Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday (August 14th) announced that National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Michael Gichangi has resigned for "personal reasons".

Gichangi was appointed in 2006 for a five year term and his appointment was renewed in 2011.

"Gichangi had a distinguished and colourful career spanning four decades in Kenya's defence forces, where he rose through the ranks to major general," Kenyatta said in a statement. "He has played his role as director general of NIS with commitment, dedication and professionalism, for which our country is grateful."

Kenyatta added that he has asked Gichangi to remain in the post until a replacement is found.

The president also announced a host of other personnel changes, including a reshuffle of eight principal secretaries, notably Mutea Iringo who moves from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Defence and Monica Juma who moves to the Interior Ministry.

Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia was also moved to the less powerful position of Secretary of the Cabinet, Kenya's Daily Nation reported.

Kenyatta said the changes were necessary in order to improve service delivery and "realign the assignment of portfolio responsibility of the government".

Kenyatta also announced former Finance Minister Njeru Githae as the Kenya's new Ambassador to the United States, filling a post that has been vacant for a year.

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Kenya: Intelligence Chief Resigns, Kenyatta Announces Cabinet Reshuffle

Marshall County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt has plans so replace a concrete box culvert bridge on Marble Road (E18) with and expected price tag of $225,000.

The culvert is more than 20 feet long, so technically it's known as a bridge, he said.

It is located less than a mile west of Highway 14 toward Liscomb.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW POTTER This concrete box culvert on E18 (Marble Road) west of Highway 14 and east of Liscomb is in line to be replaced next year.

Geilenfeldt said there are problems with the sidewalls of the current culvert.

"The structure is not sufficient to carry overweight loads that are often permitted to use county routes," Geilenfeldt said. "Any further deterioration of this structure would cause us to place weight restrictions on the culvert."

The current concrete box culvert was built in 1958. The county expects to let the project out to bid in December with construction planned for 2015.

The board of supervisors recently approved temporary easements with landowners in the area including Dean Sharp and William Elliott to allow construction crews to utilize their property for the work.

This will be the first of two box culverts to be replaced on E18 as another at Oxford Avenue is planned for next year due to the same set of concerns, Geilenfeldt said.

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County plans $225,000 culvert replacement

Other Major Corporate Moves from: Academy Sports, Atlas Merchant Capital , Diablo Clinical Research, Enor, Enova, L-3, NOAA, Politico, Red Lobster, Samsung, Sony Music, Wintrust and more

The 104,368-square-foot, five-story building, known as Ballantyne Three, delivered in 2001 and will become the new headquarters for Snyder's-Lance, which will vacate its current 80,638-square-foot space at the Harris Building in Charlotte in Q4 2014.

Barry Fabyan, Kim Kendall and Rett Turner of Bissell Cos. represented the owner in-house.

Constructed in 1924, the 23-story building totals 1,119,467 square feet in the city's Central Loop and underwent renovations in 1994.

Wintrust's lease includes the second, third, fourth, and 13th floors, and will commence in early 2015. Other major tenants in the building include The Northern Trust Co. and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to CoStar information.

Michael Caruso and Patrick Caruso of L.J. Sheridan & Co. represented Wintrust in the deal, while Jamey Dix and Jack O'Brien of The Telos Group represented the landlord.

NOAA, which was the last agency in the Bannister Federal Complex to find a home, will be the first in the new business and industrial park in Grandview.

NOAAs building is being developed by Kessinger/Hunter & Co., while the project designer and general contractor is Burns & McDonnell.

NOAA expects to complete its move by the end of 2015.

The 23-story building totals 1,452,390 square feet. Built in 1912 and renovated in 2002, the Insurance Exchange Building, as it is also known, is home to a tenant roster that includes The Warranty Group, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc.

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Lease Up (Aug. 11-15): Snyder's-Lance Takes a Big Bite of Charlotte Office Space

By: Jessica Gonzalez

El PASO, Texas - One phase of the ongoing renovations at San Jacinto Plaza in downtown El Paso is complete.

The installation of two-and-a-half miles of underground conduit for electrical wiring is finished, said contractors.

The work is part of the project to fully reconstruct the plaza, which will include updates to amenities, dozens of additional trees, a splash pad, a huacha court, and a full service cafe.

Crews have also removed thousands of square feet of concrete from the plaza and will be installing new irrigation lines. "That work has been arduous, slow going, and frankly not very exciting," said city project manager Rick Venegas.

He says part of the renovations also include working on the part of the concrete structure that will support the Los Lagartos sculpture which is currently being restored in Ohio.

"At this point we have about 25 percent of the job completed, we don't see anything major that would cause us any delays. We are hopefull that that will continue. But at this point right now we're scheduled to finish in February of 2015." said Venegas.

The project is funded in part by the 2012 Quality of Life Bonds.

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One phase of the San Jacinto construction is finished

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Window Cleaning & Window Washing Services - Window Genie

NASHUA Concerns about the citys trees are dividing the aldermen.

I am not against saving trees ... but I dont think we need another committee to be in the way and cause problems when we have trees that need to come down in the city of Nashua, Ward 6 Alderman Paul Chasse told his fellow board members this week.

His comment was in response to a proposal by Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan to establish a Tree Study Ad Hoc Committee to research and review possible tree policies, guidelines and legislation, while making recommendations about public trees.

The issue surfaced last summer when numerous mature trees were cut down and replaced as part of the $2 million downtown revitalization project. About 35 large trees were removed while crews started replacing all of the sidewalks along five blocks of Main Street. More have been cut down and replaced with smaller trees this summer as work progresses to improve downtown sidewalks.

Alderman-at-Large James Donchess said a committee and tree policy would allow for tree expansion not only downtown, but throughout city neighborhoods.

Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire said she supports the creation of a committee. She noted that several trees planted after construction was completed on Pine and Palm streets last year did not survive.

Alderman Ken Siegel, Ward 9, noted that the city already has an arborist to handle tree issues. Alderman June Caron, Ward 7, agreed.

Instead of voting on the proposal, city officials referred the matter back to the aldermanic Personnel and Administrative Affairs Committee for further review.

Sheehan is proposing the new committee consist of three aldermen and at least one member from both the Board of Public Works and Nashua Conservation Commission. The Tree Study Ad Hoc Committee could then make recommendations for public trees, based on its research, to the Board of Public Works.

A comprehensive tree policy would provide guidance, authorization and standards for the management of city trees, according to Sheehans proposal, as well as planting, maintenance and removal of trees on public property or public right-of-ways.

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Tree talk divides Nashua officials

The largest school renovation project in Northwest Indiana continues in the Lake Central School Corp., where voters in the district approved a $160 million construction referendum in 2011.

The district went directly to residents to ask for a tax increase to fund major renovations at Lake Central High School and construct a new building for Protsman Elementary School. Lake Central serves about 9,800 students, including more than 3,200 at the high school.

Lake Central Superintendent Larry Veracco said three-quarters of the money is being spent at the high school. Contractors began work in June 2012 and divided the project into phases. The first consisted of the high school academic wing, which stands three stories high and houses about 100 classrooms, a 50-meter competition swimming pool and locker rooms.

The second phase, now underway, includes building a fine arts band area, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a large media center, black box theater, a large competitive gym, a wrestling room and administrative offices.

The current administrative office building will be demolished and become part of the parking lot. Central office staff will move into the freshman wing at the high school. When all the work is complete, the new high school will be 875,000 square feet.

Veracco said phases two and three overlap but all the renovation that will benefit students should be complete by 2015. "The district's special education administrative team also will be in the same administrative office wing, rather than being housed at Hohman Elementary where they are currently housed. It will benefit us to have them right next to us and it will give Hohman an extra two or three new classrooms," he said.

At Protsman, the final cleanup and landscaping is being done at the new school building. A grand opening is set for Sept. 28.

Other districts preparing facilties

While there are no other projects of that magnitude underway at other region school districts, there are smaller projects.

Highland Superintendent Brian Smith said workers are finishing up some work on the school cafeteria. "We did some roofing work, boilers and chillers last year and paid for that through the capital projects fund. We may need to go to a construction referendum at some point. We may also have to do rewiring at some buildings in the next three years," he said.

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Renovation work continues at local schools

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

14-Aug-2014

Contact: KC Gonzalez kc.gonzalez@utsa.edu 210-458-7555 University of Texas at San Antonio

In the coming years, increased troop withdrawals from the Middle East may result in greater numbers of combat veterans searching for jobs in the private sector. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, military veterans have numerous problems gaining and maintaining jobs in the U.S., and their unemployment rates are consistently higher than nonveterans.

To help solve this problem, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) College of Business Ph.D. student in organization and management studies Christopher Stone is leading groundbreaking research on the factors affecting hiring decisions about veterans. The goal of this research is to uncover the issues that place limits on veterans' ability to secure jobs and to offer concrete solutions that both companies and veterans can take to help veterans enjoy a fulfilling work life.

"Despite the fact that there is documented proof that veterans have a much harder time finding and keeping jobs, there has been limited academic theory or research that focuses on understanding why this is happening and how to solve the problem," said Stone. "Stereotyping and a lack of understanding of how military skills transfer over to civilian roles are only a few of the factors that often prevent highly capable veterans from being hired."

Stone and his colleagues have expanded on a model of the factors affecting the treatment of persons with disabilities to explain the variables thought to influence employer decisions to hire veterans. These factors include: attributes of the veteran; attributes of the observer; nature of the job; degree to which raters perceive that military skills transfer to civilian jobs; and the perceived difference between role requirements in military and civilian organizational cultures.

Based on this model, they suggest that organizations and veterans can use these strategies to enhance their access to jobs:

Stone served in the Air Force for eight years, first in an aircraft maintenance unit overseas and then as a Military Training Instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Independent and entrepreneurial in spirit, once he left the military in 2007 he opened a business near Lackland. In 2010, he sold the business and began his studies at UTSA.

Stone's experience is vastly different than many of his fellow veterans, who weren't able to find suitable jobs after leaving the military. Witnessing this first-hand is what motivated him to pursue this research.

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UTSA research sheds light on factors affecting veteran hiring

WASHINGTON A week after winning the Republican nomination to a seat in Congress, Birmingham lawyer David Trott appears to be getting out of the foreclosure business.

Trott, who soundly defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, R-Milford, in the Aug. 5 primary, announced today he is selling his stake in the family law firm, Trott & Trott, to its other partners.

I have not played a substantial role in either the leadership or operations of the law firm for several years, said Trott, who added that hes leaving the firm founded by his father in 1976 in good hands.

He may also be shedding a political liability: Throughout the primary campaign, Bentivolio and his allies carped about Trott & Trotts business as a real estate services firm and its work on behalf of lenders foreclosing on tens of thousands of Michigan homes in a single year.

The Free Press reported in May that Trotts firm had become the states biggest foreclosure law firm and one of the largest in the nation as the housing market went bust beginning in 2008.

Trotts opponent in the Nov. 4 general election, Democrat Bobby McKenzie, said today that Trott made tens of millions of dollars off the misfortune and misery of Michigans middle class ... and now hes set to make untold millions more by selling his stake.

The terms of the sale were not announced. A spokeswoman for the firm said the sale only includes his stake in Trott & Trott; however, not other companies he owns or has ownership in, which include related document and title businesses and legal publications.

Trott & Trott is a full-service real estate financial services firm, also offering litigation, bankruptcy and lender-owned property services. According to Trotts most recent financial disclosure form, filed in May, his stake in the firm was worth between $5 million and $25 million.

He was paid annual dividends from the firm worth between $1 million and $5 million and, in 2013, a salary of just under $1 million. In May, the Free Press put Trott and his wifes net worth at between $60 million and $205 million. (The value of assets are reported within a range on congressional disclosure forms, not in detail.)

Trotts campaign manager, Megan Piwowar, said Trott is making the move because he is focused on the campaign and remains proud of the jobs some 1,800, according to the campaign created over time by Trott & Trott and his other companies.

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Trott sheds stake in law firm tied to foreclosures

PATROLS have been stepped up at an allotment site in Redditch after sheds were targeted by vandals.

Offenders got into the allotments on Dolphin Road through a hedgerow on Saturday, August 2.

They broke the locks on a number of sheds but it is believed nothing was taken.

Barbara Nash, secretary of the allotment association, said the site had been accessed twice in the week and it was not uncommon.

This isnt the first time it has happened. It happens about twice a year and we think it is kids because it is usually during the school holidays, she said.

It is just a nuisance really because we have to get new locks every time.

No one has noticed that anything has been taken but some of the sheds are alarmed and it might have put them off from taking anything.

PC Richard Field, from West Mercia Police, said they working with Redditch Borough Council and allotment owners to put further security measures in place.

We will also be carrying out extra patrols within the area and are appealing for any information from the public that may assist with catching the guilty parties involved.

A spokeswoman from Redditch Borough Council added perimeter checks of the site were taking place while a contractor was also visiting the allotments.

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More patrols to cover allotments