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Worried your bank will make you pay your delayed mortgage bills all at once? Here's what to do

Many homeowners struggling financially in the coronavirus pandemic worry mortgage servicers will require them to repay mortgage bills all at once.





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Zoom Agrees to Step Up Security After New York Probe

New York state's top prosecutor on Thursday announced that the company Zoom would improve security measures, after flaws were detected as the video conferencing platform soared in popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

read more




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Los Angeles-Based American Eagle Auto Body Wins Coveted Spectrum Award For Customer Service Excellence

American Eagle Auto Body, a Los Angeles-based auto shop, is the winner of the City Beat News Spectrum Award for Excellence in Customer Service.




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Snag a Great Deal: 4 Tips in Buying a Used Car Online

Buying a used car online does not have to be intimidating. With these four easy tips, you can make sure that you are getting the best vehicle for your money.




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Seminole PowerSports Hosts Meet and Greet with Cristy Lee from All Girls Garage

Sanford, Florida Power Sports Dealership Welcomes Cristy Lee for the Kickoff of "Tour de Florida"




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Platt & LaBonia Company: Made in the U.S.A. Metal Cabinet and Storage Systems

Connecticut manufacturer has been supplying custom storage solutions since 1945.




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Fort Worth Car Storage Launches New Website

CS Publications Creates SEO-Friendly Car Storage Site




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Car Storage Space in Fort Worth: 5 Questions Every Collector Car Owner Should Ask Before Leasing

Collector Car Storage




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Garages of Texas Appears on Good Morning Texas

Co-Founders discuss the execution of their vision and exciting future plans




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Peninsula General Insurance Uses Improved Google Images Algorithm to Revamp Website

Peninsula General's website continues to offer a fast, online auto insurance quote system that was released in early September 2018.




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GLENN STASKY INNOVATION MAN By Ron Davis from BMW Owners News Magazine, Issue May 2019

A leader in audio electronics, Glenn Stasky turns a near-disastrous encounter with wildlife, into a life-saving mission to produce motorcycle lighting unlike anything that the market has ever seen before. Introducing Clearwater Lights.




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Research Roundup: More Transit = More Jobs, Congestion Trends & Statistics, Managing Increased Ridership

The Transportation Equity Network (TEN) has released More Transit = More Jobs: The Impact Of Increasing Funding For Public Transit (31p. PDF). TEN is a coalition of more than 350 grassroots organizations in 41 states that has worked since 1997 to build a more just, prosperous, and connected America.

This study asks two key questions:

What would be the effect on jobs in each metropolitan area of shifting 50% of the money spent on highways to public transit?

How many jobs would be created in each metro area if we increased funding on public transit at the rate indicated by the Transportation For America proposal for the next transportation authorization act?

The report highlights several statistics in answering those questions based on data from Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPS) in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas. For example, 1,123,674 new transit jobs would be created over a 5-year period for a net gain of 180,150 jobs without a single dollar of new spending.

However, if federal spending on transit increased as proposed by TEN and Transportation For America, an estimated 1.3 million jobs over the life of the law would be created, as well as almost 800,000 more jobs than under present federal transporation law (SAFETEA-LU).

The Federal Highway Administration published the 2009 Urban Congestion Trends (8p. PDF) document last week. This brief report utilizes a dashboard format to convey year-over-year changes in key traffic measures: daily hours of congestion, time penalty for eqach trip, worst-trip time penalty. Some key observations include:

  • Overall, congestion had declined in almost all monitored regions between 2008 and 2009
  • Less wasted time and fewer hours of the day were devoted to stop-and-go traffic in 16 of the 23 monitored regions
  • At least one of the three measures improved in 20 of the 23 monitored regions
  • Congestion is lowest during the summer vacation season
The report goes on to explain how operational improvements can mitigate congestion and promote smooth, safe and consistent traffic flow.

Examples provided from around the country include high-occupancy/toll lanes, freeway ramp metering, improved information coordination, work-zone management, and traffic signal system improvement programs.

In Managing Increasing Ridership Demand (32p. PDF), The FTA's Transit Cooperative Research Program presents an overview of a study mission investigating how several transit operators and agencies in Latin America accomodate sudden and significant growth in the number of riders and increasing demand for service.

Case studies from Guayaquil (Ecuador), Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Porto Alegre (Brazil) were selected because they have faced and successfully dealt with challenges similar to recent ridership grown in the United States.

Each city's responses offer unique insight into managing increasing transit ridership and providing various perspectives on serving the mobility needs of their communities.

Two International Transit Studies Program study missions such as this are conducted each year. They have three objectives: To afford team members the opportunity to expand their network of domestic and international public transportation peers, to provide a forum for discussion of global initiatives and lessons learned in public transportation, and to facilitate idea sharing and the possible import of strategies for application to transportation communities in the United States.




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New And Notable: Strategic Collaboration In Public & Non-Profit, Managing Public Sector Projects, Government Contracting

This week, we highlight three new titles from the ASPA Series in Public Administration and Public Policy.

Market disruptions, climate change, and health pandemics lead the growing list of challenges faced by today’s leaders. These issues, along with countless others that do not make the daily news, require novel thinking and collaborative action to find workable solutions. However, many administrators stumble into collaboration without a strategic orientation.

Using a practitioner-oriented style, Strategic Collaboration In Public And Non-Profit Administration: A Practice-Based Approach To Solving Shared Problems provides guidance on how to collaborate more effectively, with less frustration and better results.

Linking collaboration theory to effective practice, this book offers essential advice that fosters shared understanding, creative answers, and transformation results through strategic collaborative action. With an emphasis on application, it uses scenarios, real-world cases, tables, figures, tools, and checklists to highlight key points.

The appendix includes supplemental resources such as collaboration operating guidelines, a meeting checklist, and a collaboration literature review to help public and nonprofit managers successfully convene, administer, and lead collaboration. The book presents a framework for engaging in collaboration in a way that stretches current thinking and advances public service practice.

A guidebook through the minefield of government contracting and procurement, Government Contracting: Promises and Perils describes the dangerous practices commonly applied in the development and management of government contracts and provides advice for avoiding the sort of errors that might compromise their ability to protect the public interest.

It includes strategies for increasing profits for government contractors, rather than incurring burdensome costs, through compliance with government mandated subcontracting and financial management systems.

Drawing from his in-depth investigation of government agencies across the country, the author examines present-day scenarios that regularly lead public servants and government committees to manage contracts with tools that are less than optimal and to select contractors that may not be the best qualified. He then delineates practical processes, contracting documents, and contract management tools to mitigate detrimental outcomes and alternative approaches to supplant the imperfect methodologies.

The author includes a CD-ROM with the book that provides a number of practical tools that you can apply as well as examples of contracts and templates that are the best he discovered during his research. The book also outlines an approach for performing advance contract planning, conducting contract negotiations, and administering contracts useful when planning for the management of the contracting process throughout the contracting cycle, negotiating a contract that protects the interest of all contracting parties, and ensuring successful contractor performance.

Filling a gap in project management literature, Managing Public Sector Projects: A Strategic Framework for Success in an Era of Downsized Government supplies managers and administrators—at all levels of government—with expert guidance on all aspects of public sector project management.

From properly allocating risks in drafting contracts to dealing with downsized staffs and privatized services, this book clearly explains the technical concepts and the political issues involved.

In line with the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the PMBOK® (Project Management Body of Knowledge), David S. Kassel establishes a framework those in the public sector can follow to ensure the success of their public projects and programs. He supplies more than 30 real-life examples to illustrate the concepts behind the framework—including reconstruction projects in Iraq, the Big Dig project in Boston, local sewer system and library construction projects, and software technology.

This authoritative resource provides strategic recommendations for effective planning, execution, and maintenance of public projects. It also:

  • Highlights the differences between managing projects in the public sector versus the private sector
  • Explains how to scrutinize costs, performance claims, and the backgrounds of prospective contractors
  • Presents key safeguards that should be included in all contracts with contractors, consultants, suppliers, and other service providers
  • Details the basics of project cost estimation, design and scheduling, and how to hold contractors responsible for meeting established project standards

In an age of downsized government and in the face of a general distrust of public service, this book is a dependable guide for avoiding management practices that are common to projects that fail and for adopting the practices common to projects that succeed in terms of cost, schedule, and quality.




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Research Roundup: Social Media For Public Transportation, Funding The Needs Of An Aging Population & An Overview Of U.S. Parking Management Strategies

Each and every day, social media tools change the way that organizations
interact with their users.

A recent report from the Center For Urban Transportation Research at University of South Florida titled Routes To New Networks: A Guide To Social Media For The Public Transportation Industry (66p. PDF) explains how these new platforms offer not only more personal one-on-one interaction than traditional media, but also represent the essence of niche marketing.

It is undeniable that social media is all the buzz. For some, utilizing new media tools may come as second nature. For others, however, entering the world of social media means taking a giant leap into the world of online communications.

One thing is certain – social media platforms are allowing a new opportunity for transportation providers to directly communicate with their target audiences. Communication is moving in this direction – with or without your organization.

The report analyzes the usefulness of and applications for social networks, written blogs, audio/video blogs, microblogs (e.g. Twitter), photo sharing, video sharing, user-generated content and mobile web content.

The report states that key points to consider when determining which tool(s) to use are:

1) Who is my target audience and what tools are they using?
2) What type of information do I want to communicate?
Content must always resonate with your audience. What can you provide that would be of value?

Earlier this year, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) published Funding The Public Transportation Needs Of An Aging Population (57p. PDF).

It explains how rapid growth in the number of older people in the United States during the coming decades will lead to greatly increased needs for expanded and enhanced public transportation services. This report:
a) identifies the range of actions that will be needed to expand mobility options for older people, including accessible public transportation services;
b) quantifies the demand for these public transportation services; and
c) estimates the funding that will be needed to provide them.
Needed actions have been identified by means of a review of the extensive literature on this
subject. The actions needed to expand mobility options for older people include:
  • Enhancements to fixed-route public transportation operations and planning such as additional bus operator training, incorporating travel needs of older people in route planning and stop placement, and coordination with other agencies and transportation providers
  • Enhancements to public transportation vehicles such as low-floor buses, kneeling buses, improved interior circulation, additional stanchions and grab bars, ergonomic seating designed for older riders, and accessibility features either required or encouraged by ADA like lifts and ramps, larger letters on head signs, and stop announcements
  • Actions to help older people take advantage of existing services, like presenting information in ways that are easy to read and as clear as possible, information and assistance programs to connect older people with appropriate services, and outreach and training programs
  • Expansion of supplementary services including flexible route and community transportation services, ADA complementary paratransit, non-ADA demand-responsive services, taxi subsidy programs, and volunteer driver programs
  • Application of universal design strategies at transit facilities, bus stops, and on streets and sidewalks in the immediate vicinity of transit facilities and stops
These are the actions of greatest concern to public transportation agencies, but they are not the
only actions needed.

Other important actions include assuring supportive services to caregivers
who provide transportation, encouraging further development of unsubsidized private
transportation services, increasing the availability of accessible taxicabs, coordinating with non-emergency medical transportation provided under Medicaid and Medicare, and supporting
modifications to automobiles and roadways to increase the safety of older drivers.

Finally, we wanted to take a closer look at U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview Of Management Strategies put out by the Institute For Transportation And Development Policy in New York.

This report highlights best practices in parking management in the United States.

In the last decade, some municipalities have reconsidered poorly conceived parking policies to address a host of negative impacts resulting from private automobile use such as traffic congestion and climate change. Unchecked, these policies have proven to be a major barrier to establishing a balanced urban transportation network.

Many aspects of current parking management in the United States do not work reliably or efficiently for anyone: Motorists find themselves circling for long periods in search of a place to park; retail employees take choice parking locations away from potential customers; developers are compelled to provide more parking than the market requires; and traffic managers encounter difficulty handling traffic generated by new parking as there is often no link between parking price, supply and the amount of available road space.

Finally, the old parking paradigm doesn’t work for the environment, as hidden subsidies encourage over reliance on private car use — a major, growing contributor to global warming and air pollution.

This report identifies core sustainable parking principles and illustrates how smarter parking management can benefit consumers and businesses in time and money savings, while also leading to more livable, attractive communities.




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I too use coloring pages for my art work from time...

I too use coloring pages for my art work from time to time. I can't draw but I'm good at tracing a coloring page onto fabric or paper! HA Works for me! Your workmanship is outstanding!




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Ventana Research Releases Total Compensation Management Value Index

Independent analysis of software rates technology providers across seven product and customer assurance evaluation categories




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MListingS is an MLS Management Service Designed to Get Brokers Listings Published Across the Web

Designed to help real estate brokers and agents get their MLS listings published across the web on up to 154 MLS publisher sites




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Partnership Agreement between "Baladna" and "Widam"

Partnership Agreement between "Baladna" and "Widam" To Supply the local Market with Veal Meat for the First Time




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Amidst Market Volatility From Coronavirus Hype, Beverage Alcohol Investing Remains Strong

ONE ROQ Vodka, ONEROQClub.com, Raises $1M from 2500+ investors to expand industry-first brand experience and membership platform




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Oppenheim Law, Leading Real Estate Boutique, Launches Online Webinar Series About Real Estate and other Legal Issues In The Age Of COVID-19

Real Estate And Foreclosure Defense Attorney Roy Oppenheim Will Hold Court On Financial Survival Strategies For Businesses And Individuals During The COVID-19 Crisis in his upcoming webinar Tuesday, March 24th at noon.




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Angel Partners Reveals 'Fantastic' Year for Startups and Angel Investors in 2019 as Interest for Early Stage Startup Increases

Online angel investment platform, Angels Partners, announced this year had been exceptional in connecting entrepreneurs and investors across different locations (India, USA & EU) and industries.




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Cardinal Capital Management, Inc. Awarded 6-Star and 5-Star Top Guns Manager by Informa Investment Solutions

The firm received PSN's 6- Star and 5-Star recognition for its Balanced Portfolio for the 5-year period ending December 31, 2019




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PRO-Visions LLC Opens With a Bold, Innovative Approach to Property Management in Charleston, SC

Boutique Style of Managing Properties Equals Measurable Results




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David S. Hagen, has been recognized as an Expert in Bankruptcy Law by the International Association of Who's Who

David S. Hagen, of Encino, California, is honored by the International Association of Who's Who as an Expert in Bankruptcy Law for his outstanding contributions within the field of Law.




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Chad Larson Selected as Finalist for Discretionary Manager of the Year in the WP Awards 2020

MLD Wealth Management announced that it had been selected as a Finalist for Discretionary Manager of the Year and Multi-Service Advisory Team of the Year in the 6th annual Wealth Professional Awards.




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FarmVisionAI™ Installations Double and Help Farmers Manage COVID-19 Restrictions

Illumitex's FarmVisionAI provides remote visualization, AI analysis, and labor management alleviating COVID-19 driven operational constraints




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TradeHerald Becomes The First 100x Leverage Cryptocurrency Exchange with Zero Trading Fees

A traders-friendly global leverage exchange with 100+ crypto trading pairs to make the trading experience simple & secure with faster execution than ever before.




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Ventana Research Begins New Dynamic Insights Research on Natural Language Processing

Latest research aims to understand advances in natural language capabilities and its impact on business




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Google Open Sources SimCLR, A Framework for Self-Supervised and Semi-Supervised Image Training

The new framework uses contrastive learning to improve image analysis in unlabeled datasets.




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How AI Can Help Manage Infectious Diseases

With the capability to analyze huge amounts of data, including medical information, human behavior patterns, and environmental conditions, big data tools can be invaluable in dealing with deadly outbreaks.




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Introducing Brain Simulator II: A New Platform for AGI Experimentation

A growing consensus of researchers contend that new algorithms are needed to transform narrow AI to AGI. Brain Simulator II is free software for new algorithm development targeted at AGI that you can experiment with and participate in its development.




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Natural Language Processing Recipes: Best Practices and Examples

Here is an overview of another great natural language processing resource, this time from Microsoft, which demonstrates best practices and implementation guidelines for a variety of tasks and scenarios.




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Top Stories, Apr 27 – May 3: Five Cool Python Libraries for Data Science; Natural Language Processing Recipes: Best Practices and Examples

Also: Coronavirus COVID-19 Genome Analysis using Biopython; LSTM for time series prediction; A Concise Course in Statistical Inference: The Free eBook; Exploring the Impact of Geographic Information Systems




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3 ways digital marketing agencies will change due to COVID-19

As we progress, it is important to adapt your strategy, organization and communication.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.




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Project management tools take center stage as distributed marketers crave ‘single source of truth’

With the workforce at home, a rise in agile adoption, and organizations making major pivots in strategy, the need for these types of platforms is likely to continue.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.




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Google’s new Podcasts Manager tool offers deeper data on listener behavior

It’s one step closer to the podcast analytics advertisers have been waiting for.

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.




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Senior UK medic confident "R" contagion number below 1 across country

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's deputy chief medical officer said on Saturday he was confident the coronavirus "R" number, a measure of the rate of contagion, was below 1 across the United Kingdom. "I am confident that our R is less than 1 overall," Jonathan Van-Tam said at the government's daily news briefing

The post Senior UK medic confident "R" contagion number below 1 across country appeared first on Firstpost.




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How to Manage the Alpha Male

Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson, authors of "Alpha Male Syndrome." Also: Judith Ross on using trust as a strategic management tool.




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How to Manage Conflict

Gill Corkindale, executive coach and former management editor of the Financial Times.




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Managing B Players

Tom DeLong, Harvard Business School professor.




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Managing Generation Y

Tammy Erickson, McKinsey Award-winning author.




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Talent Management

Peter Cappelli, Wharton School professor and author of the HBR article "Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century."




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Should Managers Have a Green Hippocratic Oath?

Rakesh Khurana, Harvard Business School professor.




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The Truth About Middle Managers

Paul Osterman, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of "The Truth About Middle Managers."




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Managing Information Overload

Paul Hemp, HBR contributing editor and author of the HBR article "Death by Information Overload."




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Copenhagen’s Unofficial Cleantech Carnival

Nicholas Eisenberger, managing principal of GreenOrder, joins us from Copenhagen.




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The Most Influential Management Ideas of the Decade

Julia Kirby, HBR editor at large.




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Managing the Productivity Paradox

Tony Schwartz, president and CEO of The Energy Project and author of "The Way We're Working Isn't Working."




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Managing Older Workers

Peter Cappelli, Wharton School professor and coauthor of "Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order."




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Guilty People Make Good Managers

Frank Flynn, Stanford Business School professor and subject of the HBR article "Guilt-Ridden People Make Great Leaders."