| Foreclosures in Mich. decline
Foreclosures in Michigan may have hit their peak and finally be heading downward, new data released Tuesday suggests. That would be a welcome development in a state that has endured one of the worst economic downturns and most severe housing slumps in decades. A decline in foreclosures would be a first step, albeit small, to a real estate recovery that experts predict could take several years. Michigan foreclosure filings in January declined 7.03 percent compared to the same month a year ago, to 10,746, according to RealtyTrac, a Irvine, Calif.-based firm that tracks foreclosure numbers. In Metro Detroit -- encompassing Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston counties -- filings declined 23 percent year over year. .
Darren McCarty follows troubled path back to Hockeytown
Darren McCarty, a tough guy with his fights but skilled enough to score goals, was one of the most popular Wings in 1993-2004 and helped Detroit win Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998 and 2002. But the Wings bought him out of his contract following the 2004-05 lockout, in part because of the NHL's new salary cap and in part because they felt he had become distracted with outside interests like his rock band, Grinder. He spent the past two seasons in Calgary, where he met Anna, who also bartends at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino. His career, though, languished on the ice. He missed three months last season with a back injury, appeared in only 32 games and had no goals or assists. Instead of receiving NHL offers as a free-agent forward, he heard from the Belfast Giants in Northern Ireland.
Pakistan allows YouTube return
Rather than individually block offending blogs, censors disabled access to the entire Blogspot.com domain, according to Don't Block the Blog, a group of Pakistani Internet freedom advocates.
One year later, the PTA accidentally blocked access to millions of popular Web sites including Google.com, Download.com, Microsoft.com, Gmail.com and Yahoo.com among others, the group said. The fumbled filtering attempt went on for four days before it was corrected.
According to the AP report, the PTA was unapologetic for any "technical hitches" stemming from its order that the nation's 70 Internet service providers to block YouTube. The blackout occurred after a Hong Kong-based data carrier began routing Web traffic to YouTube through Pakistan.
YouTube has been blocked by myriad countries at one time or another, including Brazil, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Bus Kill
When the truck slowed, there was no way the driver could stop in time, especially in a 42,000-pound behemoth. Investigators later learned that the driver had two prior accidents, one ruled preventableĀin three years, and had been disciplined once previously for speeding. His superiors fired him, but he went to arbitration and won a 20-day suspension. Before long, he was back on the road. Two days after the Verrazano crash, another NYCT bus driver smashed into not one but two vans in the Bronx, injuring eight more people. That driver had been on probation for her involvement in six prior accidents, two ruled preventable, in three years. After the Bronx accident, the driver insisted that the brakes had failed. State investigators concluded, however, that she had mistakenly hit the gas pedal when she meant to slow down.
Sound off
I was proud to read on your website that Egypt Today's policy prohibits the publication of material that is libelous or insensitive towards religious, ethnic and other minorities. The European media, and the Danish newspaper in question, can certainly learn a few lessons from et about responsible freedom of expression in the press. DK-2, A Danish organization for democracy and the media, has for many months criticized Jyllands-Posten for having published the cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed [PBUH]. However, the newspaper has rejected our letters to the editors and those from many other readers. We firmly believe that this is absolutely not an issue of freedom of expression; it is rather an intended offense against a whole group of people. The fact that the Danish people and the whole of Denmark have to pay the costs of this offense is highly grotesque and deeply unfair both to the Muslims and to the Danes.
Bigger Children's Hospital means more time in traffic
On the east side of University Village, there's a five-way intersection where each car typically is delayed 79 seconds during the afternoon rush. Growth in the area will push that wait to more than two minutes by 2030, according to a new city study -- and a proposed expansion of Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center would add nearly another minute on top of that. But unlike several other nearby intersections affected by the expansion, there's no way to ease traffic here, the study says. "Currently, there are no feasible improvements to this intersection." All told, the expansion would increase vehicle trips to the hospital 91 percent -- from 9,200 a day now to 17,600 in 2030 -- although remote parking and alternative transportation could cut the impact significantly, according to the study, which was released Jan.
Chick Wit: Love - The giving
So welcome to another trademark Scottoline time-to-change-things column, wherein my bossy and controlling nature works to my advantage, for once. To begin, I did some research, and I learned that St. Valentine's Day was intended to celebrate a loving man, a priest so sweet, giving and devout that he became a saint. Historically, his day had nothing to do with romance. In fact, it wasn't until the Middle Ages, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a poem titled "A Parliament of Foules," that St. Valentine's Day became associated with romantic love. Aha! So the link between Valentine's Day and romance is pure fiction. Chaucer made it up, and trust me, he did it to move some poems. Sex sells. Romance novels are best-sellers for a reason, and even my books have sex scenes, which I write from memory.
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