Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 1:06 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 10:30 p.m.

The U.S. House approved a water projects bill Tuesday that includes authorization for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system to protect Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes from storm surge.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said the Houses overwhelming support for the Water Resources Development Act signals smooth passage by the Senate in a vote expected later this week.

The House vote today is a great sign of overwhelming bipartisan support for our bill to provide significant coastal restoration, hurricane and flood protection, reforms to the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), accelerated projects, and, of course, jobs, Vitter said in a news release. Its easily one of the most important bills for Louisiana well pass this year, and were finally on the home stretch.

Clearing the House was a relief for local officials because the project was previously omitted in an earlier version of the House water resources bill.

Vitter is the lead Senate Republican negotiator for the bill, which authorizes but does not pay for billions of dollars of water-related projects nationwide.

The vote was 412-4. All Louisiana representatives voted in favor, including Houma-Thibodaux area representatives Steve Scalise, R-Metairie; and Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. Both have joined Vitter and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in pushing for Morganzas authorization in the bill.

Today is a huge step forward in making sure our communities are protected from future storm surge like hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Cassidy said in a news release. Secure ports, well-maintained harbors and adequate infrastructure means more trade, which means more jobs.

The bill contains several provisions that directly benefit Louisiana, including:

Authorization for Morganza-to-the-Gulf.

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Morganza 'finally in the home stretch'

GUAGUA -- Franz Dominic Layug, son of Presidential Merit Awardee for Ecclesiastical Art Willy Layug, recently finished a year-long art restoration and conservation course at the prestigious Lorenzo de' Medici School (LdM) in Florence, Italy.

The young Layug is the first Kapampangan and arguably the only Filipino artist to finish a professional course in art restoration the said school. LdM specializes in the arts, such as studio art, fine arts, liberal arts, and language studies.

Layug flew to Italy last year to get actual working knowledge on art restoration from the best instructors and art restorers in Europe. He said that the knowledge would greatly help him in restoring local art treasures in Pampanga and the country.

Layug took up fresco and sculpture restoration subjects under the famed Italian art restorer Lorenzo Casamenti. Casamenti is the head of the Department for Restoration at the prestigious Lorenzo de' Medici Art Institute of Florence and a master of "more than 800 church restorations across Italy as well as Brazil, Argentina and Chile".

Like his father, the younger Layug is a sculptor with a penchant for religious and contemporary art subjects. He was encouraged by his father to take up restoration course in Italy as real and professional restorers not readily available in the country.

"We have a rich treasure trove of art, mostly religious art. Most people are oblivious on the proper care and restoration of religious art and even old buildings and churches. I hope to help in some way in the need to restore these artistic treasures," Layug said.

Layug finished his course along with foreign students from all across Europe. Layug is set to come home this week to work on an initial restoration project.

Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on May 20, 2014.

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First ever Kapampangan finishes art restoration course in Italian school

May 7, 2014: Steve Rodgers stands outside his thrift store as he discusses his support for a plan to widen U.S. 431 through historic Eufaula, Ala.AP

EUFAULA, Ala. Travelers heading through southeast Alabama to Florida Panhandle beaches have a four-lane road the entire way except for a half-mile stretch in Eufaula. That section, gracefully lined by Southern mansions and giant oaks, narrows to two lanes.

Now the town finds itself in a battle of Southern charm vs. traffic congestion as the state makes plans to widen U.S. 431 and remove some trees.

City officials and historic preservationists say it would strike a huge blow to the city's heritage -- and heritage-related tourism that helps drive the economy in town of 13,000 situated on the Chattahoochee River.

"It is one of the most photographed streetscapes around. It is an iconic image for Alabama," said Mike Bunn, executive director of the Historic Chattahoochee Commission.

State Transportation Director John Cooper said Alabama has spent $150 million to complete the last four-lane stretches of U.S. 431 from Interstate 85 to the Florida line. The half-mile stretch through Eufaula's historic district is the only part of the 137-mile highway that remains two lanes.

"From a transportation standpoint we have spent too much on this corridor and this corridor is too important to the state, particularly the southeast corner of the state, not to pursue trying to eliminate this bottleneck," Cooper said in an interview.

U.S. 431 carries lots of trucks and tourists, particularly from the Atlanta area. As they approach Eufaula, the four-lane highway divides into two single lanes separated by medians 30 to 50 feet wide. The medians are filled with crepe myrtles, azaleas and giant live oaks that create a canopy with the huge oaks in front of mansions from the 1800s. Those mansions anchor a historic district with nearly 700 buildings.

The historic homes were filmed for the 2002 movie "Sweet Home Alabama" to serve as Reese Witherspoon's hometown. The street is also the busiest two-lane stretch of road in Alabama, averaging 21,000 vehicles a day, Cooper said.

Mayor Jack Tibbs said traffic does back up on busy weekends for beach tourism, but the town uses police officers to keep the vehicles moving. He said the tourism created by the historic district is too valuable to the town to risk running four lanes of traffic through it and destroying its beauty. "It is our calling card," he said.

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'BAMA ROAD RAGE'Sweet Home Alabama' town fights traffic plan

Custom Log Home Restoration Media Blasting

By: zhimmelm88

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Custom Log Home Restoration Media Blasting - Video

Nevada's attorney general is hosting an online town hall Monday night, to talk with homeowners about relief programs.

Catherine Cortez-Masto and housing counselors will field questions about new home ownership, credit restoration, loan modifications and more for their second Twitter town hall. It's all part of the "Home Again" program, which provides resources for homeowners who need some help.

If you have a Twitter account log in at 6pm. To ask a question, just tag your tweets with #askhomeagain.

Twitter users can follow @HomeAgainNevada to receive updates on Home Again resources and events.

All Nevadans may contact Home Again by calling toll-free 1-855-HLP-4-NEV (1-855-457-4638) or by visiting HomeAgainNevada.gov. Assistance is available in English and Spanish.

Next upcoming twitter town hall dates in the series include:

Monday, June 2, 2014 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

Monday, June 30, 2014 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

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Nevada AG to Hold Twitter Town Hall on Home Ownership

(PRWEB) May 14, 2014

Walnut Creek, CA: This month, visitors to Cambridge Place, Braddock & Logans community of new homes in Walnut Creek, will have their first chance to walk through the newly completed Residence Two model home.

Looking at a floorplan drawing is one thing, but nothing compares to actually walking through the rooms, seeing the beautiful finishes, and picturing where your furniture will go, said Tamara Notestine, Director of Sales and Marketing for Braddock & Logan.

Designed with approximately 3,383 square feet, theres room to spare in this four-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home. In addition to a formal living room and dining room, the luxuriously appointed home also features a loft area and great room for casual gatherings.

Since new homes for sale in Walnut Creek are a rarity, the recent Grand Opening of Cambridge Place has attracted strong sales and interest, according to Notestine. Its a toss-up as to which is more impressive, the prime Walnut Creek location or the homes themselves, said Notestine. Visitors love the luxurious features of the homes - the kitchens with the GE stainless steel appliances and the plush master baths - and of course they love the open-concept designs. Another key attraction is the custom look of the neighborhood. Because there are only seven homes in the community and multiple eleva-tions, your home wont look like your neighbors home.

Cambridge Places comfortably large four to five-bedroom homes are available in three home designs with up to 3,637 square feet. Inside, gracious entryways lead to richly ap-pointed interiors with high ceilings, 17x17 ceramic tile entry flooring, gas fireplaces, rounded drywall corners, and split-zone heating and air conditioning.

The large, open gourmet kitchens feature modern solid surface countertops, expansive kitchen islands, spacious pantries, custom designed beech cabinetry, and GE stainless steel appliances, including a 36-inch gas cooktop with five burners, 30-inch oven, built-in microwave, and Energy Star dishwasher.

Cambridge Place homes are designed with the environment in mind. Each of these high performance homes exceeds Title 24 requirements by at least 15% and includes radiant-barrier roof sheathing, foam sealant, high efficiency water heaters, motion sensors and dimmer switches on lights, and low VOC paint. Braddock & Logans ECO+ program uses sustainable building practices that are better for the environment and also reduces ener-gy consumption and costs for the homeowner.

This limited offering of upscale family homes gives residents all the benefits of living in one of the Bay Areas most desirable cities. Just three miles away is the renowned Broadway Plaza shopping center, home to Nordstrom, Restoration Hardware, Neiman Marcus and more. For a fun night out, the downtown restaurant district offers a wide ar-ray of dining choices, from elegant China bistros to casual sports bars. And for commut-ers, Cambridge Place is less than one mile from BART.

This new community in Walnut Creek is priced from the low $1,000,000s.

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New Home Model Opens at Cambridge Place in Walnut Creek

Award-Winning Environmental Documentary Heads to the LoberoTheatre

There are good movies, there are bad movies, and then there are movies that matter. DamNation is a movie that matters. An eco-activist documentary with a refreshingly aggressive and law-breaking bend, this new film made possible thanks in large part to the folks from Patagonia introduces viewers to one of the most overlooked evildoers in the modern worlds assault on Mother Nature: dams. Theres no doubt that dams have served many important roles over the years, from preventing floods and providing power to storing drinking water and making urban growth possible in remote places. But this progress has also come at a very steep price. With a blend of history, face-melting nature cinematography, and a dash of Edward Abbeystyle criminal mischief, DamNation lays bare this truth in a way that is educational, entertaining, and, perhaps most importantly,inspirational.

By CourtesyPhoto

WATER WORLD: A barge-mounted excavator hammers away at Glines Canyon Dam in a scene fromDamNation.

It is impossible to separate the story of dams from the story of America in the 20th century. Building river-arresting structures, be they public or private projects, was a critical part of our nations rebound from the Great Depression, as well as our domestic World War IImotivated manufacturing efforts and, in the years after, our need to meet ever-expanding energy needs. In fact, some 75,000 dams at least three feet tall exist in the U.S. today, more than 30,000 of which were built between 1950 and 1970. And, while these structures were certainly erected with the greater good in mind, they all share one inconvenient truth: They drastically change the way a river behaves. When you consider the fact that rivers are the proverbial lifeblood of our planet and that various critters call it home, this defining characteristic becomes a potentially insidious and deadly bottom line for fisheries, watersheds, ecosystems, and native ways oflife.

A damn is to a river what a coal-fired power plant is to air quality, explains Matt Stoecker, a restoration biologist based here on the South Coast who, along with Patagonias patriarch Yvonne Chouinard, produced the film. A graduate of UCSB, Stoecker, who has been in the trenches of creek and steelhead-trout habitat restoration here in Santa Barbara County for the past decade and a half, came up with the idea for DamNation while attending an environmental film festival in Nevada City with Chouinard back in 2011. Both blissfully addicted fly-fishing nuts with track records of big-picture conservation/restoration efforts, the duo recognized the powerful storytelling opportunity that was setting up that year, thanks to the planned removal that year of two very large dams in the Pacific Northwest: the Glines Canyon Dam of the Elwha River and the Condit Damn on the White Salmon River. If they acted fast, not only could they record these historic restoration-motivated destruction efforts, but they could also document the radically rapid rebound that occurs in nature when a long-stifled river is setfree.

By CourtesyPhoto

DamNation

Filmmakers Travis Rummel and Ben Knight, the latter also providing the movies narration, were enlisted, and the adventure began. Anything but predictable, DamNation is an ambitious and wide-ranging film that explores the evolution of our nations relationship to dams and the impacts this relationship has on our natural world. Incredibly charismatic and colorful characters from the fight to protect rivers, like Mikal Jakubal and Kate Lee (the former being the dam rappelling graffiti artist responsible for giant protest murals on some of the Wests most well-known dams in the 1990s), share the screen with hydropower supporters and sweeping nature shots of rivers, rushing waters, spawning salmon, exploding dams, and landscapes both wild and conquered. The end result is a well-balanced and visually arresting call to arms that has been taking the film festival circuit by storm since premiering in March at the SXSW Film Festival and winning the coveted Audience Choice Award. As Knight puts it in the films opening minutes, Knowing what I know now, it is impossible for me to look at dams the same way everagain.

DamNation has its Central Coast premiere on Wednesday, May 21, at the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) at 7 p.m. For tickets and info, call (805) 966-4946 or visit damnationfilm.com.

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DamNation Comes Home

Deer Park, NY (PRWEB) May 13, 2014

Now that New Yorkers are finally getting a taste of warmer weather, it may be the perfect time to tackle those tough spring cleaning projects, and GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration wants to help. With summer approaching fast, GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration wants to recommend that home and business owners have their crawl spaces inspected for a healthier and more comfortable sun-lit season.

The Deer Park, NY cleaning and restoration company wants to remind customers of the many benefits that come with having a crawl space inspection performed before the start of the summer season. GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration can detect the many issues associated with crawl spaces while performing a free and thorough inspection of residential and commercial properties, inside and out.

There are several reasons for a space inspection, including:

With this years long and grueling winter, the GreenPro professionals want to advise New York residents and businesses that its lengthy stay may have impacted the quality of their crawl spaces. Winter can leave behind large amounts of moisture build-up and also cause pests like rodents and insects to seek refuge inside of structural properties.

A crawl space plays a major role in air quality as well. As warm air rises, air is drawn upward into the living area of a home or working environment of a business, bringing along with it damp and musty odors, and other harmful toxins that can be released into the air from moisture and possible mold build-up.

GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration offers eco-friendly solutions for customers with in-depth inspections and written estimates. Their goal is to provide home and business owners in the area with cost effective solutions towards a clean, comfortable and healthy summer. Call 631-940-8100 to learn more about GreenPros free crawl space inspections.

GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration is a family-owned and operated green cleaning & restoration company, serving homes and businesses of all sizes throughout the tri-state area. Their cleaning products contain the purest botanicals for a highly-effective, non-toxic cleaning. Their environmentally friendly approach sets them apart from other air duct cleaning companies. They believe in promoting a healthy, safe and clean environment and are committed to providing their customers with just that. Located at 65 Brook Avenue in Deer Park, NY, GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration is the areas premier air duct cleaning company. Their technicians are specially trained to provide the highest quality services and to meet the needs of all their clients. To learn more about GreenPro Cleaning & Restoration, visit their website at http://www.cleanmydirtyducts.com/ or call 631-940-8100.

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Green Pro Cleaning & Restoration Recommends Inspecting Crawl Spaces

The house at 309 W. Dunklin St. in Jefferson City has been undergoing renovations after years of neglect. It was chosen for the Golden Hammer Award for the month of May. Photo by Julie Smith.

Vacant and boarded up for years, the distinguished Bockrath Home was hidden and deteriorating until Nathan Runyan and Matt Winingear took notice in 2012.

As Professional Building Restoration LLC, the duo returned this late Victorian/second empire brick home with a faux Mansard roof to an eye-catching feature along the 300 block of West Dunklin Street.

The Historic City of Jefferson honored Runyan and Winingear with the May Golden Hammer Award.

We are so grateful that the new owners devoted their time, talent, and finances to restore this historical property and make it, once again, a contributing piece of history for the City of Jefferson, said Laura Ward, selection committee chairman.

The Henry and Elizabeth Bockrath House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, retains the original slate roofing and wood crown molding, decorative cornice lining the eaves with bricked corbels below, two-bay facade with arched windows, stone sills and a rounded entry.

But the building has seen changes since the Bockraths bought the home in 1899. By 1929, it was converted to two apartments and by 1935 into three.

Professional Building Restoration LLC continues to rent property.

Henry Bockrath immigrated from Hanover, Germany, to America at age 16 after being orphaned at age 10. He operated businesses in St. Louis and Florissant before moving to Jefferson City about 1885 as a successful dry goods salesman and tailor.

He and Elizabeth married in 1864 and had nine children. As members of St. Peter Catholic Church, they helped many in their German Catholic neighborhood, including Henry J. Wallau, a prominent local builder who got his first construction job in Jefferson City from Bockrath.

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Bockrath house earns Golden Hammer Award

RESTOR Home Restoration
If you home or business is in need of renovations RESTOR Home Restoration can help you make it "Better Than Before" Learn More: http://www.restorteam.com Res...

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RESTOR Home Restoration - Video