Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

As TinCaps fans tentatively find their wet seats amid the raindrops before a recent Thursday night game, head groundskeeper Keith Winter can be found in his usual spot alongside Parkview Field's third base line.

Standing less than five feet from the team's tarp, which weighs close to a ton, Winter prepareshimself and the rest of his crew for their latest battle against inclement weather.

We lead the world in 6:30 p.m. tarp pulls, Winter says to an array of familiar faces, including Winter's assistants, Jake Sperry and Ryan Lehrman, TinCaps president Mike Nutter and the Bad Apple Dancers, each of whom falls to Winter's side when duty calls.

Winter's team can do little more than repeatedly check smartphones for weather updates, the fate of first pitch hanging in the darkening skies, a narrative all too familiar in a wild season that has seen at least 12 inches of rain more than the usual year.

Only a few days before, without a cloud in the morning sky, it was a different story for Winter and his assistants, who cover more ground than TinCaps outfielders Jorge Oa and Jack Suwinski do during games.

It's hurry hurry hurry, wait, hurry hurry hurry, wait. That's baseball, Winter shouts over the roar of a mower before returning to trimming grass by the foul line.

When Winter's day isn't dictated by weather, he's making sure his team comes home to a tidy office.

It's June 27 and the TinCaps have an early batting practice at 2 p.m., which means Winter and his grounds crew have been out beautifying the field since 10 a.m., hardly the earliest start of the season for a trio that's battled firework debris, egg-laying moths and Mother Nature.

It all feels worth it when the gates open and the fans arrive.

When somebody walks through any of these gates, what's the first thing they're looking at? The field, says Winter, who has been with the TinCaps since 2010.

While the groundskeepers pour their blood, sweat and tears into what was named Best Ballpark in America by Stadium Journey in 2015, Winter, 58, is worried the younger generation may not want to be a part of what can be an unforgiving business.

It's a dying breed. Most young guys don't want to work and put in the time outdoors, says Winter, who has to endure menial tasks like dragging the batting cage across the field and painting the clubhouse in the offseason.

See that thing rolled up? Winter asks, pointing toward the third base side at the tarp, almost an afterthought as the sun beats down on itspolyethylene surface. When you're playing with that thing all day, it beats you up. It chases men who are good at this job out of the business because they get tired.

Nutter may run the team, but he rolls up his sleeves like many staff members to tackle the tarp, a beastly task when it's heavied by rain.

It's the days when you're taking it on and pulling it off three times. It's more mental than physical, Nutter says. You're just like, 'What in the world are we doing?'

Nutter, whose time with the organization stretches almost 20 years to now-razed Memorial Stadium, believes Winter is a rarity.

(There's always) that little voice that says, 'We can do this tomorrow,' and (Winter) will not cave, Nutter says. He does an amazing, amazing job. Winter is a machine.

Under Winter's guidance, the TinCaps have won six Turf Manager/Grounds Crew of the Year awards in the Midwest League, no small feat.

You get physically drained, but if you recharge your battery with a strong work ethic and desire to do things right, you just keep going, Winter explains.

And it's clear Winter, Sperry and Lehrman are more than a crew; they are a family.

For us to grow within the industry it's seeing the bigger picture of not just certain duties but taking what we learn on the field and transferring it to life as well, said Sperry, who's worked with the grounds crews of MLB's Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles. If we have a good looking baseball field, then we've killed two birds with one stone.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the rigors of grounds keeping at places like Parkview Field, which contains engineered soil with a compound of sand, silt and clay that didn't exist 10 years ago and is intended to holds up under rainy or dry conditions throughout the season.

Everything that we use here is a specialized type of thing, and technology, and being able to research those materials, and understanding what they do and how they work, yeah, that's all played a big part in how things are changing for grounds keepers, Winter says.

The biggest commitment toParkview Field's future may have come in2012, when Kentucky Blue Grass was ordered from a turf company inColorado for the 3-year-old field.

I love that part of designing a field and putting the right materials and the right drainage and the right irrigation because that plays a huge role in how that field's going to maintain itself for the rest of its life, Winter says.

We paid more money to get (the grass) here than we did for the sod, but I felt this grass was the best grass in America and I still do.

For the thousands of people Boy Scouts, high school teams and TinCaps fans who have roamed the outfield and run the bases, it truly feels like the big leagues. Keeping it as nice as PNC Park, Busch Stadium or Camden Yards in the MLB is the goal for Winter, who previously worked with the Great Lakes Loons and has gotten to rub shoulders with the likes ofClayton Kershaw, Dee Gordon and Carlos Santana before they were big-league stars.

Because he aspires to help assistants move up from Single-A baseball, Winter has pledged that if any of them gets to run an major league grounds crew, he will finish his career working for them. Two of his former assistants work for the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, so it could happen.

For now, though, Parkview Field is home.

I mean, look at this day. What's bad about that? Winter says, stretching his arms out to figuratively embrace the stadium. There's no better place to work than this.

acandor@jg.net

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More than keeping grass green - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The community will soon be seeing green at the site of the South Lake Tahoe Community Playfields on Al Tahoe Blvd.

Thomas Haen Company of South Lake Tahoe, a long-time local General Engineering contractor and two local subcontractors, Ron Fuller Construction and Earth and Stone Landscape were awarded the contract by the City of South Lake Tahoe to create two fields adjacent to the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) soccer field.

Last year, Burdick Excavation Company and Ed Cook Tree Service cleared the area and prepared it for this next phase.

On July 11 there will be a pre-construction meeting, with the actual construction to start soon after. The contracts will amend the soil and then start installing real grass in large sod rolls according to Chuck Taylor, the City's Associate Civil Engineer. He said it will take about two months to get the grass in and another month and a half to establish the root system of the natural sod.

Automated irrigation will also be installed.

The fields are configured side by side and are FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) standard natural grass soccer fields to meet the requirements for competitive college soccer and to serve multi-sports and play activities for the community.

Recognizing the value of recreation in South Lake Tahoe, along with the need for trails, fields and parks, Measure S passed by voters in 2000. It brought in $6,500,000 to be used to maintain new bike trails, acquire, construct, and equip athletic fields, upgrade of Paradise Park facilities and construction of an ice rink. The measure promised three new fields in South Lake Tahoe, they got one. Now, this new project gives the community the other two through a joint effort between the City and LTCC. The increase in popularity of soccer at the college has resulted in their needing more play time on the one soccer field on their property, leaving the community to need the other fields.

Excerpt from:
Work on new South Lake Tahoe play fields to start mid-July | South ... - South Tahoe Now

Photo: istockphoto.com

Q: I started seeing brown patches on my lawn at the end of spring. They seem to have grown in size and number since then. Whats causing this, and how can I correct it before it takes over my turf?

A: Brown patches of dormant, dead, or dying turf is hardly unusual, as they plague grasses of all varieties and can be caused by a number of factors ranging from extreme weather and poor soil conditions to pests and fungus. Whatever the culprit, brown grass should be assessed and addressed ASAP: If the underlying problem is severe enough, the pesky patches could eventually destroy your lawn. So find out the cause early and treat your turf accordingly to restore it to its former green glory.

Wait out droughtor water properly. If brown grass appears or worsens with scorching temperatures, and fallen tree leaves on the surrounding lawn have shriveled, this can be a sign that the problem is drought. Its natural for grass to go dormant to conserve water during periods of limited rainfall, and drought-induced brown grass should turn green on its own as the weather cools and rainfall increases. You can also restore your lawn by giving it an inch of water on a weekly basis with your lawn sprinkler. You may need to adjust a sprinkler head to ensure that there are no spots on the lawn that the sprinkler isnt reaching. Remember to water early in the day, before the suns heat burns off the water.

Restore your soils pH balance. When soil pH is too alkaline or acidic, iron chlorosis, a type of iron deficiency affecting plants, can take root in your lawn and lead to yellowor in severe cases, brownpatches. Check your soil pH is with a home soil testing pH kit available at your local home center or nursery for about $10. If the pH is higher than 7.2, apply sulfur to your lawn as a short-term solution for lowering soil pH and improving the color of grass. Generally, the higher the starting soil pH and the loamier or more clay-based the soil, the more sulfur it needs. Sandy soil with a starting pH of 7.5, for example, only needs 10 to 15 pounds of sulfur per 1,000 square feet to reach an optimal soil pH of 6.5, while a loamy soil of the same pH needs 20 to 25 pounds of sulfur per 1,000 square feet. As a long-term solution, reduce the frequency with which you water the lawn, as over-watering reduces iron uptake in grass and can lead to repeat cases of yellowing or browning.

Photo: istockphoto.com

Lay off the fertilizer. Excess salt from fertilizer can build up in grass, scorching it and turning it brown. Your lawn might have this fertilizer burn if brown spots appear one to two days after fertilizing the lawn and the spots follow the pattern of where you applied the fertilizer. Act fast to beat the burn, watering until the ground is thoroughly saturated to help leach excess fertilizer out of the grass root zone. Then apply an inch of water to the lawn each day for the next seven days to flush out the fertilizer salts from the grass roots. If grass fails to re-grow completely, you can either sow new grass seeds or lay sod over dead turf spots. In the future, avoid over-feeding the lawn by applying fertilizer only in the manufacturer-recommended amount and frequency. Choose slow-release fertilizers to improve absorption and reduce the risk of fertilizer burn.

Weed wisely. Weeds and tree roots siphon vital nutrients from fertilizer and water that would otherwise go to grass, leaving you with a dry brown lawn. To treat, dig up the weeds or spray the lawn with a selective herbicide that targets weeds but leaves the grass undamaged. Follow up weed removal by spraying pre-emergent herbicide over the lawn to prevent new weed seeds from sprouting.

Fight the threat of fungus. Fungus thrives in hot, humid, moisture-rich environments, and stagnant water on your lawn helps it fester. Once conditions like Brown Patch Disease take root, you might notice thinned-out brown grass in a ring-like pattern, possibly affecting a large area of turf. If you spot these symptoms, apply fungicide to smaller affected areas, or call in a lawn care specialist if the problem is widespread. Avoid over-dousing your lawn, and stick to a morning watering schedule, to keep fungus at bay. To reduce the risk of fungal disease, mow the lawn weekly, aerate it twice a year, and clear thatch (shoots, stems, and roots that accumulate on the soil surface) when it rises to about an inch in height.

Dont let your lawn be grub for grubs. Grubs, the larvae of beetles, spend their summers feeding on the roots of turf grassand as the grass decays, brown areas emerge. To determine if this is a problem, simply dig into one of the brown patches and look for milk-white creatures curled up into a C-shape. If you spot 10 or more of these grubs per square foot of sod, a grub infestation is the likely culprit of your lawns brown patches. To be rid of the pests, apply either a chemical like carbaryl or natural grub control like nematodes (roundworms) over the lawn. In two to three weeks, new green shoots should start to emerge.

Have pets do their business elsewhere. You love your furry friends, but canine and feline urine contains salts that can kill grass and leave behind round, brown dead patches that arent likely to go green on their own. Revive dead turf by covering it with a layer of ground limestone (2 to 5 pounds per 100 square feet) to restore the soils pH balance, then let the limestone sit for a week before covering it with topsoil and planting new grass seeds. In the future, you can replace an area of your lawn with mulch and let your pets go thereor better yet take them for walks!

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Solved! What to Do About Brown Grass - BobVila.com

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Posted: 7:15 a.m. Friday, July 07, 2017

The developer says Hobe Sound Station will bring a stylish retail center with the feel of Worth Avenue to a desolate section of U.S. 1.

But several locals in this laid back Martin County area say they like their neighborhood businesses just fine.

Theres no fun, no energy, no imagination along this stretch of U.S. 1. People leapfrog Hobe Sound. They go north to Stuart or south to Jupiter, said John Doyle, who is building the $7 million retail/office center. Crawdaddys Nawlins Grill & Bar and Lynoras restaurants are scheduled to open when construction is finished early next year about one mile north of Bridge Road on the east side of U.S. 1.

RELATED: MORE NORTH AREA NEWS FROM THE PALM BEACH POST

About four dozen condos the tallest would be 40 feet with prices starting at about $600,000 are planned. So are a neighborhood market with a gas station and a retail/office building. An Aldis grocery store may go in on the other side of U.S. 1, on the site of the former Horsefeathers bar.

Not everybody in Hobe Sound, an unincorporated area of about 15,000 residents north of Tequesta, is excited about the Mizner-style Hobe Sound Station. The 40,000-square-foot center is the first major development along U.S. 1 since the Publix Plaza was built about 15 years ago.

Hobe Sound doesnt want to be Palm Beach. We dont want to turn into another Abacoa. Were a very seasonal, quiet community. This project has Hobe Sound residents very nervous, said Harold Jenkins, a lifelong Hobe Sound resident, owner of a local landscape business and Martin County commissioner who represents the Hobe Sound and the Jupiter Island area.

Martin County, which has about 160,000 residents about one-tenth of Palm Beach County has a well-earned reputation of being a high hurdle for developers.

Hobe Sound Station is leaping that hurdle and could start of a flurry of unwelcome growth, said Jenkins.

Supporters of the project disagree.

They say Hobe Sound Station is a planned neighborhood that will fill commercial space along a desolate urban corridor. That four-mile stretch on U.S. 1 from Bridge Road north to Osprey Street has a Winn-Dixie plaza, a dog grooming store, a vaping shop, a recreational vehicle dealership, a couple of coffee shops, restaurants, auto parts stores and a nursing home.

The Palms Inn Hotel and adjacent restaurant closed three years ago. The building is vacant.

What that urban corridor does not have are residences with nearby upscale places to shop, dine, window shop or have a beverage.

Thats the niche Hobe Sound Station will fill, said Doyle.

(Hobe Sound Station) is not ringing the dinner bell for uncontrolled growth. We are the beneficiary of controlled growth between Jupiter and Stuart. We want to continue that controlled growth, said Doyle, who also built The Medalist and Old Cypress Village luxury residential communities on U.S. 1 in Hobe Sound. Doyle lives in the Medalist.

Businesses and families will be attracted to a walkable community, said Angela Hoffman, the executive director of the Hobe Sound Chamber of Commerce.

Hobe Sound Station is not urban sprawl. Its not tall buildings. Its a good start to attract more infill projects to enhance our community, said Hoffman.

Harry MacArthur, whose family has owned Harry and the Natives restaurant on U.S. 1 and Bridge Road for 65 years, doesnt buy it.

Martin County has fought to keep things small. We like it that way, said MacArthur, whose wood-paneled restaurant just north of Bridge Road offers live music, breakfast and pig roasts. Trinkets made by local artists are for sale at the door.

Others counter that new construction will pump dollars into the local economy.

Vic Pepitone, the owner of nearby Hobe Sound Produce on U.S. 1, agrees that Hobe Sound residents dont want major development. But Pepitone also wants more customers to buy his seafood, vegetables, fruits and boiled peanuts.

More people means more business, Pepitone said.

The tough part, says John Martin, who sells bait in Reel Life Bait & Tackle across U.S. 1 from Hobe Sound Station, is keeping a balance.

Locals are not looking for bigger restaurants and businesses. They like the fact that Jonathan Dickinson State Park separates them from the hustle and bustle of Palm Beach County, said Martin.

Yeah, we need the economic boost. But growth isnt something locals are used to, said Martin, who moved to Hobe Sound in 1985 from West Palm Beach for a calmer lifestyle.

Non-local restaurants will have a tough time attracting locals, said Sam Lenz, a longtime Hobe Sound area resident who owns Fog E Vapor vaping shop on U.S. 1.

People around here like local places where they know the owners, like Harrys, Lenz said, referring to Harry and the Natives restaurant. Its tough to break into the in crowd in Hobe Sound.

The next step for Hobe Sound Station will be winning approval for the Aldis, the neighborhood market with gas station and the 46 condominiums.

It wont be easy, said Harold Jenkins, the Martin County commissioner who represents Hobe Sound.

Martin County is ruled by extremes. People are either totally against development, or they are totally in favor of it. When (Doyle) makes those other proposals, there will be a lot of opposition, said Jenkins.

HOBE SOUND STATION: IN THE WORKS

* Approved: 15,000-square-foot area planned to open early 2018. Crawdaddys Nawlins Grill & Bar and Lynoras expected to open.

* Submitted for approval: 6,000-square-foot building neighborhood market with gas station adjacent to restaurant building

* Planned: 18,000-square-foot commercial/retail office planned adjacent to restaurant building

* Planned: 46 condominiums, gated community to be called The Preserve. The two- and three-bedroom units will start at about $600,000.

* Planned: Aldis grocery store on the other side of U.S. 1, at former site of Horsefeathers bar.

Read more:
Will retail complex revive Hobe Sound or make it Harbourside Place? - MyPalmBeachPost

A four-alarm fire early Friday gutted a partially constructed 7-story Oakland building, displacing at least 700 people who live nearby.

A caller reported seeing smoke from the structure at 2302 Valdez Street around 4:30 a.m., according to Interim Fire Chief Darin White.

Many Unanswered Questions in Oakland Construction Site Fires

The now-destroyed building, which had been under construction for several months, is the Alta Waverly. Its architect is Oakland-based Pyatok and developer is Wood Partners of Mill Valley. Upon completion next spring, the mixed-use project was expected to feature 196 homes and up to 31,500 square feet of retail space.

Instead, flames have reduced the Alta Waverly to a charred skeleton that is unstable and missing chunks of scaffolding. Plumes of smoke not only blanketed the area, but were also visible from as far as the South Bay, and sidewalks for several blocks in all directions were littered with soot and ash.The National Weather Service of the Bay Area said a satellite detected temperatures as high as 1,145 degrees Fahrenheit from the Oakland fire.

The 7-story building was expected to feature 196 homes and up to 31,500 square feet of retail space upon completion next spring. (July 6, 2017) Photo credit: Pyatok/Wood Partners

The first fire engine was on scene within five minutes of the initial call. Crews were forced to go on the defense immediately because flames were building at the center of the structure. In all, more than 80 firefighters battled the blistering flames with the assistance of more than two dozen fire apparatus, White said.

"We had zero injuries," he said with a smile.

But the danger has not passed.

The task of extinguishing the fire, which has since been knocked down, was made riskier as parts of the building crumbled around fire crews, while the scorching heatmade a large construction crane swing, White said.

4-Alarm Fire Engulfs Building in Oakland

Radiant heat was felt for several blocks around the fire. That, combined with the threat of the careening crane prompted road closures and roughly 100 evacuations, according to White. People who have been uprooted were given shelter through 5 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the Light at 2121 Harrison Street. They can spend the night at St. Vincent De Paul at2272 San Pablo Ave.

White was unable to specify when people will be allowed to return to their homes, citing ongoing concerns about the integrity of the crane. The evacuation order cannot be lifted until the crane, which could collapse, has been deconstructed and removed, he said. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office plans to send a drone into the scorched building to help the crane operator and Cal/OSHA determine the best way to dismantle it.

RAW: Four-Alarm Construction Site Fire Prompts Evacuations in Oakland

"I was scared," Mout Khamphou told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Khamphou said she was sitting in her car getting ready to go to work when she saw smoke coming from the building next door.

She drove away, thinking the fire wasn't bad, but called her husband who was still at home to warn him.

"I called my husband and I said, 'I saw the fire start. You have to be careful and get ready to get out.' He called me and said, 'Oh honey, the fire started getting worse and he asked where my passport and papers are. Our apartment won't be safe anymore.' I was crying a lot, I worried.''

She said she turned around and drove back to her neighborhood and found flames shooting from the building. Other evacuees told NBC Bay Area that when they went to close windows to prevent smoke from entering their homes, the glass was hot.

4-Alarm Oakland Construction Site Fire Displaces 100 People

According to White, it is too early to know what caused the fire because firefighters are still monitoring hot spots. It is only after structural engineers and Cal/OSHA have deemed the building safe that investigators with the Alameda County Arson Task Forcecan comb through the wreckage.

TheBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services is helping Oakland firefighters develop a plan to address the multiple hazards that are puting residents and first-responders at peril, White said.

A construction worker was of the opinion that someone may not have wanted more buildings along Auto Row, which is a hub for new developments. But that theory has not been corroborated by officials.

At a news conference, Mayor Libby Schaaf promised to offer "comfort and security" to those who were impacted by the fire as well as "relentlessly investigate" its cause.

"With a fire this size, it is miraculous that we have had no loss of loss, no injuries and nothing more than what appears to be cosmetic damage to any ancillary or surrounding structures, she said.

4-Alarm Fire Prompts Evacuations in Oakland

Meanwhile, city councilwomanLynette Gibson McElhaney, whose district includes Alta Waverly, said Oakland leaders will not take Friday's fire lightly.

"We are concerned," she said. "We will look at what the investigation will reveal in terms of whether this was human error or foul play. But I think we all have to be concerned when several hundred units of housing are taken off the market in the middle of an unprecedent housing crisis."

Schaaf agreed.

"Oakland is in the middle of a housing crisis and the loss of these valuable new units only exacerbates that problem," she said. "We are very clear that this type of development is what Oakland needs to get through this moment where rents are skyrocketing, where housing is in high demand.

"This is a loss for our city and for this region right now."

A Four-Alarm Fire Engulfed a Oakland Building

The developer reportedly had a roving security patrol at Alta Waverly, and White said confirmed the presence of security cameras in the vicinity. It remains unknown what, if any, surveillance footage was captured.

Wood Partners issued a statement Friday, in which the company's CEO Joe Keough said, "Our deepest concern goes out to those impacted by this unfortunate event. We are grateful that no injuries were sustained and we are working closely with local fire officials and investigators to identify the cause of the fire."

Fire officials told NBC Bay Area that their efforts to contain the blaze ensured that it didn't reach four homes to the east of the construction site.

The Alameda County Fire Department sent mutual aid to man Oakland's fire stations, while the city's fire department focused on the fire that quickly escalated from two to three and then four alarms.

Fires have plagued Oakland in recent months.

Last October, a five-alarm fire erupted at an apartment site under constructionnear Lake Merritt, which is under two miles from Friday's fire.

A three-alarm fire then claimed 36 lives during a December 2016 concert at the Ghost Ship warehouse, anda four-alarm fire in a West Oakland residential building killed four people in March.

People who witnessed the fire or may have any information about it are asked to call a tip line at 510-777-3333.

NBC Bay Area's Bob Redell and Pete Suratos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Published at 5:21 AM PDT on Jul 7, 2017 | Updated at 11:32 PM PDT on Jul 7, 2017

Continue reading here:
Four-Alarm Oakland Construction Site Fire Displaces Hundreds - NBC Bay Area

City approves $90M student housing development in downtown Orlando

The 15-story building with 600 beds would be part of a larger development called Creative Village

July 09, 2017 03:00PM

Rendering of mixed-use student housing development in Orlando

The Orlando city government approved the plan for a $90 million mixed-use student housing development in the citys downtown district.

The city approved the planned development of a 15-story building with 600 beds, a parking garage, and a restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.

Construction is expected to start this summer and to be completed by the fall of 2019.

The 15-story building also would have four floors of educational space and would serve as the home of the Walt Disney World School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Valencia College.

The developers, Ustler Development Inc. and KUD International LLC, plans to construct the 15-story building on the northwest corner of North Terry Avenue and West Livingston Street in Orlando.

The building would be part of a $1 billion, 68-acre development in Orlando called Creative Village, which would include apartments, hotel rooms, retail stores and offices plus a downtown campus shared by the University of Central Florida and Valencia College.

Ustler and KUD expect construction of their mixed-use student housing development to start this summer and to be completed by the fall of 2019. [Orlando Business Journal] Mike Seemuth

See the original post here:
City approves $90M student housing development in downtown Orlando - The Real Deal Magazine

Work resumes at the Electric City Apartments site at Erie Boulevard and State Street on Thursday, July 6, 2017.

Photographer: PETER R. BARBER

Work on the Electric City Apartments development is moving forward, a few months after the demolition of the Nicholaus building next door.

A half-dozen construction vehicles could be seen Thursday morning moving dirt around the construction site at the corner of Erie Boulevard and State Street. Work on the $20 million project, consisting of apartments and retail space, was halted after the Nicholaus building was deemed unstable April 1, 2016.

John Roth, CEO of Highbridge Development, the company responsible for the project, could not be reached for comment.

The apartments will be at 248 State St. and include 104luxury apartments and 9,900 square feet of ground floor retail space.

Construction ceased on the mixed-used development for more than a year while the Nicholaus building sat vacant. On April 7, a Clifton Park engineering firm notified city officials that the building had shifted and was in danger of collapsing. It was torn down later that day.

The property has spawned a number of lawsuits.

Nicholaus building owners Viroj and Malinee Chompupong first alleged prep work for the neighboring development caused their structure to become unstable, and later filed a notice of claim against the city seeking $5 million in damages for Aprils demolition, a claim the city said has no merit.

The owners of the Thai Thai Bistro, which was in the Nicholaus building and later moved to Niskayuna, are suing the city of Schenectady, the Nicholaus building owners and construction companies from the Electric City Apartments, claiming negligence and breach of contract.

More here:
Work moves forward on Electric City Apartments - The Daily Gazette

A proposed sales tax in Ohio, introduced in the state budget bill (HB49) in January 2017, sought to tax interior design and decoration services. The International Interior Design Association (IIDA), together with the American Society for Interior Designers (ASID), mobilized a grassroots advocacy campaign and successfully defeated the proposed tax. Governor John Kasich signed the budget on Friday, June 30.

"This tax provision would have put Ohio's interior designers at a distinct competitive disadvantage in relation to interior designers in neighboring states, as well as other design professionals whose services are not taxed," commented Emily Kluczynski, director of advocacy, public policy, and legislative affairs at IIDA. "The combined efforts of IIDA and ASID have protected the profession of interior design in Ohio."

IIDA and ASID, with the help of local chapters IIDA Ohio/Kentucky, ASID Ohio North, and ASID Ohio South and Kentucky, advocated against this measure with members of the associations testifying to the House Ways and Means and House Finance committees. Due to their efforts, the budget was amended to exclude the sales tax provisions.

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Interior Designer Advocates Defeat Proposed Sales Tax in Ohio Budget - Dexigner

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USA TODAY Sports Published 2:36 p.m. ET July 7, 2017 | Updated 3:29 p.m. ET July 7, 2017

While becoming an All-Star is a great honor, what a player does in the game could leave a lasting impact on his legacy. USA TODAY Sports

Blue Jays reliever Roberto Osuna was a late addition to the AL All-Star team.(Photo: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports)

Most every All-Star Game snub was settled Friday when Major League Baseball added seven players to American and National league rosters as replacements for injured players or pitchers starting this weekend.

The lone National League addition, Alex Wood, will replace his fellow Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw, who starts on Sunday. Wood has started the season 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA.

Dodgers lefty Alex Wood's amazing first half is over - but can he get to All-Star Game?

MLB Home Run Derby: Six show-stopping performances

Indians' Terry Francona will not manage in All-Star Game after heart procedure

Added to the AL squad for Tuesday's game in Miami: Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano, Tampa Bay ace Chris Archer, relievers Chris Devenski (Houston), Roberto Osuna (Toronto) and Brandon Kintzler (Minnesota) and Detroit outfielder Justin Upton.

Devenski's addition gives the Astros a major league-high six All-Stars.

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Dodgers' Alex Wood, six others named to All-Star Game rosters - USA TODAY