SAN JOSE -- Complying with new state rules aimed at cutting water use during California's historic drought, the San Jose City Council is poised to declare a citywide water shortage, ask all residents to cut use by 20 percent and place new limits on watering lawns and landscaping.

But like many other large Bay Area urban communities, the city does not plan to hire "water cops" or issue fines for people who ignore the rules -- at least not for now.

"We are working to make sure the rules are enforced and our community does what is required," said Kerrie Romanow, director of the San Jose's Environmental Services Department. "At this point we don't feel that needs to include monetary fines."

If the City Council approves the new rules at its Aug. 26 meeting, as expected, it will be illegal to water any lawns or landscaping in San Jose every day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. All private property, along with government property such as schools and parks, is affected.

Residents using recycled wastewater for irrigation, such as large businesses and parks, would be exempt, however. So would people watering yards and plants with buckets filled with water collected from their showers.

San Jose's roughly 1 million residents also would be prohibited from watering landscaping so much that water runs into the street, sidewalks or neighboring property. And they would be banned from washing down sidewalks and driveways, washing cars without shut-off nozzles on their hoses, or operating decorative fountains unless they have recirculating water.

The rules would take effect immediately for all city residents, regardless of who provides their water, and continue until April 25, 2015.

Historic drought

California is laboring under its worst drought since at least 1976-77, and by some accounts in a century. The state is in its third year of below-normal rainfall, with creeks drying up, major reservoirs at half full or less, water tables falling and wildfire danger at extreme highs.

San Jose's proposed rules come one month after the state Water Resources Control Board ordered every water provider in the state with more than 3,000 customers to place mandatory rules to limit water wasting and limit landscape watering, allowing fines of up to $500 for violators.

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California drought: San Jose moving to impose water conservation measures, but without fines

Smoke and water damaged equipment restored like new

Sterling Heights, Mich. When custom metal stamper Viking Inc. (Columbia City, Ind.) suffered a factory fire earlier this year much of the equipment escaped the flames, but was rendered inoperable by the smoke and water damage from its fire protection system. This included two COE Press Equipment servo roll feeds with control panels that were left in standing water -- a ServoMaster Series 1 installed in 1997 for light gauge stamping and a ServoMaster Series 2 installed in 2007 for medium gauge applications. Viking contacted COE's Service Department to see if there was any hope in restoring the equipment to a reliable operating state.

"When we first saw the equipment it looked pretty ugly and, since oils retain odors, the feeds just reeked of smoke," said COE Service Manager John Kwiatkowski. "However, the ServoMaster feeds feature a modular design and robust construction, so we were confident it made sense to refurbish rather than replace."

COE began the restoration process by power washing with a special cleaning agent to eliminate the odor. Next began the mechanical and control repairs. Coe provided a full mechanical rebuild based on its inspection of the feeds, and a new electrical system on both machines, including an upgrade to the most recent ServoMaster Touch Controller. Cosmetically, the equipment was sanded down and repainted to make the servo feeds look like new.

"We couldn't believe how good these machines looked when they came back to us," said Viking's owner Steve Schwenn. "This has been a challenging situation for Viking, so we really appreciate having a partner like COE to help us get back up and running production again."

COE Press Equipment has an experienced service team that provides new equipment installation support, production issue troubleshooting, preventative maintenance, equipment repairs and rebuilds as well as making recommendations for reconditioned coil feed lines, replacements and upgrades. For more information on COE's service offerings, email John Kwiatkowski at jmk@cpec.com.

About Viking Inc. Viking Incorporated, headquartered in Columbia City, Indiana, has been in business since 1949, accommodating the largest aftermarket exhaust products in the U.S. Its key services include custom metal stamping, custom wire forming, and O.E.M. replacement supply. For more information, visit http://www.vikinginc.com

About COE Press Equipment COE Press Equipment designs and manufactures a complete line of premiere coil handling and servo roll feed equipment from stand-alone roll feeds, straighteners, reels, cradles and air feeds to complete integrated feed lines and cut-to-length systems. The company supplies and services a wide variety of global markets and industries including automotive, appliance, lighting, metal processing, housewares, lawn and garden, contract stampers, tool and die builders, and many others. For more information, visit http://www.cpec.om

COE Press Equipment 40459 Brentwood Sterling Heights, MI 48310 Web: http://www.cpec.com Tel: (586) 979-4400 Fax: (586) 979-2970

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COE Service Team Gives New Life to Viking's Press Feeds

By Dow Jones Business News, August 12, 2014, 08:35:00 PM EDT

TOKYO--Japan's economy contracted sharply in the second quarter after a sales-tax increase in April sent household spending tumbling, which economists said could pressure the government to take additional stimulus measures.

Real gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the economy, shrank 6.8% in the three months through June on an annualized basis from the prior quarter.

That was slightly less than a 7.1% contraction forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, but economists said a larger-than-expected drop in private consumption and a sharp increase in inventories raised concerns about the resilience of Japan's economic recovery.

A fallback in economic output was expected after the nation's sales tax rose to 8% from 5% on April 1. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other policy makers have said they expect the downturn to be short-lived.

If that forecast proves too rosy, the government might have to compile more economic-stimulus measures and reconsider plans to raise the sales tax further to 10% in October 2015, economists said.

Investors should watch out for a risk that the domestic economy stays sluggish for longer than expected, said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities.

"The next focal point is how much the economy will rebound in the July-September period. If the upward pressure is weak, it will likely increase the chance that Prime Minister Abe decides in December to delay the next sales-tax hike," Mr. Ueno said.

The economy expanded 6.1% in the first quarter, as households stocked up on big-ticket items such as washing machines before the sales tax rose.

Government officials were more sanguine about Wednesday's data. Economy Minister Akira Amari said the figure didn't change the government's outlook that the economy continues to improve steadily. He said the government would respond flexibly on the economy but added that he didn't currently see a need to compile an additional budget.

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Japan's Economy Contracts in 2nd Quarter

By Dow Jones Business News, August 12, 2014, 08:35:00 PM EDT

TOKYO--Japan's economy contracted sharply in the second quarter after a sales-tax increase in April sent household spending tumbling, which economists said could pressure the government to take additional stimulus measures.

Real gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the economy, shrank 6.8% in the three months through June on an annualized basis from the prior quarter.

That was slightly less than a 7.1% contraction forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, but economists said a larger-than-expected drop in private consumption and a sharp increase in inventories raised concerns about the resilience of Japan's economic recovery.

A fallback in economic output was expected after the nation's sales tax rose to 8% from 5% on April 1. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other policy makers have said they expect the downturn to be short-lived.

If that forecast proves too rosy, the government might have to compile more economic-stimulus measures and reconsider plans to raise the sales tax further to 10% in October 2015, economists said.

Investors should watch out for a risk that the domestic economy stays sluggish for longer than expected, said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities.

"The next focal point is how much the economy will rebound in the July-September period. If the upward pressure is weak, it will likely increase the chance that Prime Minister Abe decides in December to delay the next sales-tax hike," Mr. Ueno said.

The economy expanded 6.1% in the first quarter, as households stocked up on big-ticket items such as washing machines before the sales tax rose.

Government officials were more sanguine about Wednesday's data. Economy Minister Akira Amari said the figure didn't change the government's outlook that the economy continues to improve steadily. He said the government would respond flexibly on the economy but added that he didn't currently see a need to compile an additional budget.

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Japan's Economy Contracts Sharply

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As the PC market continues to decline, Arm is proving that non x86 chips are cool and have a long and prosperous future.

Intel has said it is watching closely its "biggest competitor", the semi-conductor firm Arm, which holds almost 95% of the burgeoning smartphone segment.

Dylan Larson, director for Intels Xeon product marketing, made the comments during a workshop in Intel's Hillsboro campus in Oregon.

There have been speculations that Apple could replace Intel chips with those made around Arm architecture in its Mac devices from 2016 onwards.

The company already uses Arm architecture in its processors for iPhones and iPads. Intel has been used in Apples Mac devices since 2006.

The rumours were sparked by a blog from former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee in which he said: When Apple announced its 64-bit A7 processor, I dismissed the speculation that this could lead to a switch away from Intel chips for the Macintosh line for a homegrown 'desktop-class' chip. I might have been wrong."

It is estimated that Arm-based chips are found in every six of ten mobile devices in the world.

Arm technology is often cheaper and more power efficient. While Arm dominates the smartphone and mobile device market share, it holds only 5% of the server, personal computing and high-performance computing market that Intel dominates.

Intel could face tougher challenges from Arm as the PC market continues to diminish, analysts said.

Intel became complacent when AMD stopped innovating and acting as competition, said Nebojsa Novakovic, a Singapore-based consultant at Computational Resource Centre.

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Intel watches Arm as low-powered computing thrives

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MORRISON Anyone who needs a power washer now has a place to go.

Pressure Washing Unlimited, 100 W. Main St., opened its doors in March.

It sells power washers, power hoses, generators, accessories, chemicals and service repairs.

We dont do the services in Morrison; we just have the products, owner Nicole Mioletti said. We are slowly trying to move the business from Chicago.

Mioletti, 25, said the business is in the process of moving to Morrison because of the local industry, and because she has family in the area.

Her father, Edward, began running the business in 1992. When he fell ill, Mioletti took over the business in 2009.

Products can be ordered from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, go to pw-unlimited.net or call 815-772-0110 or 773-392-1500.

Pub n Grub now serving in Tampico

TAMPICO Old Town Pub n Grub,124 S. Main St., opened its doors in June.

Among other items, the restaurant offers burgers, fish, meatloaf, tacos and a salad bar.

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Business Notebook: A wash in Morrison, meal in Tampico

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