We’ve all seen the commercials. Slim, healthy office workers in beautifully lit spaces happily standing at their desks, typing away on a keyboard or perhaps munching on an apple. Remember that old adage — that if something seems too good to be true it probably is? New research suggests the health claims that accompany the use of standing desks may fall squarely into that “too good to be true” category.
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Among the balls, parades, and philanthropic works Mardi Gras krewes undertake throughout the year, one stands out as unique. Legion of Mars, a krewe named for the Roman god of war who fought only to secure the peace, was founded by a group of New Orleans JAG (judge advocate general) attorneys in 2013.
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The Westminster Dog Show crowned a fluffy white Bichon Frise named Flynn Best in Show Tuesday over a diverse array of other four-legged options, concluding the Big Apple’s annual dogfest. Flynn’s cheeks beamed as he navigated the expanse of Madison Square Garden before a raucous crowd, most of which kept their seats for the big reveal after sitting through nearly four hours of competition.
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Americans will spend approximately 1.8 billion dollars on candy this Valentine’s Day. And the sweet treat most often desired is chocolate! With colorful bags and heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate hearts, bonbons, truffles, cremes, squares, dipped-fruits and more, this delectable and refined delicacy made from cocoa beans raises Valentine’s Day senses with passion and excitement for sharing highly anticipated affections.
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by Richard Gunderman The year 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of one of the great courtships in American history, the wooing of an unenthusiastic 22-year-old Olivia Langdon by a completely smitten 32-year-old Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. As I first learned while visiting Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri in preparation for teaching “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the contrasts between the two were indeed stark, and the prospects for their eventual union exceedingly poor. Olivia Langdon, known as Livy, was a thoroughly proper easterner, while Sam was a rugged man of the West. Livy came from a family that was rich and well-educated, while Sam had grown up poor and left school at age 12. She was thoroughly pious, while he was a man who knew how to smoke, drink and swear. On Valentine’s Day, their story is a reminder of the true meaning of love. Despite many challenges, once united, they never gave up on each other and enjoyed a fulfilling 34 years of marriage. The young Olivia Olivia Langdon was born in 1845 in Elmira, New York to a wealthy coal merchant. Her father, Jervis Langdon, was deeply religious but also highly progressive: He supported…
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“Cash is king.” That economic saying is something Metro Nashville may be learning as the finance director warns the city cannot keep spending money as if it is minting it. Metro Finance Director Talia Lomax-O’dneal has warned department heads that they cannot request new spending measures in the 2018-2019 budget, The Tennessean reports. The city’s current $2.2 billion operating budget was a $122 million, a 5.9 percent increase over the previous year. The 2016-17 operating budget was a $121 million, a 6.1 percent increase over the previous year. Mayor Megan Barry’s current budget took Metro Nashville over the $2 billion mark for the first time. “Prudent financial management requires a periodic look for efficiencies and savings opportunities, and there are several fiscal challenges for the 2018 fiscal year,” Lomax-O’dneal said in her letter to department heads. Those “challenges” include tax collections that have returned to normal levels, dwindling reserve balances and increased debt payment obligations. Lomax-O’dneal’s letter failed to mention two issues, one a current budget “challenge,” and the other a potential “challenge.” The former is the $17.1 million lifeline the Metro Council voted last month to give Nashville General Hospital. The latter is the proposed $9 billion light rail…
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee –House Bill 0108, the Heartbeat Report Bill, passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday by a vote of 74 to 20. “As amended, the Heartbeat Report Bill would require that the post-abortion report indicate the presence or absence of a heartbeat, would require that the Department of Health include in its annual report, the heartbeat presence statistics, would require that, if used, the ultrasound be offered to the mother of the baby to be killed,” the bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Micah Van Huss (R-Jonesborough) said on the floor of the House prior to the vote. The companion Senate Bill 0244 was referred to the Judiciary Committee, although it has not been scheduled on the committee calendar. Van Huss took up the mission more than a year ago to protect the unborn by introducing a Heartbeat Bill, which would prohibit abortion in the state of Tennessee from the point a fetal heartbeat is detected. As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, it became increasingly obvious that the bill in its original form would not pass the House Health Committee and was, therefore, amended. The amendment requires that “if an ultrasound is performed as part of the examination prior to…
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U.S. President Donald Trump is sending a $4 trillion-plus budget request to Congress that includes money for a southern border wall and building up the military, but is projected to increase the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion. The plan does not include another $400 billion in stopgap spending over two years that was approved…
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By Robert Romano Say, you’re a fiscal conservative. You think the federal government is spending too much of your hard-earned tax dollars and that the $20.7 trillion national debt is pushing it. You took a gander at the campaign brochures of each of the major parties in 2016, Democrats and Republicans, and discovered Republicans were actively campaigning on balancing the budget. So, you rolled the dice and as fortune would have it, the Republicans were elected to majorities in the House and Senate plus claiming the White House for only the fourth time since the Great Depression — the other times were 1953-54 and 2003-07 when they had all three. And, at least initially in 2017, it looked like this might finally be the time spending could actually be cut. President Donald Trump offered his first budget, which proposed increasing defense spending but cutting non-defense and other mandatory spending, with a full $4.5 trillion of overall spending cuts over ten years. Fast forward a year later, and although Congress did agree to increase defense spending, it was unwilling to cut spending elsewhere. The result is $165 billion of defense spending increases and $131 billion of non-defense over the next two years. The…
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Former Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Bob Corlew, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 6th Congressional District, released a statement today “regarding the recent controversy of the flattery of North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea’s brutal totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un, by CNN and other mainstream media outlets.” “Instead of highlighting our American athletes that are competing in the Olympics, CNN and other mainstream media outlets are pushing out stories with headlines that fawn over North Korea and their totalitarian regime,” Corlew said in the statement. The statement continued: “I have been to the Indo-Pacific region many times and have heard first-hand accounts about the looming threat that hangs over South Korea and Japan every day. This effort by major news networks to glorify this violent and repressive regime is completely unacceptable. This should be a time of national unity as we cheer on our fellow Americans who are representing our country in the Olympic games.” Bob Corlew has been to the Indo-Pacific region numerous times in his role as International President of Lions Club International, the world’s largest service club organization serving in over 200 countries. Corlew served as International President in 2016 and 2017.…
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President Donald Trump is dealing simultaneously with Congress on illegals within the United States and with Mexico (as well as with Canada) on trade in the negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Why not wrap the two issues of illegals (mostly from Mexico) and trade with Mexico in one deal?
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The National Portrait Gallery in Washington has unveiled the official portaits of former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. For his portrait, the former president chose Kehinde Wiley – a Yale University-trained painter famous for his vibrant portraits of African Americans.
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Dripping with the arrogance of a moralizing former ethics-compliance-officer–turned-Metro-Council-member-at-large-looking-to-become-mayor, which is what the politically ambitious Megan Barry was in 2014, she issued her assessment of Judge Casey Moreland’s credibility to continue in his role as a judge: [he] has the right to articulate his own version of events and to defend his actions, but unless he can do so far more persuasively than what we have heard to this point, he should resign. Now that’s a prescient statement by Megan Barry if there ever was one! And in 2017, as Mayor, she didn’t let up on her criticism of the judge who among other matters involving public corruption and abuse of his office, had been accused of having sex with women who could benefit from a reduced sentence: I think you always want to be concerned about when people are in power in making sure that they don’t abuse that power. Amazingly, the Mayor made this statement while actively engaged in her own affair with a subordinate Metro employee and shortly after returning to Nashville from a publicly financed out-of-town overnighter with her security detail lover. Suggestions have been made that the Mayor and her bodyguard’s publicly financed travel for trysts…
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President Donald Trump threatened retaliatory measures against US trade partners Monday, accusing them of “getting away with murder.” “We cannot continue to be taken advantage of by other countries,” Trump told cabinet, state and local officials gathered at the White House for a meeting on infrastructure.
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With relentless attacks coming from oil refiners and powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill, ethanol industry leaders this week are clinging to President Trump and casting him as their unwavering ally – even though key members of his administration are looking at regulatory changes that could hurt the biofuels sector.
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President Trump warned Tuesday that the current debate on DACA would be the final opportunity for Congress to solve the problem before the March 5 deadline. “Negotiations on DACA have begun. Republicans want to make a deal and Democrats say they want to make a deal.
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Since Mayor Megan Barry admitted to her two year adulterous relationship with Sgt. Robert Forrest, head of her security detail and an active duty Metro police officer more details are known about the opportunities city-funded travel provided to facilitate their affair. From her first statement admitting to the affair, the Mayor has insisted that “how much and how often” she was covered by security, including her travel with Sgt. Forrest, was dictated and authorized by police department policy even though it has been documented that prior to her affair, the Mayor “routinely traveled without security.” The Star has asked Sean Braisted, the Mayor’s Director of Communications, Police Chief Anderson and Don Aaron, Public Affairs Manager for the Police Department, for a copy of the policy that the Mayor has insisted is operational. There has been no response from either the Mayor’s office or the police department and no written policy has been provided. During an extended interview, Police Chief Anderson has stated a preference that the mayor have security at all times because“you are always the mayor and you should be secured appropriately” but has also admitted that “at this time that’s not something that is feasible.” What’s not clear from the…
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