| District gives more answers on $25.8M proposal
Wellsville Central School District officials heard two years ago about $1 million in EXCEL (Expanding our Children's Education and Learning) Aid from the state and started looking into a capital project proposal. Through a building conditions survey, tours of facilities and many meetings with the Community Advisory Committee and the input of staff, architect and construction manager, the project grew into a $25.8 million proposal. It includes state building aid of 93 percent (for about 95 percent of the project) and the district can use $746,327 in EXCEL Aid. The local share will be about $2,269,509. The average annual tax impact from the 15 years of the project debt retirement on a $40,000 home would be $38 per year for a homeowner without a STAR exemption, $9 per year for someone with a STAR Program exemption and $0 per year for someone with a Senior STAR exemption.
Settings, speakers could improve DVDs' sound
Q: The sound on rented VCR tapes and DVDs is usually so poor, I can barely hear the dialogue, even with my TV sound turned up to the maximum. Sometimes it is impossible to hear across the room, even when the air conditioner is off. Sometimes the background music overpowers the dialogue. This happens with rented DVDs and videos, but never with programs I tape from broadcasts via basic cable (no converter box). Broadcast sound is always adequate. What might cause this? Is this because of the size of my TV (13 inches)? Would a larger TV solve the problem? How can I improve the movie sound without spending big bucks?--Alice Bratter A: Hi-fi videotapes and DVDs are recorded at sound levels meant for the home theater experience. This means they have wide dynamic range, meaning soft sounds are soft and loud sounds can get very loud.
Failure Was an Option!
Voters wanted an immigration deal": A quick word on those polls MSM writers--e.g. Dan Balz--are using to suggest that the Senate thwarted the popular will in blocking "comprehensive immigration reform." I'd been puzzled myself by the consistent polls showing that a) the comprehensive bill itself was wildly unpopular, yet b) --and these are the polls emphasized by the MSM--the controversial "earned legalization" planks, when they are described to voters, win majority approval. But Mystery Pollster cleared it up for me. The key is the Gallup finding that only half of the public is paying much attention to the immigration debate. Those who are paying attention oppose the bill 30% to 11%, but 58 % "don't know enough to say." On this basis, Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport calls those who oppose the bill a "vociferous minority"--apparently believing that if only more voters paid attention they'd endorse the bill, because when they're given the questions describing various paths to citizenship for illegals who "have a job" and "pay back taxes," they mostly say yes.
Hotel furnishings on the rebound
When I was in my mid-20s, I was living in London, making almost no money and staying in a dumpy, damp and cramped flat directly above the train tracks. As poor as I was, and as rough as my living conditions were, I had original artwork hanging on my wall, I had a flashy stereo and I slept on luxurious Frette linens every night. I wasn't living beyond my means, and no, I wasn't robbing banks, either. I just knew how to score some cheap goods when the local hotels were redecorating their rooms. You don't have to go begging at the back doors of hotels to get great furniture and accessories at rock-bottom prices. You see, when hotels renovate, they usually sell their out-of-date and worn furnishings to large liquidators. These companies resell the goods at huge warehouses located across the country.
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