Lyme More than 100 bargain hunters showed up for an auction in Lyme Sunday afternoon to benefit the towns cherished horse sheds. The event, sponsored by the Lyme Historians, featured scores of donated items, many of them antiques.

We were thinking about an auction because it seemed like a fun thing to do, said Jane Fant, of the Lyme Historians.

The more than $3,500 in sales from the auction will go toward replacing the roof of the horse sheds in the heart of town. The 27 attached sheds are the longest string of horse sheds in New England.

The roof is falling to bits, and a new cedar shingle roof is costly, Fant said.

The cost of replacing the roof is around $20,000. Some of that money will come from a restoration fund containing private donations dating back to the 1980s. While the sheds sit on town property, they are maintained by the Lyme Congregational Church, and rely entirely on private sources of funding for maintenance.

Fant said restoring the sheds is central to the historians goal of preserving the towns treasures.

The horse sheds are Lymes most unique feature, Fant said. Its a focal point of town.

Organizers said they auctioned off about 140 items including old farm equipment, China sets, art, buttons, vases, an iron pogo stick and an eight-foot-long toboggan.

A fitting venue for an antique auction, the event was held at a historic barn owned by Dick and Sallie Ramsden on Breck Hill Road.

Sallie Ramsden said she was glad to host the auction in her barn because she wants to help preserve the horse sheds for future generations.

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Lymes Most Unique Feature: Country Auction Held in Lyme to Save Historic Horse Sheds

The NFL has endured a myriad of issues in recent years that threatened to bring down Americas Game. Players reached unprecedented levels of strength and speed in part with the help of performance-enhancing drugs. There are suspensions, including the occasional Pro Bowler like Von Miller and Brian Cushing, but mostly America yawns and demands more violence. Baseball PED use on the other hand is apparently a reprehensible crime against society. There has been a rash of suicides by former NFL players with many traced to brain injuries. Nine out of ten retired NFL players face physical problems, and the concussion epidemic threatens to keep kids off the football field. No worries says most of the public.

Players pop up on police blotters for assault, marijuana possession, DUI and everything else under the sun (check this database of NFL player crimes). Pittsburgh Steelers running back, LeVeon Bell, recently lamented: I didnt know you could get a DUI for being high. Through it all, the NFL reinvents itself every year and produces record TV ratings and sky-high franchise values. The average NFL franchise is worth $1.43 billion with the Dallas Cowboys on top at $3.2 billion.

Ray Rice has likely played his last NFL game.

But now the Teflon league may have met its match with Ray Rice after a video was released by TMZ of the former Baltimore Ravens running back punching his then fiance, now wife, Janay Palmer, in February in an elevator at the now shuttered Revel Casino in Atlantic City. Rice was suspended a paltry two games by the NFL in July after an earlier video showed Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator. The latest video caused the Ravens to cut Rice and the NFL to suspend him indefinitely Monday.

We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today, according to a statement from an NFL spokesman.

After the original two-game ban, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came under fire for the light sentence. He wrote a mea culpa letter to NFL owners, saying, I didnt get it right. He added: My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future reflect our values. The league subsequently implemented a new policy on domestic violence with a six-game ban for a first infraction and a lifetime ban for a second offense.

The NFLs new policy and the Ravens cutting Rice after strongly backing him, is too little, too late for some football fans. How did the NFL and the Ravens think that Janay Palmer was rendered unconscious in that AC elevator? Seeing the footage is something that cant be unseen. Many players and former players reacted strongly after Mondays video release byadmonishing the NFL and the original punishment. Respected NFL columnist, Peter King, previously reported the NFL saw the second video before rendering its verdict, but King backed off that claim Monday. The fallout for the NFL will get worse if it is not being straight with its fans on what it knew.

NFL die-hards let a lot slide in favor of supporting their favorite game. It is now a $10 billion business fueled by fans and companies spending wildly on tickets, sponsorships, merchandise, luxury suites and TV contracts. But has the NFL reached its zenith and is it destined for a fall? Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks so. He critiqued the league in March after the NFL announced plans to expand its TV offerings. I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion, Cuban said. Im just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And theyre getting hoggy.

Influential ESPN columnist Bill Simmons took Goodell to task this week in a 2,500-word story to kick off the season. There have been moments when Goodell made Gary Bettman look like the next Steve Jobs, Simmons wrote (that was not meant as a compliment to regular Simmons punching bag Bettman).

There is nothing set in stone that says the NFL must be Americas most popular sport. It is a non-factor outside the U.S., where soccer reigns and the NBA has the best prospects of the big four U.S. leagues. Boxing has seen huge declines over the past 50 years as people woke up to the brutality of the sport. The NFL isnt going anywhere anytime soon. The leagues bread-and-butter constituency, gamblers and fantasy players, will continue to fuel massive interest in the sport and the Super Bowl will be an unofficial holiday. In addition: it is the perfect TV sport, which is why it gets to divvy up $5 billion a year from its network partners.The Michael Vick dog-fighting incident is now merely a blip on the NFLs radar despite the outrage it caused at the time of the scandal and when Vick returned to the league after being incarcerated. PEDs, concussions and labor stoppages also werent enough to slow the NFL down.

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Is The Ray Rice Video Fallout A Tipping Point For Teflon NFL?

Report sheds light on high school athlete concussions
Football crowds cheer for touchdowns and big hits. Now, football coaches want teams to avoid big, helmet-crunching hits as much as possible. "Anytime there #39;s a big hit, the stands want to...

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By Dow Jones Business News, September 05, 2014, 09:55:00 AM EDT

OTTAWA--Canada's job-creation engine stalled in August, led by the biggest decline in private-sector positions on record, signaling that Canadian firms remain cautious on hiring amid general unease about global economic developments.

The disappointing report--including an eye-popping loss of more than 100,000 private-sector jobs--underscored that the trend of employment growth in Canada remains tepid.

It also offered the country's central bank more ammunition to hold onto its neutral policy on interest rates even though other indicators point to building momentum in the Canadian economy.

Employment in Canada declined by a net 11,000 positions in August, Statistics Canada said Friday. Market expectations were for a gain of 10,000 jobs, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada. The unemployment rate was 7%, unchanged from July and matching expectations, as many Canadians stopped looking for work.

Friday also saw the release of a disappointing jobs report for the U.S., Canada's largest trading partner. Growth in nonfarm payroll employment there fell to its lower level of the year in August, to 142,000. Still, so far in 2014 U.S. employers have added an averaged 215,000 jobs every month, the best pace of job growth since 1999.

A different story has emerged in Canada. In the 12 months to the end of August, Canada added 81,300 jobs, for an average gain of just 6,800 jobs a month.

Other data, including merchandise trade and manufacturing, suggest Canada is beginning to reap the benefits of a faster-growing U.S. and a relatively weaker Canadian currency. Still, Finance Minister Joe Oliver has warned that Canada faces ongoing headwinds, from slower growth in China to stagnation in Europe.

In August, Canada shed 111,800 private-sector jobs. The loss was partly offset by a 14,000 gain in public-sector payrolls, and a surge of 86,900 among the ranks of the self-employed.

"The big issue in Canada is that the private sector is not producing any new jobs," said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

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Canada Sheds 11,000 Jobs on Record Private-Sector Loss

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THIEVES ransacked at least 22 sheds at the busiest allotments in Tunbridge Wells and left a trail of destruction which included six decapitated chickens.

It is believed they struck at Hawkenbury Allotments, off Halls Hole Road, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

They used bolt-cutters to break open the padlocked gate and drove their vehicle on site.

Then they raided scores of sheds, taking everything from lawnmowers and cans of diesel to rotavators and a workbench, and killed the chickens and even damaged a giant pumpkin.

Police spent hours on Saturday gathering information and collecting forensic evidence while allotment holders began counting the cost.

Janet Sturgis, chairman of Hawkenbury Allotment Holders' Association, told the Courier: "We have been in existence since 1895 and we have never had anything like this.

"It is sickening. It's the psychological feeling of being invaded. To do that to the hens they must be really horrible people.

"They were so unpleasant, they went into sheds and just pulled everything to the ground. Someone was growing a giant pumpkin for the association's autumn show on Saturday and they put the bolt cutter prongs into it. It was ruined.

"They left things in such a mess, so you knew they had been. They stole all the diesel for the mowers."

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Kent and Sussex Courier published 'Sick' thieves pulled heads off chickens at Tunbridge Wells...

By Dow Jones Business News, September 05, 2014, 08:45:00 AM EDT

OTTAWA--Canada shed jobs in August after the previous month's gain of nearly 42,000, led by the biggest decline on record in private-sector positions, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Employment in Canada declined by a net 11,000 positions in August, whereas market expectations were for a gain of 10,000 jobs, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada. The unemployment rate in August was 7%, unchanged from the previous month and matching consensus, as Canadians dropped out of the labor force and stopped looking for work.

According to the data, Canada shed 111,800 private-sector jobs in August, the largest one-month decline on record for this category. This was offset by a 14,000 gain in public-sector payrolls, and a surge of 86,900 among the ranks of the self-employed.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

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DATA SNAP: Canada Sheds 11,000 Jobs in August

HELLERTOWN, Pa. -

A handful of Hellertown residents questioned Hellertown Borough Council Tuesday evening on the removal of sheds and shrubbery in their backyards.

The residents approached council to express concern over recently being instructed they must remove sheds and shrubs on their property.

The homes are located along the Rails to Trail path.

Borough resident Richard Frankenfield said he found signs on his property on Front Street directing him to remove his shed and shrubs.

The residents also received a letter directing them to do the same, he said.

"We were told they [shed] would have to be moved within 60 days," he said. "We were very upset by this."

He also said inconsistencies exist between different properties. According to Frankenfield, newer property owners have been told their properties are fine.

Although Frankenfield's shed crosses over borough property, when he bought the property he was told extending past the line was fine.

"We keep getting different stories," he said. "We want to find out where this is going."

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Scientists on Thursday announced in a new report the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved Dreadnoughtus fossil in southern Patagonia. The creature weighed as much as any known land animal, and it wasn't even finished growing, researchers reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

The long-necked Dreadnoughtus behemoth would have measured 26 meters (85 feet) from nose to tail. Its sheer size dwarfs the Tyrannosaurus rex. At 60 tons, Dreadnoughtus weighed as much as seven of the famous beasts.

Heaviest land animal

Kenneth Lacovara of Drexel University in Philadelphia, who discovered the specimen in Argentina in 2005 and led its analysis and excavation effort, said it's the heaviest land animal for which a weight has been calculated with such a degree of accuracy.

The Dreadnoughtus was discovered alongside another, smaller specimen

"With a body the size of a house, the weight of a herd of elephants and a weaponized [nine-meter, muscled] tail, Dreadnoughtus would have feared nothing," Lacovara said.

The creature's old English name evoked memories of early 20th century European dreadnought battleships, "which were huge, thickly clad and virtually impervious," he added.

Dreadnoughtus' weight estimate was based off bones in its upper arm and thigh. The find contained 70 percent of the types of bone in the dinosaur's body and around 45 percent of its total skeleton; however no skull bones were recovered.

"It's by far the best example we have of any of the most giant creatures to ever walk the planet," said Lacovara.

In order to sustain its incredible size, Dreadnoughtus would have needed to eat great amounts of the plants growing in southern Argentina's temperate forests.

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Report sheds light on Argentina's giant Dreadnoughtus dino

Mayor de Blasio Announces Expedited Removal of Sidewalk Sheds at NYCHA Developments
Mayor Bill de Blasio hosts a press conference at Lincoln Houses in Manhattan to highlight steps the administration is taking to make NYCHA developments safer through improvements to the physical...

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Mayor de Blasio Announces Expedited Removal of Sidewalk Sheds at NYCHA Developments - Video