NCAA Final Four preview: Louisville, WSU, Mich., and Syracuse will keep things lively

The Cardinals, Shockers, Wolverines, and Orange all average right around 70 points per game this season. Depending on your team or the style of play, college basketball fans should be entertained this weekend at the Final Four.

By Pat Murphy,?Staff / April 5, 2013

Michigan players work during practice before the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game against Syracuse, Friday, April 5, 2013, in Atlanta. Michigan plays Syracuse in a semifinal game on Saturday.

David J. Phillip/AP

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A pair of intriguing contests await the large crowd that will assemble inside Atlanta's Georgia Dome this Saturday evening for the 2013 NCAA Final Four.

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In the first game, scheduled to tip off just after 6 p.m. Eastern time, Louisville, the tournament's overall No. 1 seed out of the Midwest region, will meet Wichita State, a ninth seed and upstart champions of the West region.

This weekend, the 'Wheat' Shockers make their second trip to the Final Four. The last time Wichita State reached the national semifinals was 1965, when they lost to the repeating national champion UCLA Bruins.

Ironically, back in 1965, Wichita State and Louisville were both members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Cardinals left in 1975 to join what was then called the Metro Conference and has since morphed into Conference USA.

Wichita State defeated second seed Ohio State last weekend in Los Angeles, behind the outstanding play of Regional MVP Malcolm Armstead and Cleanthony Early. Carl Hall and Tekele Cotton also have made important contributions throughout the Shockers' season.

Louisville overcame the emotionally draining injury to backup guard Kevin Ware to prevail over second seed Duke in the Midwest Region final last Sunday. Paced by the terrific play of guards Peyton Siva and Russ Smith, the Cardinals are hoping to capture the school's third national championship.

The big question in the first national semifinal: What can the Shockers do to solve the Cardinals' full-court pressure and fast-breaking offense?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/hW3yHnBWYaM/NCAA-Final-Four-preview-Louisville-WSU-Mich.-and-Syracuse-will-keep-things-lively

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What is PR and What Can It Do For You? | Inspired by This Blog

?What can you do for me?? That?s the number one question I receive from people inquiring about Be Inspired PR?s services. My staff and I hear it multiple times a week, businesses call and want to know how we can get them more weddings, higher-end brides, ROI, TV segments as an ?expert? in their field, sales increases, etc. My first question back is, do you know what PR is?

What I typically find is people don?t have a full understanding of what exactly PR is and the value it provides. Perhaps the hardest part of seeing the value of PR is understanding that a lot of its value is unable to be statistically measured ? industry reputation, brand awareness and relationships.. those things definitely have an effect on the amount and type of weddings you book, but it?s not as simple to calculate.

So what is PR? When most people think of PR they immediately think of traditional press releases, email blasts and crisis management. While that certainly is part of it (albeit a very, very small part), people seem to forget that the second word in PR is ?relations.?

PR is how you treat your clients, how you write emails, keeping up with changes in your industry, being proactive, your social media identity, being smart about press submissions, ?brand messaging , handling mistakes with grace, giving back and how you treat your colleagues. Bottom line: PR is the maintenance of image and relationships between your business and the public. When you?re a small business owner, essentially everything from your daily conversations to the images you post on Instagram is PR.

No, not everyone needs full-time PR representation. And no, not everyone can afford full-time PR. But that doesn?t mean you don?t need help putting together an overall PR strategy for you brand. Or look into small-scale/collaboration opportunities. One of the worst mistakes a business owner can make is to decide not to invest, time or money, into a PR strategy.

So to answer the ?what can you do for me? question, there?s a lot a PR strategy can do for you. It can attract new business, get your work published on blogs and in magazines,? create ?buzz? around your businesses, increase your worth and put your name in front of the right people. There?s no better, more authentic way to build your brand.

Source: http://www.inspiredbythis.com/2013/04/what-is-pr-and-what-can-it-do-for-you/

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Police turn to stolen SUV in hunt for Texas fugitives

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas (AP) ? The hunt for a capital murder suspect and a convicted drug offender who escaped from an East Texas jail has turned to a missing crossover SUV.

The Hopkins County Sheriff's Office says Brian Allen Tucker and John Marlin King remain at large.

Sgt. Brad Cummings says searchers are now seeking a black 2010 Saturn Vue reported stolen in Sulphur Springs Wednesday afternoon. The vehicle had Texas plates with the number CR6D425. Inside was a nickel-plated .22-caliber Derringer pistol.

The inmates fled the jail in Sulphur Springs Tuesday morning. Sulphur Springs is about 75 miles northeast of Dallas.

Tucker is awaiting trial on a capital murder charge. Cummings says he has short hair and "drop dead" tattooed on the back of his head.

King pleaded guilty last month to drug possession.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hunt-texas-fugitives-turns-stolen-vehicle-001219760.html

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New Pic! Beyonce & Jay-Z Spend 5th Anniversary in Cuba

As they celebrate five happy years of marriage, take a look back at the evolution of music's power couple.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/beyonce-jay-z-cutest-moments/1-b-531177?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abeyonce-jay-z-cutest-moments-531177

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Miss. governor pulls anti-abortion activist's nomination

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said Monday he's withdrawing his nomination of anti-abortion activist Terri Herring of Ridgeland to the state Board of Health.

Bryant's decision came after The Associated Press questioned whether Bryant was fulfilling requirements of a state law that specifies the board's 11 members must come from certain parts of the state.

"Although this code section is unclear, Gov. Bryant will withdraw this nomination to avoid any legal uncertainty," Bryant spokesman Mick Bullock said in a statement Monday night. "It is Gov. Bryant's intention to recommend Mrs. Herring for a future position on the Board of Health when there is an opening in her district."

State law says eight Board of Health members must come from congressional districts ? two from each of the four districts. Three must come from state Supreme Court districts ? one each from northern, central and southern.

There are already enough board members from central Mississippi, where Herring lives. But with her nomination, the board would be one member short from the north.

In a statement Monday night, Herring thanked Bryant for his support and said she looks "forward to continuing to promote women's health, and healthy lifestyles as I have for the past many years."

Herring, 54, has lobbied since the mid-1980s to tighten abortion laws in Mississippi. As head of Pro Life America Network, she is pushing this year for a bill that would put new restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs.

The governor, a Republican, had tapped Herring to succeed Ellen Williams from the northern city of Senatobia. Williams lives in the northern Supreme Court district.

Confirmation to the Board of Health requires a majority of Mississippi's 52 senators. Herring's nomination had been scheduled for a vote Tuesday in the Senate Public Health Committee, before the governor withdrew it.

Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, a member of the committee, said he had planned to vote against Herring's nomination because he had heard from OB-GYNs who were opposed to her confirmation.

"I hope the governor will consider physicians who deal with women's health, as well as public health professionals, in his next appointment," Blount said Monday.

The board oversees the state Department of Health, including appointing its director. It also approves the state health plan and sets rules and regulations for the department.

State law says the board must be made up of five currently licensed physicians with at least seven years' experience in practicing medicine. The other six members must be people "who have a background in public health or an interest in public health who are not currently or formerly licensed physicians."

Bryant nominated Herring for one of the non-physician positions on the board. Williams, who is a registered nurse and has a doctoral degree, has served on the board since 2004.

Herring said in a news release last week that she and her husband, Clint Herring, own TrustCare, a Ridgeland clinic that provides walk-in care and occupational therapy. The news release also says the Herrings, since 1984, have run Kerioth Corp., a real estate development firm that has built several upscale commercial sites in the Jackson area. The Herrings also are partners in The Club fitness centers, which is affiliated with St. Dominic Health Services.

Herring in 2012 lobbied for a state law that requires anyone performing abortions at an abortion clinic to be a physician with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. The state's only abortion clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, has been unable to obtain the privileges for its out-of-state physicians. The clinic filed a federal lawsuit last summer to challenge the law, and that suit is awaiting trial.

The clinic is scheduled for an April 18 administrative hearing before the state Board of Health, to appeal the state Health Department's intent to revoke the clinic's license because of failure to obtain the admitting privileges. The clinic remains open.

____

Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bryant-pulls-anti-abortion-activists-nomination-010059259.html

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Weak economic reports send stock market lower

NEW YORK (AP) ? Weak reports on hiring and service industries sent the stock market sharply lower Wednesday, giving the Dow Jones industrial average its worst day in more than a month.

The Dow fell 111.66 points, or 0.8 percent, to 14,550.35, its worst decline since Feb. 25. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 16.56 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,553.69. Both indexes closed at record highs the day before.

The stock market started 2013 with a rally as investors became more optimistic about the U.S. economy, especially housing and jobs. The reports Wednesday disappointed the market and came two days after news that U.S. manufacturing growth slowed unexpectedly last month.

The losses were widespread. All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 index fell. Banks and energy stocks had the worst losses, 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent. Utilities, which investors hold when they want to play it safe, fell the least, 0.3 percent.

"The market is overdue for a correction," said Joe Saluzzi at Themis Trading. "I don't think that the economy supports this type of a rally."

Signs of investor skittishness appeared across a number of different markets.

Commodities slumped. Crude oil dropped $2.74, or 2.8 percent, to close at $94.45 a barrel and industrial metals like copper fell.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.81 percent from 1.86 percent, the lowest level for the benchmark rate since January. The decline means investors are moving money into low-risk U.S. government debt.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks small company stocks, fell for a third straight day, dropping 1.7 percent. It's now down 3.5 percent so far this week, far worse than the declines in the Dow, 0.2 percent, and the S&P, 1 percent. That's another signal that investors may be becoming more bearish about the U.S. economy.

Small company stocks, which did better than the Dow and the S&P 500 in the first three months of the year, are more sensitive to the outlook for the U.S. economy than the larger companies in the Dow and S&P. That's because they rely far more on domestic sales than global giants like IBM and Caterpillar, which sells heavy machinery and construction equipment around the globe.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, an index of 20 stocks including airlines like Delta and freight companies FedEx and UPS, fell more than 1 percent for a third straight day. The index, which is regarded as a leading indicator for broader market indexes as well as the economy, has fallen 3.9 percent this week, after surging 17.9 percent in the first quarter.

U.S. service companies kept growing at a solid pace in March, but the expansion was less than economists were expecting. The Institute for Supply Management's index of service companies fell to 54.4 from 56 a month earlier. The report was the weakest in seven months.

Separately, payrolls processor ADP reported that U.S. employers added 158,000 jobs last month, down from February's gain of 237,000. The ADP report is often seen as a preview for the government's broader survey on employment, which is due out Friday.

The slowdown in hiring was due in part to construction firms holding back on adding new employees. That sent the stocks of homebuilders lower. PulteGroup fell 85 cent, or 4.3 percent, to $19.01 and D.R. Horton dropped 57 cents to $22.84.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite fell 36.26 points, or 1.1 percent, to 3,218.60.

Even though stocks started the second quarter lower, markets typically add to their gains after ending the first quarter up, said Sam Stovall, an equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. Using data going back over more than 60 years, Stovall says that the S&P 500 has gained an average of 9 percent from April to December after rising in the first quarter.

"Investors believe that the economic trajectory is improving," said Stovall. Stocks "do not reflect the true valuations based on where the economy will be at the end of the year."

Among stocks making big moves:

? Zynga rose 46 cents, or 15 percent, to $3.53 after the online game maker said two casino games would debut in the United Kingdom Wednesday.

? Abercrombie & Fitch rose $1.74, or 3.8 percent, to $47.20, making it the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P 500. The company said late Tuesday that it planned to expand internationally and place greater emphasis on cost control.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-03-Wall%20Street/id-6c21d71c6d3a4c9faecf733bcedaa045

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Same-day water pollution test could keep beaches open more often

Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

With warm summer days at the beach on the minds of millions of winter-weary people, scientists are reporting that use of a new water quality test this year could prevent unnecessary beach closures while better protecting the health of swimmers. A study analyzing the accuracy of the test appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Meredith B. Nevers and colleagues point out that decisions on whether water is safe for recreational use have been based on tests that actually show the condition of water in the past. Those tests involve sampling water for the E. coli bacteria used as red flags for fecal contamination, putting the samples in culture dishes and waiting to see if any bacteria grow. As a result, managers might close a beach based on fecal contamination that existed in the past, but posed no current threat. Likewise, they might keep a contaminated beach open because the water was clean in the past.

They describe analysis and validation of a new rapid water-quality test that could prevent beaches from being closed by providing accurate, same-day results of bacteria levels. Developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the test's same-day results could help managers across the country determine whether beaches are safe for swimming.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from USGS Great Lakes Science Center.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

With warm summer days at the beach on the minds of millions of winter-weary people, scientists are reporting that use of a new water quality test this year could prevent unnecessary beach closures while better protecting the health of swimmers. A study analyzing the accuracy of the test appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Meredith B. Nevers and colleagues point out that decisions on whether water is safe for recreational use have been based on tests that actually show the condition of water in the past. Those tests involve sampling water for the E. coli bacteria used as red flags for fecal contamination, putting the samples in culture dishes and waiting to see if any bacteria grow. As a result, managers might close a beach based on fecal contamination that existed in the past, but posed no current threat. Likewise, they might keep a contaminated beach open because the water was clean in the past.

They describe analysis and validation of a new rapid water-quality test that could prevent beaches from being closed by providing accurate, same-day results of bacteria levels. Developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the test's same-day results could help managers across the country determine whether beaches are safe for swimming.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from USGS Great Lakes Science Center.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/acs-swp040313.php

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