Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

RICHMOND When Gov. Terry McAuliffe lashed out at legislative Republicans last month over their refusal to expand Medicaid, he didn't just use his veto powers.

McAuliffe also told his staff to stop cooperating with a legislative committee studying Medicaid reforms. And he stopped work on a $300 million project that would have built a brand new building for General Assembly members and the couple hundred full-time staffers who work for the legislative branch.

Pulling executive branch cooperation from the legislature's Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission may not mean much, since both the General Assembly and the governor have pushed to strip its viability as a path toward Medicaid expansion. But blocking construction of a new General Assembly Building has ruffled some feathers. Some legislative leaders question whether McAuliffe has the power to hold things up as he has.

Legislators have been back and forth for years about what to do with the current General Assembly Building, which is actually several buildings of various ages, all connected together. It has plumbing issues, air quality issues and asbestos in the walls and ceilings.

It needs a new fire suppression system, and that means ripping out the asbestos, House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones said. Repair costs would mount quickly.

"It's a life-safety issue that's driving this," said Jones, R-Suffolk. "It's not us wanting to have a new building."

The plan had been to borrow up to $300 million in bonds to tear the building down, construct a new one, renovate another building nearby and build a new parking deck for Capitol Square. The state would repay the money over 20 years and, with interest included, the cost would hit about $430 million.

This plan was in the state's so-called "caboose" budget, which the legislature approved earlier this year and McAuliffe signed, albeit after he expressed some concern over the project's cost.

The caboose basically tweaks an existing budget, in this case the budget for fiscal 2014. It's completely separate from the fiscal 2015-16 budget, which is in effect as of July 1, and which McAuliffe signed in June after fighting unsuccessfully for months to have House Republicans include Medicaid expansion.

Legislative leaders agree that McAuliffe could eventually hold this project up, because he has to sign off the bonds before they can be issued. But that approval won't be needed for some time, and McAuliffe went a step further, telling the state's Department of General Services to stop planning for the project all together.

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McAuliffe, lawmakers in tiff over office building

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Work began last week at the site of Habitat For Humanity of Gage Countys latest rehabilitation project.

The home, located at 1015 Lincoln Street in Beatrice, belongs to John and Betty Bstandig. According to Allen Grell, construction manager for HFH of Gage County, the couple has given much of themselves to Beatrice for many years. He said he is proud to be working with a family that has given so much to the community.

John is very active in his church, Grell explained. Betty is a special ed instructor. Shes also been a youth volunteer bowling out at Tonka Lanes for quite a long period of time. They are a nice family.

John described him and his wife as "the working poor" -- those who make just enough to take care of the day-to-day necessities, but are unable to afford any major expenses, such as improvements to their home.

We also had a bunch of medical problems, too. Betty said. John has heart problems, and weve had to have surgery for that. A couple years ago, I had cancer. I had to have a major surgery with that, and I had to have a gallbladder surgery. We have all those bills piling up. Trying to get anything else done is really kind of difficult.

Betty said she and her husband were urged to apply by those within HFH of Gage County. Grell said the organization had considered the house for rehabilitation for quite some time.

We have watched that house as a potential opportunity for Habitat to do something positive for a family, he said. We thought about painting it. When we went to see about painting it, we thought it would be much better if we resided it. That will give it longer life. They wont have to paint it again.

The project began Wednesday when members of the HFH of Gage County Board of Directors cleaned seedlings and other growth near the propertys fence line. On Thursday, volunteers removed the homes porch to make way for the replacement of siding.

Exmark employees are completing the bulk of the rehabilitation. Exmarks parent company, Toro, celebrates its 100th year of business Thursday, and the company is sponsoring 100 acts of caring in Toro communities worldwide.

This is going to be considered one of our 100 acts of caring that we do in Beatrice, said Senior Manufacturing Accountant Barb Engler. Habitat is always one of the favorites of the Toro company to work with. They work with Habitat all over the world. They always provide great opportunities for us to get involved.

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Helping Humanity

The sun continues to shine brightly on the Meridian School District, and now that sunshine is not going to be wasted.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, the roof on the Meridian Junior High School was augmented with new solar shingle systems created by The Dow Chemical Co. and installed by Herbert Roofing and Installation of Midland.

Meridian School District staff, along with several Dow Chemical employees involved in the project, gathered last week to dedicate the new system and share ideas on other uses that can be gleaned from the addition.

The DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle, a replacement shingle that takes up little space among existing shingles, collects solar energy that can be harnessed by the buildings that wear them. The technology can collect and generate several kilowatts of power for the building.

The project, referred to as The Meridian Junior High DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle System, is expected to generate a large amount of energy for the building.

The average home can generate about 3.5-4 kilowatts of energy with the system, said Wrendon Hunt, Dow Chemical associate commercial director. This system will generate about 20 kilowatts. This will give energy savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in the next 20 or 30 years.

Hunt was one of the Dow employees on hand to answer questions as well as celebrate the gift from the anonymous benefactor.

We want to celebrate the donor today, said Josh Wimble, with marketing and business communications for Dow Solar and Dow Energy Materials.

Wimble said the gift will generate not only cost savings in energy use, but the new shingles also will last longer than standard asphalt shingles.

It protects as well or better than conventional shingles, Wimble said. And all of the wiring is internal.

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Meridian Junior High receives solar roof from anonymous donor

Window cleaning with a swivel attachment on my Gardiner pole
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A rogue trader who preyed on vulnerable pensioners has been jailed after he was caught walking an 83-year-old Solihull woman to her bank to collect cash for his shoddy work.

Traveller Harry Smith, who used the alias Michael, targeted Alzheimers and dementia sufferers charging them extortionate fees.

One of 24-year-olds victims included a 71-year-old woman from Knowle whom he cold-called on January 10 last year and offered to carry out roof repairs and tile jet washing for 1,200.

Eventually he presented the pensioner with a bill for 2,300 - more than five times what it was worth.

That bill included a 150 weed sealant which involved Smith splash a mystery solution from a watering can over her driveway.

The dodgy dealer - who may have amassed 33,000 from his scams - was sentenced to 25 months in prison after he admitted one count of fraud by false representation and at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday (July 4).

The judge also imposed a Serious Crime Prevention Order.

Smith will face five more years behind bars should he be caught touting door-to-door for for building or repair work during the next three years.

Smith, whose last known address was in Earl Barton, Northampton, was caught by cops on February 1 after a cashier became suspicious when he escorted the pensioner to her bank in the hope of getting a cash lump sum payment.

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Rogue trader who charged elderly fortune for shoddy work jailed

RIO DE JANEIRO On a recent sunny afternoon, Steve Johnson, a tourist from Salt Lake City strolling through Rios colorful Santa Teresa neighborhood, stopped in his tracks and whipped out his camera. Across the street was a fanciful mural featuring the Brazilian soccer team. Players fill a street car, as Neymar hoists the World Cup trophy and Argentinian rival Lionel Messi covers a face filled with tears.

I think its one of the best things Ive seen in all my time here, said Johnson, 48.

Theres plenty to compare it to. On the walls and buildings and in the hearts of many, the World Cup exists in bright bold colors a celebration of a game, a team and a nation. For others, though, its more crude, angry, dark and even vulgar.

Across Brazil, graffiti and street art is a popular, time-honored and unavoidable form of expression. The controversial and costly World Cup tournament has given street artists ample inspiration. While some murals celebrate Brazils passionate love affair with soccer, other buildings are plastered with protest art, often depicting themes of greed and deriding a nations misplaced priorities. In one, a favela child stares at a glistening stadium in the distance. In another, a man in a suit and a soccer player kick around a ball-shaped bag of money.

Others are much more succinct: stenciled lettering denouncing the tournament or hand-scrawled alliterative expletives directed at FIFA.

In a meeting of traditional soccer powerhouses, host nation Brazil will face Germany in a World Cup semifinal. The Brazilians have played the Germans only once before in a World Cup: the 2002 final won by Brazil. Here's a look at Tuesday's matchup. (Tom LeGro/The Washington Post)

I think it has a political attitude, said artist Paulo Ito, whose recent work has cast a skeptical eye on the World Cup. It is a political thinking, in a certain way. Not in all the works; others are more poetic than political.

Ito has done a piece with the tournament mascot, a cartoonish armadillo named Fuleco, standing in front of a stadium and directing a family to scatter. Another features a starving child at a table with only a soccer ball on his plate. The latter went viral on social media sites and drew a lot of attention to the issues that have enraged protesters here in the months and years preceding the Cup.

The response was very emotional, said Ito, 36. When people have emotion, it becomes a subject. Or more.

Not just ... paint on a wall

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At World Cup in Brazil, street art reveals conflicted feelings

The smart choice: opportunity from uncertainty

Vid

It's a tip of the hat today to Reg reader Joshua Thumim for putting the humble Raspberry Pi into the service of humanity with a simple but effective feline repellent system.

Joshua explained:

For the last few years, pretty much every time I (or my two small kids) wanted to use the garden I'd first have to remove 3-5 cat turds of varying stages of decomposition.

I probably don't need to explain how disgusting that is, or how irritating to know that these cats belonged to my neighbours who had nice turd-free gardens thanks to being cat owners. It was a question of beat them or join them, and I was damned if i was going to join them.

I did try several alternatives first, but nothing really worked, and eventually my patience ran out. Think Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

Well, the Brit Michael Douglas hit the shed with the following kit:

He explained: "The solenoid is switched via the PiFace relay in response to a PIR signal, controlled via about 40 lines of pretty amateurish Python, the main feature being use of the PiCam Python library which has a circular stream buffer feature for the video, allowing capture of pre-event footage."

Splendid. Here's a slow motion replay, the better to enjoy the "Cat-O-Bolt" in action:

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Reg reader fires up Pi-powered anti-cat garden sprinkler system

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