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The Washington County Commissioners Court will continue to work towards improving the sewer situation for a handful of families in Precinct One, as it opens proposals for engineering and program management services.

The proposals will help decide which group spearheads a $277,250 project in the county that will provide improved plumbing to an area with roughly 30 households; currently, the area uses septic tanks. The project is to be completed by Jan. 10, 2016.

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County to work on Precinct 1 sewer situation

Tuesday, January 7, 2014 | 4:59 p.m. CST; updated 5:25 p.m. CST, Tuesday, January 7, 2014

*This story has been updated to include a second appointment.

JEFFERSON CITY Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed a former state economic development director and a former public school administrator to seats on the State Board of Education.

Nixon on Tuesday appointed Joe Driskill to a term expiring in July 2021. Driskill, a Democrat, led the Department of Economic Development from 1993 to 2003. He's also a former Missouri House member.

The governor also chose John Martin of Kansas City to replace Stan Archie, who resigned from the board in January 2013. Martin would serve until July 1.

Martin, a Democrat, was superintendent of the Grandview district from 1990 to 2006, deputy superintendent in St. Louis from 2006 to 2007, and interim superintendent in Kansas City in 2008. He also taught in University City.

The appointments require confirmation by the state Senate.

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UPDATE: Missouri governor fills 2 seats on State Board of Education

Samsung is going all out this year. Building on the 2013 launch of the Samsung Shape Wireless Audio Multiroom System, Samsung has made its way into every room of the house with its new multi-room offering and integration of wireless and multiroom technology across its 2014 flagship soundbar, Blu-ray player and home entertainment system products. The new product line reflects the growing demand for solutions that offer consumers the ability to manage multiple audio sources.

In the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada (MB Tech News editor Art Samaniego Jr. is there to provide us live updates), Samsung products on display include:

The addition of the entry-level M5 speaker to the Samsung Shape Wireless Audio Multiroom system. These speakers can be used alone or wirelessly with other Samsung products to create custom audio home systems.

Samsungs stylish and versatile Sound Bar and Sound Stand products offer vivid and consistent sound as well as space efficiency through innovative design and engineering.

Under a TV, Samsungs ultra-slim technology and elegant design maximize surround sound and deep bass performance for rich and clear sound.

Samsungs MX-HS8500 GIGA Sound System, the worlds first component audio system to integrate the main system and speakers, is ready to rock the house. With integrated wheels that maximize mobility, booming sound and synchronized lighting effects, the GIGA turns any setting into the hottest club in town.

The Samsung HT-H7730WM Blu-ray Home Entertainment System is an experience not found anywhere else. Its a one-of-a-kind 7.1 channel system with virtual 9.1 channels that only Samsung can provide, thanks to its exclusive integration of the DTS Neo: Fusion II codec. Carbon Nano Tube speakers combine with Vacuum Tube Digital Amplification to provide sound thats warm and natural, yet amazingly powerful and clean.

Samsungs latest additions in audio technology give consumers big, high-quality sound that is easy to incorporate into their entertainment experience, said Jim Kiczek, director of digital audio and video at Samsung Electronics America. This years lineup will deliver not only great sound and breakthrough design but also the flexibility of wireless support to take the home entertainment experience to the next level.

The Samsung Shape Wireless Audio Multiroom system enables music lovers to enjoy tether-free entertainment in any room of the house, from various music sources.

The flexible speakers can be used alone or in combination with the Wireless Audio Multiroom Hub and additional M7 or new M5 speakers to create a multi-room, multi-channel surround sound system.

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Life and design for Samsung in 2014

By STEPHANIE BEECKEN 6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - By the time the Monday morning commute traffic started around 8 a.m., temperatures in Knox County were already 20 degrees. The low temperatures and already wet roads meant a frigid and slick start for many drivers.

Employees at The Amber Restaurant in North Knox County normally get to work at 6:30 a.m., but Monday morning the owner told workers to come in an hour later due to the weather. James Linklater and another employee rode to work together.

"[The] car was frozen shut. I had to pull my door open and kick her's open from the inside so I didn't mess up the handle," said Linklater.

Linklater drove 40 minutes to work from Blaine.

"A lot of slick spots off of Emory Road. There's spots you hit, hit a curve. We slid a few times, but not too bad," said Linklater.

He says while the drive to work was relatively easy, walking in to the restaurant was hard. Linklater joked that he should have worn ice skates.

At 4:00 am many parking lots were just covered in slush, but as hours passed and the temperatures dropped, the slush turned to ice. Before the restaurant opened Linklater put the salt down to melt the ice.

The Amber Restaurant owners Donald and Bonnie Padgett have owned the restaurant for 36 years. They say they've only closed one time. The Padgetts say the people who live in the area rely on the restaurant to be open, especially when there's inclement weather.

"So many people's power goes off, and they'll always come here for breakfast, and we figured that's something people might need to eat," said Bonnie Padgett.

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Cold temperatures and snow don't keep North Knox County restaurant from opening

Once we get through the holiday season, I can always count on a flurry of questions about frozen water lines. So, to start things off for the New Year, I have put together my three basic tips on how to deal with frozen pipes.

1. The best offense is a good defense: Take a look around your home (especially in the basement) for any strong drafts that may affect the water lines in that area. Seal up any openings or cracks with insulation and protect the water lines with insulated pipe sleeves. Also, keep the heat on in every area of the home during very cold weather.

2. Know when you may have a frozen pipe: Usually, you can identify a frozen water line when you notice water flowing to some fixtures, but not to others. Example: Bathroom works fine, but there is no water flowing to the kitchen faucet. If your main water line freezes up, all of your plumbing fixtures can be affected.

3. Time is of the essence: Call your plumber as soon as possible even if it requires an emergency call. A master plumber can usually trace the exact area of the freeze up and safely thaw the pipe with professional equipment. Bottom line: If you wait too long and the water line bursts, you may end up needing a huge financial bail-out.

Master contractor/plumber Ed Del Grande is known internationally as the author of the book "Ed Del Grande's House Call," the host of TV and Internet shows and a LEED green associate. Visit eddelgrande.com or write eadelg@cs.com. Always consult local contractors and codes.

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Plumber: Hot tips for frozen pipes

Plumber admits drugs and knuckle duster charge

5:50am Tuesday 7th January 2014 in News

A PLUMBER has admitted possessing class A drugs and an offensive weapon.

Thomas Giddings, 23, admitted having a quantity of cocaine and a knuckle duster in Danacre, Laindon, on September 20.

However, Giddings of Rettendon View, Wickford, denied the charge of possessing a bladed article namely a craft knife when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday.

He told the court he was a plumber and had found the knife on the floor, put it in his pocket and forgotten about it. The Crown accepted his guilty pleas to the earlier charges and agreed not to pursue the possession of a knife charge.

The court heard Giddings was found with the items after being stopped by officers.

Judge David Owen-Jones, decided he wanted the Probation Service to complete a pre-sentence report on Giddings before he sentenced him.

The case was adjourned until January 30. Giddings was released on unconditional bail.

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Plumber admits drugs and knuckle duster charge

Tributes have been paid to a popular plumber who sold his business to British Gas for 30 million five decades after starting out as a sole trader running a business from his dining table.

Phil Jones who founded PH Jones, a central heating company which employed 850 people, died suddenly on Christmas Day. He was 74.

Mr Jones launched the firm in Malpas, near Whitchurch, with his wife Brenda back in 1963 and sold it to British Gas in May 2011.

He also founded Beech House Nursing Home, in Wollerton, near Market Drayton, opening the business in 1990 and going on to sell it in 2005.

Today his daughter Wendy Raichura described her father as an inspirational man who adored his three children and 12 grandchildren.

She said: My dad was very bright and full of fun and mischief. He was always disruptive especially at the dinner table when playing with his grandchildren who he loved to bits.

He was always laughing and was never stressed and was a great entrepreneur.

He really was very intelligent and very inspirational.

He did so well in life but his real talent was that could reach out and connect with everyone. Whether it was children, teenagers, humble people or lords and ladies, he could connect with them all.

Mr Joness two sons Martin and Chris also worked for the family firm and helped the business grow.

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Tributes to plumber who sold company he founded to British Gas for £30m

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - Plumbing companies across East Texas worked all day Monday to fix pipes that burst in the cold weather. Through the wet and the cold, plumbers say they'll be there for you all night.

"We're going to get really wet and it's going to be cold," Patton Waldrop, a plumber with C. Woods Company, said.

At 11 o'clock this morning a small busted pipe was just the beginning. Busted water lines and backed up toilets are all in a cold days work for plumbers Cory Daniels and Patton Waldrop.

"About 7:00 in the morning and everything was frozen solid, nothing would thaw out, James Montgomery, an employee at Pets Fur People, said, so it's just one of those deals where we had to just wait and see what would happen."

A burst pipe happened. That's when Montgomery called the plumber. The busted pipe at Pets Fur People was the first call of that icy morning.

"We're waiting on it, you know, it's coming, busted water lines everywhere," Cory Daniels, a plumber with C. Woods Company, said.

Calls like that trickled in Monday morning, but by the afternoon phone lines were flooded.

"We're real busy, we're getting calls. Just earlier I called back to the office and we're getting them every 10 minutes," Daniels said.

Longview reported no major issues. Neither did The City of Tyler, but plumbing companies across East Texas are drowning in service calls.

"It's just one of the deals that happens, you just got to deal with it," Montgomery said.

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Plumbing companies bursting with service calls

Posted on: 4:54 pm, January 6, 2014, by Scott Wise and Wayne Covil, updated on: 05:18pm, January 6, 2014

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) From your faucets to your pets, now is the time to make sure your house and animals are ready for Tuesdays record-cold weather.

Dogs and cats can suffer frostbite, just like humans.

Especially areas like their toes and ears and tails can be sensitive to those kind of things, but hypothermia can affect them the same as us, Colonial Heights Veterinarian Hospital Stacy Riddle said.

When preparing your home for sub-freezing temperatures, start outside first.

You should go around your house and make sure all your vents are closed to keep air from flowing under the house and freezing up pipes like this hose bib here, Calvin Adkins, with AA Plumbing, said. Air could blow under it, freeze that pipe, so its good to close all air gaps.

Once inside, focus on kitchens with faucets on an outside wall.

Its good to open the cabinet doors at night, that will let a little heat there and sometimes you could maybe let the faucet run a little bit, Adkins said.

Experts advise using a supplemental heat source, like gas log, to help heat your home.

They suggest you avoid moving your thermostat up as temperatures go down.

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Things you should do NOW to protect your home during the freeze

UC Riverside entomologists devise a technique that involves mixing a synthetic pheromone in insecticide sprays

By Iqbal Pittalwala on January 6, 2014

Photo shows Argentine ants. Photo credit: D-H Choe Lab, UC Riverside.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. After being inadvertently introduced in the United States from South America, Argentine ants have successfully invaded urban, agricultural, and natural settings nationwide. In urban California, the Argentine ant is among the primary pest ants. For example, this particular species of ants makes up 85 percent of ants sampled by commercial pest control companies in just the Greater San Diego Area.

Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have now developed a pheromone-assisted technique as an economically viable approach to maximize the efficacy of conventional sprays targeting the invasive Argentine ant.

They supplemented insecticide sprays with (Z)-9-hexadecenal, a pheromone compound attractive to ants, and were able to divert Argentine ants from their trails and nest entrances. Lured by the pheromone, the ants were eventually exposed to the insecticide residue, and killed.

Study results appeared Dec. 23, 2013, in the online fast track edition of the Journal of Economic Entomology.

Field study was conducted to determine if Argentine ants would be attracted from a nest entrance and nearby trails to an aqueous pheromone spray deposit. The red circles indicate the positions of ants. The sand patch on right was sprayed with water supplemented with the synthetic pheromone (Z)-9-hexadecenal. The sand patch on left was sprayed with water only. After a few minutes, the number of ants on the pheromone-treated patch exceeded the number of ants on the water-treated patch. The nest entrance and nearby trails were located between the patches of sand. Image credit: D-H Choe Lab, UC Riverside.

Our experiments with fipronil and bifenthrin sprays indicate that the overall kill of these insecticides on Argentine ant colonies is substantially improved by 57 to 142 percent by incorporating (Z)-9-hexadecenal in the sprays, said Dong-Hwan Choe, an assistant professor of entomology and the research project leader, whose lab focuses on urban entomology, insect behavior and chemical ecology.

According to Choes research team, the current attract-and-kill approach, once it is successfully implemented in practical pest management programs, could potentially provide maximum control efficacy with reduced amount of insecticides applied in the environment.

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Novel “Attract-and-kill” Approach Could Help Tackle Argentine Ants