Cen-Del and Madison Shawe.The girls who won ribbons were: Pam Meneses 2nd in the shot, 2nd in the discus and 5th in the 800m. Elizabeth Gigrich 2nd in the 100m and 2nd in the 200m. Allie Savage 4th in the 100m. Hope Kroen, Pam Meneses, Nicole Amberger and Elizabeth Gigrich 3rd in the 4X100 relay. Pam, Nicole, Hope and Elizabeth 2nd in the 4X400 relay. The boys who won ribbons were: Mike Wanstrath 3rd in the shot and 2nd in the discus. Aiden Geers 5th in the high jump. Max Giesting 4th in the long jump, 3rd in the hurdles and 5th in the 100m. Tyler kuntz 1st in the 1600m and 1st in the 800m. Tyler, Conner Ertle, Aiden and Max 3rd in the 4X400 relay.
Area Student Cross Country Athletes Receive Academic All-State
Congratulations to our area Cross Country Student-Athletes on receiving Academic All-State honors from The Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches.1st Team Girls Academic All-State: Trysta Vierling-Batesville, Josephine Selm-Franklin County, Charlotte Anderson-Greensburg, and Brooke Rohe-South Dearborn.1st Team Boys Academic All-State: Adam Moster-Batesville, Kyle Siebert-Franklin County, and Hunter Butz-Greensburg.The full list and honorable mention list are available at http://devsite.iatccc.org/.19girlsccacad19boysccacadCourtesy of Bulldogs Coach Lisa Gausman.
Remi Garde to be backed in transfer market – Aston Villa chief executive Tom Fox
The boss flew to America with chief executive Tom Fox to meet owner Randy Lerner this week with Villa eight points from safety. They are rock bottom of the Barclays Premier League and are on a club record run of 15 league games without a win. Press Association Remi Garde will be backed in the transfer market by Aston Villa in a bid to save them from the drop.
Fox appointed Garde as Tim Sherwood’s replacement in November and said Garde will get the funds next month if he needs them. “It’s up to Remi. If he decides he needs something he has the chairman’s ear and his support, absolutely,” he said. “The transfer window hasn’t opened. Remi has only been here for five games. He will take every game he has to ascertain….I don’t think it makes any sense to predict what he might need come January 2. It’s not something that I have an opinion on. “My job is to assist him when he decides there is something he might need. Right now the focus is on the players we have and getting the results in these next games over the Christmas period. “He’s had a few games under his belt and he’s got some very important ones coming up, too. I don’t think even he will be able to tell you what he’s thinking right now.” Fox also insisted Garde has the final say over any deals in January and believes the 13 players Villa signed under Sherwood in the summer are good enough. He said: “Remi Garde has (the) complete and final say over players who are brought in and that situation hasn’t changed between the last manager and this current one. “What’s most important to me is that the manager is happy with the players, the squad and the business we did over the summer. The manager is very positive on the business. “He knows a lot of the players not only the French players but the English players as well.”