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The town is warning residents to proceed with extreme caution due to the condition of Greenwichs roads on Monday night.

Using the towns reverse 911 system, Greenwich Police Department Capt. Mark Kordick warned residents that evening temperatures are predicted to drop well below freezing Monday night. Melting snow from Monday afternoons warm temperatures and rainfall have left many walkways and roadways wet and, because of that, dangerous driving conditions will be present when roadways freeze over and so-called black ice forms.

Capt. Kordick said that there is also significant potential for ice accumulations on walkways, sidewalks and outdoor steps and stairs. On Sunday, black ice was a severe problem throughout the county as Greenwich experienced similar conditions from a freezing rain event. Capt. Kordick said that, many motor vehicle collisions and slip and fall injuries some serious were reported.

Greenwichs temperatures are predicted to fall below 32 degrees a few hours after dark on Monday night and remain below freezing all day Tuesday. Because of that, the town is advising all residents to exercise extreme caution if moving about outdoors or driving especially after 7:00 p.m. Monday night.

Capt. Kordick said that frail and elderly, people who are unsteady on their feet or those who are mobility impaired will want to exercise special care in icy environments.

Beyond the potential for icing conditions, bitterly cold temperatures tonight and tomorrow will represent a danger to those outside without proper clothing, Capt. Kordick said. Rapid temperature drops can also negatively affect underground water mains, pipes in buildings and other infrastructure. Please be wary of these dangers.

Capt. Kordick said that all of the towns public safety agencies are fully staffed and prepared for what could be a significant freezing event during the overnight period. Public works crews were out Monday afternoon treating roadways Capt. Kordick they will remain on the job through the night.

Even so, drivers should make every effort to get off the roads by early evening and everyone should use extra care when moving about outdoors after temperatures drop below freezing, Capt. Kordick said.

Check Greenwich-post.com and Twitter.com/Greenwichpost for more information if it becomes available.

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Greenwich residents should proceed with ‘extreme caution’ Monday night due to black ice

Manassas, VA (PRWEB) January 07, 2014

EnviroSolutions, Inc., is pleased to announce a Christmas tree removal service that it will be offering to Virginia residents who live in Loudoun County. This service will begin Monday, January 6 and go through Friday, January 17, 2014. The Christmas trees will be taken to a facility that is turning the trees into mulch for the public at no cost. Homeowners who do not want to deal with the hassle of finding an alternate means of disposing their Christmas trees, and to donate mulch to the public, should make time in their schedule to take advantage of this service.

Christmas trees will only be accepted from 8 o'clock in the morning until 4 o'clock in the afternoon on these dates. A fee waiver from the facility receiving the Christmas trees will be granted provided that the tree has had debris removed, including lights, decorations, netting, wreaths, tree stands, tree bags, leaves, grass clippings, dirt, rock, construction materials, or any kind of waste. It is important that trees are cleared of everything in order to be able to efficiently turn the trees into mulch. Wreaths and artificial trees will not be accepted by this particular service.

"We are committed to serving the people of London County with this service," says Gary Hewes of EnviroSolutions, Inc.

If there are any unacceptable materials that are with the tree, the tree itself will not be accepted at the facility, so homeowners are advised to use due diligence before handing the tree off to EnviroSolutions, Inc.

The collected trees will be turned into mulch that will be provided free for public use as a further service to the community. Any resident of Loudon County may use the mulch, whether or not they disposed of a tree with EnviroSolutions. EnviroSolutions, Inc. is committed to community service and is pleased to be offering a program that will undoubtedly help many people at the beginning of 2014. Whether Loudoun County residents live in apartment complexes or stand-alone housing, they are eligible to take part in this service.

To learn more about EnviroSolutions, Inc., visit ESIWaste.com.

About EnviroSolutions, Inc. For over a decade, EnviroSolutions has been providing waste collection, disposal and recycling services in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. With a targeted focus on customer service and safety, as well as a commitment to the environmental health and the communities of the areas they serve, EnviroSolutions provides complete waste service to the regions they serve including trash hauling, landfill services, and recycling services. Visit ESIWaste.com today for more information.

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EnviroSolutions, Inc. Announces Christmas Tree Removal Service for the New Year

7 Jan 2014 15:37

Round-up of cases that came before Coventry Magistrates Court on November 6-8

Cases heard at Coventry Magistrates Court on Wednesday, November 6, included:

David Huskinson, 22, of Gravel Hill, Tile Hill, admitted breaching a community order by failing to attend unpaid work. He was jailed for eight weeks.

Sharon Roberts, 26, of Swan Lane, Stoke, admitted breaching a community order by failing to attend unpaid work. She was given an extra ten hours unpaid work.

Andrew Robertson, 30, of Marlwood Close, Longford, admitted breaching a community order by failing to attend unpaid work. He was given an extra ten hours unpaid work and told to pay 50 costs.

Cases heard at Coventry Magistrates Court on Thursday, November 7, included:

Michelle Mapp, 36, of Tarquin Close, Willenhall, admitted non-payment of council tax and costs totalling 3,414.44. She was told to pay 3,414.44 or serve a 28-day suspended prison sentence.

Gary Samuels, 39, of Chingford Road, Longford, admitted breaching a community order by failing to attend unpaid work. He was given an extra 15 hours unpaid work.

Glenn Ford, 19, of Queen Margarets Road, Canley, admitted carrying a machete and an axe in public, and driving with the wrong licence, no insurance and no MOT. He was detained for eight weeks and given six points.

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Carrying a machete and an axe in public among cases heard by Coventry magistrates

(BPT) - When it comes to the safety of your home and family, you would probably say money is no object. Yet cost (real or perceived) has long deterred many homeowners from considering a residential fire sprinkler system to protect their homes. The systems cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 80 percent, have broad support from safety experts and can even qualify you for a discount on your homeowners insurance. But until now, a perception of high cost has overshadowed those positives.

A new study reveals that the price of residential fire sprinkler systems has dropped significantly, creating an opportunity for safety-minded homeowners to tap the many benefits of sprinklers.

In 2008, the average per-foot cost of a residential fire sprinkler system was $1.61; in 2013, the average per-foot cost has plunged to $1.35, according to a report by the Fire Protection Research Foundation. Multipurpose systems that use a homes cold-water supply, rather than a separate piping system, are even more affordable just $1.23 per square foot, the report found.

And costs are likely to drop even lower, one expert says.

More communities are considering, or have already implemented, fire sprinkler requirements for new, single-family homes, says Eric Skare, a volunteer firefighter and fire safety systems product manager for Uponor North America (www.uponor-usa.com), an Apple Valley, Minn.-based sprinkler system manufacturer. Growing demand has resulted in increased competition and lower installed costs for these systems. Manufacturers competing for market share continue to develop lower-cost products to ensure the cost-effectiveness of residential fire sprinkler systems.

The lower cost is good news for anyone interested in protecting their home with a fire sprinkler system, Skare says. The benefits of such systems are many:

* Eighty percent of all fire deaths occur in residential fires. While functioning smoke alarms reduce the risk of home fire fatalities by 50 percent, sprinklers slash the risks by 80 percent, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

* Multipurpose systems like those provided by Uponor reduce the amount of piping needed to supply sprinkler systems because they tie into a homes existing cold-water plumbing system. Instead of two piping systems - plumbing and fire-sprinkler - the builder need install only one, reducing material, labor costs and jobsite-scheduling hassles, saving 35 percent to 65 percent in installation time over standalone, rigid CPVC systems. That, in turn, should result in a lower cost to the home buyer.

* Homeowners insurance companies provide an average premium discount of 7 percent to homes with fire sprinkler systems, according to the Fire Protection Research Foundation.

* Home fire sprinkler systems act quickly to reduce heat, flames and smoke from fire, giving families valuable time to safely get out of a burning home. Sprinklers extinguish most home fires in seconds, before the fire department arrives and before major damage can occur, Skare notes. In fact, sprinklers are far less damaging than fire hoses used by firefighting teams. One study in Scottsdale, Ariz., found the average fire damage loss for a home without sprinklers was more than $45,000; with sprinklers, losses shrink to slightly more than $2,100.

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Cost of home fire sprinklers at all-time lows; benefits still high

HELEN - Two Helen businesses sustained frozen pipes, one resulting in significant damage, early Tuesday.

Capt. Lee Poteat of Helen Fire Department said the now-vacant Sunflower Chinese restaurant, a former KFC which he described as about a 5,000-square-foot building, was filled with about eight inches of water when firefighters arrived.

That's not counting all the water that ran out of the building into the parking lot and onto surrounding properties.

City officials estimate that between 250,000 and 400,000 gallons of water flowed through the vacant building's fire sprinkler system into the parking lot, adjacent lots and even onto Edelweiss Street, resulting in icing issues.

"It was a lot of water," said Helen Public Works Director Ross Hewell.

At Jameson Inn near the entrance to the city, a pipe broke above the hotel's swimming pool, which overflowed as a result.

"Jameson Inn broke a sprinkler line just above their pool," Poteat said. "Thank goodness it was above the pool. The pool overflowed into the retention pond down there."

Tuesday afternoon, City Manager Jerry Elkins said additional broken pipes had been reported at several businesses in the city, including Charlemagne's Kingdom, Huddle House, and Alpine Village Inn. In addition, an outside faucet burst at the River Street public restrooms.

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Helen businesses damaged by broken pipes

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Pipes burst Monday morning at a special needs school in the Hillcrest neighborhood in Little Rock.

"Several of our toddlers, sitting at the table for snack, and water pouring like a waterfall out of the ceiling, on top of them," Program Coordinator Jackie Beatty said. "Water was pouring out all into the classroom making a big mess."

Teachers heard a loud boom and certainly didn't expect what came next.

"We take precautions as far as the dripping of facets etc., in the restrooms, but the sprinkler system, I'm not too sure we could have prevented that," Director Suzy Benham said.

As water flooded the floors, the teachers quickly evacuated the school. But with bitter cold and special needs students, this faculty base knew standing outside waiting for firefighters wasn't an option. So the children waited in cars.

"Not only are you trying to get kids out of here, but your trying to get oxygen, their trec kits, their medications, everything," Benham said.

Benham said the children were moved out of the school safely in less than two minutes. School will be cancelled Tuesday as the cleanup continues. But Tuesday won't bring about the end of their problems.

"There are materials that are in the classrooms, all of that will probably be replaced, so yes it's a longterm fix," Beatty said.

Link:
LR School Closes After Sprinkler System Bursts

Philips has been running the roost when it comes to smart lighting ever since it released Hue, but it wont remain king of lighting mountain very long if Belkin has anything to say about it. Earlier today, before the CES show floor opens up and all technological hell breaks loose, the company announced two additions to its line of WeMo connected home products: new smart LED lightbulbs and an accompanying hub called WeMo Link.

Last year at CES, Belkin debuted network-connected WeMosmart light switches, so the fact that its making moves into the smart bulb arena was really a no-brainer its the logical next step.

The light bulbs, which will be fully controllable via Belkins WeMo app for iOS and Android, are 60-Watt equivalent with an 800 lumen max brightness. The bulbs are also fully dimmable, and come equipped with a number of clever functions, such as vacation and dim-to-sleep modes, the latter of which will gradually turn your lights down as it gets closer to your bedtime

Belkin announced it will release a starter kit that includes two bulbs and one WeMo Link that acts as a hub for all your devices. The starter set will reportedly sell for $129, whereas individual bulbs will sell for $39 each. This makes WeMo lights considerably more affordable than Philips Hue, which might make them a better choice for consumers that dont care if their lights cant change colors.

No word yet on exactly when theyll be available to consumers, but Belkin says they should hit the market sometime this spring.

DT

Drew's fascination with technology began at an early age - shortly after he licked a 9-volt battery for the first time. It was this first taste of technology that sparked his interest in how electronics work, and he's been obsessed ever since. Aside from keeping up with the latest developments in tech, he enjoys shock humor, and working puns into his writing at every opportunity. You can find his work on Digital Trends and The Manual.

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Belkin sheds light on it’s upcoming WeMo smart bulbs

2 hours ago Jan. 7, 2014 - 2:12 PM PST

Smartwatches are a big trend at this years Consumer Electronics Show, but so far its a category that hasnt seen any major hits (except for maybe Pebble). Thats expected to change when Apple releases its long-rumored iWatch, but the thing is, no one has any idea when that will actually happen. There are some interesting new details, though: This report from The Informationshows some of the potential obstacles Apple has faced in getting its smartwatch to market.

The first, and arguably biggest challenge mentioned has to do with screen technology. Apparently, Apple recently considered going with a new display due to battery life issues. In my opinion, battery life on wearable devices is key. At this point you need to bring at least a weeks worth of battery life with average use to be competitive. But were starting to see wearables that promise as much as a full year.

Apple also reportedly put the kibosh on the advanced production of some pieces with one manufacturer, but changing manufacturers midstream is fairly common occurrence. Also cited, and likely more of an issue, is that Apple recently lost some employees believed to be tied to the project. Bryan James, whose name is listed on one of Apples 2009 patents for a wearable device (and who was involved with a project to let users strap an iPad Nano to their wrists), joined Nest Labs just this month.

The report does mention that none of these issues are necessarily significant enough to delay a launch, and Id have to agree. If Apple is indeed working on an iWatch (which seems almost certain at this point), it likely has a formidable team in place that is working on it at this very moment. There are bound to be bumps in the road on any project. Lets just hope the end is somewhere in sight.

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Report sheds light on Apple’s iWatch hurdles

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Leaders of L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art say a campaign launched less than 10 months ago to quintuple its endowment to $100 million has met its goal, prompting them to keep the campaign going with a new goal of $150 million.

They see the achievement as a turning point after five years of financial instability that has led to budget and staffing cuts, including a winnowing of the curatorial staff from eight to the current two through layoffs or resignations.

TIMELINE: MOCA in flux

A written announcement listed 29 donations from individuals, couples or foundations, all but two of them from board members, their foundations or their families.The campaign also has elicited an unspecified number of anonymous gifts. MOCA provided no further details about the amounts.

Last spring, less than a month after launching the campaign, MOCA said it had received about $50 million in donations or pledges ranging from $1 million to $10 million, naming 19 board members without specifying how much each had given.

Museum leaders also said it's possible, but not certain, that MOCA facilities will be named in honor of the campaign's top donors.

"There's been this tremendous push by committed people who should commit and did commit," said Maria Bell, who, as co-chair of MOCA's board with David Johnson since 2009, has helped oversee the museum's recovery from near financial ruin after the fall 2008 meltdown of global investment markets.

Johnson said the campaign's success means that MOCA has "a sustainable financial future for the first time in its history."

GRAPHIC: MOCAs ups and downs with Jeffrey Deitch

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MOCA meets its goal and sets a new one

Kristen Stewart is at it again, but this time she is showing an entirely new skin from the sparkling and crystal-like glow made famous from her role in the Twilight series. It is no doubt that Stewart has moved on from her immortal identity and the star is now gaining publicity in an entirely different way.

E!Online revealed Stewarts new ad for Balenciagas Rosabotanica perfume for 2014. The ad shows the Twilight actress carefully exhibiting the new fragrance while a string of exotic flowers adorn her left shoulder, and otherwise bare physique. Although the ad is said to be similar to her 2013 shoot, the latest ad markets the fragrance and Stewart in an entirely new and matured manner.

Hollywood Life reported back in December that Stewart is also the new face for the Chanel Mtiers d'Art Paris-Dallas series. This will be just another fragrance advertisement to add to Stewarts growing collection. As the world awaits her new advert, the young actress is sure to make headlines with the Paris Dallas collection.

Stewart began her career as a young adult starring in movies such as Panic Room and Zathura. However, she became most recognized through her role as Bella Swan in movie adaptations of the best-selling book series Twilight. Stewart shared a long-time relationship with co-star Rob Pattinson but soon ended it after rumors and photos leaked of her affair with director Rupert Sanders. Nevertheless, both Pattinson and Stewart's careers have sky rocketed since the films release of the fabled love story.

image: ABC

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Kristen Stewart sheds dark duds for sparse floral garb in Balenciaga perfume ad