pileofcrapola

All kinds of things can go wrong on a first date , but not every pitfall is as obvious as you think. According to one survey of over 1,300 singles, you should try to avoid these lesser-known deal breakers as well.

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Did you know a cactus could droop? I didn’t until I killed one. Some plants are hardier than others , but if you’re anything like me, the only plant that survives under your thumb is an artificial one. Habitual plant killers, here’s where we go wrong.

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When you’re laboring away on a woodworking project you’ll likely need multiple types of sandpaper, from a coarse grit for rough surfaces to a finer grit as you finish. But sandpaper is available in a wide spectrum of grit, so how do you know which to buy? Here are the only three types you’ll really need.

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Having a splinter stuck in your skin can be quite painful. The good news is that you can remove most at home, without going to a doctor. The bad news is that you can cause more damage if you don’t know the right way to do it.

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DIY air conditioners may seem like a cheap way to beat the heat, but they aren’t perfect. This video puts two homemade versions to the test and compares them to real AC units.

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While just about anything you’d buy at the supermarket can now be delivered to your house in a reasonable amount of time, there are still some purchases that you must — or at least tend to — make in person: Prescriptions, fresh produce, pet food, among others. Of course, even though you only meant to pick up one or two things, odds are you’re going to add a few items you either remember to buy or are tempted into purchasing once you’re in the store.

The folks at Nielsen — they’re more than just music, ya know — recently took a look at three aspects of shopping behavior in the consumer packaged goods market: Which shopping list items are the main reason for going to the store; which items are you most likely to be reminded about while you’re shopping; and which products are likely to result in an impulse buy.

In terms of “trip drivers,” those products that motivate us to get in the car and go to the store, a number of non-food items appear to provide that impetus more frequently than food products, but we ultimately tend to stock up on foods while we’re at the store anyway.

For example, 73% of people said they’d gone to the store primarily to have a prescription filled, compared to 49% for fresh produce. However, fresh produce ends up in customers’ carts 27% of the time regardless of their reason for going to the store, while only 3% of all visits to the supermarket result in someone leaving with prescription drugs.

Likewise, dog food has driven 68% of consumers to the store, but it is only purchased 1% of the time. Meanwhile, milk is a both a significant driver (61%) and a frequent purchase (13% of all visits).

In terms of items we remember to buy at the store, food and non-food items have the equal potential for an “oh yeah…” purchase, we just purchase the food products more frequently.

Shoppers are reminded about 14% of the time to buy canned tuna, which is less than the 18% reminder rate for shaving-related products. However, we seem to stock up on tuna every seven weeks, compared to the more than 12 weeks between shaving-related purchases.

Some product categories, like suncare, have a decent reminder rate (15%) but are only purchased a few times a year (every 113 days, per Nielsen).

Not surprisingly, food items make for better impulse purchases than non-food products, but those non-food impulse buys often hit our wallets for more money.

Chocolate (duh) was the most frequently purchased impulse buy, at 47% but Nielsen only puts a $5.20 value on those purchases. That’s a third of the price tag of the most popular non-food impulse buy category: sports nutrition. These products are impulse buys 25% of the time, but shoppers are paying more than $16.

To store-owners, it’s good to know this data because it can help you figure out how to increase the frequency of the higher-cost purchases. At the same time, shoppers should be aware that not all impulse buys are created equal; that you may be paying a premium at the checkout for something you didn’t even think about buying in the first place.

From price-matching local and online competitor prices to its own “Savings Catcher” program, Walmart offers customers a variety of ways to save a few buck on their bill. But shoppers at some stores will soon have one fewer option for saving money, as the big box retailer is ditching in-store price matching at 500 locations, though the company currently refuses to say which stores are on that list.

Under the outgoing policy, Walmart allowed customers to bring in local competitors’ ads and if the prices were lower for a product, they would be able to purchase that item at the cheaper price.

Starting June 9, a rep for Walmart tells Consumerist that 500 stores will ditch that policy as a way to streamline and make saving easier for customers.

Since Walmart isn’t saying which stores — or even which regions — are affected by this policy change, the only way for customers to know if they can’t price-match is when they get to the store. The changes will be announced in-store with blue signs at registers, and managers will be on hand to assist customers.

In lieu of the Ad Match program, the 500 stores will offer new “significant, long-term” rollbacks on thousands of items that were commonly price-matched, including consumables, groceries, paper products, and other products.

Walmart says it sees the change as a way to make saving easier by getting everyday prices down.

The retailer says it will still allow customers to price-match if they see a product selling lower on Walmart.com. Additionally, they can continue using Walmart’s Savings Catcher program.

For now, Walmart doesn’t anticipate expanding the no-price-matching policy to stores outside of the undisclosed 500 locations.

[via CouponsInTheNews]

It seems some of the Transportation Security Administration’s efforts to ease long lines at security checkpoints at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have worked: according to one airline official, wait times at O’Hare have been cut down to only 15 minutes since TSA moved 100 part-time officers to full-time status last week, and brought in four more bomb-sniffing dogs. [via Chicago Tribune]

By this point, bricks-and-mortar stores that haven’t also established a solid online presence are often put on death watch, but Costco continues to take a “we’ll get there someday” approach to its internet business without raising too many alarm bells. Is that shortsightedness or good business?

Costco does have an e-commerce site, which offers significantly fewer products than you’ll find in most Costco warehouses, but also sells things like Super Bowl tickets. Though the company does market its online offerings to members, it’s far from a primary revenue stream.

During a call for Costco’s most recent quarterly earnings, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said [via Motley Fool] that the wholesale club tries “to not avoid it or be arrogant about” its online retail operations, while at the same time “we try not to freak out about it.”

Part of the reluctance toward bolstering Costco’s online presence is the membership aspect of the business. Just like its physical locations, shoppers need to be a member to buy from Costco.com. If you’re going to try to compete with Amazon, Walmart, and others, you’ll need to invest in more direct-to-customer distribution centers, customer service, and logistics. It might not be worth the investment if your customer base is limited by the membership requirement — and if those members are still happy with going to Costco to do their shopping.

Galanti says the company is even reluctant to get into a ship-to-store model, where customers buy online and pick up in the store. Customers who do that may be less likely to do any additional shopping when they come to get their online order, whereas the odds are higher that the traditional Costco shopper will pick up some items that aren’t on their list for that day.

“[W]e want to do everything possible to get them in the store and not just come and pick something up,” explained Galanti, adding that part of the Costco business model is “trying to get people in the store with treasure-hunt items, with fresh foods, with gas. So we will keep driving that.”

He said that, compared to shoppers who use services like Instacart to place online orders for same-day delivery, “the in-store visit is two-and-a-half to three times [bigger], if not a little more than that.”

At some point, competing online retailers offer selection and convenience could convince some Costco members to end their memberships, or at least pay fewer visits to the store. Galanti said that “things could change” eventually but for the time being “we’re going to take it steady.”

Only time will tell if Galanti’s words were wise or foolish, but there’s no reason we can’t take a poll:

Take Our Poll

It looks like women in New York will be saving some money when they buy tampons in the future, now that the state’s Assembly has agreed with the Senate, and unanimously voted to repeal a sales tax on feminine hygiene products.

The bill to remove a 4% sales tax on tampons, sanitary napkins, panty liners, and other related products passed the Assembly on Wednesday with a 56-0 vote. That tax can add up to $0.88 for an $11 pack of 50 tampons, Syracuse.com points out.

“Moving this legislation forward is a win for consumers, and it’s a win for women, who have largely shouldered the burden of the tax for generations,” Sen. Sue Serino, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement reported by the Journal News.

The bill also allows for future products, said Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal.

“It was very important that the bill language was broad enough to envisage new menstrual products,” she said. “If and when the day comes that a new and improved menstrual technology hits the market, this law, once it is signed, will provide us with flexibility so that we don’t have to go back in and amend the law to exempt each and every new product, that new product will simply be exempt.”

All that remains now is for Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law, which he said on Wednesday he’d do. It’s slated to take effect on the first day of the next sales tax quarterly period, which, if it’s signed in the next two months, would be Sept. 1.

“Repealing this regressive and unfair tax on women is a matter of social and economic justice, and I commend Assembly Member Rosenthal and Senator Serino for their strong advocacy on this measure. I look forward to signing it into law,” Cuomo said.

In March, five women filed a class action lawsuit against New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance, saying that while other medical items are sold without a tax — including Rogaine, foot powder, dandruff shampoo, ChapStick, adult diapers, and incontinence pads — medical items used only by women like tampons and sanitary napkins are subject to the state’s 4% sales tax.

At Kay Jewelers, a popular mall chain and part of global mediocre jewelry corporate Voltron Signet Jewelers, owners of expensive diamond or gemstone jewelry can get a lifetime diamond or color gemstone guarantee, as long as they bring their jewelry for inspection every six months. Yet some brides who have tried to invoke the guarantee say that their stones were switched out during repairs, when they were in Kay’s possession.

The six-month inspections let employees check to make sure that the diamond still has the same engraved serial number, and also inspect it for problems with the setting that can be repaired before the ring is further damaged or the stone falls out. What some customers allege, though, is that their original stones disappeared during repairs, replaced with inferior diamonds or even fake diamonds.

The Kay Jewelers Facebook page has become an informal gathering place for these customers, and Buzzfeed News has picked up their cause. Since the first story a month ago, even more brides have come forward with complaints against Kay, and their stories are all remarkably similar to each other.

One customer discovered that after five years of owning her ring and diligently bringing it in for inspection every six months, it wasn’t even the ring she thought it was. The original one-carat diamond, which had an inscription, wasn’t there. She confirmed this at other jewelry stores. “It was discovered that it was moissanite and not a diamond, and set [in] platinum, not white gold,” she told Buzzfeed. “I felt sick to my stomach.”

The company’s response: they have millions of happy customers whose rings haven’t been swapped out for stones worth thousands of dollars less. Even when Kay does believe a customer’s story and replaces stones with one of similar value, that ignores something really important about how people in our culture value jewelry: it’s not just about money. A ring with a different diamond in it isn’t the same ring they received during the proposal.

“Every year we’ve got millions of transactions and millions of repairs we are processing in our stores,” Signet’s VP for corporate affairs explained to Buzzfeed. He also said that even one dissatisfied customer is too many, and we’d add that even one stone swapped out without the owner’s permission is too many.

These Women Say Kay Jewelers Swapped Their Diamonds For A Fake Or Worse-Quality Stone [Buzzfeed News]

The following information is provided by Graphiq and FindtheHome.

by Kelsey Warner

Sometimes all you need is a quick meal like a juicy burger. This mood tends to strike when you are miles away from any decent stops. Scavenging on late-night gas station offerings is not a sustainable way to live. Thankfully, there are plenty of places across the U.S. that are sanctuaries for fast food joints.

Living in an area with plenty of fast food restaurants presents a double-edged sword. The good news is you could always have a Taco Bell 12 Pack to keep you company. The bad news is living near fast food and its sodium-laden charms correlates with greater food consumption and higher obesity rates in children. One study even concluded that “fast food can inhibit savoring, producing negative consequences for how we experience pleasurable events.”

The data scientists at FindTheHome, part of the Graphiq network, identified places that have the highest density of fast food restaurants in each state. Using company classification information from Dun & Bradstreet, we calculated the number of fast food restaurants per 10,000 people. We then identified the city within each state with the highest density of fast food restaurants. Only cities with a population threshold over the 95th percentile of the state were considered in our analysis.

Note: For the sake of simplicity, we round the “Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People” to the nearest hundredth, which results in ties. Ties do not exist in the unrounded list. The order of the list reflects ranking based on the original calculation. The cities displayed in the accompanying visualization do not represent all the cities that were considered, just the cities with the top density of fast food restaurants.

#50. Connecticut: Norwalk

Population: 87,214 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 1.84 Notable Restaurant: Five Guys

#49. Massachusetts: Fall River

 

Population: 88,756
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 1.92
Notable Restaurant: Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits

#48. New Hampshire: Rochester

Population: 29,883 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 2.68 Notable Restaurant: Wendy’s

#47. New Jersey: Vineland

 

Population: 60,985
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 2.95
Notable Restaurant: Stewart’s Drive-In

#46. Rhode Island: Warwick

Population: 82,065 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 3.29 Notable Restaurant: Walt’s Roast Beef

#45. Maine: Bangor

 

Population: 32,800
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 3.66
Notable Restaurant: Chipotle

#44. Hawaii: Hilo

Population: 44,549 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.27 Notable Restaurant: Cafe 100

#43. New York: Watertown

 

Population: 27,590
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.35
Notable Restaurant: Sonic Drive-In

#42. Washington: Lakewood

Population: 58,890 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.42 Notable Restaurant: Church’s Chicken

#41. Utah: Sandy

 

Population: 89,521
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.58
Notable Restaurant: The Philadelphian

#40. Arizona: Tempe

Population: 166,975 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.61 Notable Restaurant: French Fry Heaven

#39. Wisconsin: Eau Claire

 

Population: 67,036
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.62
Notable Restaurant: Culver’s

#38. Florida: Boca Raton

Population: 88,187 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.65 Notable Restaurant: Chipotle

#37. Colorado: Grand Junction

 

Population: 59,731
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.69
Notable Restaurant: McAlister’s Deli

#36. Nevada: Paradise

Population: 223,182 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.71 Notable Restaurant: Izzy’s Burger Spa

#35. California: Costa Mesa

 

Population: 111,635
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.75
Notable Restaurant: In-N-Out Burger

#34. Michigan: Southfield

Population: 72,480 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.83 Notable Restaurant: Lou’s Deli

#33. Idaho: Rexburg

 

Population: 26,301
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 4.94
Notable Restaurant: Jimmy John’s

#32. Oregon: Redmond

Population: 27,002 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.19 Notable Restaurant: Dairy Queen

#31. Maryland: Hagerstown

 

Population: 40,295
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.21
Notable Restaurant: Burkett’s Deli

#30. Minnesota: Mankato

Population: 39,871 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.52 Notable Restaurant: Jersey Mike’s Subs

#29. North Dakota: Devils Lake

 

Population: 7,218
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.54
Notable Restaurant: McDonald’s

#28. South Dakota: Mitchell

Population: 15,490 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.81 Notable Restaurant: Quiznos

#27. Vermont: South Burlington

 

Population: 18,378
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 5.99
Notable Restaurant: Al’s French Frys

#26. Texas: Longview

Population: 82,030 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 6.22 Notable Restaurant: Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

#25. Delaware: Dover

 

Population: 36,826
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 6.25
Notable Restaurant: Wayback Burgers

#24. Illinois: Belleville

Population: 43,296 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 6.47 Notable Restaurant: Rally’s

#23. Wyoming: Rock Springs

 

Population: 23,684
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 6.76
Notable Restaurant: Burger King

#22. Pennsylvania: Kingston

Population: 13,105 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 6.87 Notable Restaurant: Abe’s Hot Dogs

#21. Indiana: Marion

 

Population: 29,403
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.14
Notable Restaurant: Penguin Point

#20. Iowa: Spencer

Population: 11,177 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.16 Notable Restaurant: Dairy Queen

#19. Montana: Lockwood

 

Population: 6,943
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.20
Notable Restaurant: Burger King

#18. Kansas: Arkansas City

Population: 12,316 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.31 Notable Restaurant: Long John Silver’s

#17. Ohio: Zanesville

 

Population: 25,444
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.47
Notable Restaurant: Wendy’s

#16. Virginia: Danville

Population: 42,704 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.49 Notable Restaurant: Bojangle’s Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits

#15. Georgia: Dalton

 

Population: 33,336
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.50
Notable Restaurant: Krystal

#14. Tennessee: Kingsport

Population: 52,835 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.57 Notable Restaurant: Pal’s

#13. Alabama: Bessemer

 

Population: 27,202
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 7.72
Notable Restaurant: Chick-fil-A

#12. Missouri: Farmington

Population: 17,213 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 8.71 Notable Restaurant: KFC

#11. Nebraska: Lexington

 

Population: 10,189
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 8.83
Notable Restaurant: Taco John’s

#10. South Carolina: Florence

Population: 37,512 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.06 Notable Restaurant: Five Guys

#9. North Carolina: Statesville

 

Population: 25,132
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.15
Notable Restaurant: Taco Bell

#8. Arkansas: Russellville

Population: 28,581 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.45 Notable Restaurant: Feltner’s Whatta-Burger

#7. New Mexico: Gallup

 

Population: 22,189
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.46
Notable Restaurant: Sonic Drive-In

#6. Mississippi: Ridgeland

Population: 24,209 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.50 Notable Restaurant: Whataburger

#5. Alaska: Wasilla

 

Population: 8,406
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 9.52
Notable Restaurant: Arby’s

#4. Louisiana: Slidell

Population: 27,372 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 10.23 Notable Restaurant: Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

#3. West Virginia: Beckley

 

Population: 17,529
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 10.84
Notable Restaurant: DQ Grill and Chill

#2. Oklahoma: Durant

Population: 16,507 Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 10.90 Notable Restaurant: Jack in the Box

#1. Kentucky: Paducah

 

Population: 25,046
Fast Food Restaurants per 10K People: 13.18
Notable Restaurant: Burger King

Explore More Places on FindTheHome

The post Fast food capital of every state appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — A group of Culpeper County parents plans to protest publicly Wednesday after their children received yearlong suspensions that they claim are excessive and unfair.

A dozen Culpeper County High School student-athletes were given the 364-day suspensions for alleged locker room misconduct that the school system has classified as sexual assault, parents say.

Nobody has been criminally charged.

“We’re going into a lengthy appeal process,” said Larry Boido, the father of a freshman who was suspended.

“We’re looking at this as quite an injustice right now,” he said. “We kind of feel betrayed by the school system.”

The protesters issued a statement in which they downplay the locker-room activities, calling them “shenanigans.”

“There have been a lot of characterizations that we feel are not accurate,” the statement reads. “It’s our understanding that there was horseplay and roughhousing that occurred in multiple locker rooms.”

Boido, among other parents and members of the community upset over the 12 suspensions, obtained a permit to stage a protest outside the school system’s administration building Wednesday afternoon.

A representative of the school district sent WTOP a brief statement, only reading, “We cannot comment on this matter.”

The post Culpeper Co. parents to protest their children’s year-long suspensions appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — She was running a rescue operation that claimed it was “helping dogs in high-kill shelters escape death and find loving forever homes.”

But now Katherine Ting Tiong, 47, of Rockville faces sentencing on 66 counts of animal cruelty.

The case raises questions about dog rescue operations: How can a potential adopter be sure that the dog they hope to bring home is coming from a responsible rescue group that is giving each dog adequate care?

“There are very few laws in any state that actually describe what a rescue group is or hold them to any standards,” said Cory Smith, director of public policy at the Humane Society of the United States.

Smith said there is little oversight over rescue groups, which tend to be volunteer-run organizations.

Dog bite investigation leads to rescue of 66 dogs

In January, Montgomery County police and animal services officers were called to Tiong’s home to investigate a dog bite.

Police said they were told that there were 20 dogs in the house. But they found 66 dogs living in conditions that left officers and animal services staffers gagging as they removed animals from the home.

Many of the dogs were found with matted coats and left in urine-soaked crates.

The Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center took in the dogs, which were later checked over by veterinarians. One of the dogs had to be euthanized, and the rest were evaluated for future adoption.

Smith said that while people would expect that a rescue group should be taking good care of the animals in their charge, the cases like what happened in Rockville highlight potential issues that can arise in a field where there is so little oversight.

But, according to Smith, there’s a flip side: If regulations prove burdensome, that could discourage rescue efforts.

“For the most part, there’s very good work being done by largely volunteer rescue forces — and they’re saving animals’ lives,” Smith said.

Finding a shelter you can trust

So how do you make sure that when you decide to adopt an animal, you’re supporting the groups that have made sure the dogs or cats in their care have been treated well?

Smith said start at your local shelter, where experienced staff can help match you with the pet that will be the best match for you. Many shelters work hand-in-hand with volunteers who foster animals in their own homes, and those “foster parents,” in most cases, are screened by the shelter.

Need help in finding your next best buddy? The HSUS has partnered with The Shelter Project.

And locally you can check out:

• Washington Animal Rescue League, warl.org
• Washington Humane Society, washhumane.org
• Animal Welfare League of Arlington, awla.org
• Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, alexandriaanimals.org
• Fairfax County Animal Shelter
• Frederick County Animal Control
• Prince George’s County Animal Management Services 

The post Md. animal cruelty case exposes need for more scrutiny on rescue groups appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — You’ll likely notice fewer of those troublemaking, invasive stink bugs this year.

“Many of the natural enemies, many of our indigenous predators and parasites, have actually caught up with these guys now and are having a major impact on their population,” said University of Maryland entomology professor Mike Raupp.

“It’s kind of like ‘War of the Worlds,’ where the little microbes defeated the alien.”

Many different insects target stink bugs, according to Raupp.

“We found some of the tiny parasitic wasps that attack their eggs have moved over from our native stink bugs and are now stinging and killing the eggs of the brown marmorated stink bug,” he said.

The average person is likely more familiar with another stink bug predator — the Chinese praying mantis.

“That big beautiful praying mantis that you find in your garden … it loves to eat stink bugs,” Raupp said.

This particular mantis and the invasive stink bug are both originally from Asia.

“The Chinese praying mantis was introduced to the U.S. in about the 1860s [or] 1890s in Pennsylvania,” Raupp said.

“Less than 40 miles away a century later, the brown marmorated stink bug showed up in Allentown.  So this is simply a matter of a predator having an old friend over for dinner.”

According to Raupp, populations of brown marmorated stink bugs have been declining in the D.C. region for several years.

“I think our indigenous good guys here have put the beat down on stink bugs, and I think homeowners and gardeners will enjoy better vegetables and fewer stink bug problems in their gardens this year,” Raupp said.

Read more about the invasive stink bug and the Chinese praying mantis on Raupp’s “Bug of the Week” blog.

Find studies of the brown marmorated stink bug at stopbmsb.org.

The post Finally, some good news about stink bugs appeared first on WTOP.

Gophers have a talent for finding your favorite plants and eating them. They infest your front lawn while leaving your neighbor's property untouched. For those who've resolved to make gopher scourges a thing of the past, there are some effective and time-tested strategies.

EditSteps

EditUsing Non-Lethal Remedies

1. Scatter some of your pet's droppings. Instead of tossing your cat litter or your dog's poop into the trash, put it into the gopher tunnels instead. You won't need a lot; one or two droppings will be enough. Cats and dogs are gopher predators. When gophers smell the poop, they'll think that a predator is nearby.^[1]
   
2. Use smells that gophers don't like. Gophers have very sensitive noses. If they smell something they don't like, they may leave. Here are some scents that are bound to set gophers scurrying:^[2]
   
   • Fish. The next time you go fishing, save some of the scraps (such as fins) and place them in or next to the tunnels.
   • Castor oil. Dilute castor oil with some water and spray it into the tunnels, You can also try dropping some castor oil capsules into the tunnels instead.
   • Coffee grounds. After you have finished brewing a cup of coffee, sprinkle the grounds into the tunnels and cover them with soil. You can also mix the coffee grounds into your soil. It will help repel the gophers while fertilizing your plants.
   • Dryer sheets. Take a few dryer sheets and tuck them into the holes. The strong smell will send the gophers away.
   • Mothballs. Drop a couple of mothballs into the tunnel, and cover the opening with plastic. Gophers don't like the smell of naphthalene, which is in mothballs.
   • Tabasco sauce. Mix together a few drops of peppermint essential oil, 1 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce, ½ cup (120 milliliters) of castor oil, and 1 cup (240 milliliters) of water. Soak some cotton balls in the mixture, then drop them into the tunnels.
3. Plant gopher spurge. This plant, also known as "Euphorbia Lathyris," is a common gopher repellent. Buy a few from your local nursery and plant them in your yard. Focus on the gopher infested areas.
   
   • Other plants that gophers seem to dislike include: castor beans, daffodils, and marigolds.^[3]
   • Some people find that the oleander plant is also an effective gopher repellent. Consider planting oleander around the perimeter of your garden.^[4]
4. Create a noisy environment. Like many animals, gophers dislike a lot of noise. If you find gophers in your yard, try using something that makes noise, such as:^[5]
   
   • Portable radio. Find a cheap, battery-operated radio. Turn it on and stick it into a plastic, resealable bag. Tuck the bag into the gopher tunnel. The plastic bag will protect the radio from getting wet.
   • Wind chimes. They are pretty and create a soft, chiming noise that gophers seem to dislike.
5. Use vibrating stakes. Most vibrating stakes are set deep into the ground, and are completely invisible above ground. They are usually battery-operated. You can buy some that are wind operated. These ones stick above ground and are ornamented with a windmill. You can buy them online, and in certain nurseries or home improvement stores. To insert the vibrating stake:^[6]
   
   • Dig a hole into the ground. Make sure that it is deep enough to fit the stake.
   • Slip the stake into the hole.
   • Fill the hole with more dirt.
   • Avoid hammering or pushing the stake directly into the soil, as this can damage it.
6. Set a gopher trap. Cover all holes with soil, except for one or two. These should be the entrance and exit to the main tunnel. Wash the trap using unscented soap and warm water. Put on a pair of latex gloves, and insert the traps into the tunnel, with the open end facing inside the tunnel.^[7] Once you have placed the trap, cover the area with a sheet of black plastic or burlap so that no light shines into the hole.
   
   • The main tunnel is usually 6 to 12 inches (15.24 to 30.48 centimeters) underground. You can find it by poking the ground around a mound, on the same side as you see freshly-dug-up earth.^[8] Use a weeder or wooden spoon handle. Keep poking until you feel the soil "give."
   • Some people find that rubbing the trap with fresh rosemary helps further disguise the smell of humans.
   • Once you have trapped the gopher, either call up animal control or release it into the wilderness.
7. Use a sewage-based fertilizer. Whenever the soil gets wet, the chemicals in the fertilizer will leach into the soil, and repel the gophers. Avoid using this if you have pets, children, or plan on protecting fruits, vegetables, or herbs. Put on a pair of latex gloves, then follow the steps below:
   
   • Dig a trench about 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) wide and 12 inches (30.48 centimeters) deep around the area you want to protect.
   • Consider digging a few extra trenches and have them meet in the center of the area you are protecting.
   • Fill the trench(s) with the fertilizer.
   • Cover the trench with 1 inch (2.54 centimeters) of soil.

EditUsing Lethal Remedies

1. Use gopher burrow blasters or detonators to smoke them out. They may also be labeled as gopher flares. They fill the tunnels with a mixture of propane and oxygen. This kills the gophers. Buy a few, and read the instructions included, as each brand might be a little different. Insert the flare into the tunnel and wait.
   
   • Burrow blasters/detonators will also work on: badgers, ground hogs, ground squirrels, moles, pocket gophers, prairie dogs, voles, and other burrowing animals.^[9]
2. Gas them using your car's exhaust. Cover all of the holes up with soil except for one. Stick one end of a garden hose into the end of your car's exhaust pipe, and the other end of the hose into the remaining tunnel. Turn your car on for about 15 to 30 minutes. The hose will flood the tunnel with poisonous carbon monoxide.^[10]
   
3. Use poisons with care, especially if you have pets. When a gopher eats the poison, its body will keep that poison. This means that if your cat or dog eats the dead gopher, he or she will get poisoned as well. Because of this, you might want to stay away from poisons containing strychnine. Instead, go for anticoagulants instead. They will cause internal bleeding in the gopher, but won't make the corpse toxic.^[11]
   
   • Keep all poisons away from children and other animals.
   • Consider other methods if you have pets at home.
   • Always wash your hands after handling the poison.
   • To use a Warfarin type bait / pellet poison, you poke down about 1 foot from a recent dirt mound to find a tunnel. Gently open a small hole, pour some pellets in, cover the hole without collapsing the tunnel.
4. Try using a garden hose to flood the gopher tunnel with water. This may not work for your situation, but if you've tried other avenues without success, consider it. Keep in mind that, depending on how deep the tunnels are, your yard could get very muddy. Cover up most of the gopher holes, and stick the end of a garden hose into a tunnel. Let the water run for up to 30 minutes. Kill or trap any escaping gophers.
   
   • Make sure that you are indeed dealing with gophers. Ground moles love the damp. If you have ground moles and flood you are flooding the tunnel, you'll only make your yard more inviting.^[12]
5. Try leaving some fruit-flavored gum or other soft, chewy candy in their tunnels. Many homeowners find that the Juicy Fruit brand works quite well, although there is no scientific research as to why. Put on a pair of latex gloves first, so that your scent doesn't get on the gum. Unwrap the gum and drop it into the gopher hole. The gopher will eat it and die in its burrow.
   
6. Release a predator. This can be as simple as letting your cat or dog out into the yard. Keep in mind, however, that this also depends on the predator's hunting ability and willingness to hunt.
   
   • Not all cats and dogs will get gophers, and their smell alone won't always help. You need a dedicated and skilled cat or dog. If you have a cat who can catch and kill gophers, you are in luck. As for dogs, some dogs you'd never think were ratters can be very good. But if you want to be sure you're adopting a dog who'll hunt gophers, try to get two Jack Russell Terriers (both should be altered to prevent puppies). Two terriers will tag team a gopher. They'll wait on opposite sides of a hole, and when the gopher emerges one or the other will get it. If you have a friend with JRT's and your yard is fenced and dog-escape-proof, you can ask to borrow them, too.
   • Set up some owl boxes in trees to invite owls into your yard.^[13] The owls will prey upon the gophers. You might not want to do this, however, if you have small dogs or cats.
   • Buy some non-venomous snakes and set them loose in your yard. Keep in mind that it may take up to a month for the snake to clear our your yard. If you have a very big gopher problem, consider getting two snakes.^[14]
   • Get a gopher snake with caution. While a gopher snakes are not considered to be venomous, they may still hurt a cat or smaller dog.
7. Hire a professional. A professional exterminator can use Aluminum Phosphide, which reacts with moisture in the air and soil to produce fast-acting highly toxic phosphine gas. There is no residual poison, and there is no secondary poisoning. If your pet digs up and eats the gopher carcass, there is not a chance that your pet will get poisoned. This is the most expensive option, but many exterminating companies offer guarantees.
   

EditDecreasing the Food Supply

1. Decrease the food supply or prevent the gophers from getting to it. The less gophers have to eat in your garden, the sooner they will move on to other yards. This does not necessarily mean that you have to get rid of all your plants, vegetables, and flowers. If you can keep the gophers from getting to your tasty plants, they will move on. Here are some ideas to get you started:
2. Use gopher baskets to protect your plants. Plant vegetable and other vulnerable plants in gopher baskets. These are baskets made of chicken wire that protect the young roots until they are well established.
3. Use mulch as a buffer between the soil gophers burrow in and your plants.^[15] Gophers seem to dislike the smell and taste of mulch.
   
4. Limit the amount of plants in your garden. Instead, consider planting a rock garden or a water garden.^[16] Water gardens can be very beautiful, and you can place aquatic plants in them.
   
5. Build a fence, but make sure that part of it extends underground. While gophers are good at burrowing, they are bad at climbing. Buy some wire mesh from your local nursery or home improvement store. Place it around your garden. Make sure that it extends at least 12 inches (30.48 centimeters) underground. This will prevent the gophers from burrowing under it.^[17]
   
   • Make sure that the fence is a few inches tall above the ground.
   • Try to make the underground part of the fence curve away from your plant bed in an "L" shape. This will confuse the gophers, and prevent them from digging deeper (below the bottom of your fence.^[18]
6. Build some raised plant beds instead.^[19] This will involve building some planters and filling them with soil. You can then place everything into those planters. For ultimate security, consider lining the bottom of your planters with chicken wire to prevent the gophers from digging under the planter walls and into the planter itself.

EditTips

• If you can't locate a tunnel after about 30 seconds of probing, try a different nearby mound.
• If you use water in the gopher holes more than once and the gophers do not die, the gophers will move to another part of your garden. If you use water there, they will probably leave your garden completely.
• Infested areas are prone to re-infestation, because new gophers like to use old tunnel networks. Be alert to fresh gopher holes and treat them quickly.
• Use latex gloves to handle anything you put into the gopher hole. Gophers avoid things that smell of humans.
• Some of these methods take time. Give them a few days before trying another.
• There are devices, instruments called "thumpers" that provide a percussive sound to the ground near gopher holes. It irritates them so much they leave.
• After the gophers have been eliminated, monitor your yard regularly for reinfestation Clean away weeds and garden debris from your yard area so fresh mounds can be readily seen. Take immediate control action when they do reappear.

EditWarnings

• Don't use a poison bait if your pet might eat either the poison or the poisoned gopher. If you use a bait, keep away from children and pets, then wash your hands after application.
• Don't attempt to capture a live gopher and bring it into your home.
• Check your city, country, or state's laws regarding getting rid of certain pests. Some methods for getting rid of gophers may be illegal in certain countries and states.
• Comm forms of poisons used to kill gophers are (check the label of ingredients on any commercial gopher bait you might use) : Strychnine – This is the most common form and most effective. It is also the most damaging to the overall ecosystem. Strychnine will not only kill the gopher, but will kill anything that eats the dead gopher or anything that may eat the grain set out for it. Zinc phosphide and, like strychnine will kill any animal that eats the poisoned gopher or bait grain. Chlorophacinone (RoZol) – This is an anticoagulant poison. It is the least effective of the poisons, but has the least threat of damage to the surrounding ecosystem. It takes about 10 times more of this poison to kill a gopher than strychnine or zinc phosphide. And it, like the other two poisons, it will kill anything that eats the dead gopher or anything that may eat the grain set out for it. Use these gopher poison with extreme care.

EditRelated wikiHows

• How to Get Rid of Snakes
• How to Get Rid of Raccoons
• How to Get Rid of Garden Slugs
• How to Get Rid of Lice
• How to Control Moles and Gophers

EditSources and Citations

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by Kelsey Warner

The role of money in politics is a contentious issue in the 2016 presidential race that has motivated the rise of anti-establishment candidates. Both Republican businessman Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are running on platforms that promote their freedom from the influence of wealthy donors. The success of these candidates suggests that having affluent supporters does not necessarily translate into success in politics.

Beyond the money game of the national election, the richest voters have the power to choose who they want to represent their interests in Washington. Their representatives in Congress typically align with local needs. The relationship between political parties and money can be examined by looking at the wealthiest voters and their elected officials.

The data analysts at FindTheHome used 2014 American Community Survey information to identify the congressional districts with the highest average per capita income. Because the focus is on congressional districts, some states are on the list more than once. All the neighborhoods have average per capita incomes that are at least $10,000 higher than the national average of $28,555. We also use data from InsideGov to provide the current representative’s name and party affiliation.

#50. District 24 of Texas

Average Per Capita Income: $37,802 Representative: Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant Marchant has represented District 24 of Texas since 2005.

#49. District 11 of Michigan

 

Average Per Capita Income: $37,929

Representative: Republican Rep. David A. Trott

Trott, a lawyer by training, is the fifth-richest member of Congress.

#48. District 6 of Pennsylvania

Average Per Capita Income: $38,149 Representative: Republican Rep. Ryan A. Costello Costello assumed office as the representative for Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district in 2015.

#47. District 4 of New Jersey

 

Average Per Capita Income: $38,294

Representative: Republican Rep. Christopher H. Smith

Smith was elected in 1980 and is serving his 18th term as the representative for New Jersey’s 4th District.

#46. District 32 of Texas

Average Per Capita Income: $38,347 Representative: Republican Rep. Pete Sessions Sessions, one of the most conservative members of Congress, has represented District 32 of Texas since 2003.

#45. District 22 of Florida

 

Average Per Capita Income: $38,464

Representative: Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel

Frankel, elected in 2012, was previously the mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida.

#44. District 16 of New York

Average Per Capita Income: $38,546 Representative: Democratic Rep. Eliot L. Engel New York’s 16th District includes the city of Yonkers.

#43. District 6 of Arizona

 

Average Per Capita Income: $38,624

Representative: Republican Rep. David Schweikert

The 6th District of Arizona includes the city of Scottsdale.

#42. District 12 of New Jersey

Average Per Capita Income: $38,627 Representative: Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman Coleman, who assumed office in 2015, is the first African-American congresswoman to represent New Jersey.

#41. District 9 of Illinois

 

Average Per Capita Income: $38,948

Representative: Democratic Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky

Schakowsky has represented Illinois’s 9th Congressional District since 1999.

#40. District 1 of Washington

Average Per Capita Income: $39,050 Representative: Democratic Rep. Suzan K. DelBene DelBene was the 1st Congressional District of Washington’s first representative after it was redrawn in 2012.

#39. District 9 of North Carolina

 

Average Per Capita Income: $39,153

Representative: Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger

The 9th District of North Carolina includes the city of Charlotte.

#38. District 2 of California

Average Per Capita Income: $39,175 Representative: Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman California’s 2nd District includes a large portion of northern California.

#37. District 4 of New York

 

Average Per Capita Income: $39,198

Representative: Democratic Rep. Kathleen M. Rice

Rice, who once worked as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, now represents New York’s 4th District.

#36. District 7 of Pennsylvania

Average Per Capita Income: $39,560 Representative: Republican Rep. Patrick Meehan Meehan, previously a U.S. attorney, was elected to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th District in 2010.

#35. District 6 of Massachusetts

 

Average Per Capita Income: $39,693

Representative: Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton

Moulton has represented the 6th District of Massachusetts since 2015.

#34. District 3 of Texas

Average Per Capita Income: $39,766 Representative: Republican Rep. Sam Johnson The 3rd District of Texas includes the city of Plano.

#33. District 11 of California

 

Average Per Capita Income: $40,118

Representative: Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier

The 11th District of California includes the cities of Richmond and Concord.

#32. District 8 of Massachusetts

Average Per Capita Income: $40,248 Representative: Democratic Rep. Stephen F. Lynch The 8th District of Massachusetts includes some parts of southern Boston.

#31. District 3 of Maryland

 

Average Per Capita Income: $40,511

Representative: Democratic Rep. John P. Sarbanes

Sarbanes previously worked as a lawyer and has represented Maryland’s 3rd District since 2007.

#30. District 2 of Missouri

Average Per Capita Income: $40,732 Representative: Republican Rep. Ann Wagner Wagner served as the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush.

#29. District 17 of California

 

Average Per Capita Income: $41,699

Representative: Democratic Rep. Michael M. Honda

The 17th District of California includes the cities of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Fremont.

#28. District 14 of California

Average Per Capita Income: $42,307 Representative: Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier California’s 14 District includes the cities of San Mateo, Daly City and part of San Francisco.

#27. District 3 of Minnesota

 

Average Per Capita Income: $42,625

Representative: Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen

Paulsen has represented Minnesota’s 3rd District since 2009.

#26. District 6 of Georgia

Average Per Capita Income: $42,637 Representative: Republican Rep. Tom Price Price worked as an orthopedic surgeon before going into politics.

#25. District 45 of California

 

Average Per Capita Income: $42,657

Representative: Republican Rep. Mimi Walters

California’s 45th District is based in Orange County and includes the cities of Irvine and Anaheim.

#24. District 5 of Illinois

Average Per Capita Income: $42,685 Representative: Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley Quigley was elected in a special congressional election. Rahm Emanuel left a vacancy when he resigned to become White House Chief of Staff in 2009.

#23. District 17 of New York

 

Average Per Capita Income: $42,830

Representative: Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey

Lowey has served as a member of the House since 1989.

#22. District 52 of California

Average Per Capita Income: $43,583 Representative: Democratic Rep. Scott H. Peters The 52nd District of California includes the city of San Diego. Peters is the 11th wealthiest member of Congress.

#21. District 48 of California

 

Average Per Capita Income: $43,690

Representative: Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher

California’s 48th District includes Costa Mesa, Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach.

#20. District 6 of Illinois

Average Per Capita Income: $43,896 Representative: Republican Rep. Peter J. Roskam Roskam has represented the 6th District of Illinois since 2007.

#19. District 7 of Texas

 

Average Per Capita Income: $43,911

Representative: Republican Rep. John Abney Culberson

The 7th District of Texas includes part of the city of Houston.

#18. District 5 of New Jersey

Average Per Capita Income: $44,039 Representative: Republican Rep. Scott Garrett Garrett has represented the 5th District of New Jersey since 2003.

#17. District 7 of Washington

 

Average Per Capita Income: $44,095

Representative: Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott

McDermott has represented Washington as a member of the House since 1989. He recently announced his retirement.

#16. District 5 of Massachusetts

Average Per Capita Income: $44,910 Representative: Democratic Rep. Katherine M. Clark Clark, previously an attorney, has represented the 5th District since 2013.

#15. District 11 of Virginia

 

Average Per Capita Income: $45,049

Representative: Democratic Rep. Gerald E. Connolly

The 11th District of Virginia includes the city of Fairfax.

#14. District 4 of Massachusetts

Average Per Capita Income: $45,087 Representative: Democratic Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy family, has served the 4th District of Massachusetts since 2013.

#13. The at-Large Delegate District of D.C.

 

Average Per Capita Income: $46,502

Representative: Democratic Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton

Norton has been ranked as the third most liberal member of Congress.

#12. District 10 of Virginia

Average Per Capita Income: $48,395 Representative: Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock Virginia’s 10th District includes the cities of Loudoun, Clarke and Frederick.

#11. District 8 of Maryland

 

Average Per Capita Income: $48,726

Representative: Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen

Van Hollen was recently ranked as the 29th most liberal member of Congress.

#10. District 11 of New Jersey

Average Per Capita Income: $48,898 Representative: Republican Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen Frelinghuysen has been ranked as the 21st wealthiest member of Congress.

#9. District 3 of New York

 

Average Per Capita Income: $50,366

Representative: Democratic Rep. Steve Israel

New York’s 3rd District includes part of Long Island and Queens.

#8. District 7 of New Jersey

Average Per Capita Income: $50,483 Representative: Republican Rep. Leonard Lance Lance served as member of the New Jersey General Assembly and Senate before winning the 2008 congressional election.

#7. District 12 of California

 

Average Per Capita Income: $52,031

Representative: Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi

California’s 12th District includes the city of San Francisco. Pelosi ranks as the eighth wealthiest member of Congress with an average net worth of $100,864,528.

#6. District 8 of Virginia

Average Per Capita Income: $52,137 Representative: Democratic Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. District 8 of Virginia includes the cities of Arlington and Alexandria.

#5. District 4 of Connecticut

 

Average Per Capita Income: $53,048

Representative: Democratic Rep. James A. Himes

Connecticut’s 4th District includes the cities of Bridgeport and Stamford.

#4. District 18 of California

Average Per Capita Income: $57,633 Representative: Democratic Rep. Anna G. Eshoo Eshoo represents the 18th District of California, which includes part of the Silicon Valley Region.

#3. District 10 of New York

 

Average Per Capita Income: $59,827

Representative: Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler

New York’s 10th District includes parts of Manhattan such as the Financial District and Greenwich Village.

#2. District 33 of California

Average Per Capita Income: $63,505 Representative: Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu The 33rd District of California is based in Los Angeles and includes the Beverly Hills and Malibu neighborhoods.

#1. District 12 of New York

 

Average Per Capita Income: $79,172

Representative: Democratic Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney

New York’s 12th District includes parts of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Compare More Places on FindTheHome

The post Where are the richest voters? appeared first on WTOP.

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) — An Upper Marlboro man has pleaded guilty in an elaborate scheme to steal $222,000 worth of railroad track.

The Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a news release that 50-year-old Randy Penkert pleaded guilty on Tuesday to theft over $100,000 in Howard County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors say in October 2015, CSX railroad police were investigating an industrial park in Columbia. Authorities say several hundred feet of rail, tie plates, bolts and spikes were missing. Prosecutors say Penkert was one of the workers at the scene.

Officials say Penkert claimed to own a recycling company that was contracted to remove and scrap track. Prosecutors say Penkert produced an alleged contract, which investigators determined to be fake.

Penkert faces a maximum of 15 years in prison at sentencing Aug. 25.

The post Man pleads guilty to stealing railroad tracks worth $222,000 appeared first on WTOP.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Latest on the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died a week after he was critically injured in police custody (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

The trial of an officer cleared of charges in the arrest of a young black man didn’t yield a conviction, but it did reveal deep systemic problems within the Baltimore Police Department.

Testimony showed that officers are inadequately trained and routinely ignore rules and regulations designed to keep people safe.

The police commissioner acknowledged the failings on Tuesday and announced a new program to help make sure officers read and understand general orders and policies.

Commissioner Kevin Davis’ announcement came less than 24 hours after a judge acquitted Officer Edward Nero of assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct charges in the arrest of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who was critically injured in police custody and died a week later.

Critics who believe prosecutors were overzealous with charges against six police officers say the state is using the individual officers as a way to indict an entire police department.

___

12:40 p.m.

Baltimore police say the department will use web and smartphone applications to help make sure officers read and understand new rules.

The issue of officers not being aware of new or updated policies was raised in the trials of an officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who was injured in police custody and died a week later.

Commissioner Kevin Davis announced Tuesday that officers will access new policies through the apps and must take a quiz before signing off. The department launches the system July 1.

Davis made the announcement one day after Officer Edward Nero was acquitted of charges stemming from Gray’s arrest. Nero said he wasn’t aware of an updated policy requiring officers to seatbelt prisoners.

Gray died in April 2015, a week after his neck was broken in a police van while he was not restrained by a seatbelt.

___

3:20 a.m.

Baltimore’s top prosecutor is facing criticism that she moved too quickly to file charges against six officers in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died after suffering injuries in police custody.

A judge acquitted Officer Edward Nero on Monday of all charges in the April 2015. Legal experts say the acquittal in the racially charged case could be seen by some as a confirmation of criticism that State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby rushed to file charges.

Gray died a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police van, where he was shackled, handcuffed but unrestrained by a seat belt. His death prompted calls for justice, and rioting followed Gray’s funeral.

The post The Latest: Trial reveals problems within Baltimore police appeared first on WTOP.

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has urged Harvard University to let graduate students who work as research and teaching assistants form collective bargaining units.

Warren and fellow Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Markey sent a letter Monday to Harvard President Drew Faust, saying the students have helped make Harvard an academic world leader. They said giving students the right to collective bargaining will help them continue their work.

“University administrators worldwide look to Harvard as a model for their own universities,” the letter states. “If Harvard welcomes graduate research and teaching assistants who desire to organize for improved workplace policies, a new standard of care may emerge.”

Warren is a former Harvard Law School professor.

A university spokeswoman said Harvard believes the relationship between graduate students and a university is fundamentally about education, not employment — and that their graduate students are “engaged, valued, and supported as a critical part of the learning, teaching, and research” that takes place at Harvard.

“We will continue to encourage an open conversation about graduate student unionization because it could profoundly affect both graduate students and the University’s educational mission,” added Anna Cowenhoven, director of communications for Harvard.

The National Labor Relations Board is considering arguments that graduates assistants are not just students, but also school employees.

In the letter, Warren said that universities already have the option of recognizing collective bargaining units formed by graduate assistants, but that some — like Harvard — have opted to delay that recognition until after the NLRB decision.

Democratic Reps. Michael Capuano and Katherine Clark also signed the letter.

Efforts to unionize graduate students at private universities have been gaining momentum.

A union for teaching assistants is in place at New York University, after the administration gave its blessing in 2013.

Since then, organizing campaigns have gained momentum at other major northeastern universities, including Yale, Harvard and Columbia.

Students and schools are watching the NLRB following a decision to reconsider its decade-old ruling that graduate students at private schools are not entitled to collective bargaining.

Public universities are governed by state labor laws, and tens of thousands of graduate students have been unionized at schools, including the University of California, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut.

At private universities, covered by the National Labor Relations Act, the road to collective bargaining has been blocked by a 2004 ruling in a case involving Brown University in which the NLRB said students cannot unionize.

The post Warren: Let Harvard grad assistants form bargaining units appeared first on WTOP.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Millions of tiny wasps that are natural parasites for the emerald ash borer have been released into wooded areas in 24 states as the battle against the tree-killing borer is now biological.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has researched and approved for release four species of parasitic wasps that naturally target the larval and egg stages of the ash borer, which has killed an estimated 38 million ash trees in urban and residential areas. The estimated cost of treating, removing, and replacing the lost trees is $25 billion, according to a report written by USDA and U.S. Forest Service entomologists earlier this month.

On average, federal and state resource managers spend more than $29 million per year to manage ash borer populations.

The tiniest of the wasps looks like a pepper flake on a white surface. It lays eggs inside ash borer eggs, preventing them from hatching. Three other wasps, one the size of a gnat, lays eggs inside ash borer larvae halting development into adult beetles.

They were identified in China in 2002 and studied for several years before scientists concluded they could be safety released in the United States to fight the ash borer.

The wasp release program is in 24 of the 26 states where the ash borer has been found, said entomologist Ben Slager, the manager of the laboratory in Brighton, Michigan, producing the wasps run by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a USDA agency. Plans are to also distribute wasps to Texas and Georgia, the final two states not yet in the program.

“This isn’t going to save anybody’s tree in their yard or in the city. What we’re working to do is to protect the next generation coming up,” Slager said Tuesday. “It’s really a long-term management strategy.”

Ash was the most commonly planted tree species used to replace elm trees decimated from the 1920s through the 1980s throughout North America by Dutch elm disease.

Scientists believe the ash borer was accidentally introduced into North America in the 1990s, most likely in wooden shipping crates from Russia, China, Japan or Korea. The ash borer feeds on tree tissue beneath the bark, destroying the ability to move water and nutrients to branches.

Iowa, the latest state to introduce the wasps, will begin distribution in the next few weeks in a 133-acre timber near Fairfield, about 100 miles southeast of Des Moines. The ash borer was found there in 2013 and continues to spread, said Mike Kintner, the ash borer program coordinator for Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Iowa has about 52 million rural ash trees and about 3.1 million more urban areas, the USDA Forest Service said.

___

Follow David Pitt on Twitter at https://twitter.com/davepitt

The post Use of parasitic wasps to fight ash borer grows to 24 states appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — It’s wedding season, and while some couples are prepping for the joyous occasion, others are calling it quits.

According to a 2013 study by The Wedding Report, about a quarter-million engagements don’t end in marriage.

“It’s probably even higher than that because lots of people, when they get engaged, you don’t necessarily know about it,” said Amy Sohn, The New York Times contributor who wrote the article “You’ve Canceled the Wedding, Now the Aftermath.”

Sohn told WTOP that while one person in the couple usually has the jitters, the other person isn’t really expecting it.

But if the couple doesn’t cancel 90 days before the wedding, they have to deal with a lot more than heartbreak.

In its annual Real Weddings study, The Knot found that the average wedding cost for American couples reached $32,641 in 2015, with thousands of dollars spent on the venue, caterer, band, photographer and more.

So how can ex-couples get their money back?

Sohn suggests asking the vendors whether they are willing to convert the deposit money into a credit.

“See if they’ll cooperate with you. In a lot of cases they won’t and you’ve signed a very clear contract preventing you from getting money back, but maybe you can argue with them and say, ‘look, if you can fill the day, if I can help find someone to fill the date, can I get some of my money back?’”

The post Canceled weddings are more common than you think appeared first on WTOP.

LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) — An official says the air traffic control tower at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport was evacuated briefly after the fire alarm went off.

Airport spokesman Jonathan Dean said in an email that the airport’s fire department responded to a report of a fire alarm at the tower about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday and investigated. He says firefighters didn’t find smoke or fire.

Dean said late Tuesday that a water flow alarm went off as a fire suppression system was coming back on line after a construction project. He says corrective measures have been taken.

Dean says tower functions were suspended briefly but personnel returned to work about 15 minutes later.

Dean didn’t know how many flights were delayed, but he says the overall effect was minor.

The post BWI control tower evacuated briefly after fire alarm appeared first on WTOP.

A day after aspirin king Bayer officially offered $62 billion to acquire Missouri seed and pesticide giant Monsanto, the deal already appears troubled, with Monsanto’s board of directors saying the offer isn’t sufficient.

More precisely, the Monsanto board unanimously dubbed the Bayer offer as “incomplete and financially inadequate,” though the deal is not yet dead.

The Missouri-based company says it remains open to “constructive conversations to assess whether a transaction in the best interest of Monsanto shareowners can be achieved.”

In a statement, Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant — no, not that Hugh Grant, though that would be awesome — acknowledged that there are benefits to be seen from combining Bayer’s significant CropScience division with Monsanto’s existing properties, thereby creating the world’s largest player in the seed and agricultural chemicals business, but contends that the current proposal “significantly undervalues our company and also does not adequately address or provide reassurance for some of the potential financing and regulatory execution risks related to the acquisition.”

Both Monsanto and Bayer are under pressure to consolidate, following recent similar mega-mergers by Dow and DuPont, and China National Chemical Corp.’s $43 billion acquisition of Syngenta — a company that Monsanto unsuccessfully tried to buy in 2015.

It’s difficult to think of natural disasters as a business, but ultimately they are. More than three years ago, Superstorm/Hurricane Sandy hit heavily populated parts of the East Coast. We’re a wealthy country, though, with a robust national flood insurance program, plenty of disaster aid, and a can-do spirit. All of the people driven out of their homes have rebuilt or received settlements and moved on, right? No.

In the days and weeks after the storm, you might have seen politicians promising to cut red tape, and President Obama giving hugs and assurances to victims. People whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged still don’t have their homes back, and PBS’s Frontline and NPR reporter Laura Sullivan
investigated why this is, and who made money from it.

You’ll be able to hear stories based on their reporting on NPR’s All Things Considered starting this afternoon, and the hour-long Frontline documentary will air on local PBS stations tonight. You should check their stories out to meet some interesting people and shake your head at some terrible incompetence, but here’s some of what we learned about what went wrong

There was a reason why they called it a “Superstorm.” You may remember that the governors of affected states insist that the tropical storm never reached land as a hurricane, which means that higher insurance deductibles for hurricanes shouldn’t apply. Unfortunately, much of the damage to homes was caused by flooding, which means it would have been covered by government-underwritten flood insurance.

Yes, the government underwrites flood insurance policies. People who live in flood-prone areas have additional flood insurance from a program backed by the federal government, the logically-named National Flood Insurance Program. When losses from any one flood are too great and the total goes over the amount paid in premiums, taxpayer money kicks in to cover the rest.

“Insurance companies don’t have any risk in the program,” explained J. Robert Hunter, head of the program in the ’70s. “The risk is all the taxpayers’.”

Under Hunter, the flood insurance program found that insurance companies were collecting government money but not paying valid claims, and the government ended its relationship with more than 100 insurance companies that handled flood policies. Instead, a single company administered the program.

The government partnered up again with insurance companies in 1984, and that’s when the program of private insurance policies underwritten by the federal government that we still have began. More than 80 insurance companies are part of the program.

The National Flood Insurance Program’s deep debt affected how claims from Sandy were processed. Serious storms in the mid-aughts, particularly Hurricane Katrina, sent the program almost $18 billion in debt.

One homeowner went over the numbers with NPR’s Sullivan. He explained that he has to still pay the mortgage and insurance (yes, even the flood insurance) on his house that was destroyed in the flood. He received an insurance settlement of $90,000, but it would cost over $250,000 to actually rebuild his house. He appealed the decision to FEMA, which agreed with the insurance company’s assessment.

The real problems became evident when lawyers got involved. Engineering firms that took part in evaluations of flood-damaged properties have been accused of fraud, with employees claiming that managers who never visited the properties altered their reports to minimize storm damage. The state attorneys general in New York and New Jersey are still investigating those engineering reports. Insurance adjusters also spoke out about the pressures on them after Sandy to low-ball homeowners’ claims to save money.

No one knows how much of a profit insurance companies make from the program. They take about 1/3 of the premiums collected as fees, but how much of that is actual “profit” isn’t something that FEMA actually tracks. However, Frontline and NPR were able to obtain information about the insurance companies’ expenses from state regulators, and compare that with how much the program paid insurance companies in fees.

Their calculations showed that from 2011 to 2014, the around 80 insurance companies in the program collectively earned about $325 million in profit each year from administering flood policies.

Business of Disaster [Frontline]

FURTHER READING:
Red Cross Raised More Than $300 Million After Hurricane Sandy: How Did They Spend It?

If you’re cruising for a pick-me-up in store aisles soon, you might notice that certain brands are a bit cheaper than before: because the price of coffee beans has fallen lately, the parent company of Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts brand packaged coffees has decided to pass on the savings to consumers.

J.M. Smucker Co. says it’ll cut prices on its U.S. packaged coffee brands by an average of 6% per item — except for coffee pod products, reports International Business Times.

“For the last several quarters, lower green coffee costs were reflected in promotional pricing for the majority of our packaged coffee products, and we do not anticipate those prices changing significantly,” said Steve Oakland, who heads up Smucker’s U.S. food and beverage business.

It’s not the first time Smucker has slashed prices — in July 2015, it took 6% off, on average, on the majority of its coffee brands as well.

“This list price decrease provides an opportunity for consumers to benefit from lower pricing on an everyday basis.”

Folgers Coffee Maker JM Smucker Co. (SJM) Slashing Prices In The US [International Business Times]

When you’re trying to combine a Belgian-Brazilian beer giant (that loves to pass itself off as American) with a huge London-based beer company whose roots trace back to South Africa and Wisconsin, you’re going to need to shed some overlapping businesses to get all the approvals you need. It looks like Anheuser-Busch’s plan to sell off some SABMiller brands overseas has helped gain approval from European Union regulators who have given the green light to the $107 billion merger of the two companies.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the European Union gave its blessing to the beer behemoths as long as AB InBev continues to shed more of SABMiller’s European assets.

“Today’s decision will ensure that competition isn’t weakened in these markets and that EU consumers are not worse off,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said.

So far, ABInBev has agreed to sell the Peroni and Grolsch brands to Japan’s Asahi Group for $2.9 billion.

It also pledged to sell SABMiller’s eastern European business in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia for $8 billion. However, the company has yet to announce a buyer for those assets, which include brands like Pilsner Urquell in Czech Republic and Dreher in Hungary.

By selling off SABMiller’s assets, AB InBev will continue to have a small presence in Europe.

The betrothed companies previously reached a deal to sell SABMiller’s stake in the Miller/Coors brand to Molson Coors for $12 billion. The massive deal between the companies must still receive regulatory approval in the U.S. among other areas.

Here’s a look at the brands that are currently being sold off to pave the way for the merger:

Brand	Owner	Buyer	Price
Miller/Coors	SABMiller	Molson Coors	$12 Billion
CR Snow (Chinese brand)	SABMiller	China Resources	$1.6 Billion
Peroni, Grolsch, & Other European Brands	SABMiller	Asahi Group	$2.9 Billion
Eastern European Brands (Pilsner Urquell, Dreher, and others)	SABMiler	To Be Determined	~$8 billion

EU Clears AB InBev’s $108 Billion SABMiller Takeover [The Wall Street Journal]

Biting into a burger and having the juices drip out of it has, until recently, been an experience only enjoyed by meat eaters. Vegetarians might join them soon, with a new meatless burger for sale at Whole Foods that bleeds beet juice instead of beef juice.

Ahead of its debut yesterday at Whole Foods in Boulder, The New York Times compared the Beyond Burger from Beyond Meat to the “holy grail” of alternatives to animal proteins: a plant burger that even the most dedicated meat eater won’t kick out of bed, culinarily speaking.

The Beyond Burger has 20 grams of vegetable protein per patty, most from peas, and contains no gluten or soy.

The blood is actually pulverized beet juice, in an effort to make the burger look, smell, and feel like the real thing.

There’s some competition out there for Beyond Meat, including a meatless burger from Impossible Foods that, its creators say, also bleeds.

So far the Beyond Burger appears to be appealing: it sold out in one hour on the first day it was available at Whole Foods, the company said in a Tweet on Monday:

The burgers cost $5.99 for two patties — a bit higher than real meat, The NYT notes — and will be available in Denver and Washington, D.C., soon, as well other locations this summer.

Plant-Based, the Beyond Burger Aims to Stand Sturdy Among Meat [The New York Times]