| Cullman area seems to buck national real estate trend
The reality of realty is not as bleak locally as recent national news headlines suggest, according to area real estate professionals who say the Cullman housing market is strong."It's been a little slow, but it's not nearly what the national media makes us think that it is," said Cindy Dyer of Crye-Leike Realty Inc. in Cullman.The cover of the Sept. 24 edition of Time suggested otherwise. The magazine posed this question: "Will the real estate bust cause a recession?" Less than a month earlier, in the magazine's Aug. 27 issue, the cover promoted a story on "How Wall Street caused the housing mess."According to the Sept. 24 article, the average home sits on the market for 9.6 months, more than twice the time it took to sell a house two years ago.However, Rita Tucker, broker and co-owner of Alabama First Realty, said this is hardly the case in Cullman.
Tony Winners, NYT Critic to Be Inducted Into Theater Hall of Fame
Anti-Nuclear Renaissance: A Powerful but Partial and Tentative Victory ...
As the presidential primary season heats up, an "anti-nuclear renaissance" against loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants will escalate, with the future of American energy policy and global warming hanging in the balance. In the last days of 2007, grassroots activism ran up a stunning and improbably victory. But the triumph is both partial and tentative, and will be fiercely contested throughout 2008, with the basic direction of US energy policy hanging in the balance. This latest chapter in the half-century saga of atomic energy began last summer, with an industry attempt to grab a blank taxpayer check for underwriting new reactor construction. The charge was been led by six-term Senator Pete Domenici (D-NM), atomic power's prime Congressional pusher. Domenici inserted into the Senate version of the national Energy Bill a complex provision meant to allow the Department of Energy to underwrite up to 80% of new reactor construction costs.
Telemedicus Joins American Telemedicine Association
Telemedicus' Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services DREAMS(TM) technology turns practically any ambulance, clinic or medical transportation vehicle into a mobile trauma center. Through the Intelligent Communications Manager (ICM), the doctor is able to provide treatment immediately through the medical technician because the doctor can see the patient and diagnostic data through the Telemedicus system. The design and development of the next generation of this life saving technology is being completed by Texas A&M, the original developers of the DREAMS(TM) technology. The medical technology is coming to your neighborhood where a patient will be treated through the Telemedicus DREAMS(TM) capabilities. About Telemedicus, Inc: Telemedicus, Inc.
Michigan briefcase
Tubby's Sub Shops Inc. is kicking off an ad campaign to tout the distinct taste and variety of its submarine sandwiches. The ads began running this month, and a series of new radio and TV commercials will air throughout Michigan in 2008. The first TV and radio spots have a Christmas theme. Though the ads are humorous twists on kids' Christmas lists to Santa and the snacks they leave for him Christmas Eve, they all focus on the distinct difference of Tubby's subs: "It's the grill." "Unlike other sub shops that toast, microwave or warm their subs under heat lamps, we're the only sub shop that grills our subs. That's why our tag line in all of our marketing materials is 'It's the grill,' and that's what makes us different and better than the competition," said Robert Paganes, president of Tubby's Sub Shops.
Derobed and lonely: life on civvy street
That mattered little when his main opponents, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, remained in Middle Eastern exile. But now both are back and, as Musharraf might say, preparing to "play merry hell" with his dream of another five years in power. As a result Musharraf's fortunes will largely depend on his successor, General Ashfaq Kiyani. A chain-smoking, poker-faced former spy, Kiyani is expected to first focus on rescuing the army's battered reputation. Musharraf's tactics of naked self-preservation have pounded public support for the army and embarrassed its top brass. The poor image has been compounded by high casualty levels at the hands of Islamist rebels in North-West Frontier province, where 200 soldiers were kidnapped last August. As army chief Kiyani is not just a military commander; he also safeguards the institutional reputation and extensive financial interests of the country's top officers, who consider themselves a class apart.
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