Sprout Farms

According to US News & World Report, bedbug infestations are increasing in the US, as well as other locations around the world. While bedbugs are clearly attracted to us, experts claim that the pests are actually difficult to detect.

The National Pest Management Association reports that about one in five people in America have either had a bedbug infestation in their home at some time, or know someone else who has.

Dr. Jorge Parada, medical director of the infection control program at Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Illinois warned that even if you haven’t seen bedbugs in your home, you should not assume that they aren’t there.

“Look closely because bedbugs are very hard to see,” Parada said in a university news release. “Bedbugs love to hide in the cracks and crevices associated with mattresses, cushions, bed frames and other structures. They are rarely seen out in the open or on the resting surface of beds or chairs.”

Parada added that bedbugs aren’t always visible when you look for them, so it’s important to look for signs of an infestation. Sometimes they are “described as appearing like an apple seed.” Young bedbugs are as small as one-sixteenth of an inch, and adult bedbugs typically measure less than a quarter of an inch.

Finding bedbug bites on your body is a clue that you may have an infestation. Bites are red and itchy, and may appear in a line on the skin. Still, some people do not develop an immediate reaction to bites, and others may not develop a reaction at all. The surest way to detect and eliminate an infestation is to call in the pros.

It is difficult to get rid of bed bugs on your own. Parada said that, “bedbugs are notoriously difficult to eradicate and there is good reason to get professional help from qualified pest professionals with expertise in treating bed bugs.”

Source: US News Health

With bills growing and school budgets tightening, school districts are finding interesting new ways to save money. They’re saving energy.

Owatonna school district in Minnesota partnered with Texas-based Cenergistic (formerly Energy Education Inc) in 2011 to do just that. According to its company website, Cenergistic “builds customized, comprehensive, people-driven energy conservation programs that help organizations reduce their consumption of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and water, allowing financial savings which can be invested in the lives of the people its clients serve, not utility companies.”

The district then hired Steve Stansberry, a former elementary school principal to get involved in the energy saving project and act as a part-time overseer. Stansberry meets with district officials once a week to brainstorm and discuss ideas, and works a few other half days during the week and on weekends. An important part of his role is to work on the weekends when he can observe school energy use at a time when it should be “shut down.”

“Our goal is to save the district a lot of money, and we are saving a lot of money,” he said.

Launched in May of 2011, the program run by Cenergistic has saved the district $264,096 in utility costs. The contract with Cenergistic spans over four years, and even with the expenses of the program and Stansberry’s payment, the school district has saved over $120,000.

Cenergistic will continue to provide services to the school district at no charge after the end of the four year contract. The company expects that over the next ten years, Owatonna school district will save about $2.7 million.

“It’s all behavioral change,” Stansberry said. “The program takes into account the differences in the climate, so if it’s a milder winter, they expect us to use less gas. This is a behavior-based program. It really looks at how you get teachers, custodians and cooks to think a little bit differently about their job.”

Riverstone Holdings, LLC committed $600 million to Fieldwood Energy LLC, a Houston based company in the acquisition and development of oil and gas. The funds are expected to be used in the pursuit of assets in domestic basins.

This agreement is the second to be made between Riverstone and Fieldwood. A previous partnership between Riverstone and Fieldwood produced Dynamic Offshore Resources LLC in Houston, a subsidiary of SandRidge Energy Inc. which is based in Oklahoma City.

In a statement, Matt McCarroll, President and CEO of Fieldwood said that members of this former partnership will join Fieldwood’s new venture.

“We are confident that our focus on the acquisition and development of under-worked assets and under-capitalized companies will provide for an equally successful experience as our previous efforts,” he said.

To date, Riverstone has been active in the energy industry in Houston; the firm invested $200 million in Kerogen Energy Holdings LLC in September 2012.

Riverstone is a private equity firm focused in the energy and power sectors. Since the firm was co-founded in 2000 by Pierre Lapeyre and David Leuschen, Riverstone has committed around $20 billion worldwide with investments across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Source: bizjournals.com

On Sunday, December 2, Hollywood stars, comedians, dancers, and musicians, brought their glamor and talent to the 35^th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, celebrating the lifetime contributions of seven American performing artists. The yearly tradition, which takes place at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., is hosted by Caroline Kennedy, and produced by George Stevens Jr. and Michael Stevens. The duo has received three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Television Special for their work with the honors show. Together, they have received 19 Emmy Awards and 51 nominations.

This year’s honorees include blues artist Buddy Guy, actor and director Dustin Hoffman, rock band Led Zeppelin’s members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant, comedian and TV host David Letterman, and ballerina Natalia Makarova.

The honorees received medallions on the night prior to the gala, during a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The night of December 2 began with a welcome reception at the White House where President Obama thanked the artists for their cultural contributions, and reminisced about the artistic influences in his own life. The program then continued at The Kennedy Center, where the President and First Lady sat in the presidential box with the night’s honorees, and other prominent individuals including Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, authors Doris Kearns Goodwin and Richard Goodwin, Connie Milstein, owner of the Jefferson Hotel.

The Honors have been a tradition since 1978, and past honorees include Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Clint Eastwood, Julie Andrews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Martin Scorsese, Oprah Winfrey, Yo-Yo Ma, and Meryl Streep, among others. Honorees are chosen by the Board of Trustees based on the Kennedy Center’s national artists committee’s input and former honoree’s recommendations. The Board of Trustees hopes to select a diverse group, across a variety of artistic disciplines.

Other notable guests from this year’s gala include Nancy Pelosi, Naomi Watts, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, and Morgan Freeman. The gala will be broadcast to the public on CBS on Dec. 26.

Sources: Washington Post, TIME, CNN

Many New York City developers are embracing environmental standards by building or retrofitting buildings to become LEED certified.

“Any developer planning to put a new building up today in New York—starting with office buildings—in order to be competitive in the marketplace, needs to build a sustainable building,” said Guy Geier, managing partner at FXFOWLE Architects.

According to City & State, since April 2012, 324 buildings have obtained LEED certification, including 178 for certified commercial interiors, 76 for new construction projects, 51 for existing buildings, 16 for new construction projects leaving out interiors (or “core and shell”) and three neighborhood development projects led by the Columbia University expansion in Harlem.

“Owners don’t want to have an asset that’s outdated,” said Russell Unger, Urban Green Council director. “Many large tenants have policies for environmental impacts, and they’re asking for this. And if you miss out on one significant tenant, you would have lost out on more money than the incremental cost of getting certified.”

“Greening” existing buildings, such as the Empire State Building can be more difficult and more expensive. Anthony E. Malkin, responsible for the retrofitting project, received accolades for completing the $20 million project two years ago. The project reduced the Empire State Building’s energy use by an estimated 38 percent and energy costs by $4.4 million annually. The building will emit an estimated 105,000 fewer metric tons of carbon emissions over the next 15 years.

“The trick is to do it in a way that doesn’t necessarily affect existing tenants,” said Geier. “[Malkin] was impressive because he was able to renovate the entire building over a relatively quick period of time, but he was also rolling a lot of rents, changing the tenant mix from small tenants … to getting tenants into full floors or half floors. That strategy appears to be working.”

Source: City and State NY

More than 2,000 volunteers picked up more than 14,000 pounds of trash over a 50 mile stretch of river including 23 miles encompassing the American River Parkway. The initiative was “spearheaded” by Dart Container Corporation for the fifth year in partnership with the American River Parkway Foundation.

“One thing we’re very proud of this year is that what I call ‘water-based folks’ — boaters, divers, kayakers and canoeists — joined in,” said Stacy Springer, Event/Volunteer Coordinator of American River Parkway Foundation. Springer is one of three full-time staff at the nonprofit foundation.

During the cleanup Dart hosted a one-day foam drop-off station for residents to recycle and drop off foam products. Dart collected all the clean foam, such as cups, plates and protective packaging.

“The Great American River Clean Up continues to make an impact on the Sacramento community, and we’re grateful to have the long-term support of Dart,” said Springer. “We appreciate Dart’s dedication to preserving the Parkway and educating the community about recycling foam rather than littering or adding to our landfills.”

Dart employees not only demonstrate the power of beautification, but they help educate the public by showing how foam products are recycled. Anything labeled with the number six is recyclable and can be turned into popular products, such as, picture frames, crown molding and agriculture containers.

“We’re honored to partner with the American River Parkway Foundation for a fifth year. It’s a great collaborative effort to help the community clean up one of Sacramento’s most beautiful outdoor spaces, and educate residents about the value of recycling foam,” said Michael Westerfield, Corporate Director of Recycling Programs at Dart Container.

Dart Container employs over 7,500 people in 20 facilities in 6 countries. Kenneth Dart currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dart Container Corporation, which is the world’s leading manufacturer of foam cups and other food services products.

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When it comes to paying online sales tax, it can be confusing. The sales tax doesn’t usually become clear until you receive and e-mail confirmation thanking you for your online order. Wouldn’t it be nice to know before you purchase your product what the sales tax is going to be? More and more online purchase cycles don’t introduce online sales tax until the very end of the order. So, is there anything you can do? According to Forbes, there are at five things you can do or understand before making your next online purchase.

Does the online store have a brick-and-mortar store in state? If you buy from a site that has a brick-and-mortar store in your state, you must pay tax. This is true even if you are purchasing a product to be ship out-of-state. How is the product distributed? Even if the online store you’re shopping at doesn’t have brick-and-mortar store in state, a warehouse or distribution facility may be enough for tax nexus with your state.

What is the Amazon tax? A number of states now have expanded connection called nexus. This connection makes sales tax apply. If you are in one of these states, expect to be taxed. Amazon currently collects sales tax in California, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Washington. Between 2013 and 2016, Amazon will beginning collecting tax from Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Some online sellers make deals with particular states to remit tax for sales made to customers there. The online store might tell you about the tax, but more than likely, it’s added to the total when you’re checking out. The only states that don’t have sales taxes are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Most states, however, are taxed. In fact, 45 states and the District of Columbia have sales tax and a use tax.

Forbes wrote – Isn’t This Unconstitutional? No, it doesn’t appear to be although that may depend who you ask. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota that no state can constitutionally force an out-of-state merchant to collect sales or use tax unless it has a nexus—physical presence—in the state. But the Court actually invited Congress to pass a national law. The constitutional prohibition is only on the states.

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LNR Property LLC, is the nation’s largest commercial real estate lender with distinct capabilities in property development, specialty finance, asset management and investing. LNR recently decided to sell, calling it a “strategic alternative.”

According to the WSJ, LNR has been on the bidding block since this summer. Today, only three bidders remain, Lennar Corp’s Rialto Capital Management, Starwood Capital, and Island Capital Group. LNR’s business is expected to stay strong until 2017, creating a huge incentive for buyers. Out of the bidding race, Andrew Farkas‘ C-III Capital Partners, which is one of LNR’s largest competitors. C-III Capital Partners pulled out of the race because it wasn’t getting as much information about LNR as it wanted to.

C-III Capital Partners specializes in finding innovative debt solutions tailored to address specific needs. C-III Capital Partners offers a broad range of services including, primary and special loan servicing, loan origination, fund management and principal investment. Earlier this year, C-III Capital Partners announced its acquisition of NAI Global. NAI is the largest premier network of independent commercial real estate firms.

“The completion of this transaction represents a significant step forward in our strategy to build a fully diversified commercial real estate services company,” said Mr. Farkas. “With the NAI Global acquisition, we are gaining the world’s leading commercial real estate network and a tremendous foundation for future growth. As we begin a new year, we look forward to partnering with the NAI team to provide enhanced services to the commercial and institutional real estate markets they serve as well as continuing to take advantage of other opportunities to grow and expand our platform.”

Sources:,

Not only could building an offshore wind farm produce thousands of jobs in South Carolina and billions in wages and government revenue, it will also produce massive amounts of clean, renewable power to use at local and regional levels. Good for the environment and for the economy. Over the years, South Carolina has attracted some of the most influential manufacturing companies pioneering the use of alternative energy and innovation all around. It should come to no surprise that South Carolina would become the home for alternative energy development.

According to a recent report, the offshore wind farm would create an average of more than 3,900 jobs per year during its 10-year construction period and over $2 billion in wages from 2016 to 2030. The development could also add about $630 million to state and local government revenues during the construction period. South Carolina officials agree, green power means jobs, government revenue and long-term growth.

The Director of S.C. Energy Office Ashlie Lancaster believes the development will boost the state economy, create green jobs, reduce fossil fuel dependency, and greenhouse gas emissions. Lancaster said, “Not only would an offshore wind industry help diversify South Carolina’s energy sources, it also would have the potential to generate thousands of long-term jobs and create a sustainable industry that could become the envy of the nation.”

Wind energy-related jobs make-up about 14% of the jobs in South Carolina with an average salary of $78,308. According to a survey at Clemson University, about 33 wind-related businesses call South Carolina home.

South Carolina, S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt told Clemson News, “Commerce supports ongoing research and development that will help further our state’s portfolio of alternative and sustainable energy, including wind…These industries can help fill the pipeline with high-skilled, high-paying jobs.”

The US is at a turning point – One study suggests that the US could harness more than 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of energy from coastal waters. That much energy could power 14 million homes, create over 300,000 new jobs and $200 billion in new economic activity.

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Cutting energy isn’t always as easy as it sounds. What are you suppose to do you do on those chilly winter nights or those dreadfully hot summer days? Freeze? Melt? Relevant to where you live the temperature starts to drop between the months of September through November. The first thing you do when the temperature starts to drop is pull out the winter clothes, sweaters, long sleeves, jackets, scarves and hats. That’s exactly what Melanie Cadenhead, living her 90-year-old house in Rye, N.Y., did. Cadenhead spent an extra $1,000 a month to heat her home, she said, not this year.

“I’ll just sleep in one of those Daniel Boone hats with the ear flaps,” she says. “Winter is not my friend.”

According to energy efficiency experts, you don’t have to sacrifice comfort of lifestyle to cut energy costs. All you need to do is follow a few simple tricks and you can cut energy cost without sleeping in a parka. From sealing air leaks to unplugging cell-phone chargers, you can cut energy costs drastically without making “big-ticket” purchases like new windows or a new air and heating system.

First step, seal the air leaks and upgrade your insulation. Air leaks are often found around the foundation, pipes, recessed lights and chimneys. Air leaks are easy to identify and relatively inexpensive to fix.

After you seal all the leaky air, it might be time to upgrade your insulation. Even if you seal all the leaky air holes, if your insulation is dated, the warm air in your house could be moving right through it.

“We all recognize that we have to replace our cars and computers, and people love to do that,” said Scott Stefan, a home energy auditor for Elmsford, N.Y. “But most people have really old insulation — and it’s really beaten down and it’s not doing them any good.”

You can also cut energy by unplugging what Ken Collier, editor-in-chief at The Family Handyman calls, “energy vampires,” such as TVs, cell-phone chargers and computers. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. households spend approximately $100 per year to power such devices while not in use. Collier says the expense could be closer to $70 a month.

Source: Washington Post