Gunman at large after deadly Calif quarry shooting

A police officer stand guard outside of a Hewlett Packard plant near a quarry owned by Lehigh Southwest Cement Company in Cupertino, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Authorities say a disgruntled employee opened fire at a meeting Wednesday at the limestone quarry, killing two people and wounding at least four others. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza says the woman was shot Wednesday morning at a Cupertino intersection by the suspect, who then fled on foot. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

A police officer stand guard outside of a Hewlett Packard plant near a quarry owned by Lehigh Southwest Cement Company in Cupertino, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Authorities say a disgruntled employee opened fire at a meeting Wednesday at the limestone quarry, killing two people and wounding at least four others. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza says the woman was shot Wednesday morning at a Cupertino intersection by the suspect, who then fled on foot. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

This undated photo provided Wednesday Oct. 5, 2011 by the City of Cupertino, Calif., shows Shareef Allman. Schools were on lockdown or closed in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino as SWAT teams sought Allman, who authorities say killed two and wounded at least six at the Northern California limestone quarry where he worked, and may have also shot a woman in an attempted carjacking afterward. Allman allegedly opened fire at a safety meeting at the Permanente Quarry at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza said. (AP Photo/City of Cupertino)

A woman who did not want to give her name reacts as she waits to hear about her father who works at the Lehigh Southwest Cement Company in Cupertino, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Authorities say a disgruntled employee opened fire at a meeting at the plant, killing two people and wounding six others. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza said the shooting at Lehigh Southwest Cement Company occurred around 4 a.m. Wednesday. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Police search a neighborhood where authorities say the suspect fled in Cupertino, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. Authorities say a disgruntled employee opened fire, killing two people and wounding at least six others. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza said the shooting at Lehigh Southwest Cement Company occurred around 4 a.m. Wednesday. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Authorities say a disgruntled employee opened fire at a meeting at a limestone quarry owned by the Lehigh Southwest Cement Company in Cupertino, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011, killing two people and wounding at least four others. The man walked into a safety meeting about 4 a.m. with a handgun and rifle and opened fire, said Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Jose Cardoza. The shooter then left the meeting and began walking around the quarry grounds. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

(AP) ? The search for a disgruntled employee accused of killing three co-workers and injuring six others at a Northern California limestone quarry brought SWAT teams in armored vehicles to the normally quiet streets of Silicon Valley on Wednesday.

The hunt for Shareef Allman of San Jose began after authorities said he opened fire at a routine safety meeting at Permanente Quarry around 4:15 a.m. and later wounded a woman in a failed carjacking.

Schools were closed or on lockdown in Cupertino, home of Apple Inc., and in neighboring communities as authorities went door to door with guns drawn and residents were warned to stay indoors.

Meanwhile, friends and neighbors expressed disbelief and sadness at the possibility the man they knew as an outgoing, engaged member of the community could have committed such horrific acts of violence.

Allman became upset and left the meeting then returned with a handgun and rifle and started shooting people, Santa Clara County sheriff's Lt. Rick Sung said. About 15 workers were at the meeting during the shooting, which authorities said lasted about two minutes.

Sheriff Laurie Smith said two people were pronounced dead at Permanente Quarry in the foothills outside Cupertino, and a third person died later at a hospital.

Six others at the quarry were wounded and taken to hospitals, where some remained in critical condition, Smith said.

The names of the victims have not been released.

Relatives of victims and other employees rushed to the quarry to check on their loved ones. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous because the gunman was still at large, said her father worked at the quarry for about 10 years and was the lead employee on the night shift.

She said he called his family around 4:30 a.m. to say something was happening and not to pick him up. He called again just after 6 a.m. to say he was OK but was hiding.

He called a third time to say he was coming out of hiding.

Later in the day, authorities located Allman's vehicle and seized a shotgun, a handgun and two rifles believed to belong to the suspect, Smith said, adding that some of the weapons were found in the car.

"The challenges are the big geographical area," she said of the manhunt. "The challenges are that he's armed."

Around 7 a.m., authorities received a 911 call that a woman was shot in an attempted carjacking near Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Cupertino campus by a man matching Allman's description. The shooter fled on foot after using a weapon similar to a gun used in the quarry shooting, authorities said.

The carjacking victim, a Hewlett-Packard contract employee, was in fair condition at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, according to hospital spokeswoman Joy Alexiou. Another victim was treated and released from the hospital, while a third remained in fair condition, she said.

Allman was last seen in surveillance footage from a nearby gas station shortly after the shooting outside Hewlett-Packard, Smith said. In the video, he appeared to be armed, she said.

The shootings rattled those who know Allman.

"He's always had a smile on his face," said Paulette Conner, 57, a neighbor at Allman's San Jose apartment complex who said she's known him for five years. "I've never known him to have any violent tendencies. Never. Ever."

Conner said Allman occasionally griped to her and others over the years about his job, including his various shift changes and some co-workers.

Allman is known as a local fixture long involved in San Jose's black community. Before a news conference where community leaders urged him to turn himself in, friends described Allman as a non-violent person not known to own guns.

"He used to do so much for the community. Something must have happened to make him flip out like this," said Pastor Oscar Dace of Bible Way Christian Center. "Everybody just can't believe that this has happened."

Police said Allman is 47, though California voter registration records put his age at 49.

In addition to working at the quarry, Allman once ran a nonprofit group for youths, wrote a novel titled "Amazing Grace" that sought to empower women against domestic violence, and produced and hosted a public access television show for CreaTV in San Jose.

Suzanne St. John-Crane, executive director of CreaTV, said she had spoken with him numerous times but did not know him well.

"Based on what we know now, we're shocked and devastated and feel for the families of the victims," St. John-Crane told The Associated Press. "But he didn't work here. I want to make that clear. We're very frightened."

A video posted on YouTube shows Allman interviewing the Rev. Jesse Jackson outside a memorial for the late musician Walter Hawkins for a piece for CreaTV. In the video, Allman talks with Jackson about the positive and transformative messages of gospel music

"I hope what he gave all of us we take out to our community and use it to better ourselves and our community," Allman said about Hawkins during the interview.

Business records show that in 2004, Allman started a youth development organization called Helping Hands Changing Hearts, which listed its location as Allman's home address. However, the IRS automatically revoked the organization's exempt status as a nonprofit for failure to file proper tax forms for three consecutive years, records showed.

The Permanente Quarry is a limestone and aggregate mining operation and cement plant owned by Lehigh Southwest Cement.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Dan Harrington, president and chief executive of parent company Lehigh Hanson Inc., said in a statement. "I have committed the company's resources to assist our affected employees during this difficult time."

The quarry was issued its first permit in May 1939, according to Santa Clara County documents.

The site has been subject to a number of environmental violations over the years, and has been subject to noise and other complaints from nearby residents.

Lehigh makes about 1.2 million tons of cement a year, and its products are involved in a number of major construction projects including the seismic upgrades off the Golden Gate Bridge.

___

Associated Press writers Jason Dearen, Terry Collins, Sudhin Thanawala, Marcus Wohlsen and Beth Duff-Brown and photographer Paul Sakuma contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-05-US-California-Quarry-Shooting/id-4a6723617d344845a87adcdb2b1e9afa

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Gaga Goes Jazz: Should Her Music Take a Whole New Direction? (omg!)

You might not imagine that Lady Gaga and legendary crooner Tony Bennett would be an obvious couple to record a duet. In fact, it is probably one of the strangest pairings in music history! However, the "Poker Face" singer has stepped back in time to record a version of "The Lady Is a Tramp" with Bennett, and the finished product is stunning! Gaga has had plenty of critics in her time, with many suggesting she is all gimmicks and no talent. Not only does this collaboration prove them wrong, it shows just how versatile she really is. Does this mean she should make a permanent change to her style to silence those who think she is talentless?

If you take a listen to Mother Monster's single releases to date, what you will hear are a lot of dance tracks. She has a sound that fits in with the current music industry, and that is what has made her so popular. It takes both a strong character and a strong voice to be successful and she already has both of these traits. The problem with Lady Gaga, is that she causes so much controversy that it sometimes overshadows her talent. Perhaps to her, her flamboyant style is an extension of her creativity, but to the outside world, it can seem like she is trying too hard.

The truth is, Gaga's music could speak for itself if she would let it. Her latest recording with Tony is absolute proof of this. It is so far removed from her usual sound that, unless you are listening carefully, you might not even recognize it. The good news is her trademark use of soft, gentle notes mixed with big belted notes gives her away.

In this new recording of "The Lady Is a Tramp," the New York born diva becomes the perfect jazz singer. For anyone who doubted her vocal talents, this more than proves that she has a great range, and can change her style to suit any music genre. The question is, should she tone down her crazy ways on a permanent basis?

As a fan of her the way she is, I would have to say, no. The softer side of the singer is definitely appealing, but her wild antics are what make her who she is. Meat dresses, strange headwear and bizarre make-up are her trademark. She would still be phenomenal without them, but why change something that is working?

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/http___omg_yahoo_com_news73907/43170807/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/gaga-goes-jazz-should-her-music-take-a-whole-new-direction/73907

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Your Price: $10.12 ? Betadine skin cleanser - 4 oz

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Source: http://optiononeinfoseeker.com/2011/10/06/hand-care-betadine-skin-cleanser-4-oz/

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Palestinians near UNESCO membership (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Palestinians moved a step closer to full membership of the U.N. cultural agency on Wednesday when its board decided to let 193 member countries vote on admission this month.

The latest move in a Palestinian quest for statehood recognition drew a swift rebuke from the United States and Israel, which both argue that the way to create Palestine is through negotiations, and a cool response from France.

In September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the Security Council for full membership of the United Nations, ignoring a U.S. warning that it would veto the move, as well as threats from members of the U.S. Congress to restrict American aid to the Palestinians.

At UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 40 representatives of the 58-member board voted in favor of putting the matter to a vote, with four -- the United States, Germany, Romania and Latvia -- voting against and 14 abstaining, a source at the agency told Reuters.

That set the scene for a membership vote at UNESCO's General Conference, a meeting that runs from October 25 to November 10 and involves all 193 members of the agency, based in Paris.

It also raised questions about whether Washington might be required by U.S. law to cut off funding for the agency if it were to accept the Palestinians as a member. The United States pays 22 percent of UNESCO's dues, the State Department said.

EXACERBATING ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN TENSIONS?

U.S. ambassador to UNESCO David Killion urged in a statement all delegations to join the United States in voting "no." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she found it "inexplicable" that UNESCO would consider moving ahead on a Palestinian vote while the issue was still before the United Nations Security Council.

"I ... would urge the governing body of UNESCO to think again before proceeding with that vote because the decision about status must be made in the United nations and not in auxiliary groups that are subsidiary to the United Nations," Clinton told reporters in the Dominican Republic where she was on an official visit.

Nimrod Barkan, Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, said the move would harm the agency and would not advance Palestinian aspirations.

"The problem is that the politicisation of UNESCO is detrimental to the ability of the organization to carry out its mandate," he told Reuters. "It is not too late to wake up and save this organization from politicisation."

The Palestinians have had observer status at UNESCO since 1974. In order to gain full membership, so-called "states" that are not members of the United Nations may be admitted to UNESCO with a two-thirds majority of the General Conference.

It was not clear whether Palestine would need to be a recognized state for its UNESCO bid to succeed.

Barkan said he hoped there would be time between now and the General Conference to "undo" the decision, arguing that there was no such entity as Palestine.

To keep pressure on the United Nations, Abbas's Palestinian Authority has been looking at institutions that may recognize their sought-after statehood status -- a campaign triggered by a breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks a year ago.

On Tuesday, it won partnership status from the Council of Europe, the European Union's main human rights body.

Top Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdaineh said the UNESCO vote showed there was international support for Palestinian statehood.

"The recommendation has been put forward for us to have full membership of UNESCO and it is another political battle in the right direction to reinforce the status Palestinian people," Abu Rdaineh told Reuters.

U.S. CONCERNS

The maneuvering at UNESCO also angered U.S. lawmakers.

Kay Granger, chairwoman of the House subcommittee that oversees foreign aid, said U.S. funding for UNESCO could be cut if full membership was granted.

"Since April, I have made it clear to the Palestinian leadership that I would not support sending U.S. taxpayer money to the Palestinians if they sought statehood at the United Nations," Granger said in a statement.

"Making a move in another U.N. agency will not only jeopardize our relationship with the Palestinians, it will jeopardize our contributions to the United Nations," said Granger, who recently held up some $200 million of aid for Palestinians.

The U.S. government has said the Palestinians can gain an independent state on land occupied by Israel in a 1967 war only via negotiations with the Jewish state, Washington's main ally in the Middle East.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said the actions by the Palestinians at UNESCO were "a negative response ... to efforts to promote the peace process ... (and) negate both the bilateral negotiations route and the Quartet's proposal for continuing the diplomatic process.

Envoys from the Middle East "Quartet" -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- will meet in Brussels on Sunday to try to revive peace efforts.

France, which has advocated observer status of the United Nations, said that UNESCO was not the place to further the Palestinian case for recognition.

"The priority is to revive negotiations," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We consider that UNESCO is not the appropriate place and the General Conference is not the right moment."

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Lou Charbonneau at the United Nations, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Louise Ireland, Brian Love and Anthony Boadle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111006/wl_nm/us_palestinians_unesco

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Midwest Mortgage Capital Offers Retail Mortgage Companies ...

?Member Offices? Receive Broad Support While Retaining 100 Percent of Their Revenue

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) October 05, 2011

Midwest Mortgage Capital (MMC), a large regional mortgage banker based in St Louis, MO, is inviting retail mortgage offices across the country to forge a mutually beneficial alliance by becoming ?Member Offices.? According to managing partner George DeMare, MMC?s recently launched Member Office Program?which capitalizes on opportunities created by the housing market crisis?offers a variety of benefits not available under the traditional ?net branch? arrangement.

Established brokerages, mortgage bankers and originator teams that sign on as Member Offices benefit from access to MMC?s sophisticated technology, experienced in-house underwriting team and in-house funding capabilities. Each ?Member Office? will be assigned a credit manager team to make the internal loan process easy and efficient for them. This will allow them the freedom to focus on building their client base and get back to doing what they really loved when they first entered the mortgage industry.

Participation as a Member Office has other benefits as well, DeMare says. ?The complex array of new federal guidelines and requirements issued in the wake of the mortgage market meltdown has created a daunting compliance challenge for the mortgage industry,? he explains. ?By becoming a Midwest Mortgage Member Office, a retail mortgage office can transfer this burden to our expert compliance team with confidence.?

In addition, because Midwest Mortgage Capital has delegated authority to review borrower information and approve and make loans on its own, it can offer Member Offices?and their customers?faster, smoother transactions. Member Offices also benefit from the mortgage banker?s comprehensive menu of products, including some products not typically available to small mortgage retailers. And because Midwest Mortgage Capital underwrites its own loan files in-house and lends its own funds to borrowers, DeMare says that even the most challenging deals initiated by Member Offices will receive proper consideration.

?Any retail mortgage office that shares in the ethics, morals, and professionalism that has helped Midwest Mortgage Capital earn an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau could be a potential candidate for our Member Office Program? says DeMare. ?Unlike the ?net branch? arrangement, our new program is based more on a boutique style operation.? ?We?re looking for a few select groups that are looking for a branch type experience that is second to none.?

St. Louis-based Midwest Mortgage Capital?founded in 2001 by industry veterans with the purpose of acting in customers? best interests and delivering superb service?quickly gained Direct Endorsement approval and in-house underwriting, correspondent investor relationships and in-house funding. Over the last decade, the firm has grown to become one of the largest mortgage bankers in the Midwest, doing business in 13 states. Please visit http://www.midwestmortgagecapital.com for more information on the firm and its goal of increasing the number of home buyers and home owners it reaches through alliances with established retail mortgage offices.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/10/prweb8849939.htm

Source: http://pressreleases.bloginteract.com/2011/10/05/midwest-mortgage-capital-offers-retail-mortgage-companies-unique-business-alliance/

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Clooney: Skinny dips at my home are 'tradition'

Who doesn't love to swim in the nude?

AtGeorge Clooney's Lake Como house in Italy, skinny dipping is pretty much a rite of passage for all of his guests!

VIDEO: The Ides of March trailer

"[Skinny dipping] is a tradition at my house!" the 50-year-old told Us Weekly on Wednesday at the "Ides of March" premiere in NYC. "It's funny. Some people skinny dip, but I always go upstairs and put a suit on and then I jump in the lake."

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Clooney's co-star Marisa Tomei told Conan O'Brien on Tuesday about skinny dipping in the lake at the actor's Italian estate. "Charlie Rose can be hot. [He, Evan Rachel Wood and I] had some hijinks over there," she said. "We would all end up skinny dipping!"

PHOTOS: George's girls

When Us asked Clooney about Tomei's comments, he quipped: "Let me tell you. First I got Walter Cronkite to jump in. Then I got David Gergen to jump in. And I used Walter Cronkite to get Gergen to jump in. And I used Marisa and Evan in the lake to get Charlie Rose to jump in."

PHOTOS: Celebrity nip slips

So besides stripping down, what does the Oscar winner do to unwind? He joked playfully, "Drink!"

"The Ides of March" opens in theaters Friday.

Story: Lights, camera, Clooney! Star takes directing chair

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44809816/ns/today-entertainment/

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Regular exercise improves health of people with long-term kidney disease, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Oct. 4, 2011) ? There are many reasons why people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) often lose fitness and have increasing difficulty performing normal daily tasks, but new research shows scientific evidence for the benefits of regular exercise for people with CKD, including those with a kidney transplant. They can improve their physical fitness, walk further, have healthier blood pressures, healthier heart rates, higher health-related quality of life scores and better nutritional characteristics compared to those who don't exercise. So concludes a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library.

CKD is a worldwide public health problem and a person is said to have CKD if they have damaged or poorly performing kidneys where the effects last for more than three months. There are many causes of damage, including high blood pressure, diabetes and rheumatic diseases. "Their muscles tend to tire quickly, which reduces the amount of exercise they do, but this then further reduces their fitness," explains Susanne Heiwe from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

During the last 30 years there have been many studies into the way that exercise affects people with CKD, but very few evidence-based guidelines have been drawn up. To fill this gap Heiwe and her colleague, Stefan Jacobson, studied the data and results in forty-five studies that met specific inclusion criteria. Together these involved a total of 1,863 participants.

Heiwe's team discovered adults with CKD but who do not yet need dialysis, patients on dialysis and kidney transplant recipients all benefitted from exercise, but different types of exercise produced different types of benefit.

For example, when compared with controls, people who performed supervised, high intensity, cardiovascular training for four to six months had significantly improved aerobic capacity Other studies showed that three months of regular, high intensity resistance training or yoga, whether supervised or not, increases muscular strength and, when supervised, the high intensity resistance training also increases walking capacity over a three month period.

"More research is needed so we can discover how to set up exercise programs that get the desired outcome as efficiently as possible," says Heiwe, who believes that the Cochrane review will help renal health-care providers prescribe exercise training more often and make evidence-based choices about which type of exercise to recommend.

So far most of the studies have looked at the effects of cardiovascular exercise programmes. "We now need to know more about the effects of resistance training or mixed cardiovascular and resistance training," says Heiwe.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/itYTVWUgoVU/111004221112.htm

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iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4: what's changed?

It's finally happened, after all the wrangling, speculation and aluminum dummies, we now know the truth. Join us as we delve into the nitty gritty of how the newest addition(s) to the Apple clan match up against last year's model.

Continue reading iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4: what's changed?

iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4: what's changed? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Contacts help Mesa ticket-selling company grow

by Georgann Yara - Oct. 6, 2011 12:00 AM
Special for The Republic

The decline in donations in the months following Sept. 11, 2001, led to somewhat of an economic recession for non-profit business owner Lynne King Smith and her husband, Brad.

But Smith discovered that the vast contact list she built up while running her now-dormant non-profit provided a good foundation for TicketForce, the Mesa-based national ticketing company she founded with her husband in 2003.

The couple had operated YouthForce, a non-profit that coordinated training events for people and groups that worked with teenagers. As a result, Smith had accumulated a healthy mailing list of concert and event promoters who wanted to appeal to teens.

After 2001, Smith said she noticed that funding became scarce and more difficult to procure as donors moved away from financially supporting organizations with missions similar to hers.

She and Brad looked at their contact list and decided to pursue a different business model.

They started with a core of a dozen promoters and then gained relationships with venues. Today, TicketForce annually works with 300 to 400 promoters and 100 contracted venues, including local sites like Celebrity Theatre.

The original plan to focus on Arizona events and venues gave way to going national after the couple realized they had good contacts in Ohio and New Mexico.

"It was a natural shift," said Smith, who is the CEO of TicketForce. "It was also a challenge. We had to focus where we were going to be in the market. When you have an Internet-based business, you don't have to stay limited. We could take it to another level."

To compete with big-name ticket agencies, service fees are kept comparatively low. TicketForce charges 12 percent to 18 percent of the ticket price vs. the 20 percent or more that other services charge, Smith said. Typically, TicketForce customers pay 50 cents to $2 per ticket in fees.

"If your fees are going to be as high (as the major competitors'), you are not going to make it," Smith said.

Utilizing new programs, software and procedures to improve service is also part of the plan.

"We are not a bargain, discount company that gets by, barely making it and not putting in anything new. But we try to be fair and reasonable to the public," Smith said.

The company did not feel the impact of the recession until the end of 2009, when partnering venues took a dip in revenue, she said. To prepare for financial uncertainty, Smith said she worked up budgets for 2010 and 2011 as if the company had gained no new clients - even though it had.

"That ended up being a fortuitous thing to do," she said.

This year, clients have appeared to bounce back and ticket sales are up, she said. There were no layoffs at TicketForce and staff members agreed to put in overtime as an alternative to hiring additional personnel, Smith said.

In January, the company started offering Facebook Ticketing, an application that simplifies the purchasing process by allowing patrons to buy event tickets through a venue's Facebook page without leaving it.

Smith said about 10 percent to 20 percent of her clients' sales are done through this application.

Smith has an educational and professional background in business and marketing. Her husband is a licensed minister with networking experience. Together, they run a small business that is nimble and able to accommodate the needs of clients. If customers wish to order tickets over the phone, there is a full-time staff ready to take their orders instead of an automated system.

That has been key to the company's success, Smith said.

"It's more personal. I like that we have the ability to stay friendly with how we do customer service," she said. "I think you are more agile when you are smaller."

The Tempe Center for the Arts selected TicketForce to handle their tickets right before it opened five years ago. In addition to being reasonably priced, the company has simplified the process of selling tickets for the venue's hundreds of events each year, said Kara Osburn, who manages the box office for the center.

Osburn said the company makes it easy to add discount codes and coupons and said lengthy procedures at other agencies take very little time at TicketForce.

"It's been a fantastic experience working with them," Osburn said.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/10/06/20111006mesa-ticket-selling-company-grows.html

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For Academic Publishing, Princeton Goes Open Access By Default

First time accepted submitter crazyvas writes "Princeton University will prevent researchers from giving the copyright of scholarly articles to journal publishers (except if a waiver is requested). The new rule is part of an Open Access policy aimed at broadening the reach of their scholarly work and encouraging publishers to adjust standard contracts that commonly require exclusive copyright as a condition of publication. Universities pay millions of dollars a year for academic journal subscriptions. People without subscriptions are often prevented from reading taxpayer funded research. This is a bold first step in changing the face of how research (especially when taxpayer funded) works in the country, and a step towards weakening the current culture of charging increasingly exorbitant prices to view academic research publications."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/1e9a7p3fpFA/For-Academic-Publishing-Princeton-Goes-Open-Access-By-Default

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