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Healthy Memphis: When do-it-yourself projects really require a pro

East Texans on May 10 will decide the outcomes of four area bond elections that propose to build seven new schools and renovate other facilities at a total cost of $225.2 million.

Heres a look at the area bonds:

White Oak ISD

White Oak ISD is asking voters to approve a $25.2 million bond that would pay to build a new high school and field house.

The election is proposing to build a single-structure high school with one secured public entrance. The building would feature a three-story academic wing with modern science labs; a city/school library with public access after school hours; a fine arts area for music, arts and drama; and a 1,200-seat gymnasium, with its floor below ground level and an entrance on the north end of the T-shaped high school. The plan keeps the gym built in 1990 intact. The original high school was built in the 1970s.

A 10,900-square-foot field house, envisioned just west of the football stadium, accounts for $2.2 million of the proposal.

If approved, the districts debt service portion of the tax rate would increase from 7 cents to about 42 cents per $100 valuation. That total would be added to the districts maintenance and operation rate of $1.17 per $100 valuation for a total tax rate of about $1.59 per $100 valuation.

At that rate, a homeowner of a property valued at $100,000 would pay $1,590 in property taxes to the district annually with no exemptions about $28.33 more per month from the payments that would be due on the same property if the bond fails.

The last district bond election was in 1999.

Gladewater ISD

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4 school bonds on area ballots

April 25, 2014 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) New York Liberty NEW YORK, NY - April 25, 2013 - The New York Liberty finalized its 2014 training camp roster with the additions of Jerica Coley, Shanece McKinney and Ebony Hoffman. The Liberty open training camp on Sunday, April 27, and to celebrate their return to New York City and Madison Square Garden the team will participate in the second annual 9/11 Memorial 5K Run/Walk that day.

Coley, a 5-8 rookie guard from Florida International University (FIU), led the nation in scoring with 29.4 points per game in her senior year. In four seasons at FIU, she averaged 23.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. McKinney is a 6-4 center from Louisiana State University, where she averaged 7.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game as a senior. Hoffman, a 10-year veteran of the WNBA, spent the previous three seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks and seven seasons with the Indiana Fever. For her career, she has averaged 6.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

New York enters its second season under head coach and general manager Bill Laimbeer. In addition to All-Star guard Cappie Pondexter, the Liberty added 2012 WNBA MVP and former No. 1 draft pick Tina Charles in an offseason trade that will bolster the team's starting frontcourt. All-Star forward Essence Carson is also expected to return to the court after a season-ending left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear last season. Along with this trio, New York will rely on a group of proven veterans, including Plenette Pierson, Kara Braxton, Delisha Milton-Jones, Alex Montgomery, and second-year players Toni Young and Kamiko Williams.

New York welcomes two 2014 WNBA Draft picks to training camp with second round selection Tyaunna Marshall (14th overall) from Georgia Tech and third round pick Meighan Simmons (26th overall) of Tennessee. In addition, the team signed three players to the 2014 training camp roster with forward Nicky Anosike, and guards Janeesa "Chucky" Jeffery and Anna Cruz. New York also acquired guard Sugar Rodgers in a trade with Minnesota.

The Liberty will tip-off the 2014 preseason with back-to-back games against the Connecticut Sun, beginning with a road contest at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday, May 4 at 1 p.m., followed by a home matchup on Thursday, May 8 at 11 a.m. at Madison Square Garden. Exhibition play concludes on Sunday, May 11 at 3 p.m. against the Atlanta Dream at Philips Arena.

New York opens regular season action against Connecticut on Friday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Liberty will then make their long awaited return to Madison Square Garden to host the Chicago Sky on Opening Night on Saturday, May 17 at 8 p.m. Prior to the game, the team will host a fan fest outside of The Garden starting at 4 p.m., highlighted by music, prizes, guest appearances, a talent competition for local groups and basketball contests on the Liberty sport court.

Liberty season ticket packages and individual tickets are available at NYLiberty.com.

2014 New York Liberty Training Camp Roster

NO. NAME POS HT. DOB COLLEGE EXP.

1 Delisha Milton-Jones F 6-1 09/11/1974 Florida 15

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New York Liberty Finalize 2014 Training Camp Roster

Cable is making a comeback.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) added TV subscribers in the first quarter, its second consecutive gain after years of losing market share to phone companies. And Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the target of its $45 billion takeover bid, reduced customer losses to the fewest in four years. Meanwhile, AT&T Inc. (T) fell short of analysts estimates for TV customer gains and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)s FiOS TV had its worst quarter ever.

Cable companies are matching competitors' pricing and unveiling new technology, like Comcasts X1 set-top box, to keep customers in the fold. The battle among cable, phone and satellite providers is growing more intense as the pool of potential customers shrinks. About 97 percent of U.S. households already subscribe to pay-TV, and younger viewers are increasingly shunning those bills and instead watching video online.

The outsized gains for the telco providers may be at an end, Paul Sweeney, an analyst with Bloomberg Industries, said in a note today. The U.S. pay-TV market is saturated and it has become essentially a zero-sum game.

Last year, the number of Americans paying for television fell for the first time. The industry lost 251,000 customers to about 100 million, according to research firm SNL Kagan.

With the traditional pay-TV market in decline, thats leaving phone and cable companies to focus on retaining customers instead of chasing new ones. Its a shift from the past few years when Verizon and AT&T built out their FiOS and U-verse TV offerings, reaching new customers while also stealing away cable customers.

Verizon Rebound?

Verizons Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said the company got tripped up in the first quarter and will return to bigger gains this quarter.

Meanwhile, Comcasts Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts said technology improvements are giving it an edge in the market. The largest U.S. television service provider, with 22.6 million customers, introduced the X1 set-top box that gives people the ability to watch TV shows stored online and interact with social media.

We believe our X1 operating system provides our customers an unrivaled experience, making it easier to discover and enjoy tens of thousands of content choices, Roberts said on an earnings call earlier this week. Comcast is accelerating the deployment to customers and is now adding 15,000 to 20,000 X1 boxes a day.

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Cable Makes Comeback as Verizon Nabs Fewer TV Customers

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Michael Conroy

The Buffalo Bills enter their second year under head coach Doug Marrone and are hoping to better their 6-10 record from 2013. They have the league's 14th most difficult strength of schedule, with their opponents going an even .500 last season.

This year, things could change. The Bills have lost former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, who was the figurehead behind much of their defensive success last year, but they added former Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz in his stead. They have also made several high profile additions to their roster including linebackers Brandon Spikes and Keith Rivers.

Things could change even more for the Bills in the coming weeks, especially since they hold the ninth overall pick in the 2014 draft. They will have any number of talented players to choose from in that spot, so their outlook could improve.

Now that the NFL has released their schedule, though, let's take a look at where the Bills stand and what could happen this season.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Kickoff time and network: 1:00 p.m. ET, Fox

The Bears defense is far from the vaunted unit that took the league by storm in 1985. In fact, they ranked third from the bottom of the league in both total and scoring defense, and they were the league's worst defense against the run. They didn't get any better with the loss of both Henry Melton and Julius Peppers.

On offense, it's a completely different story. There aren't many teams in the NFL that have the firepower in the secondary to cover both wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. The Bills are not one of those teams.

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2014 Buffalo Bills Schedule: Game-by-Game Predictions, Info and Analysis

April 23, 2014 - Frontier League (FL) River City Rascals After key additions and fundamental improvements across-the-board, River City looks to reach the Frontier League Championship once again this summer. When you look at the comprehensive picture surrounding Steve Brook's Rascals, the future looks brighter, in my opinion, than any other team in the league. In my mind there are five main reasons why I think the city should be ecstatic about the Rascals' prospects this coming season.

Reason 1: Fifth-year head coach Steve Brook enters the season with an overall record of 220-161 at the helm in River City. Since Brook took over in 2010, the Rascals have won more games than any other West Division team in the Frontier League. Their 220 wins also ranks third overall in the league behind only Southern Illinois (227) and Traverse City (225). Since the Rascals won their first Frontier League Championship in team history in 2010, they have sported a dominant winning percentage of .577%.

Not only has excellence become a tradition in River City, but also manager Steve Brook seems to generally breed a certain type of ballplayer who is always ready to fight for his city and team on the field. "I'm extremely proud of what our ball club has been able to accomplish in recent years. With that being said, a Frontier League Championship is something that our players and staff are constantly striving for. 11 of our players have signed with MLB affiliated teams since 2010. We've also had severalguys play winter ball in Australia, Mexico, and even Japan.Winning is important, but helping our players advance their professional careers will always remain one of our top goals," Brook replied when asked about the Rascals' success since 2010.

Reason 2:Brook returns 18 players from last year, including infielder Kyle Jones who spent the season on the disabled list. The returning outfielders include Williams, Crawford, and Redal while the returning infielders include Morales, Jones, Borman, and Carrillo. Among the returning Rascals is the second best closer in the Frontier League last season, Gabriel Shaw, and the incredibly efficient bullpen, which includes Jon Levin, Patrick Crider, Andy Urban, Kyle Owings, and Chandler Jagodzinski. In addition to the solid relief pitching staff, Brook returns all five Rascals starting pitchers, namely Corey Caruso, Ray Hanson, Tommy Mendoza, Craig Goodman, and Nick Kennedy. As a result of so many returning Rascals, Brook will have a fairly familiar locker-room heading into Spring Training. Brook knows the benefits of having guys who are used to playing together, and elaborated on this luxury, "we have18 returning players as of today.These guys are hungry to win a ring.We knew how close we were at the end of the 2013 season after a remarkable run in the second half.These guys didn't want the season to end and have been frothing at the mouth for another chance since September."

Reason 3: Apart from the large crew of returning Rascals, Brook and his coaching staff have brought in a plethora of new talent as well including former Frontier League All-Star and dominant Cornbelter's staff ace Tyler Lavigne. Along with Lavigne, the Rascals brought in relief pitcher Kyle Brady from the Frontier Greys and signed Ethan Carter and Tommy Organ out of the collegiate system. Other newcomers to the River City pitching staff include Corey Rhoney from the Royals organization and Eric Cendejas, the newest acquisition by manager Steve Brook, from the Angels organization.

The already incredibly deep pitching staff has therefore been strengthened further with the few key acquisitions this off-season, yet the hitters added to the team will definitely contribute their own part to this 2014 Rascals ballclub.

Both River City catchers, Saxon Butler (Yankees) and Josh Ludy (Phillies), join the team after stints in affiliated baseball, much like the 3B Taylor Ard (Mariners), IF Shane Brown (Yankees), and IF Hector Crespo (Yankees). The new conglomeration of infield talent further supports the strong foundation of returning position-players.

While Brook brought in a host of veteran talent to bolster the roster, he also took a few chances this off-season by bringing in 5 collegiate players, all with Rookie-1 or Rookie-2 Frontier League classifications. These young guns include infielders Corey Davis (Lee University), Mike Felton (Campbell University), Karsten Strieby (Lee University), and outfielders Daniel Aldrich (College of Charleston) and Brian Hansen (St. Cloud State University).

When asked about the newcomer Rascals, Brook describes the atmosphere he expects entering Spring Training this season, "With 16 new additions as of today, we have a lot of options in a lot of different areas. Our spring training is most likely going to be the most competitive I've seen in many years. My staff and I will evaluate each player and begin our 2014 campaign with the right group - focusing on playing the game the way it should be played."

Reason 4: Taking a closer look at Steve Brook's roster additions reveals an encouraging pattern of success. Among the 16 new players, 3 have had experience at the AA/AAA level of affiliated baseball (Butler, Brown, and Cendejas). As far as pitching goes, the Rascals have added 670 strikeouts and 45 career wins at the professional level. The experience becomes intangible, as the new hurlers will be able to serve a dual purpose for Brook by both producing on the field and mentoring the younger players on the side.

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Five Reasons to be Excited About Rascals

April 24, 2014 - American Association (AA) St. Paul Saints Fresh off their much-buzzed about performances at Coachella (the second of which featured Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong), The Replacements announced today their long-anticipated homecoming show at St. Paul's Midway Stadium on Saturday, September 13, 2014. While the band has recently been performing at a few select festivals across the nation, their show at Midway Stadium - home of the St. Paul Saints baseball team - is the band's first full headlining show since their legendary free concert in Chicago's Grant Park on July 4, 1991, which attracted tens of thousands of fans. The St. Paul show will also feature some very special guests, to be announced soon.

All tickets are general admission and will be available beginning Saturday, May 3 at 10 a.m. CST at etix.com for $50 plus ticketing fees. Fans can also buy tickets at the Midway Stadium box office and The Depot Tavern at First Avenue. A four ticket limit will be strictly enforced. Fans are encouraged to visit the band's Facebook page starting Monday to access a special presale password. General event information is available here jamusa.com/thereplacements.

Formed in Minneapolis in 1979, The Replacements are widely considered to be one of the most important and influential bands of our time. Just as they had their own well-documented influences, many of today's best young bands have voiced the strong mark The Replacements have made on their respective music. The band - consisting of founding members Paul Westerberg (lead vocals & guitar) and Tommy Stinson (bassist) - reformed in 2012 to record a benefit EP for stroke-addled former guitarist Slim Dunlap. That started the wheels turning on what eventually led to various select live festival performances with new additions David Minehan (guitar) and Josh Freese (drums), culminating now in what is certain to be one of the highlights of the summer music season-their Homecoming Concert at St Paul's Midway Stadium.

The concert will be presented By Jam Productions, Madison House Presents and First Avenue.

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The Replacements Announce Hometown Homecoming Concert

From the second-story window of Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria's new downtown location, Boise feels like a new city. Framed by the Eighth and Main Tower's angular architecture, downtown looks more cosmopolitan--like you're getting a glimpse into the future.

And the view inside is equally impressive. Rays of sunshine fall across salvaged-wood tables and bicycle-chain chandeliers equipped with dangling Edison light bulbs. The open kitchen and giant imported pizza oven are covered in shiny white tiling. It's an aesthetic you can't escape in bigger cities, but somehow, in this context, it feels fresh.

While the menu still features many of the chain's popular dishes--D.O.C.-rated authentic Neapolitan pizzas, sandwiches and salads--there are some additions that reflect the spot's more polished urban vibe.

Flatbread now sources a number of cured meat products from Utah's Creminelli Fine Meats, which makes old-world-style salumi from heritage pigs. On a recent lunch visit, the porchetta sandwich ($11.50) featured Creminelli's hand-rolled porchetta roast--skin-on pork belly wrapped around pieces of pork sirloin and shoulder seasoned with garlic, sea salt and rosemary. The warm porchetta was sliced razor thin then piled on an airy brioche bun with melty fontina, balsamic cippolini onions, arugula and chopped tomatoes. Served on a long wooden board, the sandwich came with an apple, pear and currant chutney that had plenty of tang to cut the pork fat.

The prosciutto pesto pizza ($14.75, or $9.95 for a smaller lunch pizzetta and a side) also uses Creminelli meat. Topped with marbled prosciutto shavings, the pie boasts a modest smear of pesto, a few slender stalks of broccolini, balsamic cippolini onions, bubbly fontina, slivers of garlic and a not-too-spicy serrano honey sauce.

After sampling a few more pizzettas and flatbreads during the late-night happy hour (10-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday)--including the tomato margherita pizzetta ($6, bland); the chili-glazed shrimp and chorizo flatbread ($6, aggressively spicy); and the portobello sausage, fontina and arugula flatbread with a fig drizzle ($7.75, awesome)--I discovered that the pizzettas tend to come out on the doughy side, while the larger flatbreads achieve a more satisfying crunch in the wood-fired oven.

Speaking of a satisfying crunch, the chopped kale salad ($10.50) is quite possibly my favorite new find at Flatbread. Raw chopped kale is tossed with bright yellow beet slivers, hunks of chevre, candied walnuts, diced pears and a citrusy blood orange vinaigrette. The flavors and textures meld together perfectly and pair devilishly well with a not-too-sweet blood orange margarita--which, priced at $4 during happy hour, gives Flatbread an accessible vibe that compliments the swanky new views.

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Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria

April 22, 2014 - International Basketball League (IBL) Seattle, WA - The Seattle Flight are back for a second season in the IBL as a branding team, and will kick off things once again against the Bellingham Slam, who enter the 2014 season as the reigning back-to-back IBL champions.

After getting his feet wet last season, head coach Rob Brown is looking forward to the challenge right out of the gate. "We are going to have a lot of new players and we are all looking forward to the season opener against Bellingham. It will be a great test for us, but we will be ready," Brown says.

Brown will lead the Flight for a second consecutive season, and lean on his established roots in the Seattle area as a staple figure at the Seattle Pro Am (which featured NBA stars Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin this past year). Due to his many connections in the area, Brown has been able to assemble a team stocked with talent entering the 2014 season. "There will be carryovers, but overall I plan to have five new additions who have played overseas, and one player who played in the NBA D-League. The team will have a lot of guys that I've gotten to know from my experiences in and around the area," Brown adds.

Experience is crucial, and for Brown and his group in Seattle, they will enter this season with an added sense of comfort. "We will be a lot more prepared this season, we were kind of thrown into the fire last year, but I know that we will be far more comfortable with what to expect this season. It's going to be an exciting run."

In their inaugural season, the Flight finished with a 1-4 record. This season, the Flight will host two home games, both will be held at North Seattle Community College Wellness Center Gym (June 7th, and June 14th). As they enter their second season, Seattle is currently looking for community support and investment.

Head coach Rob Brown will be able to pull from the immense amount of talent found in the Seattle area, and with the opportunity for players to play in a structured and organized system such as the IBL, expect plenty of skilled prospects to lace them up for the Flight this upcoming season.

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Seattle Flight Get Set for Take off in Second Consecutive IBL Season

News Comcast Adds Video Subs Again; Cord-Cutting Over?By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (April 22, 2014) - Comcast today revealed that it added 24,000 net video subscribers in the first quarter, the second straight quarter the nation's largest cable operator gained video subscribers.

The increase is significant because Comcast added 43,000 subscribers in last year's fourth quarter, the first quarter in six years that it added video subs. Another quarter of net video subs might suggest Comcast's long-time video decline is finally over.

The rosy numbers may also indicate that the so-called trend of cord cutting is dissolving, despite heavy media attention. Many tech journalists and Wall Street analysts have said in the past year that more consumers are likely to cut their pay TV service to watch less expensive video online. They based their analysis on cable's steady decline in video subs, although satellite and telco TV services were gaining during that period.

However, Comcast, and the satellite and telco TV services, are now showing healthy video sub gains.

Comcast credits the video additions in part to the company's new X1 set-tops, although the set-tops are not available to all subscribers. The cable service has limited its availability largely to customers who take the Triple Play offering -- video, Internet and phone.

In related news, Comcast said today that its net income was $1.87 billion in the first quarter, compared to $1.44 billion in last year's first quarter. Shop Now!! Amazon.com!Also See:

TV's Over $1,500TVs From $1,000 to $1,500

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Comcast Adds Video Subs Again; Cord-Cutting Over?