By Nathan Gardner

On an unseasonably warm March night, students on Greek row gathered on porches and filtered in and out of the Fraternity and Sorority houses, but on this particular Thursday, the song of bluegrass pickin rang down Third Street.

The Kentucky Kai Five is a bluegrass band comprised of five University of Louisville students. The two brothers, Zach and Andrew Barger had the bluegrass spirit instilled in them from their father at a young age. Zach is an education major that plays mandolin and Andrew is a civil engineering major playing banjo. Chris Millet, a music therapy major, strums the guitar and sings lead vocals, as well as working as an RA on campus. Music education major Kate Tyree plays fiddle and gives music lessons at the School of Music. Chemical engineering major Daniel Duda plays bass guitar and is an apparent racquetball and ping pong star.. Unfortunately for this particular jam session Andrew was busy tutoring and I missed on what the other band members describe as an amazing banjo picker.

Most people dont think of college students and bluegrass music going hand in hand, but the Kentucky Kai Five have taken their bluegrass roots and blended in a youthful style to make their music both fun and relevant to college students. Imagine Jimmy Buffet singing lead for the Foggy Mountain Boys. They take a traditional bluegrass style and insert laid back lyrics about college experiences.

Kate Tyree plays the fiddle on the porch of the Beta Theta Ri house as the Kentucky Kai Five fill the air with bluegrass sounds.

In the song Father Time, the band sings of a weekend at the beach that may never come again. Its a nostalgic song that makes one wish the good times would never end. The band uses the beautiful vocal harmonies synonymous with bluegrass music to open up the song then breaks into the boom-chicka-boom sound of the guitar and the gentle flow of the fiddle. The song tells a story of a weekend filled with sunburn and empty glasses on the beach. The finger lickin pickin of the mandolin takes the spotlight halfway through the song to make you swear youre in the middle of Appalachia.

Junior education majoy Zach Barger traces his roots to his father's bluegrass background.

The band has written over 20 original songs, but also plays a variety of well-known cover songs from Folsom Prison Blues to Breaking the Law.

Currently the band is focusing on writing new material and brushing up on the old stuff. They have a show this week at the ACPA Conference on March 24, and are looking to get hired for more gigs this summer. Be sure to check out The Kentucky Kai Five on Facebook by searching for: The Kentucky Kai Five or scanning the barcode below with your smartphone.

ngardner@louisvillecardinal.com Photo: Michael Baldwin/The Louisville Cardinal

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Red blood, bluegrass: band of UofL students lives Kentucky’s musical legacy

Staff Writer

SARA CALDWELL/STAFF

Bryan Matthews serves as the pastor of New Life Christian Center, which recently began a campaign to raise money to build a 65,000-square-foot facility.

SPECIAL

A computer rendering shows a new building on Lewiston Road planned by New Life Christian Center. The church, which is currently located at 3336 Wrightsboro Road, recently began a capital fundraising campaign to build the new 65,000-square-foot building.

A 1,500-member church plans to move to a new site in Columbia County in spring 2013 when its building is torn down for a new Walmart Supercenter on Wrightsboro Road.

New Life Christian Center, 3336 Wrightsboro Road, recently began a capital fundraising campaign to build a 65,000-square-foot building on Lewiston Road about a mile from Interstate 20, Pastor Bryan Matthews said.

Money from the sale of the property to Walmart will be added to its $3 million fundraising goal to build the facility, which will cost $5 million to $7 million, Matthews said.

The land were moving to, weve had for 16 years, he said. We knew at some point in our future we would be moving to that location.

Walmart approached the church last summer about building a 152,000-square-foot store on its property near North Leg Road. The company announced plans for the store in January and has since said construction should start in March 2013.

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Church displaced by Walmart moving to Columbia County

Housing starts edged down in February, but economists found optimism in the new construction data as permits increased. (William Thomas Cain / Getty Images)

March 20, 2012, 11:50 a.m.

Economists brushed off a decline in new residential construction starts last month and instead looked at an increase in permits issued for houses and apartment buildings as a positive indicator that the real estate market is on the mend.

Housing starts fell 1.1% from the prior month to hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000, the Commerce Department reported. That was a 34.7% surge from February last year.

Starts were down 5.9% from the prior month in the West and 12.3% in the Northeast. They were up 1.5% in the South and 3.0% in the Midwest.

Building permits told a different story, up 5.1% above the revised January rate and 34.3% above February last year. Economists looked at the increase in permits as a sign that the economy was improving.

In a note, economist Patrick Newport of IHS Global Insight said, This report is one of the more encouraging new construction reports we have seen in the last four years.

He said apartment building is picking up across the U.S., and that home-building was on the rise in the South, which accounts for about half of single-family home construction. Even while starts were down last month, they were at their third-highest level since October 2008, he noted.

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Investors flip over Highland Park

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Economists optimistic on new construction numbers

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Apartment building ‘stacked’ in city

Enlarge Paul Sakuma/AP

The housing market still has a long way to go before a full recovery is under way. The current pace of construction is barely half the rate considered healthy.

The housing market still has a long way to go before a full recovery is under way. The current pace of construction is barely half the rate considered healthy.

U.S. builders started work on slightly fewer homes in February. But they began laying the ground work for a turnaround later this year by requesting the most building permits in any month since October 2008.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000 homes last month. That's down 1.1 percent from January's revised level of 706,000, also the highest since October 2008.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, jumped 5.1 percent last month to 717,000. Two-thirds are for single-family homes, which are critical to a housing recovery.

It can take up to 12 months for a builder to obtain a permit and construct a single-family home.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said he expects further gains over the next few months, based on a measure of builder confidence that has increased in five of the past six months.

"Housing will add to growth all year, and beyond," Shepherdson said.

Seasonally adjusted annual rate, in thousands

Read more:
Home Construction Slows, But Building Plans Surge

Rob Ferguson Queens Park Bureau

Ontario wont ban smoking on bar and restaurant patios, Health Minister Deb Matthews says, despite a push to do so by two health agencies.

Its not something under active consideration right now but I know many municipalities are looking at strengthening the anti-smoking provisions, she said Tuesday after calls for action from Cancer Care Ontario and Public Health Ontario.

New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said the Liberal government in a minority government situation is trying to play it safe instead of taking action to improve public health to save tax dollars on medical treatments.

If its harder for people to find places to light up, then theyre going to light up less often, she told reporters, crediting the two provincial agencies for pushing the envelope.

Matthews countered that the wide-ranging Smoke-Free Ontario Act in place for several years set a minimum standard for banning smoking in most public indoor places.

If municipalities want to build on that and do more, then thats a conversation I think they should be having at the community level.

The problem with that approach is different municipalities end up with different standards, leading to a patchwork of different laws, said Horwath.

Two reports from the health-care agencies also called for hiking tobacco taxes, setting minimum prices for alcoholic beverages and making physical education mandatory throughout high school measures intended to take aim at the 79 per cent of deaths in Ontario from largely preventable illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Theyre giving us some very good advice. We would much rather keep people healthy and out of our health-care system than treat them when they get sick.

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Ontario won’t ban patio smoking, says Deb Matthews

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE--(Marketwire -03/20/12)- Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX: IVN.TO - News)(NYSE: IVN.TO - News)(NASDAQ: IVN.TO - News) today announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2011. All figures are in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

HIGHLIGHTS

MONGOLIA

OYU TOLGOI COPPER-GOLD PROJECT (66% owned)

The Oyu Tolgoi Project is approximately 550 kilometres south of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city, and 80 kilometres north of the Mongolia-China border. Mineralization on the property consists of porphyry-style copper, gold, silver and molybdenum contained in a linear structural trend (the Oyu Tolgoi Trend) that has a strike length extending over 23 kilometres. Mineral resources have been identified in a series of deposits throughout this trend. They include, from south to north, the Heruga Deposit, the Southern Oyu deposits (Southwest Oyu, South Oyu, Wedge and Central Oyu) and the Hugo Dummett deposits (Hugo South, Hugo North and Hugo North Extension).

Ivanhoe Mines began capitalizing Oyu Tolgoi development costs on April 1, 2010. During 2011, additions to property, plant and equipment for the Oyu Tolgoi Project totalled $2.8 billion, which included development costs. In 2011, Ivanhoe Mines incurred exploration expenses of $31.8 million at Oyu Tolgoi, compared to $83.4 million incurred in 2010.

Construction of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold complex is advancing toward its planned start-up in 2012 and commercial production in the first half of 2013

The Oyu Tolgoi Project initially is being developed as an open-pit operation, with the first phase of mining to start at the near-surface Southern Oyu deposits, which include Southwest Oyu and Central Oyu. A copper concentrator plant, with related facilities and necessary infrastructure to support an initial throughput of 100,000 tonnes of ore per day, is being constructed to process ore scheduled to be mined from the Southern Oyu open pit. Initial production of copper-gold-silver concentrate is expected in Q3'12 and commercial production is projected to begin in the first half of 2013.

In conjunction with the surface activities, an 85,000-tonne-per-day underground block-cave mine also is being developed at the Hugo North Deposit. The throughput capacity of the concentrator plant is expected to be between 150,000 and 160,000 tonnes of ore per day when the underground mine begins production.

Fluor Corporation is in charge of overall Oyu Tolgoi construction program management, as well as services related to engineering, procurement and construction management for the ore processing plant and mine-related infrastructure, such as roads, water supply, a regional airport and administration buildings.

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Ivanhoe Mines Announces 2011 Financial Results and Review of Operations

NEWS: Anna Bligh and Campbell Newman visit the devastation in Townsville

NEWS: Residents slept though Cyclone Yasi, but not this storm as it ripped through neighborhoods in less than fifteen minutes.

The aftermath of the Townsville tornado. Picture: Chisholm Scott Radford Source: Townsville Bulletin

A scene following the storm in Townsville. Picture courtesy Sky News. Source: Supplied

Scenes from the Townsville tornado. Picture: Daniel Bateman Source: Townsville Bulletin

ABOUT 60 homes are damaged and nine residents had to be treated for injuries, some suffering cuts and abrasions, after a mini-tornado packing 110km/hr winds tore through Townsville early today.

Premier Anna Bligh visited the disaster zone today, saying she was shocked by the scale of the damage. Some victims would not be back into their homes for months, she said.

About 60 homes and businesses suffered major structural damage - including 25 which had their roofs torn off - when the storm cut a narrow band of carnage through the city's western suburbs about 5am (AEST) on Tuesday.

Winds above 110km/h lashed suburban Vincent, Aitkenvale, Pimlico and Gulliver, causing some homes to partially collapse.

Trees were snapped in half, power lines downed and debris strewn across yards and roads.

Excerpt from:
Tornado injures nine, flattens homes

NEWS: Thunder, cracks of lightning and then a tornado. Photographer Scott Radford Chisolm gives an account of the fury of Townsvilles early morning tornado.

The aftermath of the Townsville tornado. Picture: Chisholm Scott Radford Source: Townsville Bulletin

Scenes from the Townsville tornado. Picture: Daniel Bateman Source: Townsville Bulletin

A mini tornado has ripped the roof off homes in Townsville. Picture: Daniel Bateman from Twitter Source: Supplied

A MINI tornado has hit Townsville, ripping roofs off homes with winds at over 111km an hour and left locals with no power.

About 60 homes are damaged and 13 people had to be treated for injuries, some suffering cuts and abrasions.

Premier Anna Bligh visited the disaster zone today, saying she was shocked by the scale of the damage. Some victims would not be back into their homes for months, she said.

At least 25 homes had their roofs torn off - when the storm cut a narrow band of carnage through the city's western suburbs about 5am today.

Winds above 110km/h lashed suburban Vincent, Aitkenvale, Pimlico and Gulliver, causing some homes to partially collapse.

Trees were snapped in half, power lines downed and debris strewn across yards and roads.

Follow this link:
Mini tornado was 'worse than Yasi'

NEWS: Residents slept though Cyclone Yasi, but not this storm as it ripped through neighborhoods in less than fifteen minutes.

NEWS: Thunder, cracks of lightning and then a tornado. Photographer Scott Radford Chisolm gives an account of the fury of Townsvilles early morning tornado.

The aftermath of the Townsville tornado. Picture: Chisholm Scott Radford Source: Townsville Bulletin

A scene following the storm in Townsville. Picture courtesy Sky News. Source: Supplied

ABOUT 60 homes are damaged and 13 people had to be treated for injuries, some suffering cuts and abrasions, after a mini-tornado packing 110km/hr winds tore through Townsville early today.

Premier Anna Bligh visited the disaster zone today, saying she was shocked by the scale of the damage. Some victims would not be back into their homes for months, she said.

At least 25 homes had their roofs torn off - when the storm cut a narrow band of carnage through the city's western suburbs about 5am (AEST) today.

Winds above 110km/h lashed suburban Vincent, Aitkenvale, Pimlico and Gulliver, causing some homes to partially collapse.

Trees were snapped in half, power lines downed and debris strewn across yards and roads.

One person with head wounds, and two others with minor injuries were taken to hospital. Another 10 suffered cuts and abrasions.

View original post here:
'Mini-tornado' rips through Townsville