By AMANDA CUDA/Connecticut Post/March 16, 2014

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) Susan Maldonado doesnt have time to spend all day in a crowded doctors office or emergency room.

She works full time and goes to school full time, so her time is at a premium. But the Bridgeport resident is sick, and has been for a while, with symptoms that include a high fever.

Looking for some relief, she went to the new Doctors Express Urgent Care clinic on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, which opened March 3.

For many people, urgent care clinics provide a lower-cost, more accessible alternative to doctors offices and hospital emergency rooms. Theyre typically open longer hours than most doctors offices, and are open on weekends.

Maldonado said that kind of convenience is part of why she picked the Boston Avenue clinic. Its also a two-minute drive from her home and she found the atmosphere of the office, which sits in a strip mall near the Boston Avenue Burger King, a more pleasant environment than most doctors offices.

Its not crowded, Maldonado said. The people arent rude. Its nice.

It seems that others share her interest in convenient health care, as urgent care centers have been popping up at a brisk rate in recent years. According to the American Academy of Urgent Care, the number of these walk-in, stand-alone urgent care facilities has increased from 8,000 to 9,300 within the past five years, and about 50 to 100 new clinics open every year.

These clinics provide a variety of medical services, from treating colds and the flu, to setting broken bones to conducting school- or employer-mandated physicals. Some say the clinics are needed in todays health care landscape, as they help keep uninsured and underinsured people from seeking costly care in the emergency room.

The hospitals are full of people who dont really need (emergency room) care, said Yvonne Lederer, market director for the Doctors Express Bridgeport sites.

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Urgent care centers aim to fill health need

For students living on campus for the 2014-15 academic year, room and board rates will jump about $200 extra each semester, after the Penn State Board of Trustees approved the increase at its March 7 meeting.

The 4.27 percent increase in the average room and board rate , which includes a standard double room and a level three meal plan, is slightly up from last years increase of 4.23 percent, Assistant Vice President for Housing, Food Services and Residence Life Stan Latta said.

What we are trying to do is make sure that we dont have any large spikes in our room and board increase, Latta said. We had a couple of increases in early 2008 and 2009 that were about 6.5 or 6.8 percent, but the last several years they have held pretty steady at 4 percent.

The new increase means students will pay $4,885 per semester for the average housing about $200 extra each semester to live on campus during the upcoming academic year.

Latta said the calculation was made by looking at next years additional expenses, which ran close to what the Consumer Price Index increase will be. Then, an additional 1.75 percent was factored in to help support a 10-year plan in which the university envisions renovating all of East and Pollock Halls at a rate of about two buildings per year.

At the last Board of Trustees meeting, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary and Business Services Gail Hurley said Housing, Food Services and Residence Life are auxiliary programs and are self-sustained enterprises of the university. Because they operate as one financial entity, the program does not get financial support from the university or the state, and therefore all of its funding comes from the student room and board dollar.

Latta said the increase is necessary because as steam rates, utility rates, food and transportation costs go up, all of those costs get passed onto Housing, Food Services and Residence Life. Those costs, along with the price to renovate and refurbish residence halls, are figured into the room and board rate for the following academic year, he said.

As a part of the 10-year plan, Latta said the program has three major renovation plans to help maintain competitiveness among off-campus housing.

These renovations include the installation of air conditioning, the creation of the wet cores that provide more privacy than regular bathrooms, the installment of wireless access to be completed by the end of May and the update of interior finishes that will include movable furniture, new flooring, paint and lighting, he said.

So far, Latta said the universitys previous 10-year plan to renovate South Halls, which will be finished in January 2015, has been a success among students.

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Room and board rates will jump about 4 percent for the 2014-15 academic year

Published: Friday, March 14, 2014, 9:06p.m. Updated 21 hours ago

Pittsburgh's choked hotel market is getting some room to breathe.

More than a dozen hotels are either under construction or will open this year in the city a $168 million investment by developers who are attracted by the market's near 70 percent occupancy rate. The modest boom will add more than 800 rooms to the 4,570 available in Downtown hotels.

The increase will help to alleviate some of the problems visitors may have finding rooms during key events, such as Pittsburgh Pirates games, but the city still lacks an important element for major conventions: a 1,000-room hotel at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

That's what professional meeting personnel tell us, said Craig Davis, president and CEO of VisitPittburgh. That is one reason we fail to attract larger conventions.

The 618-room Westin Convention Center Hotel is the sole major facility directly connected to the convention center. The problems posed by the shortage of rooms Downtown was underscored by the G-20 summit in 2011 when visitors had to travel to hotels in the suburbs to find a place to stay.

While existing hotels Downtown don't like the addition of new hotels, since they tend to take away some hotel guests, as president of the hotel association, I welcome all the new hotels opening in the region, said Tim Zugger, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Hotel Association and general manager of the Doubletree by Hilton hotel, Downtown.

The four hotels opening Downtown are doing it at a good time. Davis said 2015 is shaping up to be the best year ever for conventions, with room bookings 54,000 more than normal. Davis wouldn't say how many total rooms have been booked for 2015 but he said they include events by the Fraternal Order of Police with 19,000 rooms and the Barbershop Harmony Society with 15,000 rooms.

Developers invested $167.9 million in new or renovated hotels last year, up from $76.9 million in 2012, according to Breaking Ground magazine, published by Jeff Burd of Tall Timber Group in Ross. Some of the money is coming from out-of-state developers. They are attracted by the market's stability and relatively high occupancy rate, says a report by HVS Global Hospitality Services Inc.

I don't believe out-of-state developers were significant owners of Pittsburgh hotels prior to the last several years, said Keith McGraw of Sierra Associates in Sewickley, a partner with Mark LaPort in Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co. in Raleigh.

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Finding a room in Pittsburgh to get easier as hotels boom

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Common room boost for patient West Craven students

1:58pm Thursday 13th March 2014 in News

WEST Craven High School has marked the last leg of its 6.2 million refurbishment by announcing the addition of a student common room.

The room, due to be finished in September, will be available to Year 11s at the school in Barnoldswick.

Construction giant Keepmoat, which began the renovation of West Craven High in October 2012, has donated 1,000 to establish a common room as a thank you to the pupils for their understanding during the building works.

Roy Barnes, who retired as deputy head last year but has remained at the school to oversee building work, said: This is the biggest investment the school has ever seen and will bring West Craven into the 21st century.

The school has been waiting for a common room for the last 16 years and now, thanks to Keepmoat, we can finally give our students a place to relax and study ahead of their GCSEs.

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Common room boost for patient West Craven students

The West YMCA has been approved for a two-story building addition to add more locker rooms and a fitness room.

At the Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Thursday, members unanimously approved a preliminary PUD plan amendment for the West YMCA, located on Amazonas Drive.

Eric Barron, development services manager, said the addition would be 23,000 square feet and include locker rooms on the lower level, a fitness room in the upper level and additional office space in the upper level.

This is basically the next phase for their construction out there, Barron said.

Brian McMillan, with Central Missouri Professional Services, who represented the YMCA at the meeting, said the addition is being called the locker room addition.

Also approved Thursday was a preliminary PUD plan for a new two-story office building that will house the office of the chief disciplinary counsel with the Missouri Bar. The new building will be located next to their current facility on American Avenue.

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Commission approves expansion at West YMCA

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Friday 14 Mar 2014 5:44 PM

Written byJULIAN MAKEY

Apprentices with construction firm Kier Homes have built more than 100 new houses on a slightly smaller scale than usual.

The desirable new homes are aimed at dormice in a pioneering reintroduction scheme for the tiny creatures at Brampton Wood, Near Huntingdon.

Now the apprentices have handed over the 101 nest boxes to the Wildlife Trust at the wood.

Anne Pounds, apprenticeships manager at Sandy-based Kier Homes, said: It is vital that our apprentices learn to consider the environment in a range of ways, from simply segregating waste for recycling to projects like these where they run their own scheme using materials from site.

Mark Smith, construction director, said: Supporting the Wildlife Trust was an easy decision for Kier Homes.

As a developer, it is important for Kier Homes to work closely with the trust to ensure the schemes we deliver have sustainable wildlife habitats.

The trusts Design for Dormice project was a groundbreaking project designed to reintroduce the rare rodents into the country.

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Room with a view for dormice at Brampton Wood

The Whiskey Room places as much importance in its whiskey education as it does in its collection. (WTOP/Rachel Nania)

WASHINGTON -- There's no doubt the local bars will be filled-to-the-brim on St. Patrick's Day with stumbling holiday enthusiasts who had their fill of green beer and cabbage.

But those looking to get a real education in a celebrated slice of Irish culture can find one on a long mahogany bar in a curved glass at R R's The Whiskey Room.

"Irish whiskey is what's new, it's what's upcoming," says Rachael Ewing, who is the whiskey sommelier at The Whiskey Room.

In addition to getting a pour -- or two -- of Irish whiskey, patrons at The Whiskey Room get a lesson in varieties from all over the world from Ewing, a whiskey expert, and her team.

"There's a lot of academic study that goes into it, but there's also a lot of sensory, hands-on work," Ewing says on learning whiskey.

Ewing's journey into whiskey is one of pure coincidence.

"Oh I completely fell into it," the 24-year-old says.

At the time, Ewing was attending college in Aberdeen, Scotland, and like most students, she needed a part-time job to get her through school. So Ewing applied for a position at a local, run-down bar, named The Grill. She soon found out The Grill is one of the top whiskey bars in the world.

Unfortunately for Ewing, she knew absolutely nothing about whiskey.

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D.C. sommelier 'duels' Irish whiskey, single malt expertise

One of the songs off the Pat Travers Bands latest record, Can Do, got its debut at Harrahs Lake Tahoe long before the albums July 9 release.

Travers wrote the bulk of Diamond Girl, a soaring rock n roll track, while warming up for a show at the South Shore Room last year, he said during a phone interview in late February.

That was one of the easy ones, Travers said of the song, which is the third track on an album inspired by the sound of his early records.

My only goal was really to come up with the best songs I absolutely could, Travers said.

The Canadian guitarist and singer has released more than 30 discs in his decades-spanning career. He counts Can Do among its highlights.

Everybody loves it, Travers said. I got probably the best reviews of any album I ever put out in my career on this album.

He took the album to Europe last year and comes through the South Shore Saturday as part of the bands North American tour in support of the album.

Can Do and Long Time Gone are among the new songs that are especially well received live, Travers said.

In addition to songs from the new album, Travers said the bands live set features fan favorites and a slide guitar section. Travers began developing his slide guitar technique eight or nine years ago after injuring his hand.

That whole section goes down amazingly well, Travers said. I really have fun with it.

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Pat Travers Band plays the South Shore Room