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"The Family Arcana" goals were modest: $2,800 to create and print decks of cards that would tell multiple variations of a strange story. It's a classic deck -- four suits, deuce through ace -- that includes several sentences of the surreal, slightly creepy story on each card. Play a card game, hold a story in your hand.

This week, when it was featured as a pick on Kickstarter, "The Family Arcana" took off. Almost 1,000 donors have pledged a total of more than $22,000 to the project.

Penned by Jedediah Berry, "The Family Arcana" is, they explain on Kickstarter, "the portrait of a sprawling family bound to their decaying farmhouse by a web of passions and strange obsessions." Watch the video and you'll learn that men from the bank come to take the house, and they don't always get away.

The characters include: Sleepwalking Mother, heartbroken Father, bitter old Grandfather, loopy Grandmother, suspicious aunts, uncles and children "who are impossibly numerous, darkly vindictive, and ever watchful." The art is by Eben Kling.

On the Kickstarter page, Berry explains that he woke up one night and began writing the story, which has multiple voices, onindividual index cards. "Whenever new parts of the story came to mind, Id take out the cards and jot them down. For each new piece of the puzzle, I allowed myself only one side of a single index card, but contained in each card I'd often find the kernel of an idea for the next," he writes.

Taking the index cards to readings, he started treating them like playing cards, shuffling and cutting. The order of a standard playing card deck emerged, matched by the chaos of an almost infinite combination of the stories being ordered and reordered and ordered again (technically, it's not quite infinite, but 8.06581751709439e+67).

Donors who give $12 to the Kickstarter campaign will get a deck of cards; donors who give more can get more sets, a glicee print and signed decks. Donors who give $300 or more will get a card in a secret fifth suit with a new part of the story (only 9 of those remain).

Because the campaign has surpassed its original goal, it has added stretch goals. One is for a soundtrack; another, for an audiobook edition. A third, which has not quite been reached, is for a bonus pack of cards --horoscopes penned by writers Kelly Link, Holly Black, Mira Bartok, Gwenda Bond, Alexander Chee, Jeffrey Ford and more.

"The Family Arcana" is the debut project from Ninepin Press, an independent publisher created by Berry and Emily Houk.

Book news and more; I'm @paperhaus on Twitter

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A story in a deck of cards, 'The Family Arcana,' takes off at Kickstarter

It was the day after Mothers Day in 2012 when Faith Walker ran into her East Baltimore house unable to breathe.

Her mother, Tyishia Walker, who suffers from asthma and has an older daughter with the disease, knew exactly what was wrong: Faith also had the chronic lung condition.

Im sure its from living in the city, said Tyishia Walker. We have more rats, more mice. The house is old and moldy. I believe it makes a big difference.

For the past 50 years, scientists also believed urban living led to higher rates of asthma in children. But new research from Johns Hopkins Childrens Center disputes the notion that geography alone is a major risk factor for the disease and its telltale coughing, wheezing and breathlessness.

Up to 20 percent of children in Baltimore City have asthma, compared with the national average of 9.4 percent, according to government data. There are, however, pockets around the country in suburban and rural areas where the prevalence of asthma is just as high, according to the study, recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The common links among 23,000 patient records reviewed from around the country appeared to be race, ethnicity and income, said Dr. Corinne Keet, a pediatric allergy and asthma specialist at Hopkins and the studys lead investigator.

Public health advocates say the information could impact how health departments allocate resources in suburban and rural areas, ensuring that at-risk kids outside of cities are screened and treated.

Key risk factors for asthma include roach and other pest allergens, indoor smoke, air pollution and premature births, but such issues are not exclusive to cities. Poor people dont necessarily escape poverty by moving out of inner cities, and those who are African-American or Puerto Rican, specifically, dont escape the genes that may be at play.

Nationally, about 17 percent of black children and 20 percent of Puerto Rican children have asthma, compared with 10 percent of white children and 8 percent of Asian children, government data show.

When we did the study we were expecting the prevalence to be higher in inner cities, Keet said. When we looked more closely at poor areas in cities and poor areas not in cities, we found there wasnt a big difference.

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Poverty, race drive asthma rates more than city living

COLUMBUS, Ohio - What UPS delivers, Anthony Tiller is accused of taking away.

Starting in 2014, and spreading into this month, he's accused of taking items out of boxes left on porches.

Sarina Stickler is one of the victims.

A shop-vac was stolen from her front porch and Tiller was caught with it a few blocks down the street.

"After the theft had occurred and the police returned my package I got on there and did Kudos to the police department they were right on it," said Stickler.

Part of the reason they were right on it was because Julie Delia was right on it.

Delia said she watched him take items from a couple of houses on Mithoff Street including the shop vac.

She called police and followed him.

In fact she's the one who took the picture of him getting arrested.

"I was coming home in the middle of the afternoon, he was walking down the middle of the street, said Delia. Looking from house to house. I pulled over and he went over on a house and pulled a package off, opened it up, took the box, took what he had put it under his arm. Went two blocks down the street, did it again, had a huge box, threw it over his arm, by that time I had called the police department."

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Man Accused Of Theft Still Out There After Court Appearance

By Audrey Hoffer February 27 at 7:30 AM

Fairlawn is a quiet community east of the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington.

About 6,000 people live on peaceful streets along Anacostia Park, which hugs the river. The neighborhood is a short drive from Capitol Hill via the 11th Street and Sousa bridges.

A feeling of calmness comes over you when you cross the bridge, said Carol Casperson, a 35-year resident and recording secretary for the Fairlawn Citizens Association (FCA).

People live here because they want to, said Diane Fleming, FCA treasurer, president of the Anacostia Garden Club and a resident for 50 years.

And they come here to stay, added Casperson. Three generations live in the house next to Flemings.

The neighborhoods housing stock is varied it includes semi-detached and detached houses, condominiums and rental apartments. Modest brick rowhouses dating from the 1920s, 30s and 40s many with front porches and white awnings dominate. Because the porches are next to each other, you say hello to your neighbors, Casperson said.

Gaining new attention: In the late 1800s, Fairlawn was suburban or even rural in character, with large gardens and estates owned exclusively by whites. In the 1920s, it was a bedroom community for people working west of the river, especially at the Washington Navy Yard, and was still mostly white, according to Graylin Presbury, FCA president and author of Fairlawn: From the Flats to the Heights.

Were one of the first developed communities east of the river off Capitol Hill, he said.

Anacostia High School was desegregated in 1955, then the neighborhood followed suit in the mid-1960s. This was one of the last neighborhoods east of the river to integrate, he said.

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Where We Live: Fairlawn is starting to come onto the radar

WALLINGFORD From baptism to marriage and even her 50th wedding anniversary, lifelong parishioner Genevieve Horvath, 89, said most of the major events of her life happened within the walls of the SS. Peter and Paul Parish. An elaborate stained glass window in the chapel bears her maiden name in Polish, Jasinskich. Her parents were among the early benefactors when the church was built in 1924.

The parish celebrated its 90th birthday in October with a celebration at Zandris Stillwood Inn. The Rev. Ron Zepecki said he wanted to celebrate 90 years because he was afraid many of the older parishioners would not make it to see the 100th.

For us, because were a small parish, I think its rather significant, Zepecki said.

Horvath said her older sister, Mary, remembers when the church was being built and hopping around from board to board while men poured the foundation.

Parishioner Theresa Menzyk, 86, said she has also been a member of the church since the day she was born. She said her father assisted in its construction.

They had to dig the foundation by hand, Menzyk said. There were no backhoes and those things in those days,

Zepecki said the church was built Spanish mission style, although he does not know why the architect chose that particular design. A fire in 1937 destroyed part of the hand-painted mural in the apse which was redone shortly after. The church was renovated in the 1950s, 1987 and received some touch up in 1999. In 2013 Zepecki said the stained-glass windows were cleaned to the tune of $50,000.

Inside the church, the original solid oak pews are still in place, as is the original woodwork.

Among the many historical moments in the churchs history, Zepecki said it is very likely that former U.S. President John F. Kennedy attended mass on Sundays while a student at the Choate School in the 1930s.

Horvath said she was happy to see the church make it 90 years.

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Wallingford church celebrates 90 years

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A construction worker suffered minorinjuries in Midtown when part of a wall collapsed at a vacant building where TF Cornerstonewill erect aluxuryapartment building,according to officials.

FDNYDeputy Assistant Chief Dan Donoghue said at a press conference this afternoon that at 2:30 p.m., the New York CityFire Department received a call about a collapsed building on West 57th Street. When the fire fighters arrived at 642 West 57th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, they saw the building hadcollapsed inwards, the chief said.

Department of BuildingsCommissioner Rick Chandler said TF Cornerstone had been issued a full demolition permit for the site but the department would reviewthe submitted paperwork in light of the collapse.The construction workers were doing mechanical interior demolition work at the existing five-story building when the collapse started on the third floor, Mr. Chandler said at the press conference.There are no open DOB complaints at the site,according to a spokesman for the DOB, and the last complaint at the site was in 2006 for insufficient power in the garage.

The sitehas been hitwith an Environmental Control Board violation, which is issued by theDOB, for failure to carry out demo operations in a safe manner, the DOB spokesman said.

Earlier today there was an incident during demolition at our site on West 57th Street, according to a statement from TF Cornerstone. Site safety is always our first priority as it relates to construction, and we are cooperating fully with all relevant authorities to try to determine what caused this occurrence.The work underway at the site was being carried out by a subcontractor with a third party engineer employed by the construction company to oversee the demolition process.

According to the DOB, Brooklyn-basedBreeze Demolition was contracted to demolish the site. A woman who answered the phone at Breeze said the company declined to comment.

There were 16 construction workers inside and one suffered minor injuries and was taken to St. Lukes Hospital,Mr. Donoghue said. There is no indication that anyone else was injured even witha school bus out front.

The building, Mr. Donoghue said, has not been occupied forsome time.

TF Cornerstone did not immediately respond with a comment bypublication time.

Meanwhile,yesterday aconstruction worker at the Barclays Center was killed when falling steel beamscrushed him, as was widely reported.

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Worker Injured During Demo for TF Cornerstone Luxe Building

Homebuilders in a rush to beat what could be costly code changes drove a February surge in construction of single-family houses in the Twin Cities.

During the past four weeks, metro-area builders were issued 347 permits to build 357 units, according to a monthly report from the Builders Association of the Twin Cities (BATC). Though that was a decline in total units because of a pause in apartment construction, there was a 47 percent increase in single-family houses compared with last year.

We know that builders across the region have seen a rush to get permits filed before the new expensive codes take effect, said Chris Contreras, an area homebuilder and BATC president. We are concerned that these new regulations will stifle the industry.

BATC estimates that an amended energy code that went into effect in mid-February could increase the cost of a new house by $6,000 to $10,000. That doesnt include an amendment to the building code that went into effect in late January that requires fire sprinklers in houses larger than 4,500 square feet, including the basement.

The changes followed years of debate among building scientists, builders, code officials and fire officials. In mid-January, BATC filed a petition with the Minnesota Court of Appeals challenging the Department of Labor and Industrys amendments, requesting a delay in enforcement of the rules until a decision is made on the main petition.

BATC believes the codes have substantial flaws, that the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry did not properly analyze the impact of the rule and these codes need to be sent back and fixed for Minnesota homeowners, said David Siegel, BATCs executive director.

The group is in the process of preparing briefs, and an oral argument before the Appeals Court is expected in the next two to three months. In the meantime, the updated codes remain in effect.

The codes arent the only head winds that have faced homebuilders. Suburban housing construction growth has lagged the broader economic recovery in the Twin Cities and beyond. Observers think tepid wage growth and a slow return of move-up home buyers have stifled new home sales.

Most of the housing construction in the Twin Cities during the past few years has been luxury rental apartments in Minneapolis, which represented about half of all housing built in the metro area. While apartment construction is expected to be slightly behind last year, more than 3,500 apartment units are expected to be permitted later this year, according to a year-end report from Marquette Advisors.

Sales trends have prompted growing optimism within the industry. Sales of new homes across the United States posted a solid gain during December, and economists at Wells Fargo Securities recently raised their housing forecast, saying that new-home construction should be one of the significant upside surprises for the economy during the next two years.

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Building code changes prompt construction surge

A local developer plans to add a $10.6 million apartment building with office space and a cafe on Badger Street near the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus.

The 90,000-square-foot, five-level building at Badger and 13th streets just behind the West Avenue Kwik Trip will have 57 three-bedroom units designed to meet the demand for private-sector quality student housing, along with four one-bedroom apartments for staff, Three Sixty Real Estate Solutions owner Marvin Wanders told the La Crosse Economic Development Board on Thursday.

The development has been dubbed Aguilera Spanish for eagles nest in a nod to the UW-L mascot.

Plans also call for 3,700 square feet of first-floor office space for Three Sixty Real Estate Solutions headquarters. The first floor will have a 2,500-square-foot fitness center and 1,600 square feet of retail space, likely a cafe, Wanders said.

The building also will have an inner courtyard with green space off the third level. Plans call for 39 parking spaces on the first level with another 30 outdoor spaces off La Crosse Street on land now occupied by three residences.

Three existing properties a private home and two rentals will remain in place between the building and the parking lot.

UW-L has been approached about parking as well, Wanders said, and the company actively promotes healthy transportation and the reduction of vehicles, such as biking or use of the nearby mass transit line, to its tenants.

This is a pedestrian and people-focused development, Wanders said.

The building and parking area will replace seven houses and several garage or storage structures with a combined assessed value of $528,800.

Wanders said the Aguilera would raise the current $14,786 a year in property taxes generated to at least $150,000.

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Developer plans $10.6M mixed-use building by UW-L

Published: Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 6:25 p.m. Last Modified: Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 6:25 p.m.

If a New Orleans-based developer can secure necessary tax credits within the next year, 100 affordable housing apartments will become available to senior citizens near downtown Houma.

The Terrebonne Parish Council approved a preliminary lease agreement Wednesday with Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corp, for the old Houma Elementary School buildings and property near Grinage and Point streets.

Working with the Terrebonne Housing and Human Services Department, Renaissance plans to renovate existing buildings and add an additional apartment building to provide affordable housing for parish residents age 62 and up who qualify financially.

The terms following a one year option period include a $5,000 annual lease payment for the first five year and $10,000 per year for the remainder of the 30-year lease.

All were trying to cover is for insurance and things like that. It wasnt designed where we were going to make money off the deal. We just want to get the housing completed in there, Housing and Human Services Director Darrel Waire said at Wednesdays meeting.

Renaissance is seeking low-income and elderly housing tax credits, historical tax credits and loans to cover construction, which will cost $17 million to $20 million.

Even if all of the money comes through following the March 16 application deadline, Parish President Michel Claudet said Renaissance would still need $5.5 million in gap money to reach the estimated project budget.

Theyve approached the Council on Aging and requested some assistance with that gap funding to be able to make this a reality, Claudet said.

Estimates suggest the Council on Aging could build 40 housing units with $5.5 million, Claudet said. But if it works alongside Renaissance, the council could help build over 100 units in a prime location, he said.

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Council OKs lease of Houma Elementary for apartment project