The Dollar Tree chain pulled sodas and sugary drinks from its shelves following the passage of Measure D in November. Photo: Seung Y. Lee

Shoppers at the two Dollar Tree stores in Berkeley will no longer find sodas and sugary drinks on theirshelves following the passage of the soda tax last November.

In the Dollar Tree discount store on 2440 Shattuck Ave., the refrigerators once full of soda bottles are now stocked with water. The other Dollar Tree store in Berkeley, on 1284 San Pablo Ave., has also removed its sugary drinks.

Dollar Tree which sells a variety of products for $1 or less and has more than 5,200 stores in North America decided to pull out sodas in its Berkeley storeswhen the soda tax went into effect on Jan. 1, according to Randy Guiler, vice president of investor relations.

Donald Duck juice bottles sold in Dollar Tree. Photo: Seung Y. Lee

Due to the increased cost from the Berkeley sugary drinks and soda tax, we are no longer able to carry sugary drinks and soda at the one-dollar price point, Guiler said.

But visitors to Dollar Tree stores can still get a sugar fix of sorts. The store carries fruit juice, which is not subject to the one cent per ounce tax.

Berkeley became the first city in the United States to pass a soda tax last November. Measure D, which drew national attention and supportive donors like former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, passed overwhelmingly with 76% of the votes despite heavy opposition lobbying from the beverage industry.

BerkeleyCouncilman Laurie Capitelli, whohas been a main proponent of Measure D,was relieved to see the Dollar Tree stores replacing its soda selections with water bottles.

Im actually thrilled, Capitelli said. Im hoping other businesses will follow suit, and I hope they replace it with water bottles.

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Dollar Tree pulls soda off shelves after soda tax

REGINA Think Morocco the bright reds and blues of Moroccan tile work, the vivid greens and yellows in a spice market, the sandy colours of the Sahara Desert, the pinks and oranges of an exotic garden in bloom, and the golds and bronzes of a desert sunset.

In its 2015 spring/summer collection, unveiled Monday, Regina-based luxury jewelry design company Hillberg & Berk (H & B) pays homage to the Kingdom of Morocco.

Its a little bit of a throwback to when Morocco was the hub for artists and celebrities and that jet-set, fast-paced lifestyle that the people who inhabited that area at the time were feeling, explained Rachel Mielke, who founded Hillberg & Berk in 2007.

So theres a lot of really beautiful, glamorous, glitzy pieces in the collection. But they do also have an esthetic thats a little bit more reminiscent of Morocco.

The geometric shapes of some of the jewelry pieces are similar to some of the tile work you might see in Morocco, she said.

There are approximately 150 pieces in H & Bs spring/summer collection, ranging in price from $65 to $1,295.

This collection brings back some the really beautiful gemstones that Hillberg and Berk is known for, Mielke said. For the past few collections, weve seen a lot of Swarovski (crystal) pieces I think our customers will be happy to see some of these great gemstone pieces again in this collection.

The new collection showcases rose quartz, amethyst, turquoise, jasper, crystal quartz and rutilated quartz.

Some of the groupings are designed so pieces can be easily layered together. As well, statement pieces are included.

The spring/summer collection also features bridal pieces, including pearl designs, as well as non-traditional bridal necklaces with delicate agate fringe, for example.

Excerpt from:
Spring/summer jewelry collection Morocco-inspired

Charlotte, N.C. (PRWEB) January 27, 2015

The new Rockwell BladeRunner X2 is a benchtop saw that can cut nearly everything in its path, including wood, PVC, plastic, aluminum and other non-ferrous metals, plus ceramic tile by using standard T-shank jigsaw blades. It takes the place of a hand saw, hack saw and miter box by making quick and accurate rip, scroll, cross, inside and miter cuts.

BladeRunner X2 is great for home workshops, garage-based shops and basements. Make quick, accurate and easy miter saw cuts in wood for molding and trim, picture frames or signs. Make intricate inside cuts where precision counts. Cut ceramic tile for kitchen back splashes or insets for bathroom/shower tile work.

Winter is the ideal time of the year for project building and creating craft projects indoors. BladeRunner X2, unlike a conventional table saw, can handle a variety of projects by simply changing blades. Its also affordable, compact and weighs less than 15 lbs. The saw has a low profile of 6 in.H, which when mounted to a workbench or table top, is a comfortable working height. The saws tabletop measures 17 in.W x 15-3/4 in.D.

Its a great economical saw for hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers who dont have the room or budget for a conventional table saw, said Brian Renner, Rockwells Product Manager. Plus, theres not a big learning curve in working with BladeRunner. It sets up in seconds and is ready to go.

What distinguishes BladeRunner X2 from other benchtop saws is its blade. Instead of a saw blade, it uses standard 4 in., T-shanked jigsaw blades, which are widely available through hardware stores and home centers. Changing blades is a snap. Simply press down and slide the blade release lever on the left of the saw to seat or release the blade. Blade guide rollers ensure 90 cutting at all times.

The BladeRunner X2s control arm assembly sits at the back of the table- top to accommodate longer and wider workpieces for ripping and crosscutting. It flips out of the way when making interior cuts. The blade guard assembly also incorporates a splitter, which helps keep straight cuts on track. The saws hold-down arm is adjustable and can be raised or lowered to match the thickness of the workpiece. It holds the workpiece against the tabletop to minimize vibration while cutting.

The BladeRunners fence has two adjustable knobs to help align workpieces for straight and accurate cuts. The tabletop has a channel for the fence with two measurement scales, one in the in the front and the other in the rear of the saw. By using the measurement scales to align the fence to the desired cutting width, the user is assured of an accurate cut.

The innovative 3000 spm saw is powered by a 5.5-amp motor. Its cutting capacity is 1 in. in wood; 1 in. in PVC; 3/8 in. in aluminum and ceramic tile, and 1/8 in. in mild steel. The blade stroke is 3/4 in.

The BladeRunners X2 base is impact resistant and constructed for durability. Its supported by four, non-marring rubber feet. The body of the saw features dedicated miter gauge and rip fence storage.

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New Rockwell BladeRunner X2 Is Compact, Lightweight and Affordable

BAGHDAD (Tribune News Service) There was blood on the white tile floor, on the eight metal gurneys and on the hands of the worker using coarse black thread to sew up an autopsy incision on the latest body to arrive at the moldering central morgue.

A sour smell of blood filled the air as the man worked, a black apron draped across his blue scrubs, rubber boots shielding his feet. The woman had died of natural causes, he said. A doctor sent the body here for an autopsy just in case the death proved suspicious. (It didn't.)

Outside, four more corpses awaited autopsies: two splayed naked on gurneys, a third in a black body bag on the ground, and a fourth wrapped in a fuzzy flowered blanket with a trail of bloodstains from a bullet wound to the neck. More bagged bodies were piled nearby in a makeshift freezer.

Ten doctors and eight additional staff members are assigned to the central morgue. But that's barely enough, employees said, even though the workload is much lighter than during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the height of Iraqi sectarian warfare four years later.

"The problem is not so much a shortage of doctors. It's a shortage of people willing to do the work," said the morgue worker, an Egyptian immigrant who asked to be identified only as Dr. Adil. "People don't really have the courage for it."

As in much of the world, there is only a small segment of the population willing to work with the dead. And there is also the risk of disease and, in Iraq, the danger of upsetting families who prefer Muslim Iraqi doctors, now in short supply.

Adil said he handles about five cases a day, half the daily total. That is a relatively light load, less than a tenth of the daily total in 2007. But the small staff is still strapped, forced to work quickly with little attention to detail, he said.

Adil has labored here for 18 years but, like many foreign staffers, does not have a full-time contract. Whereas doctors are paid $4,000 a month, he and other immigrant employees get about $210. They are deemed temporary workers, regardless of their length of service.

Temporary staff members can be appointed as permanent employees, he said. "We're hoping with the budget now they'll be appointing more," he said, as another worker wheeled in the body in the flowered blanket, probably a victim of sectarian violence.

Dr. Taha Qasim, head of administration for forensic medicine at the morgue, said the facility has been called upon to do more with fewer staff members, leading to delays.

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At Baghdad morgue, small staff forced to work quickly with little attention to detail

REGINA - A packed public gallery gave a standing ovation when Regina city councillors voted to reject a proposal for the city's first strip club.

Council voted nine to one Monday night against an application from Edmonton businessman Bryon Gottfredsen to set up a club in a former bar.

The concept had previously been approved by the city's planning commission, following changes to provincial liquor laws.

Concerned citizens, members of church groups, a lawyer and even a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders football club were among those who spoke against the application.

Shawn Fraser was the only councillor who voted for approval, saying they were dealing with a legal application.

Mayor Michael Fougere says council made the right decision.

Richard Lepp, who spent 27 years as a police officer in Saskatoon, spoke against the proposal. He said strip clubs bring with them the possibility of organized crime and human trafficking.

"My experience as a police officer in Saskatoon was that many of the women employed in these venues were managed, controlled, contract spot-and-sold by national networks," he said.

David Lee, a defensive end with the Roughriders, echoed Lepp's feelings.

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Regina City Council Sheds Plan For First Strip Club

VANCOUVER, Canada (PRWEB) January 27, 2015

While most women in her life were dreading turning 40, Rachelle Chartrand couldnt wait. After decades of dysfunction, she was desperate for change.

A week before turning 39, she had the idea she should write a book about this threshold age. On the morning of her birthday, Chartrand received a visceral vision that when she turned 40 she would turn into a butterfly.

Feeling stuck in her caterpillar past, Chartrand vowed to dedicate the next year of her life to the emergence of herself as a woman.

CHRYSALIS: A Dark and Delicious Diary of Emergence, is a profound and provocative memoir of forgiveness, acceptance and self-love that chronicles Chartrands metamorphic year.

Written as my personal diary, the reader is joining on the journey in real time, Chartrand said. The actual journaling throughout the year was a huge part of my healing because the commitment of being entirely honest with the reader forced me to be honest with myself.

Chartrands journey did not end when she finished writing the book. Sharing her story with others continues to be a part of her healing as she realizes more and more how connected we all are.

For more information, visit http://www.rachellechartrand.com

CHRYSALIS: A Dark and Delicious Diary of Emergence By: Rachelle Chartrand ISBN: 978-1-45252-006-3 Softcover retail price: $21.99 Hardcover retail price: $39.95 E-book retail price: $7.99 Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Balboa Press online bookstores

About the author Rachelle Chartrand is an award-winning screenwriter, producer and past-president of Women in Film and Television Vancouver. She has been involved with the film industry for fourteen years, first as an actress, then as story consultant and creative producer and now as a full-time screenwriter. Additionally, Rachelle holds a bachelors degree in physics with a minor in mathematics from the University of Alberta. Her eclectic teaching experience includes working with ESL students abroad as well as at-risk youth, young offenders and autistic children at home. Rachelle currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia where she continues to emerge.

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Rachelle Chartrand sheds her chrysalis to let her inner butterfly free

A saga underlies the stench at West Park Properties, an 11-acre mobile home park that can be found by smell after a good rain, when its failing septic system flushes into the nearby creek, water ducking under Northcrest Drive in Crescent City before flowing over marshland into the southeastern tip of Lake Earl.

Not 200 feet downstream from the stink sits an unused sewage lift station built by the county of Del Norte in 2011 to help resolve longstanding wastewater issues at this mobile home park and two others nearby.

Four years and $850,000 in state Community Development Block Grant money later, there sits the little lift station with nothing connected to it and something reeking to high heaven next door.

Living in manufactured homes warped by four unkind decades, West Parks tenantswere among those meant to benefit from the countys sewer line extension, built with state grants allocated to local governments to improve the lives of low and middle-income residents.

Yet these tenants could soon be up an unnamed creek without a paddle unless the parks owner agrees to pay $275,000 in fees to Crescent City and Del Norte County to complete connection to public sewers.

Meanwhile, the state agency that oversees mobile home parks as well as state water quality regulators are assessing the situation, and the county has taken steps to enforce an ordinance that requires property owners pay to join nearby public services in this case a county lift station that would pump to the citys wastewater treatment plant.

City fees

Excluding $48,600 payable to the county for use of its sewer lines, the citys capacity fee for West Parks 39 units would be $226,600, not including a monthly treatment fee of $1,260, to be passed on in bills to tenants of the park, where rent is $265 per month.

The citys fee is based on a 2008 analysis that reckoned future sewer rates with financing for $44 million in improvements to the wastewater treatment plant from 2007 to 2011, according to city Public Works Director Eric Wier.

The analysis concluded that in order for the city to break even on sewer service, new hookups should be billed at $9,700 per single family equivalency, such as a stand-alone house or a three-bedroom apartment. Each mobile home is valued at 60 percent of that metric, or $5,800.

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Septic leaks smelly saga

January 27, 2015 - Northwoods League (Northwoods) Battle Creek Bombers Battle Creek, Mich. - The Battle Creek Bombers are pleased to announce the additions of Jimmy Correnti and Matt Reed as Assistant Coaches for the 2015 season.

Jimmy Correnti returns to Battle Creek for his second season as an Assistant Coach with the Bombers, having been on staff throughout the 2014 season. Correnti graduated from Florida Southern in May 2014, where he started all four years as a switch hitting middle infielder and earned a degree in Sport Management with a minor in Physical Education - Emphasis Coaching. Correnti has been involved with the Baltimore Orioles Pitchers Development Program, consisting of biomechanical analysis, delivery drills, shoulder maintenance and performance training. He is also no stranger to the Northwoods League, as he played for the Wisconsin Woodchucks in two consecutive seasons from 2012-13 in addition to his time coaching with the Bombers in 2014. Prior to the Northwoods League, he played in the New York Collegiate League in 2011. He declined a free agent offer from the Baltimore Orioles to pursue his coaching career.

Entering his first season as Pitching Coach with the Bombers, Matt Reed currently serves as an Assistant Coach at Pfeiffer University. Reed played collegiately at the University of South Florida, a member of the Big East Conference. As a freshman and sophomore, he was a mid-week starter and was then named a weekend starter his final two seasons. For his career, he posted a 14-8 record and 4.50 ERA while posting victories over the University of Florida, Louisville, Miami, and twice led the conference in pickoffs. Reed was drafted in the 44th round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitched two scoreless innings against the 2012 New York Yankees starting lineup. His father is the current AAA Pitching Coach for the Atlanta Braves.

You can catch Coach Correnti, Coach Reed, and the Battle Creek Bombers at C.O. Brown Stadium all this summer, with Opening Day scheduled for May 26^th . Season Tickets, Mini-Plans, and Group Outings are now available by calling (269)-962-0735 or by emailing info@battlecreekbombers.com .

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Bombers Announce Additions to 2015 Coaching Staff

5696466

This floor plan consists of two bedrooms and two full bathrooms, as well as a spacious, fully equipped, kitchen with a breakfast bar, a laundry room with a washer/dryer, in addition to the utilities listed above. (TV included). You can choose to loft, bunk, or de-loft your bed. Here is the link to the website if you want to learn more: http://www.clemsoncampusview.com/floor-plans/

Air Conditioning Cable Ready Ceiling Fan Hardwood Floors Broadband Internet Walk-in Closets

Laundry Room Controlled Access Attached Garage Assigned Parking Dishwasher Garbage Disposal

Microwave Refrigerator Washer/Dryer Inside Unit Fitness Center Pool Elevator

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Bedrooms 2 BR

Posted Date 01/23/2015

Listing ID 5696466

University Ridge is located across from Bowman. This apartment comes complete with washer and...

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Summer Subleaser Needed @ Campus View (across from Bowman)

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When it comes to bathroom remodeling, you need a company with a proven track record. A company you can trust. Here at locally owned ReBath Mid South, we prou...

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Bathroom Remodeling Memphis Metro | Jackson TN - Video