Whether you’re using a wrinkled-up, fold-out map or the latestin GPS technology, it’s time to hit the road for some postseasonbasketball.

If your favorite team goes on a run that brings home some trophies,then you have the next three weeks of your life mapped out. But ifyour team falls in the first game of regionals and you’re stilllonging to fill your nights with basketball, here’s a travel guideto the postseason.

This guide represents the best guess at matchups as the postseasonprogresses. There will be upsets, so adjust accordingly.

Monday, Feb. 20

The opening night of the postseason isn’t normally much of a draw,but there are plenty of competitive games between lower seeds thatcan be the start of a Cinderella run.

The place to go to open regionals is Maroa, where the host Trojans(17-11) and Warrensburg-Latham (9-15) will play in a rematch oflast year’s Warrensburg Regional title. The teams have split twogames this season, with Maroa winning 42-39 at the Macon CountyTournament and Warrensburg beating the Trojans 57-53 in theirconference matchup on Jan. 24.

But since that loss, Maroa is playing better. The Trojans have wonsix of seven. Warrensburg, on the other hand, has lost six of itslast seven.

Another option is Teutopolis, where two more Okaw teams areuncommonly good fourth and fifth seeds in Central A&M (17-9)and Shelbyville (10-16), respectively.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

For competitive early-regional games, Pana is the place to go. Oneof the area’s deeper regionals features a four seed in Greenville(11-13) that recently beat top-seeded Pana and upset the Panthersin the regional final last year. But Greenville will first have toget past fifth-seed Litchfield (12-15) – a team Greenville beat by30 earlier this season, then lost by eight to in the rematch.Vandalia (15-8) is the third seed and plays one of the better sixseeds around in Hillsboro (10-16) in the second game.

If you’d rather get an early look at a team with aspirations ofmaking state, the No. 4 team in 2A – Nor-mal U-High (22-3) – willplay a pretty good Tremont (18-10) team at the Pioneers’ homecourt.

Wednesday, Feb. 22

A lot of top seeds make their postseason debuts on Wednesday, whichmakes for a lot of blowouts – and a few upsets.

Maybe the most interesting game an area No. 1 seed faces is atMount Pulaski. Sangamon Valley (21-6), a team I picked on thehrpreps.com blog to win a sectional title in Class 1A, takes on asuddenly hot LSA team that had chances to beat the Storm in alate-season matchup. Sangamon Valley hung on to win that game bythree, but after a hot start, the Storm hasn’t been blowing outanyone lately.

LSA (13-13) won three games last year, but under first-year coachDave Kreps has bounced back from a slow start to become the area’smost-improved team.

After the LSA/Sangamon Valley game, hop in your car, follow thespeed limit and you should end up in Bethany around the time Arthur(15-11) and Okaw Valley (18-9) tip off. The two teams tied withCerro Gordo for the LOVC regular-season title. The Timberwolveshave two wins over top-seeded Cerro Gordo this season and hammeredLOVC runner-up Arcola last week. While inconsistent, Arthur is ayoung, dangerous team.

Thursday, Feb. 23

The night before the regional championship is a light night, butsome regionals play the semifinal involv-ing the two seed onThursday, and Teutopolis is one of them – an obvious advantage tothe host Wooden Shoes. There are only three Thursday 2A semifinalsin the state, and five in 1A.

The game at T-Town, though, should be a good one – even if theprize is a game against the No. 5 team in the state a night later.Both Meridian (14-12) and Effingham St. Anthony (17-10) are strongprograms that play at a high level – even if the talent isn’t asplentiful as its been in recent years.

Friday, Feb. 24

How great would it be if they staggered some of the start times orplayed some regional finals on Friday and others on Saturday?Unfortunately, that’s not the case, so you’ll have to pick just onegame to go to.

And actually, there’s really only once choice – gas up the car andget going early, because you’re going to Fairfield (from Decatur,it’s 125 miles, approximately two hours, 41 minutes) to see therematch between Olney (25-4) and Flora (24-3). Olney was expectedto have a solid season, but surpassed that with wins overTeutopolis, Flora, Newton and Harrisburg this season. But theTigers have struggled recently with losses to Effingham andRobinson. Flora has lost only two games this season with Paul Knappin the lineup – to Olney and Class 2A No. 2 Breese Central. Ifnothing else, if you haven’t seen Paul Knapp and Nick Painter, it’sworth the trip. Knapp is the best player in the area this season,and Painter isn’t far behind.

Not feeling that drive to Fairfield? How about Bethany instead forRound 4 between Cerro Gordo (18-8) and Okaw Valley? I’m not a bigfan of teams playing so many regular-season games against eachother, but it does bring a certain intensity to postseasonmatchups.

Saturday, Feb. 25

There is one Saturday regional statewide, so if you’re really hardup for some high school postseason hoops, head to Chicago. AtGordon Tech, the top two seeds are the host (remember TomKleinschmidt) and Chicago Academy.

Monday, Feb. 27

Class 3A/4A regionals open with a chance at MacArthur for MountZion (4-19) to pull something positive from this season. The Bravesplay a Bloomington (2-24) team that is having its worst season inmore than a decade.

Tuesday, Feb. 28

This is a great night and probably the toughest to choose a gamefrom. You have Sangamon Valley and Cerro Gordo both openingsectional play, but the best game featuring an area team will be atSt. Joseph-Ogden where Teutopolis will take on Tolono Unity.

T-Town (25-2) will be the favorite, but with 6-7 Aaron Larson and agood group of guards, Unity (22-3) will be a tough out. Whicheverteam comes out with a victory will win the sectional, too.

Wednesday, Feb. 29

It might be the fourth time the city rivals have played thisseason, and neither of the last two were close, but I have afeeling the MacArthur Regional matchup between MacArthur (8-14) andEisenhower (6-17) is going to be interesting.

The Panthers have been embarrassed by the Generals in the previoustwo meetings, and MacArthur is vulnerable if Reggie Andersondoesn’t play.

If you’d rather see a sectional game, there’ll be a good one atBridgeport Red Hill. St. Elmo (20-7) has had an outstanding year,but the Eagles could make it an unforgettable one with a win overClass 1A No. 10 Woodlawn.

Thursday, March 1

Take a breather. This is the first non-Sunday since the postseasonstarted there aren’t games anywhere. Take a night to catch up onyour DVR shows, or check out some NBA on TNT.

Friday, March 2

Depending on who’s left, this is another potentially difficultnight to pick a game – especially if MacAr-thur is playing for aregional title and Sangamon Valley and Cerro Gordo somehow lastthat long.

In that case, go with the best chance to see a legendaryperformance. In that case, it’s the Colfax Ridge-view Sectional,where Eric Leonard isn’t going to make it easy for Sangamon Valleyto get knocked out. It could be a big postseason for Leonard, andthat’s one reason – along with a favorable schedule – I’ve pickedthem to go so far. How many teams along Sangamon Valley’s path havea better player than Leo-nard? The answer is none.

I’d recommend the same for Flora with Knapp in 2A, but the Wolvesare at the Eldorado Sectional – 173 miles and approximately 3½hours from Decatur.

Saturday, March 3-Monday, March 5

If you’ve done a lot of yelling, this is a good time to rest yourvoice for the stretch run.

Tuesday, March 6

Last year, Teutopolis made it to the Springfield Super-sectionaland was the favorite going into its game with Pittsfield, only toget knocked off by a last-second shot from the Saukees’ DaltonHoover.

This season, T-Town will be a slight underdog at the CarbondaleSectional to Normal University High. But this year’s Shoes might bebetter equipped for the postseason than last year’s team, with MarkNiebrugge now a go-to scorer in crunch time.

Wednesday, March 7

With Anderson in the lineup, MacArthur advances to sectionals andfaces Class 3A No. 1 Springfield Lan-phier.

The Generals play good enough defense to hang with Lanphier. Theymight not have the firepower to pull the upset, but the experiencewill be invaluable for a team that could be good enough next yearto compete for the Big 12 title.

Friday, March 9-Saturday, March 10

Friday, March 16-Saturday, March 17

Whether you have a rooting interest at the state tournaments ornot, there’s no better state events in any IHSA sport. Has thereever been a boring state basketball tournament?

The 3A/4A tournament will be especially interesting this year, withthe country’s top-ranked player for the Class of 2013 – ChicagoSimeon’s Jabari Parker – likely in the field.

Article Sources: Ultimate Road Trip: Your Guide to the Boys Basketball Playoffs

It was a tough decision to leave my friends behind in Charleston, SC but the desire to hit the road and see the rest of America is a strong force. Preparation is essential for a trip like I had planned. Though I have a decent GPS system on my cell phone, reception can be poor at times and it is geared primarily toward automobile travel. My dog and I were traveling in a 37 foot motor home to places we’d never been. That’s why I did a route request on the Google Map & Direction online service.

Google’s mapping service is so easy to use especially since my internet home page is Google. At the top of the screen I simply clicked on maps and was taken to an image of the United States. At the top left of the screen clicking on “Get directions” took me to two fields where I typed in my starting location; Charleston, SC and my destination which was Austin, TX. “Get directions” was highlighted in blue and clicking on it resulted in a route highlighted in blue spanning a route that included Atlanta, GA. I don’t want to drive through Atlanta in a car much less a motor home but with the Google map and direction service, alternative routes are provided. Positioning the mouse over each subsequent route changes the route’s blue line and one of those showed me an alternate through Jacksonville, FL which turned out to be almost the same distance and just a few minutes longer. I chose that route to avoid Atlanta and to enjoy a more southern route.

Specifics of the route are shown on the left of my screen and can be collapsed or expanded as needed. For this trip, it showed a southerly route on I-95 followed by a westward route along I-10. The total estimated mileage for the trip was given at 1266 miles and according to their calculations should take 20 hours and 53 minutes. Great. Positioning the mouse over each leg of the journey resulted in a marker that appeared on the map’s blue line route which gave me an idea of where I might want to stop along the way. Our first stop was in Kingsland, GA just shy of Jacksonville, FL.

Before departing Kingsland to continue our trip toward Texas, I once again looked up my route on Google’s map and directions service only this time my starting destination was where we were in Georgia. Overnight stops included Bonifay, FL and Saucier, MS and St. Martinsville, LA at RV Parks I had previously researched.

The remaining 395 miles to Austin showed the route going through Houston and though I was headed to Austin preferred not to go through Houston’s congestion. By clicking and holding the mouse button on the little circle in the middle of Houston on the blue route line and dragging, I pulled the route to a more northerly route through Conroe, TX where we made our last stop before arriving in the Austin area. According to Google, the change added six miles to my trip but eliminated tons of stress.

Article Sources: Using Google Map & Directions From Chaleston, SC to Austin, TX

First off, ignore the advice about the international licence. That person is wrong, wrong, wrong! It is actually a travelling licence or permit, and is only good with the licence from the home country.

You are resident in AZ as soon as you meet any of the following criteria, and must obtain AZ licence, or you are driving illegally. – you live in Arizona. – you take a job in AZ – you have children in school and are not paying a nonresident fee. – you own a business with an office, base, or vehicles in Arizona – you have a state license or pay the same school tuition fees as resident – you transport goods or passengers within the state – you reside in Arizona seven or more months of every year – you are registered to vote in AZ

What the heck are you using for a vehicle and insurance?

Article Sources: How long can I drive in Arizona with my European driving license?

With the creation of the Teenage & Adult Driver Responsibility Act (TADRA) there have been important changes to the laws affecting teen drivers and their parents. TADRA requires that teens who apply for a permanent driver’s license have a parent, legal guardian or responsible adult sign a verification form affirming that the candidate has completed 40 hours of supervised driving experience to include 6 hours of driving at night. The teen must also successfully complete a driver’s education course.

Most parents don’t feel prepared or may not know what they need to do while supervising a new teen driver. Parental involvement is the key to reducing teen crashes and fatalities in the state of Georgia.

The Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute (GTIPI) at The University of Georgia with the help of the Governors Office of Highway Safety is bringing P.R.I.D.E. – Parents Reducing Injuries and Driver Error – to Gwinnett County.  Teen P.R.I.D.E. helps parents prepare their 14, 15 and 16 year-olds to drive. This program is offered FREE of charge to parents and their teens.

This is a program that addresses driver attitude, knowledge, and behavior, rather than a technical hands-on driver training course. Completion of this course does not count toward the required 40 hours of supervised driving practice, but is accepted by some insurance companies to reduce insurance rates.

GTIPI is working with Officer Brinkman of the Gwinnett County Police Department to offer this free, 2-hour P.R.I.D.E. seminar at the South Precinct of Gwinnett County Police Department.

The course will be offered March 1, 2011 at 6:30pm at the South Precinct located at 2180 Stone Road in Lilburn, Ga 30047. A teen and at least one parent or guardian must register to attend. To register for this free course contact Officer Brinkman at 678-442-5032 or by email at .

(Editor’s note: this article was taken from an announcement by Officer Aaron Brinkman of the South Precinct, Gwinnett County Police Department.)

Article Sources: Teen P.R.I.D.E. Safe Driving Class March 1

Newark, New Jersey – Sunikazu Games, today, is pleased to announce Speed Damon 1.5 for iOS, an update to their side-scroller racing Game, where players must drive an off-road motorcycle the greatest distance possible by jumping over obstacles. Players have three touch options: a ramp/jump, a mid-air or street level bridge, and the ability to destroy obstacles by touching them. Featuring all black, white, and gray graphics and animation, small color accents lend style to the game. Speed Damon is designed for one to three players, displays dramatic silhouetted objects and requires quick reflexes to reach distances over 250 meters.

Played in landscape orientation, this side-scroller employs four layers of animation, which produce a convincing sense of depth. The three scrolling layers include the foreground in black silhouette, the midground in light gray, and the background in dark gray. Objects in the foreground seem to move by faster than those in the midground, and much faster than those in the background. The fourth layer contains the player’s black motorcycle, which remains center screen and moves only in the vertical direction, and the black cars, which speed by moving only in the horizontal direction.

The action takes place on a suburban highway with stores, houses, and gas stations along the road. The player’s motocross bike maintains a constant speed, and always remains in the horizontal center as the background rushes past. Driving at street level, the bike keeps both wheels on the road, but at all other times players perform wheelies while executing take-offs, jumps, and landings.

Coming to a large pothole in the road, the player touches the Ramp button, which immediately place a short, triangular ramp directly in front of him on the road. The ramp launches the bike up toward the top of the screen. While in mid-air, the player can touch the Bridge button that places a short horizontal roadway above the street, and players can touch the button repeatedly to extend the bridge while driving. High obstacles, such as signs, prevent the player from remaining on a bridge too long. With puffs of black smoke from its tailpipe trailing behind and a loud whine of its engine, the off-road bike reaches the end of the bridge and lands back on the street, speeding towards the next life-threatening obstacle.

There are also street level bridges to help jump across wide ditches, and houses and vehicles in the frontmost layer can be destroyed with the touch of a finger. Hitting any obstacle produces a violent crash, sending driver and bike independently somersaulting through the air and off the screen, ending the round. There are plenty of creative obstacles to avoid, much destruction and mayhem, and endless opportunities to perform life saving stunts throughout the action filled game. Some security lies in the inclusion of the ability to grasp a golden coin, that will enlarge the motorcycle, safeguarding it from any obstacle for a set amount of time. In addition to this feature, some of the coins will present a bulldozer that travels in front of the the motorcycle removing each life threatening obstacle. A more challenging feature is the jumping bulldozer, which players must follow, up and down, to be shielded from the various roadway obstructions.

Feature Highlights:* Side-scroller motorcycle game jumping over obstacles* Place ramps down to send the bike and rider over obstacles* Use bridges to remain above street level or jump over wide ditches* Stylish B&W graphics and animation* Drive an off-road bike through a quiet suburb

“Help Damon get to his destination,” stated Narada Henderson of Sunikazu Games. “In order to assist him, you have to build numerous ramps and bridges. Go as far as you can to attain the highest score to beat your opponent. You will have to navigate your way over ditches, dodging cars, motorcycles, houses and everything else that stands in your way.”

Device Requirements:* iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch* Requires iOS 3.0 or later* 11.7 MB

Pricing and Availability:Speed Damon 1.5 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Review copies are available on request. Speed Damon is also available for Android.

Speed Damon 1.5Purchase and DownloadYouTube VideoScreenshot 1Screenshot 2App Icon

Sunikazu Games is a small company founded by Narada Henderson in the heart of Newark, New Jersey. They pride themselves in creating applications for everyday gamers. Their mission is to develop creative and innovative games for both the iPhone and Android Market. Copyright (C) 2011-2012 Sunikazu Games. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.

This entry was posted on in the wee hours at terribly early in the morning and is filed under Latest News!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Article Sources: Gathering the best of news sources around the Net!

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday released its long-awaited guidelines on distracted driving, calling on automakers to disable applications that allow drivers to manually access social media, surf the Web or send text messages while on the road.

The recommendations also seek to prevent any in-car technologies that require drivers to use both hands or take their eyes off the road for more than two seconds.

“Increasingly, data shows that as technology evolves, cell phones aren’t the only potential distraction in vehicles,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has made distracted driving his signature safety issue.

“Many carmakers are now developing in-vehicle electronic systems that can give directions, post to social networking sites and search the Internet.”

Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the trade group is generally supportive of the agency’s guidelines.

“They’re based on guidelines we developed 10 years ago,” Bergquist said. But they also go further to address other emerging technologies, such as those involving social media, she added.

But the Alliance, which represents 12 major carmakers, is concerned that the disability technology won’t be well received by consumers, Bergquist said.

Drivers who can’t access access applications on their dashboards will just revert to calling them up on their handheld devices, she added.

“If you can’t put an address into GPS while moving, then you’ll just use your handheld Garmin,” Bergquist said.

Voluntary guidelines

The guidelines are voluntary, meaning automakers won’t be penalized or suffer a safety downgrade if they don’t comply.

In crafting the guidelines, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland said the agency met with a “countless” number of stakeholders, including carmakers and independent research groups.

The agency chose to make compliance optional to give regulators more flexibility in keeping with the pace of fast-evolving technologies.

Strickland added that the agency hopes automakers will make compliance with the guidelines a selling point to consumers, as they do with other safety ratings.

The public will have a chance to comment on the guidelines over the next 60 days. NHTSA will also hold three public hearings in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles in March.

In 2010, distracted driving deaths totaled 3,092, but NHTSA believes the total could be higher because drivers are often unwilling to admit to the behavior and many crashes lack witnesses.

While other auto industry trade groups have published their own safety guidelines for in-car technologies, NHTSA wants to broaden the scope to include emerging apps for social media, and better define what constitutes a distracted driving task.

The agency is working on a study to determine the hazards of in-vehicle phone use and is looking at hand-held and hands-free devices. It plans to release its analysis late next year.

Not enough?

Still, some safety advocates feel the agency’s guidelines don’t go far enough.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a proposal in December calling for all states to outlaw cell phone use, including use of hands-free devices, while driving.

The proposal is far tougher than restrictions put in place by many states banning hand-held calls or texting and could put technologies that promote hands-free calling behind the wheel at risk.

While LaHood said he appreciates NTSB’s efforts, the agency is still studying the risks of driving while using hands-free devices. LaHood said in December he didn’t believe “hands-free” was the problem.

“Before we go too much further,” LaHood said, “I want to see what the studies we’re doing on the cognitive distractions on some of these technologies.”

PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes ‘Distraction’ Guidelines for Automakers

Proposed recommendations would encourage manufacturers to develop “less distracting” in-vehicle electronic devices

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced the first-ever federally proposed guidelines to encourage automobile manufacturers to limit the distraction risk for in-vehicle electronic devices. The proposed voluntary guidelines would apply to communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices or functions that are not required to safely operate the vehicle.

Issued by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the guidelines would establish specific recommended criteria for electronic devices installed in vehicles at the time they are manufactured that require visual or manual operation by drivers. The announcement of the guidelines comes just days after President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request, which includes $330 million over six years for distracted driving programs that increase awareness of the issue and encourage stakeholders to take action.

“Distracted driving is a dangerous and deadly habit on America’s roadways – that’s why I’ve made it a priority to encourage people to stay focused behind the wheel,” said Secretary LaHood. “These guidelines are a major step forward in identifying real solutions to tackle the issue of distracted driving for drivers of all ages.”

Geared toward light vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, minivans, and other vehicles rated at not more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight), the guidelines proposed today are the first in a series of guidance documents NHTSA plans to issue to address sources of distraction that require use of the hands and/or diversion of the eyes from the primary task of driving.

In particular, the Phase I proposed guidelines released today recommend criteria that manufacturers can use to ensure the systems or devices they provide in their vehicles are less likely to distract the driver with tasks not directly relevant to safely operating the vehicle, or cause undue distraction by engaging the driver’s eyes or hands for more than a very limited duration while driving. Electronic warning system functions such as forward-collision or lane departure alerts would not be subject to the proposed guidelines, since they are intended to warn a driver of a potential crash and are not considered distracting devices.

“We recognize that vehicle manufacturers want to build vehicles that include the tools and conveniences expected by today’s American drivers,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland. “The guidelines we’re proposing would offer real-world guidance to automakers to help them develop electronic devices that provide features consumers want—without disrupting a driver’s attention or sacrificing safety.”

The proposed Phase I distraction guidelines include recommendations to:

–Reduce complexity and task length required by the device;

–Limit device operation to one hand only (leaving the other hand to remain on the steering wheel to control the vehicle);

–Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than two seconds in duration;

–Limit unnecessary visual information in the driver’s field of view;

–Limit the amount of manual inputs required for device operation.

The proposed guidelines would also recommend the disabling of the following operations by in-vehicle electronic devices while driving, unless the devices are intended for use by passengers and cannot reasonably be accessed or seen by the driver, or unless the vehicle is stopped and the transmission shift lever is in park.

–Visual-manual text messaging;

–Visual-manual internet browsing;

–Visual-manual social media browsing;

–Visual-manual navigation system destination entry by address;

–Visual-manual 10-digit phone dialing;

–Displaying to the driver more than 30 characters of text unrelated to the driving task.

NHTSA is also considering future, Phase II proposed guidelines that might address devices or systems that are not built into the vehicle but are brought into the vehicle and used while driving, including aftermarket and portable personal electronic devices such as navigation systems, smart phones, electronic tablets and pads, and other mobile communications devices. A third set of proposed guidelines (Phase III) may address voice-activated controls to further minimize distraction in factory-installed, aftermarket, and portable devices.

The Phase I guidelines were published in today’s Federal Register and members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposal for 60 days. Final guidelines will be issued after the agency reviews and analyzes and responds to public input.

NHTSA will also hold public hearings on the proposed guidelines to solicit public comment. The hearings will take place in March and will be held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C

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  The comments system isn

Article Sources: Automakers should disable technologies that distract drivers, U.S. says

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  — Fasten your seatbelts.

Motorists will have to endure spot service-road closures on the Staten Island Expressway until the summer, as the project inches toward its scheduled completion in early 2013.

There will be some off-peak lane closures so contractors can perform work on the shoulders as needed, and those closures will last until the end of the project, said Adam Levine, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

This week, one lane will be closed on the SIE Brooklyn-bound between Clove and Fingerboard roads from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and one lane will be closed New Jersey-bound between Fingerboard and Clove from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This week there also will be intermittent left-lane closures on the SIE in both directions between Richmond Avenue and Clove from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., for test pits to be drilled.

The right shoulders on the SIE will be closed for survey work this week, from Victory Boulevard to Clove, Brooklyn-bound between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and New Jersey-bound from Richmond Avenue to Clove between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

However there are some 24-hour service road closures that might affect travel around the 1.8 miles of the SIE being reconstructed, such as a west-bound left lane closure on Narrows Road North between North Drive and Hylan Boulevard, and another westbound, left-lane closure on Narrows Road North between Richmond and Clove roads; the eastbound left lane on Narrows Road South between Hylan and Grasmere Drive will also be closed, according to information from the state DOT.

Those 24-hour closures will be in effect until late spring or early summer, Levine said

The state DOT also closed one left lane on Narrows Road South between Clove and Richmond roads until sometime in the summer, Levine added.

But as the work progresses, road markings painted on the expressway are becoming harder to see, especially for early-morning commuters who leave their homes before the sun comes up, and there are potholes opening up, one resident noted.

“It’s like riding on the moon,” said John Nemia of Arden Heights, a regular commuter on the SIE. “It’s getting to be a disaster to drive on.”

The state DOT does drive the highway “within the project limits every day,” said Levine, and instructs the contractor to temporarily patch the potholes it finds until the city DOT can make lasting repairs.

Line striping near the Lily Pond exit is the MTA’s responsibility after traffic patterns shifted more than a week ago, as the next phase of construction began around the Verrazano-Narrows tollbooths.

A lot of the work required to build new ramps on the SIE has been completed, with retaining walls finished near Hylan, Richmond Road and Targee Street, allowing contractors to begin work to complete those ramps, Levine said.

The new SIE entrance ramp from Narrows Road South, built over the highway’s exit near Fingerboard, has also been completed, and the roadway approaching this entrance ramp is currently being built, Levine said.

The first stages of the bridge work at Fingerboard, Targee and Richmond Road is finished or nearly finished.

The most noticeable change in traffic patterns will occur near the end of this month on the Fingerboard Road bridge over the SIE.

With work almost complete on the western half of the new bridge, traffic will be shifted to the newly built structure as the old Fingerboard bridge is removed, said Levine. Its replacement will be completely finished in the fall.

“As is the case now, left-turning trucks will not be allowed to make that movement from Narrows Road North or South, and they will be directed to turn instead at Hylan Boulevard,” Levine explained. “The eastern half of the new bridge will be completed later this year.”

By spring, the DOT anticipates the opening of the eastbound SIE exit and entrance ramps between Hylan and Fingerboard. Heading west on the SIE, motorists can also look out for the opening of two new exit ramps in the summer, with one located between Fingerboard and Hylan and the other between Hylan and Targee.

The massive $75 million project, using about $40 million dollars of federal stimulus money and dividing the other $35 million cost between the 2005 New York State Bond Act and federal and state funds is intended to modernize the aging highway.

“Since it opened in the 1960s, the population of Staten Island has doubled, and the locations of the entrance and exit ramps don’t really fit with the way Staten Islanders live now,” Levine said. “The improvements will also allow better and smoother integration with the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll plaza work under way by the MTA.”

The MTA’s toll plaza work is a separate, $50 million project that removed the last three unused Brooklyn-bound toll booths at the entrance to the Verrazano, and will build or rehabilitate several entrance and exit ramps leading to and from the bridge, which is expected to be completed in 2015.

Article Sources: Staten Islanders face long, bumpy road to summer

STAMFORD, Conn. — Behind a backstage door, Maury Povich leafs through papers and listens to his producers brief him on that day’s paternity mysteries. He checks the pronunciation of a name or two, tries to get straight which man is claiming a childhood testicular injury. Then he’s ready.

“Let’s play the game,” the veteran TV personality says as he rises and heads toward the door.

A couple of turns down a hallway later, he steps onto a stage filled with women dancing to “Sexy and I Know It” over the loudspeaker. A roar of recognition greets him. Maury’s people.

In the post-Oprah Winfrey daytime world, these are good days to be Maury Povich, who shares with Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos a studio converted from a theater 45 miles northeast of New York. His show has its best ratings in five years. “Maury” is the top talk show among young viewers.

Of course, talk show is a general term here. What Povich does is more specific. A backstage whiteboard reveals that most upcoming shows are about establishing paternity through DNA tests or smoking out cheating spouses with the help of a lie detector. Ads soliciting future participants also detail the subject matter: “Do you believe the man you’re in love with is cheating on you? If so, call Maury” and “Do you believe your boyfriend or husband is having sex with one of your family members? If so, call Maury.”

“Maury” clearly gets some interesting phone calls. Not to judge harshly, but if you’re sitting onstage in front of a hooting, hollering audience waiting for Povich to pull a piece of paper from a manila envelope and tell you who the father of your child is, your life has probably taken a couple of wrong turns.

To Povich’s good fortune, there’s an inexhaustible supply of people who don’t mind telling cringe-worthy stories about themselves.

“Maury” is a milder version of what Springer does — no flashing or free-for-alls — but is no different from the type of program that 15 years ago drew end-of-civilization media attention.

Now they essentially exist in a vacuum. Nobody notices except regular fans.

“I haven’t heard from (corporate bosses) NBC in a long time about the content on my show,” Povich said. The show makes money, and there’s a more liberal view of what is acceptable on television today. “In terms of what’s on cable, we’re kind of tame,” he said.

What was once shocking now seems routine, said Walter Podrazik, curator for the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Turn down the sound and you’d be hard-pressed to know whether you’re watching a rerun of Povich or Springer from a dozen years ago, he said.

It was around that time that Povich did his first paternity show with DNA testing. Now they’re a staple, four stories each hour. It’s a parlor game: A woman wakes up naked in bed next to her husband, memory foggy from a wild party the night before. The man’s best friend, also naked, wakes up on a futon at the foot of the bed. Who’s the daddy?

“There was an argument back then that if you beat people over the head with the same thing, they’d get tired of it,” Povich said. “Well, guess what? The opposite is true. They want it more. They want DNA more. They want lie detectors more. They want crazy teenagers so that they can realize they’re not as bad as some of those other people out there. When we narrowed our focus, the more popular we became.”

Povich is also convinced a snap decision he made for the first paternity show pays dividends now. He learns the back stories of his guests but doesn’t peek at the results. He finds out the real father when he opens the envelope onstage. Povich said that enables him to better ask questions he thinks the audience wants to know.

Povich was a longtime broadcast journalist in Washington before entering the syndicated world. He owns a newspaper in Montana, where he has a home with his wife, TV journalist Connie Chung. His $1 million gift last year to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, established a fund for journalism programs. His dad was the legendary Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich. He knows his way around big-name media circles.

Yet since he went to “A Current Affair” in 1986, Povich knows he’s going to get some disapproving looks from other guests at snooty cocktail parties. That’s when he heads to the kitchen, or talks to the bartender. His people.

He said he’s always wanted to tell stories, and still does. If people look down on him for doing that, he looks down on them.

“Inside, I’m telling these people, ‘You don’t know me,”‘ he said. “I could be like you for the rest of my life. I just decided not to be. I could be one of your elite journalists. For Christ’s sake, I was for a long time. It’s not the end-all and be-all. It never was.”

Sometimes it bothers Chung. She’ll say to her husband that no one knows anymore that he was a good reporter and writer. They don’t remember what he did before refereeing shouting matches between estranged spouses.

“I always say, ‘It doesn’t matter, honey, as long as you know,”‘ he said. “Who cares?”

One night while driving in a Midwestern city with some golf buddies, Povich got lost in a dicey part of town. He stopped at a convenience store for directions, and his fearful friends locked the car doors behind him. A few minutes later, Povich emerged laughing and talking with three men thrilled that their favorite talk-show host had paid a visit.

Fit at age 73, Povich is signed for another season after this, the show’s 14th year. He expects he’ll keep going beyond that.

And why not? He works seven months a year, a couple of days a week. There’s a little commute from Manhattan, but not bad. It’s a safe bet that he makes more money a year than his studio audience at any taping. The entire audience. Combined.

A friend recently tut-tutted Povich about the show, shaking his head and saying he wouldn’t do it for a million dollars.

Povich’s eyes twinkled as he recalled his response.

“I said, ‘Neither would I.”‘

Article Sources: Maury Povich tries to find out ‘who’s the daddy?’

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Article Sources: Temporary Team Leader – North County Dublin

Driving by McCullough Junior High School last week, it would beeasy to notice the 30-40 cut-down trees in the school’s parkinglot.

However, those trees were just a few of the 573 removed orplanned to be removed at the 19 CISD campuses in The Woodlands.While the school district did not consult the township before theirremoval, it did not violate any restrictions in The Woodlands’covenants because they are considered “hazardous,” said Hennie VanRensburg, director of covenant administration for The WoodlandsTownship.

While residents and commercial property owners alike arerequired to file an application for tree removal, have the townshipexamine the tree issue and then develop a plan for reforesting theproperty in most cases, Van Rensburg said that is not always thecase for trees considered to be “hazardous;” and the schooldistrict is allowed to remove trees that could be a danger tostudents.

CISD Communications Director Kathy Clark said 98 percent of the573 trees removed since September are pine trees, although thedistrict has removed some limbs on oak trees, which districtofficials are carefully monitoring.

“We are not taking out anything that’s green or that has achance to survive,” Clark said. “When we see there are trees on theproperty that could fall on the children, we take them out.”

According to the tree removal list provided by Clark, as of Jan.27, 18 of the 19 campuses have removed at least one tree, withMcCullough having removed 154, the most of any campus. MitchellIntermediate (100) and Hailey Elementary (90) removed the nexthighest amount on the list, while Lamar Elementary is the onlyschool that has not removed any trees since September.

Clark said maintenance and custodial departments have a 90-dayprocess where they initially examine the tree and later come backto make a final determination on removal. However, if a tree’slimbs are falling or it is deemed an immediate hazard, the treesare removed as soon as possible she said.

Clark said CISD and The Woodlands always have had anundocumented agreement regarding hazardous trees that does notrequire township approval. Clark confirmed none of the McCulloughtree removal was a result of ongoing construction at the school, asthe construction is more of a remodeling and will not expand theschool’s walls.

Van Rensburg said he and township staff stopped by the school toinspect the tree removal and confirmed that the trees “lookeddiseased and need to be removed.” In addition to ensuring thesafety of students, he said schools also remove trees to provide a“view corridor” from the street to the school, something area banksimplemented years ago following a string of bank robberies.

With the drought having an impact on property throughout TheWoodlands, Van Rensburg said residents do not have to apply toremove a dead or dying tree. However, he said property owners whoare considering removing dead or dying trees should contacttownship staff beforehand to inform them.

“We do find that more residents are having a problem with deadtrees,” he said.

In some cases, staff will perform random checks to ensure thetrees being removed are dead or diseased, and when staff membersrecognize a property owner removing a living tree, they will issuea cease and desist to the property owner, Van Rensburg said.

“We have to have some level of trust with the residents,” VanRensburg said.

Clark said many of the trees that have been removed have beendamaged by pine beetles, which Van Rensburg confirmed only attacktrees that are dead or diseased.

“The beetles that we are finding, at this time are Ips beetles.They are attracted to pine trees that are stressed. The protocolfor these trees per our Forest Management Plan is to remove thetree,” Chris Nunes, director of Parks and Recreation, stated in anemail.

Nunes said 7,480 trees were removed in 2011 in the township’sparks and open spaces.

While dead and dying trees can be removed without penalty, thecovenants still apply to living trees, Van Rensburg said.

In July 2011, the Lone Star College System removed eight cypresstrees from the property of the Houston Advanced Research Center at5000 Research Forest Drive, which concerned several residents. VanRensburg said the trees were located about 8 feet from the buildingand had caused up to $75,000 worth of damage, as the roots weregrowing underneath the building in search of water.

However, the college system had not spoken to the township inadvance and has since been asked to reforest the property.

The college has developed a landscape plan and had it approvedby the Development Standards Committee. The plan includes eight100-gallon Bur oak trees with additional 3- to 5-gallon IndianHawthornes. Van Rensburg said the college system is being asked notto replant right now due to the drought, but the deadline forreplanting is in April, so it has time to comply.

For more information about tree removal or the covenants, call281-210-3800 or go to thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov.

Article Sources: CISD removes trees, does not violate covenants – Your Houston News: The Woodlands Villager: News