Online Features
Lawn & Garden
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Recycled plastics in the garden: It's all about the 'green'
Our lawns and gardens seem to be all about the “green.” We spend a lot of green on our lawns and gardens – nearly $30 billion a year. We grow a lot of greens – nearly a third of us grow food in our gardens. And many companies now make outdoor gardening products with recycled materials, such as plastics – which contribut...
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Tips for extending your home into your patio
(BPT) - In warmer weather, patios transform into the ultimate gathering space for backyard barbecues, reading, relaxing or even exercising. These outdoor rooms become an extension of the house, seamlessly merging the outdoors inside and vice versa. This summer, many homeowners will tackle revamping the home to expand t...
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Five steps to create a customized outdoor living space with railing
(BPT) - Railing can upgrade any deck from drab to fab – adding style, as well as safety and support. In fact, it’s often the one element that truly sets your outdoor living space apart from others in the neighborhood. Here are five steps to create the perfect perimeter for your deck. 1. Find ideas at your fingertips – ...
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Birdfeeder basics: Bring on backyard birds with the right feeders
(BPT) - When you dine, do you prefer clean and attractive tableware? Does ambiance enhance your enjoyment of your food? Birds feel the same way about their dining habits – the type and cleanliness of your bird feeders directly affects the number and species of birds that will visit your backyard this season. To attract...
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Backyard oasis planning made easy
(BPT) - Hooray for a holiday. You’ve got the day off, you’ve sent out the backyard barbecue invite and all your nearest and dearest are coming over to eat, drink and be merry. So, what’s next? Whether you’re a seasoned entertaining pro or a new host, The Home Depot has tips to make your backyard an oasis for a long hol...
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Surprising ways hot tubs heat up relationships
(BPT) - On average, working adults spend less than an hour per day socializing and relaxing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s American Time Use Survey . Yet a host of research – and common sense – tells us that spending time together in a social, relaxing way is essential to building and maintaining healthy...
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Cures for some of the most common plant and pest problems [Infographic]
Whether it’s as slow as a slug or as quick as the demise of an iron-deficient lawn, problems continue to invade landscapes season after season. Central Garden & Pet has uncovered homeowners’ most challenging outdoor dilemmas and developed high impact solutions for troubled lawns and gardens from New England to the Pacific Northwest – and every region in between. This season, find the cure for your plant and pest problems and watch as your blooms blossom, gardens thrive and landscapes becom...
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More beauty, less beast [Infographic]
This season, fairytales will come true as landscapes and gardens flourish, and pest and weeds become a distant memory. Pennington and Amdro know the benefits of having a healthy, weed-free landscape and pest-free home – but they also know that achieving these results can be challenging. This year, however, will be different. With the help of the Pennington Smart Feed Sprayer System and the Amdro PowerFlex Pest & Weed System , homeowners can simplify indoor and outdoor chores and maintain ...
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Growing tomatoes [infographic]
Did you know the average row of tomato plants yields about 60 pounds of harvest? Or that there are over 7,500 varieties of tomatoes? These facts and tons more are just a few reasons why 93 percent of gardening households in America grow their own tomatoes. Avant Garden Decor , home of Gardener’s Blue Ribbon tomato gardening products, explores tomato gardening in this infographic. Learn why growing your own tomatoes can benefit your health, your wallet and the Earth. To get expert advi...
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Companion planting [Infographic]
Gardening using a companion planting technique is becoming a highly popular practice. Companion planting is the close planting of different plants that enhance each other’s growth or protect each other from pests. A higher crop yield, tastier harvests and less insect damage are all benefits of companion planting. This infographic , brought to you by Avant Garden Decor, home of Gardener’s Blue Ribbon Vegetable Gardening Supplies , shares with you the benefits of companion planting practice...
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Enhance your outdoor space with an outdoor fireplace
(BPT) - Winter lingered far too long this year. It was cold, it was blustery, and many of us were left wondering if it would ever end. Now summer is here - and it’s time to get outdoors. Instead of being forced to labor through the same old spring chores, use this abbreviated spring as an excuse to stay outside. Fire u...
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Make warm-weather chores a breeze with these tips
(BPT) - Warm weather brings everyone outdoors - grilling on the deck, playing on the lawn and savoring beautiful gardens. To create these beautiful outdoor spaces, the experts at Lowe’s offer four easy, affordable projects you can do yourself. Follow these tips to make sure your outdoor spaces are in tip-top shape by su...
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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