The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate dropped to a new four-year low of 1.6%, from 1.7% in February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It comes a day ahead of separate ONS labour market statistics which are expected to show that regular pay is rising at a rate of 1.8%, up from 1.3%.

CPI has not been lower since October 2009, when it stood at 1.5%. The latest fall in inflation was widely expected by economists.

It is likely to herald an end to a six-year period when pay growth has been lagging behind the rise in the cost of living, effectively shrinking workers' spending power.

Chancellor George Osborne said: "These latest inflation numbers are welcome news for families.

"Lower inflation and rising job numbers show our long term plan is working, and bringing greater economic security.

"But there is still much more we need to do to build the resilient economy I spoke of at the Budget."

Earnings have not increased at a higher rate than inflation since a brief spike in March and April 2010 and have not consistently been improving since 2008.

An end to the squeeze will be seen as a watershed moment in the recovery, and likely to be seized upon by the Coalition to blunt Labour charges that the economic upturn has yet to benefit ordinary working families.

The latest figures showed pressure on households was partly eased by food and non-alcoholic drink inflation falling to a new four-year low of 1.7%. It was last lower, at 1.3%, in February 2010.

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Inflation fall raises pay hopes

Driveway paving by blocnow.com
Visit to blocnow.com driveway paving costs ,driveway paving ,driveway paving contractors ,driveway paving options ,driveway paving jefferson nj ,driveway pav...

By: Siti Fatimah

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Driveway paving by blocnow.com - Video

Published: Monday, April 14, 2014 12:00 am

Independence supervisors pass driveway ordinance

INDEPENDENCE TWP. -- Supervisors passed an ordinance Wednesday to address potential water runoff issues from driveways onto township roads.

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Independence supervisors pass driveway ordinance

Houston, TX (PRWEB) April 12, 2014

Houston Pavers is extremely pleased to announce their new paving services for this spring. Houston Pavers has expanded their repertoire to fit the needs of any Houston area home that is undergoing a makeover or renovation before the heat of summer arrives.

Unlike many of the local competitors, Houston Pavers has shifted their focus to offering a wide array of services this Spring. Houston Pavers takes care of the outside of a home, offering driveway, walkway, and receding wall work. They take care of outdoor living spaces, offering patios, and pool decks. And they even take care of inside the home, offering stunning kitchen and fire feature work.

Houston Pavers takes great pride in not just the versatility of their services, but also in the quality of their products. Where competitors might offer lower quality products or alternatives, with the intent of gathering extra repair business, Houston Pavers believes in only offering top notch products. Their pavers are exceptionally low maintenance, offering a strength and durability that constantly impresses their customers. Their pavers are low absorption, and anti-cracking, which allows them a much longer life than alternate forms of paving. This also allows driveways, patios, pool decks and other outdoor surfaces to remain aesthetically pleasing for far longer than other methods would. This longevity also greatly increases the value of a home, making Houston Pavers a popular choice among those looking to list their house.

The company's highly trained crew is well versed in all styles of paving; they can install pavers in highly intricate and artistic ways, or in simple and practical ways. Whatever obstacles a house and potential paving site offers, Houston Pavers is confident they can solve it, install world class pavers, increase the value of the house, and please the homeowner. With summer just around the corner, Houston Pavers couldn't be more excited about their new Spring paving services.

About Houston Pavers doesn't just offer a great product; they offer great service. Their crew is highly experienced and trained, believes strongly in communicating and working fluidly with customers, and treats cleanup as an integral part of every job. They are happy to work with customers to find the pavers that are the right design, color, and style for the home. Interested parties can reach the company at 713-208-8274.

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Houston Pavers Introduce New Spring Paving Services

Updated: Friday, April 11 2014, 01:10 PM CDT Attorney General Kathleen Kane is warning consumers to be aware of home improvement scams.

According to the Office of Attorney General, there is typically an influx of 'transient' contractors offering to paint homes or pave driveways each spring. Kane says the contractors claim to be in the area with excess paving or sealing material and offer to repair or protect a homeowner's driveway.

In many cases, the materials are inferior and the work performed is shoddy, forcing consumers to pay someone else to correct the job, a press release said.

Homeowners are encouraged to check with the Office of Attorney General to verify contractor registration. In addition, consumers should also contact the Better Business Bureau, check the contractors' references and obtain multiple estimates.

The Office of Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection offers the following tips for consumers: Do not let anybody rush you into a home improvement project. Do not do business with contractors who appear at your door unexpectedly and point out problems with your home or offer a "good deal" on repair work. Do not allow any contractor, utility company or "inspector" in your home without confirming their identity. Homeowners, especially senior citizens, should rely on family, friends or neighbors for assistance in hiring a home improvement contractor. Make sure you have a written contract explaining guarantees, warranties, the price of labor/materials and the contractor's registration number and contact information.

All home improvement contracts must contain the Office of Attorney General's toll-free HICPA number, 1-888-520-6680, which consumers can call to verify whether a contractor is registered. AG Kane warns of home improvement scams

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AG Kane warns of home improvement scams

Bottomline

City commissioners will consider establishing a no parking zone on the west side of Hilltop Drive between Harvard Road and Oxford Road. The prohibition on parking is proposed to run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Background

The city's Traffic Safety Commission last month unanimously recommended approval of the no parking zone after a neighborhood resident expressed concern about backing out of her driveway with so much on-street parking allowed. But commissioners also have heard from another neighbor who is concerned about losing on-street parking.

Recognition

Recognition of CadreLawrence and Lawrence Business Magazine Foundation Award winners.

Consent agenda

Approve all claims. The list of approved claims will be posted to the agenda the day after the City Commission meeting.

Approve licenses as recommended by the City Clerks Office.

Approve appointments as recommended by the Mayor.

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Lawrence City Commission agenda for April 15

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise To Scott Muzenski, the large crack that weather and wear had caused in the driveway of a parking structure at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) presented an opportunity to test his research.

Muzenski, a civil engineering graduate student, had been working on a new kind of high-performance concrete created in the lab of associate professor Konstantin Sobolev. Their cement composite is a durable, water-resistant and malleable paving material with such a high level of crack control that the researchers estimate it has a service life of 120 years or more.

To compare, the average life span of concrete roads in Wisconsin falls in the 40-50-year range, with up to 10 percent of reinforced bridge decks needing replacement after 30 years.

In August, a crew of 25 students joined Muzenski in patching the driveway using the unique material. Then, in order to track whether the material was indeed holding up better than ordinary concrete, they gave the 4-by-15-foot slab the ability to monitor its own performance.

About an inch below the surface, the students embedded electrodes in this smart concrete that are linked to a data acquisition system located behind an adjacent retaining wall. This is going to tell us whether water is getting into the material and how deep it goes, says Muzenski. It also detects the presence of chloride ions within the material, and senses load and stress as vehicles pass over it.

Later this year when the software is completed, the real-time data will be fed wirelessly to an online repository.

Well be able to observe the performance of concrete as it happens, in real time says Sobolev.

The slab project will confirm two important features of this hybrid concrete, called a Superhydrophobic Engineered Cementitious Composite (SECC): its superior durability and its smart capability.

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At Long Last: A Concrete That's Nearly Maintenance-Free

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April 9th, 2014 9:49 pm by Nick Shepherd

It's that time again. Spring brings April showers, May flowers and the inevitable springtime scams.

One of the most prominent scams that takes place this time of year involves paving. Leslie Earhart, public information officer for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, said the department sees scams pop up every year.

"We receive numerous reports of home-improvement scams each year," Earhart said. "Paving scams are the most common. Unfortunately, in many cases elderly residents are targeted."

While telephone based scams are still common, when the weather changes, officers warn people to be wary of unknown solicitors, especially offering work at a discounted price.

"One of the biggest scams to watch out for is when the contractor shows up at your door claiming to have a supply of leftover asphalt that he is going to have to throw out, so he will offer it to you at a discounted rate," said Tom Patton, public information officer for the Kingsport Police Department. "This is nearly always a scam."

Earhart added that sometimes the scammers will offer the discounted rate but raise the price as the job goes on, and if the victim argues about the price, the scammer will intimidate the person until they get more money.

Many times, the person will be left with a driveway that starts to crumble after only a week.

Patton and Earhart offered a few tips to avoid being scammed this spring.

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As temperatures rise, scams begin to bloom

Paving Investigation
Henderson County authorities are warning residents to beware of a man that may be going door to door, offering to pave your driveway. One Fletcher woman said...

By: WLOS News 13

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Paving Investigation - Video

Who is the oldest person you know? goes the television commercial. Twice in the past month I was grieving for the oldest people I knew. First for Frank Klein, then about a week later for Aunt Mary Jane Wilson.

Mary Jane died peacefully in her house-atop-a hill near Carlisle, Pa, where she had raised her four sons and her daughter since about 1940, and worked as office manager in the familys paving operation when her husband died in 1971. Years ago Mary Jane went to see a doctor about a misaligned toe. He said it would need surgery. She laughed and said, No, thank you, that she was 68 and probably wouldnt need it for more than a few years anyhow. She lived until 2014, still walking on the same pair of feet. Her eyes started to give her trouble, but otherwise she was in better shape than I am.

Mary Jane was the last survivor of my parents generations. She was married to my mothers youngest brother, and was the mother of my Wilson cousins. They are owners and operators of Wilson Paving in Carlisle, Pa. and enjoy a reputation for honesty and dependability. The youngest is the only female, Fern, a freelance chef widely admired by foodies in the Harrisburg and West Shore area.

My mothers youngest brother fell in love with airplanes, learned to fly, taught others, was part of the barnstorming scene that World War II interrupted. Uncle Frank shrugged and turned his little airfield near Carlisle into a training school for the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, materials were hard to come by. Frank found it easier to make and pour his own asphalt, both on the runways of Wilson Field and later on the driveway of his home, launching the paving business that still supports his family.

Mary Jane told me years later how they met. She was saving her money for a cross-country train trip when the war broke out and curtailed travel. So she decided on flying lessons instead, at Wilson Field. Her instructor said she was hopeless, couldnt learn. Frank stuck up for her, saying she just had a very light touch. He told her later that she impressed him because, of all the young women hanging around the airport, she was the only one who refused a cigarette. He was a reformed smoker, and fanatic about it. They married. J.Frank was 40, Jane 16 years younger. He bought a hilltop surrounded by Cumberland Countys cornfields, and on top of it they built mostly by hand a house of flagstone and timber, with a quarter-mile long straight driveway where his pals could land their airplanes.

That house. From its hilltop above the world, you can see summer storms smudging the horizon, lightning blazing, corn lying flat before the wind while the sun shines and the corn stands serene beside the long driveway. I was there the night a neighbors barn burned. From two miles away it was like watching from above the earth, first a thin column of smoke, then billowing flames, while fire trucks and volunteers converged, lights visible and sirens audible from great distances.

Mary Jane was quiet and thoughtful, absolutely unflappable, always with time to visit despite babies underfoot and her work keeping the books for the company. She kept her hair pulled back in a tight bun I never saw it any other way and managed the sprawling house built in the Southwestern style she and Frank had admired in their travels. Frank was the youngest of the Wilsons, the second to die. One by one, death claimed them all, and their spouses. Mom was the last of the siblings. Mary Jane, Franks widow, survived them all and became the matriarch. Last year when we drove up to visit, I had the same moment of disbelief: That green-stained wood and stone house, more like a spaceship hovering gently, for about 72 years now, its roof needing work, the stain a bit faded.

And Mary Jane? As usual, she met us in her big kitchen, somehow smaller now, but just as pleasant. She was nearly 95 years old. She still answered the phone part-time, still exuded a curious matter-of-fact vivacity, still lived alone in her hilltop house. Dont let the name Frank confuse you. Father Frank his devotees called him, and despite a long life that touched the lives of so many others, its doubtful my aunt and my dear friend would have ever met.

The Rev. Frank O. Klein was born in Pittsburgh and was 93 years old when he died in March. A resident of Arbor Terraces, Father Frank had lived for nearly a decade here in Peachtree City plenty of time for an enterprising, congenial fellow to make a legion of friends to heap upon the many he made during his pastoral calls. A graduate of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, he also graduated from the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary (now Trinity) For years he drove himself to call on members of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church here in Peachtree City. They called him a visitation pastor until budget considerations cut the program.

He understood things like that from his own years in several pulpits, and just kept on visiting. I think he would have paid the congregation to let him continue. That wasnt necessary, and he was still visiting parishioners almost until he died. His smile was his trademark, augmented by both hands waving a greeting across a room. His hugs were so comfortable. And according to insiders, attendance at his Bible studies was breaking all records.

Excerpt from:
Frank and Aunt Mary Jane