(PRWEB) March 08, 2012

According to the Farmers Almanac, this could be one of the worst storm seasons North Texas has seen in quite some time. It is imperative for home owners to do their homework and research the roofing companies they are considering using. One of the best ways to look at a companys consumer track record is to look them up on the BBB. Look for complaints and how well they were handled.We found Smart Design Roofing through word of mouth advertising, but after hearing such great reviews it was no wonder they had an excellent rating on the BBB. Companies that are not listed on the BBB, generally are not listed for a reason, and companies that have a large amount of complaint history on the BBB should be avoided as well.

In years past, when we have been destroyed by severe hail storms, many of our North Texas Citizens fell prey to out of state roofing companies and scam artist. That is why choosing the correct roofing company to take care of you, your home and your pocket book, is so important.

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Texas Roofing Companies Are Preparing For an Extreme Storm Season

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY Architectural consultants have recommended more than $60 million worth of construction in the coming 10 years to help the Sheriff's Office keep up with population growth and increases in the crime rate but also get out of its existing headquarters into a modern building.

And that's not lost on County Commission Chairman Gary Wheeler, a former sheriff who worked in the now-27-year-old building, at 4055 41st St. in Gifford, from 1992 through 2000.

"That's a sick building," Wheeler said Friday. "There's a lot of mold. One time we removed a wall in my office and it was black (inside) with mold two inches thick."

When he left office in 2000, he said, following a defeat by Roy Raymond, he stopped going into the sheriff's building every day and his aching sinuses cleared up.

For current Sheriff Deryl Loar, who took office in 2008, the building is bursting under the strain of 500 employees. And it doesn't even have a fire-sprinkler system.

"There are a lot of things you've got to have (now)," he said Friday.

Vero Beach architect Anthony Donadio and David Crabtree, an associate with Architects Design Group of Winter Park, pitched their latest joint proposal to the commission in a recent meeting.

Crabtree, who couldn't be reached Friday for comment, gave estimates this month that combine to $61.4 million for the work to renovate a 13,000-square-foot warehouse for the new Crime Scene Unit, build a new 91,000-square-foot uniform patrol building and a 94,000-square-foot support-service building.

The county is tackling the first project now, but isn't expected to deal with the largest building until 2022 at the earliest.

"We'll assist you in seeking grants," Crabtree said. "It's not like $28 million (for the second building) is needed tomorrow. We have time to help you plan for that."

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Indian River County Sheriff's Office takes 10-year look at new construction to update facilities

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Snooki's Pregnant, Engaged to Jionni LaValle

Porches arent just stylish; theyre also green. Instead of sitting in conditioned space, buyers are encouraged to relax outside. And unlike some other energy-saving features, this one brings impressive curb appeal.

A metal roof covers the wide front porch of this charming country home. Yet it offers much more than just great style: this floor plan is designed for the busy lifestyles of families today. The large great room offers a gas log fireplace, a 10-foot ceiling, and a perfect place to entertain guests. The well-equipped kitchen boasts a raised bar, a walk-in pantry, and easy access to the neighboring dining room. In the master suite, buyers will love the tray ceiling, large walk-in closet, dual lavatories, jet tub, separate shower, and enclosed toilet. For more images, information, and the floor plan, click here.

Though this plan isn't particularly large 1,891 square feet, to be exactit boasts a wraparound porch, three garage bays, an open kitchen with a snack-bar island, and much more. Buyer will love the master suite's large walk-in closet and the optional game room upstairs. For more images, information, and the floor plan, click here.

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Country Porches

HANK SCHOUTEN

A luxury apartment block, with harbour-view units selling for up to $5 million, is set to rise on the site of Wellington's old market building near Te Papa.

The $50m-plus One Market Lane is an 11-storey development on the vacant site beside the former John Chambers building between Cable St, Jervois Quay and Taranaki St.

An earlier $200m apartment and hotel development planned on the same site by Donald Stott's Land Equity Group failed in 2009 when financing fell through.

Willis Bond bought the block in 2010 and has since refurbished and tenanted the old John Chambers building and scaled back previous plans.

Project director David McGuinness said there had been substantial early interest. "People are still leaving big homes in the suburbs who are looking for smaller city pads, and people from the Hawke's Bay and Kapiti are looking for Wellington boltholes."

The cheapest of the 40 apartments, lower-level 85-square-metre ones with city views, were being sold off the plans for $650,000. All apartments on the harbour side would be more than $1m, with the 310sq m four-bedroomed penthouse priced at $5m.

This is less than half the price and half the size of the penthouse in the proposed Watermark development on the same site, which reportedly sold off the plans to a London investor for $12m.

That apartment was 750sq m and was to have included four bedrooms, a swimming pool, guest suite, separate one-bedroom studio apartment, wine cellar, climate-controlled balcony and garaging for four cars. Mr McGuinness was reluctant to make comparisons, saying it was a different era, but said even the modified penthouse was at the high end.

Most apartments in the new block were going for $1m to $2m. The developers were holding back two levels so apartments on those floors might be modified or even made smaller if market demand showed a buyer preference.

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Luxury apartment block to top $50m

March 8, 2012 in Washington Voices

Lars Neises stands in one of two yoga studios he is building as part of a complex that also includes fiveapartments. (Full-size photo)(All photos)

The neighbors affectionately call it the Haystack Building, because of the rock formations around it. Its been under construction since 2009 but it wasnt until mid-January that the project finally cleared permit requirements at Spokane CityHall.

Its located just west of the South Perry Business District and is unlike other buildings in the neighborhood: its a combined yoga studio and apartmentbuilding.

Owners Rebecca Laurence and Lars Neises are building the Haystack Building at the far northern end of the property where theylive.

Lars always wanted to build a yoga studio, said Laurence about how they got the idea for the building. Most yoga studios are in old refurbished buildings. Sometimes they are not ideal. He always wanted to build the perfectstudio.

When the Haystack Building is done, it will feature two second-story yoga studios with a joint reception area and five one-bedroom apartments four on the ground level, and one at the top level. The building is nestled in the landscape in such a manner that the upstairs yoga studios have easy wheelchair access via a flat ramp in theback.

The Haystack Building is obviously not a cookie-cutter project had the builders realized how difficult it would be to get all the permits they needed, they probably wouldnt havetried.

We could have built a 42-unit apartment complex here just like that one, said Neises, pointing to a neighboring complex. That would not have been as difficult as building this building, but thats not what we wanted todo.

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Haystack Building faced myriad obstacles - Thu, 08 Mar 2012 PST

BERKELEY -- A spectacular two-alarm fire gutted an apartment building south of the UC Berkeley campus early Thursday morning, displacing as many as nine people and forcing the evacuation of nearby homes, the Berkeley Fire Department said.

And it's midterm week to boot.

The accidental fire -- blamed on a set of water heaters -- flared up at 4:13 a.m. at a three-story, six-unit building on Dwight Way near Fulton Street. It took nearly four hours for a squad of 32 firefighters to methodically extinguish it, with tactics quickly shifting to a defensive fight from the outside after the roof and upper floor collapsed and made it unsafe to be inside, said Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong.

The occupants escaped safely, Dong said. Additionally, residents from adjacent apartments and homes were evacuated amid fears that parts of the fire-ravaged building might break off onto adjacent structures.

Imran Khan, a 26-year-old mechanical engineering graduate student, lives behind the charred building and was forced to flee with cell phone in hand and a blanket around his waist.

"A noise awoke me and then I saw the building on fire through my window," Khan said, holding a pair of blue jeans in his hand. "I grabbed my pants, but did not have time to put them on."

Later in the morning, Khan and other tenants were escorted by firefighters to retrieve things like laptop computers and shoes, but were not immediately allowed to reinhabit their

Khan had a more forgiving midterm schedule, with an exam set for 5 p.m. Thursday, but he could be forgiven for not seeing that silver lining.

"We'll see how it goes the rest of the day," he said.

A team of fire investigators probed the blaze, which displaced at least nine occupants. Dong said not all of the units in the building were rented out.

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Fire guts apartment building near UC Berkeley

BERKELEY -- A spectacular two-alarm fire gutted an apartment building south of the UC Berkeley campus early Thursday morning, displacing as many as nine people and forcing the evacuation of nearby homes, the Berkeley Fire Department said.

And it's midterm week to boot.

The accidental fire -- blamed on a set of water heaters -- flared up at 4:13 a.m. at a three-story, six-unit building on Dwight Way near Fulton Street. It took nearly four hours for a squad of 32 firefighters to methodically extinguish it, with tactics quickly shifting to a defensive fight from the outside after the roof and upper floor collapsed and made it unsafe to be inside, said Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong.

The occupants escaped safely, Dong said. Additionally, residents from adjacent apartments and homes were evacuated amid fears that parts of the fire-ravaged building might break off onto adjacent structures.

Imran Khan, a 26-year-old mechanical engineering graduate student, lives behind the charred building and was forced to flee with cell phone in hand and a blanket around his waist.

"A noise awoke me and then I saw the building on fire through my window," Khan said, holding a pair of blue jeans in his hand. "I grabbed my pants, but did not have time to put them on."

Later in the morning, Khan and other tenants were escorted by firefighters to retrieve things like laptop computers and shoes, but were not immediately allowed to reinhabit their

Khan had a more forgiving midterm schedule, with an exam set for 5 p.m. Thursday, but he could be forgiven for not seeing that silver lining.

"We'll see how it goes the rest of the day," he said.

A team of fire investigators probed the blaze, which displaced at least nine occupants. Dong said not all of the units in the building were rented out.

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Two-alarm fire guts apartment building near UC Berkeley

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Proving that it is easy to be environmentally friendlier without sacrificing style, affordability and functionality, Sprint (NYSE:S - News) and its no-contract brand, Boost Mobile, joined with LG Mobile today in announcing the upcoming availability of LG Rumor Reflex on the Sprint 3G Network.

LG Rumor Reflex marks the fifth device from Sprint with eco-friendly attributes and the second from Boost Mobile. As the fourth device in the Sprint and LG Rumor family, and the successor to last years popular LG Rumor Touch, LG Rumor Reflex boasts a large 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, 2-megapixel camera and camcorder, built-in GPS and MicroSD card slot supporting up to 32GB of memory.

LG Rumor Reflex in a Titan Grey color will be available Sunday, March 11, in all Sprint retail channels, including http://www.sprint.com and 1-800-SPRINT1 for $29.99 with a new two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1 (excludes taxes and surcharges). The device will be offered later in White.

The device will be available on Boost Mobile without a contract Thursday, March 29, for $79.99 (excluding taxes) at Boost Mobiles exclusive retail stores, select independent wireless dealer locations across the country, and at http://www.boostmobile.com with free shipping.

LG Rumor Reflex is compatible with Boost Mobiles $50 Monthly Unlimited plan with Shrinking Payments. For every six on-time payments, the cost of Boost Mobiles Monthly Unlimited plan will shrink by $5, eventually getting down to as low as $35 a month for unlimited nationwide talk, text messaging, web, email and calls to 411. Payments do not need to be consecutive to qualify for the next savings milestone.

Sprint believes it is important to keep evolving our handset portfolio with not only iconic devices but also with quick-messaging phones for customers looking for easy communications, said David Owens, vice president Product Development, Sprint. The availability of LG Rumor Reflex for both Sprint and Boost Mobile customers showcases our consumer choice through our multibrand strategy. Customers appreciate the ability to select a great phone and choose between a contract or no-contract option.

Eco-friendly Attributes

Earlier this year Sprint announced its environmental scorecard now requires all phones go through the UL Environment certification process, setting an industry-first standard to help improve reparability and drive more sustainable packaging. This device has also received the coveted UL Environment Platinum Certification, the highest level of environmental performance recognized by sustainable requirements established by UL Environment and Sprint.2

LG is committed to being a leader of change in the mobile industry and is continually working to find new ways to weave recyclable alternatives throughout our product lineup, said Tim OBrien, vice president of LG Mobile. We are proud of our continued collaboration with Sprint to develop budget-friendly and environmentally conscious devices that dont compromise function or design.

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Be Green in More Ways than One With LG Rumor Reflex from Sprint and Boost Mobile

by Eric HagenStaff Writer

A 30-year-old St. Paul man has been accused in Anoka County District Court of separate thefts and burglaries in Andover over an eight-day period.

Christopher Michael Krolick has been charged with five different felonies including theft, second-degree burglary and three charges of fifth-degree controlled substance possession.

According to the criminal complaints, an Andover resident on the 15000 block of Thrush Street N.W. called police at 7:56 a.m. Feb. 23 to report a theft that had occurred at her residence. She told police that she recently moved into the home and was having new carpet installed. After the project was completed, she discovered that several pieces of jewelry and an envelope containing $1,500 in case were missing.

The owner of the carpet installation company called police at 8:05 a.m. that same day to report that one of his employees named Krolick had confessed to the theft, according to the complaint.

Deputies responded to this owners home where Krolick was taken into custody. He allegedly admitted to police in a post-Miranda statement that he stole the $1,500 in cash and two pairs of earrings. The estimated aggregate value of the stolen items is between $2,000 and $2,100.

Eight days later on March 2, the sheriffs office received a call that a man was using a ladder to climb into the upper level window of an Andover home on the 14500 block of Bluebird Street.

Deputies allegedly caught Krolick carrying a full can of gasoline out of the garage.

After Krolick was arrested, deputies found a large quantity of Oxycodone, Diazepam and Ritalin pills in his pants pockets, according to the complaint. Some of the Ritalin pills were taken from a prescription bottle from inside the house.

In a post-Miranda statement, Krolick allegedly admitted that he did not have permission to enter the home and that he took gasoline and pills from the home.

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St. Paul man accused of burglaries in Andover