Orange County and Los Angeles residents spend about a third more on kitchen remodels and nearly twice the national average to redo their bathrooms, according to an analysis by HomeAdvisor, a home servicesmarketplace.

Room additions, meanwhile, can set you back more than double what it costs in the U.S. as a whole, the analysis shows.

HomeAdvisor based the analysis on service requests to the site between July 2016 and July 2017 and costs provided by homeowners.

HomeAdvisor didnt disclose the exact number of projects it reviewed, but said it received 14 million service requests in the past yearand looked at hundreds of thousands of data points throughout Los Angeles and Orange County.

The findings correlate to Southern Californias higher home prices. The median price of an Orange County home the price at the midpoint of all sales was $695,000 in June, tying with May for an all-time high, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic.

Nationwide, home improvement is increasing at nearly 6 percent a year, the Leading Index for Remodeling Activity shows.

With home equity rising, owners are completing larger, discretionary projects, said Brad Hunter, HomeAdvisors chief economist. In 2016, they spent an average of nearly $2,000 more than they did in 2015, he said.

Expected to keep the trend going: Millennials putting money into fixer uppers and aging Baby Boomers making modifications to their homes so they can stay put. And, Hunter said, rising mortgage interest rates likely will create anadditional impetus for home improvement spending.

Heres a tool to help figure out remodeling costs in different places.

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How much could your home remodeling job cost? More in OC and LA than elsewhere - OCRegister

DANVILLE Danville Public Library officials seek library and non-library users to answer surveys, with the results used to update the librarys strategic plan.

About 200 surveys have been filled out. Library board members handed them out at the recent library book sale. The survey also is available at the library and will be put on the librarys website at http://www.danville.lib.us after more questions are added.

DPL Director Theresa Tyner said the initial survey was very minimal and they have been in the process of adding more questions. She said the library usually updates its strategic plan about every three to five years or more.

Were looking at future services and asking (respondents) how do you use the library now and if not, why not, Tyner said.

We really want to know if people are using the library or certain services or certain collections, she said, this includes whether patrons use electronic collections or only prefer physical books.

Survey questions also ask about library programming, if the respondent attended certain programs and what programs respondents would like the library to offer that haven't been offered in the past.

Another strategic planning meeting will be 4-8 p.m. Sept. 13 in the library's first floor meeting room at 319 N. Vermilion St.

Also at a recent board meeting, library board members approved a $27,984 contract with Dewberry Architects Inc. that outlines services for the construction documents, bidding and construction administration phases of the library's interior remodeling project. Project funding comes from the Danville Library Foundation.

The approximately $412,000 renovation project will include a dedicated Teen Space on the first floor across from the childrens area, two meeting/study rooms in the second floor archives area, a facilities office and additional storage. There also will be sound insulation added to the study room areas and some lighting changes.

Library board members have requested fundraising assistance up to $500,000 from the Danville Library Foundation for the project.

Tyner said theyre still not sure on a timeline for the project. Construction could take six months, with the project possibly being bid this fall. The project planning process started under former library director Barb Nolan.

In other library board business, the library will refill the assistant director and outreach department director positions when Mike and Leslie Boedicker leave within the next two months. Tyner said they will be moving some tasks around with the positions.

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Library to update its strategic plan - Danville Commercial News

IF YOU GO

What: 3rd annual Ave Maria Village Family and Friends Community Fun Walk When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5 Where: Ave Maria Village, 501 19th St. NE Info: The cost to register is $25 for adults, $10 for Heritage Centre residents, and Ave Maria Village residents and children 12 years old and younger can enter for free. Registration forms may be picked up and returned to Ave Maria Village.

The 3rd annual Ave Maria Village Family and Friends Community Fun Walk is raising funds for phase one of Ave Maria Villages private room campaign.

Lisa Wagner, who came up with idea for the walk three years ago and is a walk organizer, said about 65 people have registered for the walk so far this year. Last year there were 100 participants, but this year Wagner said she would like to get 120 to 150 participants.

Wagner said same-day registration for the walk will be allowed. People wanting to register on the day of the walk should arrive between 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. to allow for extra time.

Participants will walk along a paved path starting from the Ave Maria Village pavilion area, which is located north of the parking lot for employees. The path is 1 mile long. Prize drawings will start at 10 a.m.

Jan Barnes, development and volunteer director for Ave Maria Village, said phase one of the private room campaign is raising funds to improve the rooms and other physical amenities the long-term care facility offers to its residents. She said a new phone system was just installed so each resident has a new phone and his or her own phone number.

Its a more versatile phone system, Barnes said.

Barnes said she has raised enough money through the private room campaign to create two bath suites. The work, once it starts sometime in August, will renovate the bathrooms in two rooms and make those bathrooms more spa like, she said. The estimated cost to create the two bath suites is $57,000 each.

Barnes said the next project is remodeling the kitchen for the Ave Maria Village building. She said the building is 55 years old and the kitchen has never been remodeled. She had no estimate on how much the kitchen remodeling will cost. The last thing to be done as part of the private room campaign is to remove all the wallpaper in each room and throughout the building and paint the walls.

We want to give the building a new look, she said.

colson@jamestownsun.com

(701) 952-8454

Excerpt from:
Fun Walk raises funds for private room campaign - Jamestown Sun

VIDEO: Hope Restoration project... Also...

KINSTON, Lenoir County - The Hope Restoration project, which started in 2016 by giving those having a hard time finding jobs a chance to work on home for those in need, has expanded exponentially sine then.

Last spring, the project had four homes slated for restoration. Now, they've restored 25, with more on the way.

Lawrence Wilson, who works for the project, said this job has been all about second chances.

"I started doing drugs, I didn't have a place to stay, they gave me a place to stay at the Flint home to live in a fellowship program, the same as the church," Wilson said.

Hope Restoration founder Chris Jenkins said stories like Wilson's are why he started the program in the first place.

"We are trying to give employment support to folks who really need and have a hard a time being hired elsewhere," he said.

It's been a life-changer for those that end up living in the homes, too, like Jeff Richardson, who was one of the first to get a Hope Restoration home last year.

"That's the American Dream - you raise your family, and you know you own a house and you know that is one of big goals you know to own a house," Richardson said.

Jenkins started buying and restoring old homes in low-income neighborhoods in 2014 as a way of healing after his son's death. The 17-year-old committed suicide after battling a substance abuse addiction.

He's hopeful that this project can provide more stability for families and jobs for those on the path to recovery as a means of combating substance abuse. The goal is to be able to get to 45 homes and make the program financially self-sufficient.

"The more in the neighborhood that own their home the better things are like crime rates and health rates and scholastic and performance and performance of their children," Jenkins said.

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Hope Restoration project changing lives on multiple fronts - WCTI12.com

Home Canning Tips From the Food Safety Blog A government blog recently published a number of tips for people interested in home canning this summer's produce. The blog lists vegetables with a low acid pHs that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of botulinum bacteria. Some vegetables in this category include asparagus, green beans, [...]

Home Canning Tips From the Food Safety BlogA government blog recently published a number of tips for people interested in home canning this summer's produce. The blog lists vegetables with a low acid pHs that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of botulinum bacteria. Some vegetables in this category include asparagus, green beans, and potatoes. The site also provides a list of medical conditions that individuals suffering from foodborne botulism exhibit. To learn more about home canning safety, click on https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/2017/07/home-canning-and-botulism.html. I wonder if President Trump's budget provides funds for these types of blogs. Just saying.

Military Research Homes In On Vision and Hearing LossAccording to the website Armed with Science, a Defense Department science information site, DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, recently awarded five research grants to develop a high-resolution neural interface as well as to develop systems supporting sensory restoration. Sounds like Star Trek medicine to me. Brown and Columbia Universities as well as the University of California, Berkeley and two additional research facilities will focus on hearing and vision by linking these body functions with the brain to treat sensory loss. To learn more about this fascinating research project, surf over to http://science.dodlive.mil/2017/07/24/darpa-launches-program-that-could-one-day-treat-vision-hearing-loss/. The Pentagon supports this research as part of the Pentagon defense budget appropriation. Your federal taxes at work.

New Research Finds Rising and Shrinking Income Cities The website Wall St 24/7 recently published a list of 10 cities where personal incomes are shrinking the fastest. While some areas of the country are booming, cities such as Peoria, Ill. and New Bern, N. C. are now experiencing dropping personal incomes. The article mentions a number of causes for the decline. Drops in construction, as well as government payroll cutbacks, caused an average income drop of $1,000 in New Bern, N.C. The report also lists 10 cities where rising incomes are the norm. Merced, Calif., for example, experienced an income growth of 14.3 percent from 2008 to 2013. To learn more about income levels in these 20 cities, click on http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/14/10-cities-where-incomes-are-growing-and-shrinking-the-fastest/2/.

Old Ironsides Restoration Nearly CompleteEvery school kid knows that the USS Constitution, a Revolutionary War vessel, is the oldest ship still commissioned in the U.S. Navy. The ship has now returned to its birth in Boston after a two-year restoration that included replacement of 100 hull planks with the required caulking as well as repair of the ship's rigging. To access a picture of the ship as well as the resulting account of the renovation, visit http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=101588. Some military hardware becomes icons for the nation. Any visit to Boston should include a visit to the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Cancer Patients With Inexpensive Health Plans May Be Denied Access To Top-Tier Cancer CentersConsumers who choose less expensive health insurance plans may forego access to top-tier physicians caused by a 'narrow network' health plan limitation. These 'narrow network' plans may systemically exclude treatments by NCI-affiliated physicians. This possible exclusion may adversely impact treatment of rare or difficult-to-treat cancers. To learn more about this health issue, click on https://medlineplus.gov/news/fullstory_167327.html. Just so you know.

A New Book Tells The Story of The Library Card CatalogA Library of Congress employee recently published a book on the history of the card catalog. According to author Peter Devereaux, the card catalog proved to be one of the most versatile and durable technologies in history. Devereaux relates the story of S. N. Cramer, a Sumerian historian who found a piece of a cuniform tablet about 2 inches by 1 inches that served as a clay library index card. Cramer found the tablet near the ruins of Nippur and dated the tablet to 2000 BCE. For those contemporary students used to looking up references on a library computer, this book provides a picture of how earlier societies organized information. To read the interview, click on http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2017/07/inquiring-minds-the-unheralded-story-of-the-card-catalog/. And so it goes.

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Home Canning Tips; Researching Hearing, Sight Restoration ... - Wellsville Daily Reporter (blog)

BEAVER -- FirstEnergy Corp. has donated $10,000 to a local charity that provides food and home-repair services for military veterans and needy families.

Faith Restorations Inc., a Beaver-based charity, consists of volunteers who engage in home restoration and repair on homes owned by active-duty military members or veterans. The agency also provides a food pantry for needy families, as well as spiritual support for community members.

FirstEnergy officials said in a news release that the company recently donated $10,000 unsolicited to the company as part of its Christmas in July campaign. As part of that giving campaign, FirstEnergy distributed 12 monetary gifts to agencies within its service areas.

The company, which owns and operates the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station and the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant, usually donates to a local agency around Christmas, as well.

In a news release, FirstEnergy Foundation President Dee Lowery said the decision was made to make monetary donations in the summertime, to better support the good work these organizations do year round in our service areas.

Those chosen were selected by FirstEnergy employees, who identified organizations in their geographic location that do extraordinary work to make our communities a better place to live and work, Lowery said. Were very pleased to provide these surprise grants to support ongoing investment in the quality of life in our service areas.

The FirstEnergy Foundation annually provides support to nonprofit, tax-exempt health and human service agencies, educational organizations, arts and cultural programs, and civic groups.

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FirstEnergy donates $10000 to Beaver charity - Timesonline.com

MONESSEN A nonprofit organization is building a new house in Monessen to help to stabilize a nice neighborhood in a city that is overwhelmed with blight.

The Homestead-based Mon Valley Initiative had crews assembling a modular house in the 900 block of Graham Avenue last month in an area where residents take pride in their properties, said Jason Togyer, spokesman for the group.

We want to preserve that, Togyer said. Thats a decent neighborhood. Its one of the reasons why were in there.

Crews from Structural Modulars Inc. of Strattanville, Clarion County, and Disaster Restoration Services of Trafford, Allegheny County, began assembling the house July 24.

The three-bedroom, two-story house was constructed on a lot where a frame house was demolished because of underground coal mine subsidence. The void was stabilized by the state Department of Environmental Protection before a heavy crane was brought to the site to help assemble the house.

The final construction will be completed by local crews by the end of this month, weather permitting, said Rick Dunn, senior construction manager for the initiative.

Its going to blend with the other houses in the neighborhood, Togyer said.

The house was constructed with money from the Optional County Affordable Housing Funds Act of 1992, with the specific goal to help stabilize communities and keep people in their homes, he said.

Its going to be a very nice house, Togyer said. We expect the house to sell for about $80,000 to $90,000.

The new owner will be expected to occupy the house.

For more information about this house or any home available for sale by the initiative, call Patrick Shattuck, real estate development and community outreach director, at 724-565-8040 or 412-464-4000.

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Mon Valley Initiative constructs new house in Monessen - Observer-Reporter

The former home of Miamis first black millionaire is falling apart but a local group is pushing for the restoration of the damaged building, which holds nearly 100 years of history.

The D.A. Dorsey House, located in Overtown, was owned by Dana Albert Dorsey, the son of former slaves who moved from South Georgia to Miami. Dorsey amassed a real estate empire, first owning Fisher Island then helping organize South Floridas first black bank and black-owned hotel.

"This is during a time that blacks weren't even allowed to share the same facilities- not just water fountains not just restaurants, hotels, but blacks were not even allowed to go to beaches," said Timothy A. Barber, executive director of the Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida, the group seeking to restore the historical landmark.

Although Dorseys former home now has a damaged roof and beat-up walls, it was considered a mansion in the early 1900s, Barber said. The Black Archives believe Dorseys story could inspire future generations, which is why the organization is seeking to turn the historical landmark into a museum.

The group received a $150,000 grant from the City of Miami to restore the home, but need more funds in order to transform the structure.

"I see this as a personal mission to see this rebuilt," said Patricia Jennings-Braynon, chairperson of Black Archives and the Historic Lyric Theatre Board. "Because of the Black Archives the lyric theater has put Overtown back on the map."

If you would like to help by donating to the Black Archives, you can visit them at the Historic Lyric Theatre or make a donation on the organizations GoFundMe page.

Published at 7:05 AM EDT on Aug 3, 2017 | Updated at 9:00 AM EDT on Aug 3, 2017

The rest is here:
Local Group Wants To Restore Former Home Of First African American Millionaire - NBC 6 South Florida

WENATCHEE-The city of Wenatchees first off-leash dog park is set to open later this month. Wenatchee Parks Director Dave Erickson said contractors are on site getting Hale Park ready for its grand opening on August 15.

Hale Park is getting close to completion, contractors are down there and they are spreading top soil for the grass area and picnic area on the north end of the park, Erickson said. Were getting very close, theyre hoping to have all the fence and top soil and grass seeding done by the end of this week and well have the final walk-through with the contractor early next week, and then put the finishing touches on everything.

The grand opening will start at 6 p.m. on August 15, and Erickson added that residents should carpool if possible as parking is limited.

We are limited to only 17 parking spots which will accommodate regular bulk park uses, but for an event like this it will be really full, Erickson said. We ask please just be mindful of people driveways, dont block those. Dont park on the loop trail, maybe park at Pybus and walk down. Please plan accordingly.

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First city-owned off-leash dog park to open August 15 - NCWLIFE Channel (press release)

The city of Oregon has decided not to tear down and reinstall new baseball practice fields on city property adjacent to the Coontz Recreation Center, despite concerns they were not put in properly.

P.J. Kapfhammer, owner of Maumee Bay Turf Center, said at a city council meeting in June that the practice fields were substandard and not playable.

You can call them practice fields, call them whatever you want, Kapfhammer said to council. You should probably just bulldoze it. Start over. I watched it progress, and I bit my tongue, and I watched it and bit my tongue. And I cant bite my tongue anymore. I understand theyre practice fields. But if youre going to do them, make them playable.

Among his complaints: The backstops should not have been installed first.

The fencing never goes in first. Its not even an option, because you have to work around where that fence is. So youre going to either hit it an awful lot of times, or youre not going to do much work around that fence. And I got my answer when all of a sudden, the stone just got dropped. They didnt even dig it out. You dropped 900 tons of stone on top of the dirt. Theres no base to hold it now. So you have an eight to 10 inch lip that goes right from stone down to the ground. Thats unplayable, he said.

Kapfhammer also questioned the timing of scattering grass seed on the fields, and that there was no irrigation to deal with flooding after rainfall. The seed was thrown in June, without any cover or irrigation to deal with the warmer temperatures of July and August, he said.

Ive done plenty of jobs for the city. Its unheard of in this industry, he said. He asked Recreation Director Joe Wasserman, who was at the meeting, how much it cost the city to buy the seed. Wasserman said it cost $10,000. The total cost of the backstops, stone and seed was $40,000.

From that point, they were put in as practice diamonds, but strategically located so that down the road, when funds and resources avail themselves, we will turn them into game diamonds, said Wasserman. So basically, they were put in with just the stone, the seed and backstops for practice purposes. If they were going in as game diamonds, we would have looked at irrigation, drainage, additional fencing material, cutting out the dirt, bringing the soil, doing the subgrade and all of that. And obviously we would have gone to much more cost, and a lot more consultation from experts such as yourself. But at this point, they went in as practice diamonds.

Wasserman said the work has been completed. Backstops were installed, 900 tons of stone were dropped on the infields, and 7,000 lbs. of seed were scattered on 15 acres of fields.

I promise you, theres no chance it can ever grow, Kapfhammer said of the seed. Its not feasible. Even if there were some green nubs, that heat is going to hit with no root zone, no way to keep it cool, no water and its done.

In addition, the infields were flooded after a hard rain.

It pooled around all the infields. When you play softball and baseball in the spring, when everything is melting, its going to pool. The water table wont allow it to leave, he said.

He made phone calls to city officials to express concerns, he said.

In our own backyard, and nobody had anything to do with this. You have $40,000 in fields sitting out there now that are absolutely useless. I like Joe [Wasserman]. I get along great with Joe. I dont even blame him. Youre all here. You guys represent the city. The fields are 200 yards away from here, and it doesnt take much to see how badly its being done. You guys approved it. You could have done it right. It wouldnt have cost that much more. I would have come in here for free and showed you how to do it right. Its a shame.

Im thankful that you came and addressed this, said Walendzak. I think other council members have raised concerns also. Obviously coming from a professional perspective its what you do for a living - holds a lot of weight in what youre saying.

City Administrator Mike Beazley said the administration had asked the Recreation Department to develop the fields.

We were going to do some stone and plant some grass seed, said Beazley. In terms of the timing of it and the process, we asked the department to do it. We certainly will be following up very quickly after this meeting.

Councilman Steve Hornyak said he had repeatedly asked for updates on the fields.

The new fields were something we certainly approved. Then one day fences showed up. Then a couple weeks later dirt showed up, then stone. Im a little concerned that it does appear that we dumped some stone on the ground. So I think we need to revisit that.

Walendzak said he hoped the city can address it in a manner that makes it appropriate.

Reeves agreed.

I respect your opinion and what youre talking about. What can be done to salvage what we have? Reeves asked Kapfhammer.

Start over. You really have no choice, said Kapfhammer. The grass seed will not grow. The stone is sitting above. You have to give it something to hold it. Its not an attack on Joe personally. But this is how its been done. You have to excavate that all out. If you do it right the first time, its so much easier to maintain, and a lot less money going out. Bulldoze it. Knock it down and redo it. Its going to be a safety factor for kids.

Days after the meeting, Beazley and Seferian said the fields will not be redone.

At some point, they will be developed into baseball diamonds, which will require irrigation.

Theyre designed to be practice fields. They wont be ripped apart, said Beazley. The staff was asked to do them without drainage and irrigation, something you do with regular playing diamonds. We had a lot of rain, the grass is doing well. We might have to do some over-seeding, and some irrigation. Time will tell.

Could we have done it better? Of course we could have, said Seferian. Are we out $40,000? No. P.J. was right about a lot of things right about planting grass in June was nuts. But weve had a lot of rain and the grass is growing. We have a lot going on in this city. And we were letting recreation take care of itself. We have to pay more attention to that.

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Concerns raised over new practice fields in Oregon - Press Publications Inc.