Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secret Service officers chasing a Texas Army veteran across the White House lawn in September figured they had him cornered when he encountered the thick bushes on the property.

To their surprise the bushes were no match for the fence-jumper, who dashed into the executive mansion through a pair of unlocked doors, knocking aside an officer physically too small to tackle him. She would then fumble with her own equipment as the man carrying a knife ran deep inside the president's home, according to a Homeland Security review of the Sept. 19 incident.

The incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m., only minutes after President Barack Obama and his daughters, along with a guest of one of the girls, left the White House aboard Marine One on their way to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland where Obama and his family were to spend the weekend. First lady Michelle Obama had traveled separately to Camp David and was not at home.

The folly of errors and missteps by Secret Service officers were revealed in a nine-page summary of the government's investigation of the break-in at the White House by a disturbed Army veteran.

The government determined that lack of training, poor staffing decisions and communication problems contributed to the embarrassing failure that ultimately led to the resignation of the head of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson. The report did not specify any disciplinary actions.

The new report said Omar Gonzalez, 42, cleared the fence where a trident, or ornamental spike, was missing. An officer in the joint operations center who tried to raise the alarm was unaware his warnings weren't being broadcast to uniformed officers stationed at the executive mansion.

Some officers at a gate on Pennsylvania Avenue failed to see the fence-jumper because their view was obstructed by a construction project. A Secret Service canine officer parked on the White House driveway was using the speaker function on his personal cellphone without his radio ear piece, and a second, tactical radio was stashed away in his locker as the intruder made his way into the secure area.

Two officers wrongly assumed Gonzalez wouldn't be able to get through thick bushes on the property, the report said. Another officer posted on the portico outside the wooden White House doors mistakenly assumed the doors were locked.

The intruder was able to run into the building before a female officer seated just inside could lock a second set of doors.

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Officers surprised bushes didn't stop WH intruder

A 23-year-old man has been remanded in custody in connection with an alleged stabbing of a father and son in Tralee shortly before 6am last Tuesday.

Brian Keane of no fixed abode is charged with trespass at Woodbrook Lawn Tralee, the home of the Fital family.

He is also charged with assault causing harm (Section 3 of the Non-Fatal offences Against the Person Act) to Kamil Fital, aged 47, at Woodbrook Lawn and with the same offence in connection with 17-year-old Hubert Fital at the same location.

Mr Keane was brought before Cahersiveen District Court yesterday.

Det Garda Michael Healy of Tralee garda gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution saying the accused had been arrested in Tralee on Tuesday and charged on Wednesday with the two Section 3 assaults along with trespassing at Woodbrook Lawn and at Shanakill, Tralee, and theft of cash at Moa lee, Tralee, all on November 11.

The accused made no reply to the charges.

Inspector John Brennan said the State was applying to remand the accused in custody.

Pat Mann, solicitor for Mr Keane, said he was not opposing the States application but put it to Det Healy there is a large medical picture here.

The detective agreed and Judge James OConnor ordered that the accused be given appropriate medical treatment while in custody.

He remanded him in custody to appear at Tralee District Court on Wednesday next.

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Man charged over Tralee stabbings

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Secret Service response to an armed intruder who jumped the fence and raced into the White House was complicated by muted alarms and radios, thick bushes on the lawn, unlocked doors and an officer inside who was physically too small to tackle the intruder and fumbled with her equipment, according to the Homeland Security Department review of the case.

A summary of the government's investigation, released Thursday night, revealed sensational new details about the Sept. 19 break-in at the White House by a disturbed Army veteran carrying a knife.

The government determined that lack of training, poor staffing decisions and communication problems contributed to the embarrassing failure that ultimately led to the resignation of the head of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson. The report disclosed Thursday did not specify any disciplinary actions.

The new report said White House intruder Omar Gonzalez cleared the fence where a trident, or ornamental spike, was missing. An officer in the joint operations center who tried to raise the alarm was unaware his warnings weren't being broadcast to uniformed officers stationed at the executive mansion.

Some officers at a gate on Pennsylvania Avenue failed to see the fence-jumper because their view was obstructed by a construction project. A Secret Service canine officer parked on the White House driveway was using the speaker function on his personal cellphone without his radio ear piece and a second, tactical radio was stashed away in his locker as Gonzalez made his way into the secure area.

Two officers wrongly assumed Gonzalez wouldn't be able to get through thick bushes on the property. Another officer posted on the portico outside the wooden White House doors mistakenly assumed the doors were locked.

Gonzalez, 42, was able to run into the building before a female officer seated just inside the building could lock a second set of doors.

That officer tried twice to take Gonzalez down but was unable because she was smaller than the intruder. She reached for a metal baton but mistakenly grabbed a flashlight instead. As she dropped the light and drew her gun, Gonzalez made his way into the East Room before heading back down a hallway on the State Floor deep within the White House.

Gonzalez was eventually tackled by another officer, who was helped by two plainclothes agents just finishing a shift, the report said.

Excerpt from:
Thick bushes no barrier for White House intruder

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - A surgeon working in West Africa's Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and will be flown to the United States for treatment on Saturday, according to a person in the federal government with direct knowledge of the case.

The surgeon, Dr. Martin Salia, will be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the person said. A Sierra Leone citizen, the 44-year-old Salia lives in Maryland and is a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to the person, who was not authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity

The doctor will be the third Ebola patient at the Omaha hospital and the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the U.S. The last, Dr. Craig Spencer, was released from a New York hospital on Tuesday

In a statement Thursday, the Nebraska Medical Center said it had no official confirmation that it would be treating another patient, but that an Ebola patient in Sierra Leone would be evaluated for possible transport to the hospital. The patient would arrive Saturday afternoon.

Salia is a general surgeon who had been working at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, according to the person familiar with the case. He came down with symptoms of Ebola on Nov. 6 but test results were negative for the virus. He was tested again on Monday, and he tested positive. Salia is in stable condition at an Ebola treatment center in Freetown. It wasn't clear whether he had been involved in the care of Ebola patients.

Sierra Leone is one of the three West Africa nations hit hard by an Ebola epidemic this year. The disease has killed more than 5,000 people, mostly in Sierra Leona, Guinea and Liberia.

The State Department said in a statement late Thursday, that along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it had been in touch with the Maryland wife of an unidentified Ebola patient about transferring him to the Nebraska Medical Center for care.

The hospital in Omaha is one of four U.S. hospitals with specialized treatment units for people with highly dangerous infectious diseases. It was chosen for the latest patient because workers at units at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital and the National Institutes of Health near Washington are still in a 21-day monitoring period.

Those two hospitals treated two Dallas nurses who were infected while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who fell ill with Ebola shortly after arriving in the U.S. and later died.

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AP source: Doctor with Ebola coming to US for care

With services like lawn mowing, lawn care, hedge trimming and tree chopping, its surprising to hear Carmichael Gardening Services is owned and operated solely by husband and wife team Brian and Jane Carmicahel.

They established the business three years ago, until Brian quit his full-time job to focus on their business.

Before then, I was just mowing lawns in the afternoons and around my full-time job, Brian says.

We did a course funded by the government to help small business. You get a certificate three or four in small business, and we did that in Toowoomba while we were still working and running this business for about six weeks.

Starting a new business was scary, but the key lies in learning to be resilient in times of rejection.

Dont give up, Brian counsels. Dont be disappointed by rejection and lack of customers. Keep going and it will come. Keep putting your name out there, talk to people in the street, put out business cards, flyers; youve got to keep looking forward every day.

Pic: Brian Carmichael. Source: Supplied.

One marketing tactic Carmichael Gardening Services uses is putting leaflets in houses with untidy yards when mowing a house on the street, something which has been quite effective so far.

They also ask for business referrals from current customers, but says a challenge is trying to get more repeat customers.

Its been fairly tough, especially when it doesnt rain; were now at our fourth month without rain. It gets harder and harder, but its a good chance to catch up on admin and on things around our own property, Brian says.

Originally posted here:
A Budding Gardening Business

When she isn't playing spunky characters like Katniss Everdeen, Jennifer Lawrence walks red carpets in elegant gowns by Dior, the couture house for which she is a celebrity face. From the time she wowed us in Dior Haute Couture while accepting an Academy Award for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook" in 2013, to the Dior high-low dress she wore this week to the London premiere of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1," she's looked feminine and chic. But growing up, she was a tomboy who wore hand-me-downs from her two older brothers along with yard-sale finds, she told French magazine Madame Figaro. [People]

Kim Kardashian bared more than her rear end for Paper magazine, as we reported here at All the Rage on Thursday. She also went full frontal. [Los Angeles Times]

Paper's editorial director Mickey Boardman tells the Cut that baring all was Kardashian's idea: "We hadn't planned for her to take her clothes off. She wanted to and it kind of fit with the thing, and [photographer] Jean-Paul [Goude] was super excited about her attitude and Kim was super excited. Everyone was excited about working together and making magic." [The Cut]

Meanwhile in another corner of Kardashian Land, Kim's half-sister Kendall Jenner reportedly has opted, along with Cara Delevingne, to model for Chanel in Austria on Dec. 2, instead of for Victoria's Secret in London on the same day.[New York Post]

Mercedes-Benz, title sponsor for New York Fashion Week since 2009, may pull out, reports the Hollywood Reporter. [THR]

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Jennifer Lawrence wore yard-sale clothes and brothers' hand-me-downs

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Apartment for sale 235 150 garden Landscape Pool View Compound Midtown - Video

While the country is busy dealing with military and economic challenges, a truck in Kyiv is freely hauling sand up to the top of a historic hill while tractor spreads it around.

This all is happening on Yurkovytsya, one of the hills Kyiv was founded on in the Middle Ages. Even though the territory is protected as a national historic site, thus forbidding construction there, private homes continue to be built on the crest.

"Here you see the cynical destruction of one the most ancient places in the world," activist Olena Yeskina says. "These are our legendary Kyiv hills, without which it is impossible to imagine our city."

A member of Kyivske Viche, a group that lobbies protection of Kyiv's historic sites, Yeskina says that the illegal construction on Yurkovytsya hill in the Lukyanivka neighborhood started soon after City Hall under former Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy allocated several land plots on Otto Shmidt Street to private individuals in 2010.

Instead of putting up a kiosk, as stated in the title documents, one individual increased the officially allotted size of the plot from 10 to 30 acres and built a beige two-storey house with a cellar and an attic. His neighbor, meanwhile, erected a yellow colored two-storey mansion complete with a spire and surrounded it with a brick three-meter high wall. He also allegedly planned to seize more land, but activists prevented him. Both owners have denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, archeologists have unearthed numerous artifacts there dating back centuries, including the Stone Age. A wooden cross mounted on the peak of the hill marks an old cemetery.

Luxurious houses have been built on Yurkovytsya hill, despite the legal ban on any construction activity here. Pavlo Podufalov

In 2012 activists managed to stop further construction on Yurkovytsya hill. However, on Nov. 3, when Yeskina and her colleagues came to monitor the situation, they saw a new fence and construction vehicles working inside. They were bringing in and smoothing out a mixture of sand and clay to enlarge a leveled area on the slope. Seeing the activists, a man came out from the house nearby and threatened them.

"When I asked him to introduce himself," Yeskina said, "He just turned around and hit me so hard that I flew several meters."

A video on Podil TV YouTube channel shows episodes of the Nov. 3 accident on Yurkovytsya hill when an unknown man hit Yeskina, an activist, after she asked him to introduce himself.

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Historic hill in Kyiv under threat as disputed construction continues

GWEN IFILL: Congress returned to Washington yesterday, along with a few dozen newly elected members.

The NewsHours Domenico Montanaro spoke with some of the newcomers as they learned how to navigate life on Capitol Hill.

DOMENICO MONTANARO: While the new Congress doesnt start until January, its newest members are in town this week for orientation, a kind of lawmaker boot camp.

Its a time of transition on Capitol Hill. One in eight congressional offices is getting a new boss, with a total of 70 new members coming in. Most of them are staying here in the Capitol Hill Hotel. For members of both parties, its a hectic time.

REP.-ELECT MIMI WALTERS, (R) California: Its been a whirlwind so far.

DOMENICO MONTANARO: New member Mimi Walters arrived Tuesday night and already has a long to-do list.

MIMI WALTERS: Theres so many people we have to meet. Theres so many things we have to get done. We have to hire our staff. We have to get our offices. We have to find a place to live. We have to get oriented with Washington, D.C.

WOMAN: Hi. How are you, sweetie?

DOMENICO MONTANARO: The California Republican was elected from a district some 2,600 miles away. We caught up with her while she was taking a look at potential office space.

MIMI WALTERS: Oh, my gosh, these offices are so small.

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Newcomers learn to navigate life on Capitol Hill