In a Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Charlie Hyde, past president of the Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, displays his plate of food _ which includes muskrat meat _ while moving through the buffet line at the annual Muskrat Dinner at the Monroe Boat Club in Monroe, Mich. Hyde and his fellow history buffs chatted about local lore and heard from a speaker about the War of 1812, but the star of the show was the sherry-soaked rodent, boiled to perfection and plated. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
In a Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Charlie Hyde, past president of the Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, displays his plate of food _ which includes muskrat meat _ while moving through the buffet line at the annual Muskrat Dinner at the Monroe Boat Club in Monroe, Mich. Hyde and his fellow history buffs chatted about local lore and heard from a speaker about the War of 1812, but the star of the show was the sherry-soaked rodent, boiled to perfection and plated. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
In a Feb. 19, 2013 photo, a food preparer applies sherry to muskrat meat prior to the annual Muskrat Dinner at the Monroe Boat Club in Monroe, Mich. Members of the Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, and other muskrat aficionados _ about 80 in all _ chatted about local lore and heard from a speaker about the War of 1812, but the star of the show was sherry-soaked, boiled and plated. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
In a Feb. 19, 2013 photo, servers dish out muskrat meat and other offerings in the buffet line at the annual Muskrat Dinner at the Monroe Boat Club in Monroe, Mich. Members of the Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, and other muskrat aficionados _ about 80 in all _ chatted about local lore and heard from a speaker about the War of 1812, but the star of the show was sherry-soaked, boiled and plated. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
MONROE, Mich. (AP) ? Most of the menu read like a typical buffet, with soup, salad, turkey, pork and potatoes. But the first offering at the annual Muskrat Dinner in Michigan was distinctive: a pot of the rodent's meat mixed with creamed corn.
"Most beginners are a little hesitant to dive in, especially when they see the carcass laid out on the plate," said Ralph Naveaux, who helped organize the event. "But those of us that have been raised on it, we just adore them. It's almost an addiction."
Members of the Algonquin Club of Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, and other muskrat aficionados ? about 80 in all ? made their way to the Monroe Boat Club, 40 miles south of Detroit, for the recent event.
The history buffs chatted about local lore and heard from a speaker about the War of 1812, but the star of the show was sherry-soaked, boiled and plated.
For these folks, chowing down on muskrat was as natural as seeing the animals scurry around local waters.
Algonquin Club member Robert Lynch, of Kingsville, Ontario, was among those looking to sample a taste of history ? muskrat was a staple of the frontier diet of the region's French settlers.
According to Lynch, muskrat can't really be compared to other kinds of meat.
"I heard somebody say that it tasted like a strong, dark turkey meat. And that would probably be the closest," said Lynch, a 70-year-old retired elementary school teacher. "But there's nothing really to compare to it. It's just different. Some would say it was an acquired taste."
Muskrats, also known locally as "mushrats" or "marsh rabbits," are not rats, but they are members of the rodent family. They eat mostly plants and vegetation, are about 20-25 inches long (including their tails) and weigh between 2 and 5 pounds.
Area residents have been dining on the marsh-dwelling critters for centuries ? ever since trappers pared away the animal's odorous musk glands and determined its meat was good to eat
Charlie Hyde, past president of the Algonquin Club, made his way through the buffet line, sat down and began to dig in.
"Yum, yum," he crowed after taking in a fork-full of muskrat meat and creamed corn.
"This is actually about the best muskrat I've had in about a year. It's the only muskrat I've had in about a year," joked the 67-year-old retired history professor from Royal Oak, Mich.
"Actually, it's very good."
___
Follow Mike Householder on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mikehouseholder
With a severance of $378.36, Andrew Mason could probably score several vouchers for half-priced Thai dinners or Swedish massages, but the ex-CEO of Groupon might be soured on daily deals for a while.
Analysts and investors had been predicting ? and, in some cases, hoping for ? Mason?s departure for months now. Following a dismal fourth-quarter earnings announcement Wednesday, the company?s board showed its co-founder the door.
?The only surprise here was that it took as long as it did to boot him,? Sucharita Mulpuru, analyst at Forrester Research, said via email.
?Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis have been appointed to the newly created Office of the Chief Executive, effective immediately, replacing Andrew Mason,? the company said in a statement. The two will serve as interim CEOs until a replacement for Mason is found.
?On behalf of the entire Groupon Board, I want to thank Andrew for his leadership, his creativity and his deep loyalty to Groupon,? Lefkofsky said in the statement. (The peculiar, precise severance package, which also includes roughly six more months of health insurance, was at Mason?s own request.)
In his typical oddball style, Mason dispensed with bland corporate-speak: "After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding - I was fired today,? he wrote in a memo posted online. ?If you're wondering why... you haven't been paying attention.?
Groupon never lived up to its $20 IPO share price after it went public in November 2011. Following the news on Wednesday of an $81.1 million net loss for the fourth quarter, its stock dropped 24 percent.
The company just got too big too fast, Mulpuru said. ?They'd been set up for failure from the beginning. We'd been saying all along that there were only so many ways that you could goose up your revenue story before it caught up with you and finally it has.?
?I think his vision was correct, but you have to hold [Mason] culpable for the challenges it faced and the pressure on operations from international results,? said Tom Forte, an internet analyst at Telsey Advisory Group. ?In hindsight, the rapid pace of expansion both domestic and overseas created a business that was challenging to manage.?
Groupon also was dogged by accounting fumbles, both in the run-up to as well as after its public debut. Miscalculating how much it had to set aside for customer returns forced the company to restate its first quarterly results as a public company, which prompted a preliminary SEC probe.
Last July, Evercore Partners analyst Ken Sena raised concern that a growing part of the company?s revenue came from the lower-margin business of selling discounted products through its Groupon Goods program. ?Given that first party sales transactions assume inventory risk in addition to driving higher revenue contribution, as they are booked gross vs. net, we see the need for greater transparency,? he said at the time.
Mason was certainly part of the problem, with a penchant for self-sabotage that undermined investor confidence in his leadership abilities: At one company event attended by reporters, he memorably swigged from a beer and joked about overindulging while exhorting employees to be more disciplined.
What comes across as quirky in start-up culture can telegraph as inexperienced or immature on Wall Street, and Groupon?s stock suffered from Mason?s antics.
?He just really never fit the type of a major corporate CEO,? said Timothy Judge, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame. ?So when people see such poor performance... they have trouble finding any reason to have faith.?
Judge said Mason?s unpolished delivery of bad news also contributed to his fall. ?We like that think we live in a world where if you?re direct and open and honest that?s the way it should be,? he said. ?I think the reality is his honesty ended up being used against him,? because investors associated Groupon?s performance with Mason?s.
Even without Mason, Groupon has an uphill climb. ?In the next couple of years, if they don?t do something else, I fully expect? the stock to become worthless, Rocky Agrawal, principal analyst at Redesign Mobile, told CNBC on Thursday.
A new CEO can bring much-needed gravitas, but will face the same big-picture problems that bedeviled Mason. ?The same challenges of slowing growth in daily deals is still there. A new CEO cannot change the market,? Edward Woo, senior research analyst at Ascendiant Capital Markets LLC, said via email.
While Mason?s replacement might be able to execute the vision of Groupon as a local e-commerce platform its founder was unable to put into action, Woo said it remains ?a tall task for anybody.?
?I think they should shrink and focus on the areas that are profitable,? Woo said. ?They should also face the possible option that their market opportunity is much smaller than they originally estimated.?
Mason did offer one final piece of advice in his departure memo, after a tangent comparing his tenure to a notoriously hard video game: ?[H]ave the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what's best for our customers.?
Just figuring out who that is would be a good first step. ?Groupon needs to really decide who is their customer,? Mulpuru said. ?They?ve been acting like the shopper matters more. But that's what got them into this mess in the first place. They need to put the merchant first.?
NOAA and NASA's next generation weather satellite may provide earlier warningsPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 443-858-1779 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
A new satellite that will detect the lightning inside storm clouds may lead to valuable improvements in tornado detection. The GOES-R satellite is currently being built with new technology that may help provide earlier warnings for severe weather. The national average is a 14-minute lead time to warn residents of a tornado, but NASA and NOAA scientists are looking to improve severe weather detection to save lives and property. They are developing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series, or GOES-R, to observe thunderstorm development with much greater spatial and temporal detail than ever before. Severe weather knows no specific season and the new technology aboard GOES-R is expected to help provide earlier detection for warnings, whatever the time of year.
On Jan. 29 and 30, 2013, a winter-time tornado outbreak produced multiple tornadoes from the southern Plains states, across the Mississippi River Valley, eastward to the Mid-Atlantic. On Feb. 10, several tornadoes touched down in Mississippi, destroying 200 homes, damaging and causing injuries near Hattiesburg.
"These storms can spin up pretty quickly which limits warning lead-time," said NOAA scientist Steve Goodman. "The radar and storm spotter's view of tornadoes reaching the ground can be blocked by terrain, or visibility is very poor when the tornado is wrapped in rain. And it's certainly more challenging for storm spotters to observe and confirm tornadoes occurring at night. Sometimes it's just plain hard to come up with enough advance warning."
For the first time, scientists will be able to detect the lightning occurring inside storm clouds, and thus better track how developing storms are moving and intensifying before and during the occurrence of severe weather, Goodman said, all of which will help meteorologists better predict weather disasters.
"Based on the GOES-R research, there is a potential for greater accuracy and additional tornado warning lead time," Goodman said. One significant advancement could help detect developing tornadoes at night to provide the public more time to get to safety.
Studies show that a sudden increase in total lightning flash rate is correlated to impending tornadoes and severe storms. The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) will have a new capability to take continuous day and night measurements of the frequent intra-cloud lightning activity that accompanies many severe storms. This will help forecasters identify intensifying storms before they start producing severe weather on the ground, enabling the issuance of more timely and accurate severe weather warnings.
"The majority of lightning is the in-cloud lightning and that's difficult to detect, especially in the daytime," Goodman said. "GLM will provide new information on lightning in the cloud that our eyes cannot see to allow forecasters to make an earlier determination of a severe and tornadic storms' potential."
The GLM instrument will see all types of lightning: cloud-to-ground, cloud-to-cloud and inside each cloud, and because the GOES-R satellite will cover most of the Western Hemisphere, it will help meteorologists track storms over the land and ocean from their inception.
But lightning isn't the only sign of an impending storm.
Monitoring overshooting cloud tops can provide an early indication of a severe storm. These are dome-like clouds that penetrate above the anvil of a thunderstorm. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on GOES-R will better detect these overshooting tops that indicate a strong updraft.
While the current GOES satellite imager usually provides updated weather conditions during the formation of a storm about every 15 or 30 minutes, ABI will be able to show the changing cloud and weather conditions every 30 seconds in rapid scan mode. When ABI is not monitoring the formation of a storm, it will send imagery over the United States every 5 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, greatly increasing the data available to weather forecasters.
In addition to providing crucial information as part of NOAA's fleet of operational weather satellites, GOES-R will also monitor space weather, such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms that stem from the sun's activity and can affect spacecraft and human spaceflight.
The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) will detect solar flares that can disrupt communication, power grids and have effects on satellites and airline passengers. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) is a telescope that observes the sun to detect eruptions which may result in coronal mass ejections. And to assess radiation hazard to astronauts and satellites, the Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) will monitor protons, electrons and heavy ion fluxes at geosynchronous orbit. GOES-R's Magnetometer (MAG) will also measure the magnetic field in space.
NOAA manages the GOES-R Program with an integrated NOAA-NASA program office organization, staffed with personnel from NOAA and NASA, and supported by industry contractors. The program is co-located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. GOES-R is expected to launch in late 2015.
###
For more information about GOES-R and the current GOES satellite fleet, visit:
www.goes-r.gov/
http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NOAA and NASA's next generation weather satellite may provide earlier warningsPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 443-858-1779 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
A new satellite that will detect the lightning inside storm clouds may lead to valuable improvements in tornado detection. The GOES-R satellite is currently being built with new technology that may help provide earlier warnings for severe weather. The national average is a 14-minute lead time to warn residents of a tornado, but NASA and NOAA scientists are looking to improve severe weather detection to save lives and property. They are developing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series, or GOES-R, to observe thunderstorm development with much greater spatial and temporal detail than ever before. Severe weather knows no specific season and the new technology aboard GOES-R is expected to help provide earlier detection for warnings, whatever the time of year.
On Jan. 29 and 30, 2013, a winter-time tornado outbreak produced multiple tornadoes from the southern Plains states, across the Mississippi River Valley, eastward to the Mid-Atlantic. On Feb. 10, several tornadoes touched down in Mississippi, destroying 200 homes, damaging and causing injuries near Hattiesburg.
"These storms can spin up pretty quickly which limits warning lead-time," said NOAA scientist Steve Goodman. "The radar and storm spotter's view of tornadoes reaching the ground can be blocked by terrain, or visibility is very poor when the tornado is wrapped in rain. And it's certainly more challenging for storm spotters to observe and confirm tornadoes occurring at night. Sometimes it's just plain hard to come up with enough advance warning."
For the first time, scientists will be able to detect the lightning occurring inside storm clouds, and thus better track how developing storms are moving and intensifying before and during the occurrence of severe weather, Goodman said, all of which will help meteorologists better predict weather disasters.
"Based on the GOES-R research, there is a potential for greater accuracy and additional tornado warning lead time," Goodman said. One significant advancement could help detect developing tornadoes at night to provide the public more time to get to safety.
Studies show that a sudden increase in total lightning flash rate is correlated to impending tornadoes and severe storms. The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) will have a new capability to take continuous day and night measurements of the frequent intra-cloud lightning activity that accompanies many severe storms. This will help forecasters identify intensifying storms before they start producing severe weather on the ground, enabling the issuance of more timely and accurate severe weather warnings.
"The majority of lightning is the in-cloud lightning and that's difficult to detect, especially in the daytime," Goodman said. "GLM will provide new information on lightning in the cloud that our eyes cannot see to allow forecasters to make an earlier determination of a severe and tornadic storms' potential."
The GLM instrument will see all types of lightning: cloud-to-ground, cloud-to-cloud and inside each cloud, and because the GOES-R satellite will cover most of the Western Hemisphere, it will help meteorologists track storms over the land and ocean from their inception.
But lightning isn't the only sign of an impending storm.
Monitoring overshooting cloud tops can provide an early indication of a severe storm. These are dome-like clouds that penetrate above the anvil of a thunderstorm. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on GOES-R will better detect these overshooting tops that indicate a strong updraft.
While the current GOES satellite imager usually provides updated weather conditions during the formation of a storm about every 15 or 30 minutes, ABI will be able to show the changing cloud and weather conditions every 30 seconds in rapid scan mode. When ABI is not monitoring the formation of a storm, it will send imagery over the United States every 5 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, greatly increasing the data available to weather forecasters.
In addition to providing crucial information as part of NOAA's fleet of operational weather satellites, GOES-R will also monitor space weather, such as solar flares and geomagnetic storms that stem from the sun's activity and can affect spacecraft and human spaceflight.
The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) will detect solar flares that can disrupt communication, power grids and have effects on satellites and airline passengers. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) is a telescope that observes the sun to detect eruptions which may result in coronal mass ejections. And to assess radiation hazard to astronauts and satellites, the Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) will monitor protons, electrons and heavy ion fluxes at geosynchronous orbit. GOES-R's Magnetometer (MAG) will also measure the magnetic field in space.
NOAA manages the GOES-R Program with an integrated NOAA-NASA program office organization, staffed with personnel from NOAA and NASA, and supported by industry contractors. The program is co-located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. GOES-R is expected to launch in late 2015.
###
For more information about GOES-R and the current GOES satellite fleet, visit:
www.goes-r.gov/
http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration wants the Supreme Court to overturn California's gay marriage ban, outlining a broad legal argument that could ultimately be applied to other state prohibitions across the country.
The administration's friend-of-the-court brief, filed Thursday evening, unequivocally calls on the justices to strike down California's Proposition 8 ballot measure, although it stops short of the soaring rhetoric on marriage equality President Barack Obama expressed in his inaugural address in January. Still, it marks the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court to expand the right of gays and lesbians to wed.
The brief is not legally binding, though the government's opinion could carry weight with the Supreme Court when it hears oral arguments on Proposition 8 in late March.
California is one of eight states that give gay couples all the benefits of marriage through civil unions or domestic partnership but don't allow them to wed. The brief argues that in granting same-sex couples those rights, California has already acknowledged that gay relationships bear the same hallmarks as straight ones.
"They establish homes and lives together, support each other financially, share the joys and burdens of raising children, and provide care through illness and comfort at the moment of death," the administration wrote.
The brief marks the president's most expansive view of gay marriage and signals that he is moving away from his previous assertion that states should determine their own marriage laws. Obama, a former constitutional law professor, signed off on the administration's legal argument last week following lengthy discussions with Attorney General Eric Holder and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.
In a statement following the filing, Holder said "the government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law."
Obama's position, if adopted by the court, would likely result in gay marriage becoming legal in the seven other states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.
In the longer term, the administration urges the justices to subject laws that discriminate on sexual orientation to more rigorous review than usual, as is the case for claims that laws discriminate on the basis of race, sex and other factors.
The Supreme Court has never given gay Americans the special protection it has afforded women and minorities. If it endorses such an approach in the gay marriage cases, same-sex marriage bans around the country could be imperiled.
Despite the potentially wide-ranging implications of the administration's brief, it still falls short of what gay rights advocates and the attorneys who will argue against Proposition 8 had hoped for. Those parties had pressed the president to urge the Supreme Court to not only overturn California's ban, but also declare all gay marriage bans unconstitutional.
Still, marriage equality advocates publicly welcomed the president's legal positioning.
"Obama again asserted a bold claim of full equality for gay Americans, this time in a legal brief," said Richard Socarides, an attorney and advocate. "If its full weight and reasoning are accepted by the Supreme Court, all anti-gay marriage state constitutional amendments will fall, and quickly."
The National Organization for Marriage, a leading supporter of the California ban, rejected Obama's arguments. Spokesman Thomas Peters said he expects the Supreme Court to uphold the votes of more than 7 million Californians to protect marriage, spokesman Thomas Peters said.
The president raised expectations that he would back a broad brief during his inaugural address on Jan. 21. He said the nation's journey "is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."
"For if we are truly created equal, than surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well," he added.
Obama has a complicated history on gay marriage. As a presidential candidate in 2008, he opposed the California ban but didn't endorse gay marriage. He later said his personal views on gay marriage were "evolving."
When he ran for re-election last year, Obama announced his personal support for same-sex marriage but said marriage was an issue that states, not the federal government, should decide.
Public opinion has shifted in support of gay marriage in recent years.
In May 2008, Gallup found that 56 percent of Americans felt same-sex marriages should not be recognized by the law as valid. By last November, 53 percent felt they should be legally recognized.
Gay marriage supporters see the Supreme Court's hearing of Proposition 8, as well as a related case on the Defense of Marriage Act, as a potential watershed moment for same-sex unions.
In a well-coordinated effort, opponents of the California ban flooded the justices with friend-of-the-court briefs in recent days.
Among those filing briefs were 13 states, including four that do not now permit gay couples to wed, and more than 100 prominent Republicans, including GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman and Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Two professional football players who have been outspoken gay rights advocates also filed a brief in the California case. Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo urged the court to rule in favor of same-sex marriage.
The Supreme Court has several options to decide the case that would be narrower than what the administration is asking. The justices also could uphold the California provision, as opponents of gay marriage are urging.
One day after the Supreme Court hears the California case, the justices will hear arguments on provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purpose of deciding who can receive a range of federal benefits.
The administration abandoned its defense of the act in 2011, but the measure will continue to be federal law unless it is struck down or repealed.
In a brief filed last week, the government said Section 3 of the act "violates the fundamental constitutional guarantee of equal protection" because it denies legally married same-sex couples many federal benefits that are available only to legally married heterosexual couples.
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
Follow Mark Sherman at http://twitter.com/shermancourt
Education ? Change in taxing aims to equalize funding between rich and poor areas of the state.
A bill aimed at making school funding more equal across Utah earned committee approval Wednesday despite concerns that it could mean higher property taxes in most school districts.
SB81 seeks to address what many have said is an ongoing problem in Utah education: Some school districts aren?t able to spend as much money on students as others, despite higher local property tax rates, simply because they?re in poorer areas of the state. Utah schools are funded largely through income tax, which is already distributed equally per student across the state, but property taxes also make up part of the school funding pie.
The bill aims to help fix the disparity in property tax funding by essentially collecting more property tax revenue over time at the state level while potentially decreasing the amount collected at the district level.
SB81 would freeze a state property tax rate ? known as the basic rate ? that normally decreases as property values rise. That would mean more money collected by the state, and then equally distributed to schools, as property values rose over time. Meanwhile, school districts would be required to lower one of their local property tax rates by the same amount to keep taxpayers from paying more money overall.
School districts would, however, be allowed to hold truth-in-taxation hearings to keep their local property taxes steady if they felt the need.
"Over time, this will, in fact, significantly improve equity of revenue per student," bill sponsor Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan, told committee members Wednesday.
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who has been pushing for equalization measures for years, also applauded the approach. He said the current system is unfair because it leads to a district like Park City spending more than $10,000 per student while a district like Nebo spends less than $6,000, despite a much higher local property tax rate than Park City.
"This begins to correct that," Stephenson said. "Slowly, over decades, we will see this huge disparity start to close and we will say we as a legislature care as much about kids in Tintic [district] as we do about kids in Park City."
But Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Holladay, said the bill would inevitably lead to most districts having to raise or hold steady their local property taxes to make up for the otherwise automatic decrease in local taxes in the bill.
"I can?t imagine a school district being so flush with money they?re not going to need to replace those funds," Jones said.
story continues below
Tim Leffel, representing business administrators and superintendents across the state, noted that the bill would likely mean truth-in-taxation hearings in 25 of the state?s 41 school districts next school year. Leffel, who is finance director in the Davis District, said districts shouldn?t have to hold truth-in-taxation hearings just to maintain the amount of local taxes they now already collect.
Unless they held hearings to keep their local property tax rates steady, those 25 districts could lose, overall, from $30 in the Wayne District to $162,000 in Park City.
The Senate Education Committee approved the bill 5-1 on Wednesday and it now heads to the Senate floor.
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thyroid hormones reduce damage and improve heart function after myocardial infarction in ratsPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elaine Iandoli eiandoli@nyit.edu 516-686-4013 New York Institute of Technology
Dramatic benefits in rat model after 8 weeks of treatment
Thyroid hormone treatment administered to rats at the time of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) led to significant reduction in the loss of heart muscle cells and improvement in heart function, according to a study published by a team of researchers led by A. Martin Gerdes and Yue-Feng Chen from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The findings, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, have bolstered the researchers' contention that thyroid hormones may help reduce heart damage in humans with cardiac diseases.
"I am extremely excited about the prospects of improving heart disease outcomes in patients by restoring normal thyroid function in the heart," says Gerdes, professor and chair of biomedical sciences at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. "Since thyroid hormones are inexpensive, significant health care savings could also result."
In the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association, scientists treated rats with thyroid hormones after myocardial infarction and examined changes at the cellular level. After eight weeks of treatment, researchers saw significant improvements in heart function and a reduction in the loss of cardiac myocytes, the cells responsible for the heart's pumping ability.
"Reducing the loss of cardiac myocytes is a major therapeutic target after a heart attack since this should lead to improved patient survival and reduced disability," Gerdes said.
Gerdes, who has conducted heart failure research for 35 years, has focused on the two major forms of thyroid hormones known as T3 and T4. Previous animal studies have shown that myocardial infarction leads to reduced cardiac levels of T3, a change that animal studies have demonstrated can eventually cause heart failure by itself. However, blood hormone levels may not always reflect this cardiac tissue deficiency. Although tissue T3 levels have not yet been measured in human hearts, available evidence suggests the same hormone loss likely occurs after myocardial infarction.
"This study clearly demonstrates dramatic benefits in a rat model of myocardial infarction. The challenge now is to determine if humans benefit similarly," says Gerdes.
Gerdes noted that many physicians are opposed to treating heart patients with thyroid hormones, largely due to the potential of increased arrhythmias from overdosing.
"We need to conduct more research to determine which form, T3 or T4, works best in humans and how to administer and monitor hormone treatment in a manner that restores cardiac T3 without increasing serum hormones to above normal levels," he said. "We are encouraged because all animal models of heart disease studied to this point have produced beneficial results as long as non-toxic doses are used. More recently, we have also developed a treatment approach in rats that restores cardiac tissue T3 while maintaining blood hormone levels within the normal range. This is an approach that should also work in humans. So, I believe we are now better prepared for clinical trials."
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About NYIT
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 14,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.
Led by President Edward Guiliano, NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. To date, more than 92,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Thyroid hormones reduce damage and improve heart function after myocardial infarction in ratsPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Elaine Iandoli eiandoli@nyit.edu 516-686-4013 New York Institute of Technology
Dramatic benefits in rat model after 8 weeks of treatment
Thyroid hormone treatment administered to rats at the time of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) led to significant reduction in the loss of heart muscle cells and improvement in heart function, according to a study published by a team of researchers led by A. Martin Gerdes and Yue-Feng Chen from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The findings, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, have bolstered the researchers' contention that thyroid hormones may help reduce heart damage in humans with cardiac diseases.
"I am extremely excited about the prospects of improving heart disease outcomes in patients by restoring normal thyroid function in the heart," says Gerdes, professor and chair of biomedical sciences at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. "Since thyroid hormones are inexpensive, significant health care savings could also result."
In the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association, scientists treated rats with thyroid hormones after myocardial infarction and examined changes at the cellular level. After eight weeks of treatment, researchers saw significant improvements in heart function and a reduction in the loss of cardiac myocytes, the cells responsible for the heart's pumping ability.
"Reducing the loss of cardiac myocytes is a major therapeutic target after a heart attack since this should lead to improved patient survival and reduced disability," Gerdes said.
Gerdes, who has conducted heart failure research for 35 years, has focused on the two major forms of thyroid hormones known as T3 and T4. Previous animal studies have shown that myocardial infarction leads to reduced cardiac levels of T3, a change that animal studies have demonstrated can eventually cause heart failure by itself. However, blood hormone levels may not always reflect this cardiac tissue deficiency. Although tissue T3 levels have not yet been measured in human hearts, available evidence suggests the same hormone loss likely occurs after myocardial infarction.
"This study clearly demonstrates dramatic benefits in a rat model of myocardial infarction. The challenge now is to determine if humans benefit similarly," says Gerdes.
Gerdes noted that many physicians are opposed to treating heart patients with thyroid hormones, largely due to the potential of increased arrhythmias from overdosing.
"We need to conduct more research to determine which form, T3 or T4, works best in humans and how to administer and monitor hormone treatment in a manner that restores cardiac T3 without increasing serum hormones to above normal levels," he said. "We are encouraged because all animal models of heart disease studied to this point have produced beneficial results as long as non-toxic doses are used. More recently, we have also developed a treatment approach in rats that restores cardiac tissue T3 while maintaining blood hormone levels within the normal range. This is an approach that should also work in humans. So, I believe we are now better prepared for clinical trials."
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About NYIT
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 14,000 students attending campuses on Long Island and Manhattan, online, and at its global campuses. NYIT sponsors 11 NCAA Division II programs and one Division I team.
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Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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