No quick fix for downed bridge on holiday weekend

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) ? Washington state officials are scrambling to find a temporary fix for a bridge that collapsed on an important interstate highway and, incredibly, left just three motorists with injuries. Whatever the solution, it won't come in time to help with Memorial Day's highway hoards.

Transportation experts are also working to find out whether the spectacular disintegration of the heavily used span over the Skagit River, 60 miles north of Seattle, was a fluke or a sign of a bigger problem.

A trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment Thursday evening when his load bumped against the steel framework over an Interstate 5 bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the span collapse into the water behind him.

Two vehicles fell into the chilly river. The three people in those vehicles were not seriously hurt.

As authorities try to find a temporary span, motorists will have to use alternate routes during the holiday and for weeks to come.

"You cannot overstate the importance of this corridor to Washington state," Gov. Jay Inslee said. Traffic on I-5 and surrounding roads was backed up for miles, a situation the governor said would continue indefinitely.

Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Inslee said Friday. That option could be in place in weeks. Otherwise, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.

The collapse came on the north end of the four-lane bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle.

"He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight," Cynthia Scott, the wife of truck driver William Scott, said from the couple's home near Spruce Grove, Alberta. "He was just horrified."

The truck driver works for Mullen Trucking in Alberta, the Washington State Patrol said. The tractor-trailer was hauling a housing for drilling equipment southbound when the top right front corner of the load struck several of the bridge's trusses, the patrol said.

Scott, 41, remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. He voluntarily gave a blood sample for an alcohol test and was not arrested.

The truck made it off the bridge, but the other two vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below.

Bryce Kenning, of Mount Vernon, said the bridge seemed to explode in front of him. The 20-year-old slammed his brakes, but there was nothing he could do.

"It was like time was frozen ? like a roller coaster where you're not attached to the tracks," Kenning said in a phone interview.

Ed Scherbinski, vice president of Mullen Trucking, said in an interview with The Associated Press that state officials had approved of the company's plan to drive the oversize load along I-5 to Vancouver, Wash.

Mike Allende, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, confirmed the truck had a permit.

"We're still trying to figure out why it hit the bridge," Allende said.

State officials approved the trucking company to carry a load as high as 15 feet, 9 inches, according to the permit released by the state. However, the southbound vertical clearance on the Skagit River bridge is as little as 14 feet, 5 inches, state records show. That lowest clearance is outside of the bridge's vehicle traveling lanes, Transportation Department communications director Lars Erickson said Friday. The bridge's curved overhead girders are higher in the center of the bridge.

The bridge has a maximum clearance of about 17 feet.

The permit specifically describes the route the truck would take, though it includes a qualification that the state "Does Not Guarantee Height Clearance."

It's not rare for trucks to strike bridges in Washington state. The state DOT said there were 21 bridge-strikes involving trucks last year, 24 in 2011 and 14 in 2010.

Officials performed a special inspection six months ago on the bridge that collapsed because there were indications it had been struck by a different vehicle.

A report released Friday said the checkup was done due to "impact damage," and inspectors identified tears, deformations and gouges on the northbound side of the bridge.

In that Nov. 29, 2012, impact, an overheight truck struck a metal overhead truss on the bridge, DOT spokeswoman Broch Bender said. An inspection crew determined the bridge to be safe, with only minor repairs required. She said those minor repairs were added to an existing list of bridge maintenance items to be completed at a future date.

There are no signs leading up to the Skagit River bridge to warn about its clearance height. State Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson said that under federal and state standards, the clearance is tall enough to not require signage.

Inslee said it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. The federal government has promised $1 million.

The bridge is used by an average of 71,000 vehicles a day.

A Federal Highway Administration database lists the bridge as "functionally obsolete" ? a category meaning that the design is outdated. But it was not classified as structurally deficient.

___

Baker reported from Olympia, Wash. Associated Press writers Donna Gordon Blankinship and Gene Johnson in Seattle, and Terry Tang in Phoenix also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-quick-fix-downed-bridge-holiday-weekend-082217341.html

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US lauds India for reducing Iranian oil imports

NEW DELHI (AP) -- A senior American official on Friday praised India for reducing oil imports from Iran and said the U.S. government will decide soon on New Delhi's request to renew a waiver from sanctions on Tehran.

U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said that India's reduction of oil imports was supporting U.S. and European Union sanctions against Iran, which are aimed at deterring the country from developing nuclear weapons.

India slashed imports of Iranian crude by nearly 27 percent in the financial year that ended March 31, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

However, India is reliant on imported crude and is reluctant to completely stop imports from Iran. India's waiver from the sanctions runs out next month.

"I think that India has really made a tremendous progress in reducing the level of its importation of Iranian oil," Sherman told reporters. "All of the data is certainly in a positive direction."

She also said India had stood with the international community in telling Iran that that it should not acquire nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes

Sherman was in New Delhi to prepare for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to India next month.

She said that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was expected to visit Washington in the near future.

Energy-starved India imports around 75 percent of its oil to power its economic growth.

India's junior minister for petroleum, Panabakka Lakshmi, told Parliament in March that Saudi Arabia was India's main supplier of crude oil, followed by Iraq, Venezuela, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. Iran was seventh, down from its earlier position as India's third-largest supplier of crude oil in 2011.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-lauds-india-reducing-iranian-100623529.html

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Syrian state media: Rebels attack prison in north

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's state media say rebels have fired mortar shells at the central prison in an embattled northern city, killing and wounding several inmates.

The pro-opposition Aleppo Media Center says clashes are underway between rebels and government troops at the prison in Aleppo. The center says a large fire has broken out at the facility.

Friday's fighting comes a week after President Bashar Assad's forces repelled a rebel raid on the prison that sought to free hundreds of political prisoners.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says intense fighting is also going on in the town of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon.

Government forces have been trying to recapture the town since Sunday. State-run news agency SANA says troops killed a "large number" of rebels in the latest clashes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-state-media-rebels-attack-prison-north-084246535.html

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PRINCETON: Gatsby items on display at library - Centraljersey.com

???Gatsby season is in full swing at Princeton University.

???As Baz Luhrman?s film rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald?s great American novel renews interest in ?The Great Gatsby,? the university is showcasing some of its most remarkable Gatsby memorabilia. An exhibit of the original dust jacket and cover art for the first edition of the novel is running at Firestone Library from through June 1. On May 2, the library received a special gift ? a copy of novel that displays the mysterious epigraph ?Then wear the gold hat? in Fitzgerald?s handwriting.

???According to Steve Ferguson, assistant librarian of rare books at the university, the poem appears at the beginning of the novel signed by Thomas Park D?Invilliers, a fictional character who first appeared in Fitzgerald?s ?This Side of Paradise.? Fitzgerald supposedly never revealed that he was the author of the poem, but this book provides ?unmistakable documentary evidence? that he in fact was the writer, Mr. Ferguson said.

???The gift was donated to Firestone by Lawrence Stewart, a professor who purchased the copy in a California bookstore and first published his findings in 1957. However, Mr. Stewart did not include visual proof, so this is the first time that people will be able to see the evidence directly, Mr. Ferguson said.

???He added that this gift is significant because the poem has become an important part of American literary culture.

???Fitzgerald himself has become a timeless novelist because people are captivated by his ability to relate experiences of the modern era, Mr. Ferguson said.

????Asking ?who is Jay Gatsby?? is like asking ?who is an American??? he said. ?It?s such an open-ended question, and people are attracted to this story because it makes you curious ? it?s not all tied up in a neat little bundle.?

???The release of the latest movie version of ?The Great Gatsby? certainly spiked public curiosity. In a review of the film published in Town Topics, Stuart Mitchner said he had learned that the university owned the original cover painting for the first edition of the novel, and called upon the library to display the artwork.

???In response, the art department at Firestone was able to quickly put together an exhibit featuring the original full-sized painting by Francis Cugat as well as the first- edition dust jacket displaying a scaled-down illustration, said Don Skemer, curator of manuscripts.

???While the book with Fitzgerald?s handwritten epigraph will be kept in the rare books division of Firestone, the exhibit of cover art will be free and open to the public between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays and between noon and 5 p.m. on weekends. The exhibit is located in a gallery adjacent to the main lobby.

???Julie Mellby, curator of graphic art, said dust covers are easily damaged, which is why Princeton is ?very lucky? to have a paper cover in good condition.

????People often describe it as the most important American dust jacket of the 20th century,? Mr. Skemer said.

???The cover art is particularly significant because Fitzgerald was captivated by the striking eyes in Cugat?s painting, and told his publisher to reserve the jacket for his novel. He even wrote the detail into ?The Great Gatsby? by creating the billboard for eye doctor T. J. Eckleburg.

???The painting has no title, since it was finished before Fitzgerald?s novel was complete, Ms. Mellby said. In fact, the title had to be kept short because Cugat did not leave very much space, she added.

???Although the university has a large archive of artifacts relating to Fitzgerald and his work, Ms. Mellby said her department wanted to focus the exhibit on the cover art.

????This is one of the highpoints of Princeton?s collection, and we really do welcome and encourage people to come over and see this colorful, exciting art,? she said.

???Still, the university?s affiliation with Fitzgerald runs even deeper than these two projects, Mr. Skemer said. Fitzgerald?s papers are all archived at the library, and Princeton even appears in the rolling credits for ?The Great Gatsby? movie.

???Mr. Skemer added that he has plans for a more extensive project on Fitzgerald that he will be announcing next week, prior to commencement.

????Coincidentally, Fitzgerald arrived to Princeton as a freshman in 1913 ? 100 years ago,? he said.

Source: http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2013/05/23/the_princeton_packet/news/doc519e9906e3f55328994354.txt

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US companies challenging contraception mandate

DENVER (AP) -- Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is challenging the part of the federal health care law that requires for-profit companies to offer employees health coverage that includes products the business owners find morally objectionable, such as certain types of contraception.

Few large American employers have weighed in on this because it's a nonissue for them. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 85 percent already offered such coverage before the Obama administration mandated it as part of its health care overhaul last year.

But a number of firms like Hobby Lobby, which is owned by an evangelical Christian family, argue the regulation violates their religious freedom.

Hobby Lobby, for example, already provides coverage of almost all contraceptives as part of its employees' health insurance. It objects to the requirement that it now cover the so-called morning-after and week-after pills, saying that paying for those two treatments would violate its owners' belief that life begins at fertilization.

Thirty-one private companies have sued to overturn the regulation on similar grounds. Their cases are pending. Hobby Lobby is the best-known; most of the others are smaller, family-run and privately held, so they do not have to run legal strategy by shareholders like larger, publicly traded firms do.

Businesses contemplating stepping into such heated issues also face other considerations. Papa John's CEO, John Schnatter, last year complained that the entire health law ? not just covering certain types of contraception ? would hike the cost of his company's pizzas. He then had to deal with a boycott organized by the federal law's supporters.

Not every company with religiously observant ownership has sued. Chik-fil-A Inc., which says it operates on "biblically based principles" and closes on Sundays, has not challenged the health law's mandate.

Reproductive rights groups argue businesses shouldn't be able to use religious beliefs to mandate what type of health care their employees receive.

The dispute over the contraception coverage mandate is expected to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The companies with live claims challenging the contraception mandate include:

? Autocam Corp. of Michigan

? Grote Industries of Indiana

? Seneca Hardwood Lumber Co. of Pennsylvania

? Korte & Luitjohan Contractors of Illinois

? Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. of Pennsylvania

? Sioux Chief Manufacturing of Missouri

? Continuum Health Partnerships of Colorado

___

Source: The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and The Kaiser Family Foundation

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-companies-challenging-contraception-mandate-200115998.html

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THN-.ME Registry Unveils Launch of Web.ME - Web Hosting Talk

(The Hosting News) -?The .ME Registry, the company behind the .ME Internet extension, is proud to announce the launch ofWeb.me, a revolutionary website builder with ?pay as you want ? options.

Web.me is a startup aimed at encouraging businesses and individuals to build their online presence regardless of their level of technical competence through an easy to use website builder. The business model behind web.me is multi-tiered including a ?pay as you want? option meaning that all of their services can be purchased a ?la Carte.

The Web.me website builder is equipped with an intuitive drag & drop editor, enabling even those with no coding skills to make their own website. Web.me has also implemented a multi-language live chat option in the editor function so users may ask for help during site creation.

CEO of .ME Registry, Predrag Lesic, states: ?We are very excited about the launch of Web.me and feel this is one of the most perfect uses of a .ME domain. Our mission is to create a space online for everyone and this service makes it easier for users who might not know how to code to create and control their own website as well as to personalize it on every level. Most importantly?, Lesic continues, ?allocation of web.me is yet another validation of our .ME premium name development program that was created to match the right domain name with the product or service that fits it perfectly. It is a program opened to any business, start up or entrepreneur and it applies to premium .ME domains, which are, to put it simply, one or two character .ME domains as well as key word and call to action .ME domains.

Marcin Zmaczy?ski, CEO of Web.me explains: ?We have decided to choose a .me premium domain for this project because we simply think that every website should be unique and that your online experience is about you. With this in mind web.me came naturally as the number one choice. Moreover, the name Web.me is catchy and easy to remember which is nowadays very difficult to find in the domain name market.?

About Web.me

There are four different pricing packages offered by Web.me to suit the variety of needs: The basic Free package; Pay As You Want, which allows customers to choose any price from $1 to $9 a month; The Business package, which offers all the features of the first two packages plus a free domain, premium templates and unlimited pages for just $19 a month; and The Premium package which includes a mobile editor to update the site anytime, anywhere for $29 a month.

Both Business and Premium packages offer Ecommerce widgets including Google and PayPal Cart and Buy Now.

For more information on Web.me please visit?http://www.web.me

For more information on .ME and the Premium Name Development Program please visithttp://domain.me/premium-domain-program/

For other examples and articles about the many clever uses of .ME, visit?http://www.domain.me/blog.

About the .ME Registry:

.ME Registry (the d.b.a. of doMEn, d.o.o.) was chosen by the government of Montenegro to operate the new .ME domain name extension. .ME Registry partners include ME-net, GoDaddy.com and Afilias Limited. Me-Net is located in Montenegro and its principals have been leaders in the ICT sector in Montenegro, including the privatization of its largest ISP. Go Daddy is located in the USA and is the Web?s top platform for small businesses. Go Daddy is world?s largest domain name registrar and the largest paid hostname provider in the world, according to Netcraft Ltd. Afilias Limited is headquartered in Ireland and is a leading registry services provider, supporting more than 13 million domains worldwide.

Source: .ME Registry Unveils Launch of Web.ME

Source: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/news/thn-me-registry-unveils-launch-of-web-me/

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Online Video-Ad Network Tremor Video Files For Its IPO

Video ad network Tremor Video has filed for its long-awaited public offering. The company's shares will trade on the NYSE at TRMR and it wants to raise at least $86 million.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/sfOAnaGR6YU/

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