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Bright ideas to get your home guest ready
(BPT) - Summer has arrived and vacation season is underway. With the kids home from school, and family and friends anxious to visit, you can expect the stress of getting your home ready to be in full swing. Here are a few helpful tips that will make you a successful host and give your guests a warm welcome. Create a co...
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Budget-friendly ways to refresh old outdoor spaces
(BPT) - Indoors or outdoors, your home decor needs some TLC to look its best. Replacing worn or dated furniture or flooring inside your home is considered fairly easy. But when outdoor spaces start to appear shabby, do you decide to live with the tired look because you think freshening the space will be too time-consumi...
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Don't let pests invade outdoor spaces
(BPT) - Most of us view lawns, porches, decks and gardens as extensions of our homes and look forward to enjoying these spaces during warm weather. Unfortunately, rising temperatures also bring invasive insects that can lay their claim to these spaces and cause hefty damage. New insect species make their way into the U...
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Gluten-free meals with 'wow' factor, from breakfast to dinner
(BPT) - As awareness of gluten-free diets continues to grow, more people are searching for ways to make their menus delicious, creative and varied while still staying gluten-free. In the past, forgoing gluten was challenging at best and frustrating at worst, due to a lack of available ingredients and products. But that ...
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Modern day dad [Infographic]
The dads of today are playing a more integral role in parenting than ever before. They’re involved in everything from keeping an eye on kids’ social media use to household chores, and a majority say that they have a different parenting style than their own fathers, according to a survey from P&G. Though they believe that parenting today is tougher than in the past, when it comes to the benefits of being a dad, a strong majority say that raising a child has made their marriage stronger.
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Summer provides opportunities for savvy students and career seekers
(BPT) - The summer educational break is no excuse to put academic or career ambitions on vacation. In fact, the traditionally slower months of summer are an ideal opportunity to assess academic and career goals, according to Joe Belliotti, president of Everest Institute-Dearborn in Michigan. Belliotti offers the fol...
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Hammer-swinging singles [Infographic]
As more single people buy homes, they're tackling at least half the DIY work themselves. But they're working on different areas of their homes. Typically, men are working on dining room and basement remodels, while women are remodeling bathrooms.
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Technology makes it easy to work from home and enjoy summer to the max
(BPT) - No one wants to see a cloud on a sunny summer day, but when it comes to how technology can make your life better, a different type of cloud can actually brighten your day. Cloud storage – often referred to as just “the cloud” – makes it easy to work at home or from anywhere, plus it makes it a snap to plan summe...
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Ask the pharmacist: How to avoid medication misfortune during a natural disaster
(BPT) - Whether it’s plywood, bottled water or generators, Americans gather the necessary supplies and seek the appropriate shelter if confronted by the wrath of Mother Nature. Regardless of the disaster – hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires – lives can be turned upside-down in an instant. Some of the most commonly overloo...
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Cool ways to enjoy your outdoor spaces through the dog days of summer
(BPT) - When warm weather arrives, does your family head outdoors to enjoy your patio or deck? Do they then turn around and head right back into the air-conditioned comfort when summer sun and temperatures make outdoor living spaces too hot to handle? “In many areas of the country, the window of opportunity for enjoyin...
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How to avoid a big tax bill or fine-tune your refund
(BPT) - Think back to your last income tax return. Did you owe Uncle Sam a lot of money, or did he give you a big refund? Whatever your situation, you can influence next year’s outcome by adjusting your payroll withholding. Remember the IRS Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, your employer asked you...
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Three ways to bring added entertainment to your outdoor experiences
(BPT) - There’s a reason it’s called the “great” outdoors. Nothing can quite compare with the beauty and majesty of wild places. When summer rolls around, the urge to explore grows for many people, inspiring millions of travelers to camp, hike and tour the country’s natural wonders. Modern outdoor enthusiasts have disco...
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national news
Hunt for Jimmy Hoffa's body brings investigators to Michigan field

Yellow crime tape surrounds a field for Hoffa investigation, in suburban DetroitBy Joseph Lichterman OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Michigan (Reuters) - The search for former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, missing since 1975 and thought to have been murdered by members of organized crime, brought investigators with shovels on Monday to an overgrown field in suburban Detroit, not far from where Hoffa was last seen alive. A backhoe was driven onto the property, and video recorded from a helicopter by Detroit television station WDIV showed agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation digging for the union leader's remains. ...


2013-06-17 19:49:41 -0500
Lawyer Cliff Sloan faces tough assignment: Closing Guantanamo

The interior of an unoccupied communal cellblock is seen at Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo BayBy Steve Holland and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cliff Sloan has represented Jon Bon Jovi's band in legal matters and argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, he has perhaps his toughest assignment: Helping to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Washington attorney was named on Monday as the State Department's Guantanamo Bay envoy, a central player in President Barack Obama's renewed push to make good on a 2008 campaign promise to shut the installation where the United States holds terrorism suspects. ...


2013-06-17 20:09:29 -0500
Accused California killer tells jurors, 'I'm not the monster'
By Ronnie Cohen SAN RAFAEL, California (Reuters) - An elderly California photographer charged with the slayings of four prostitutes dating back to the 1970s opened his own defense at his serial-murder trial on Monday, declaring to jurors, "I'm not the monster that killed these women." Joseph Naso, 79, who has admitted a penchant for taking erotic pictures of women and displayed dozens of such photos in court on Monday, stood stoop-shouldered in a blue suit and tie, his hands crossed behind his back, as he politely greeted the 12 men and women who will decide his fate. ...
2013-06-17 22:33:19 -0500
Snowden: U.S. ‘not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me’
Edward Snowden, America's most-wanted whistle-blower, says the truth about the government spying program he revealed will eventually come out, regardless of what happens to him. "All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," Snowden wrote in a live [...]
2013-06-17 09:42:20 -0500