Annandale VA: Real estate assessments up nearly 4 percent in ...

The mean real estate tax assessment for residential properties in Annandale (zip code 20023) is $380,715, in 2013, a 3.99 percent increase from 2012, the? Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration reports.

That compares to a 3.5 percent increase county wide from 2012 real estate assessments. The mean assessed value countywide is up 3.13 percent for single-family homes, 4.5 percent for townhouses, and 5.42 percent for condominiums.

The area experiencing the biggest increase in residential real estate assessments is Herndon (5.23 percent), and the area with the smallest increase is Clifton (1.62 percent). In addition to Herndon, areas with larger increases than Annandale include Great Falls, Lorton, and Reston.

Commercial properties show an overall equalization increase of .14 percent, which is primarily because of a 4.9 percent increase in the value of multifamily apartments. Values for office buildings with elevators decreased 2.41 percent, and other offices decreased 1.72 percent, due to lower rents and higher vacancy rates.

The county mailed 2013 tax assessments earlier this week. If you think yours is wrong, you can file an appeal to the Department of Tax Aministration. Appeals must be filed by April 5. You can also file an appeal with the Fairfax County Board of Equalization by June 3.

Source: http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2013/03/real-estate-assessments-up-nearly-4.html

cher morgellons nhl all star draft seal team 6 touch nitrous oxide rihanna thug life tattoo

Is Verizon testing 4.2.2 firmware for the Galaxy Nexus?

News today points towards a testing build of JDQ39 (Android 4.2.2) for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. There's even a screenshot floating around XDA (that's it above) that shows the about screen of the phone that's running it. You've got new radios there, which is great news, but the kernel version, and the reported bootloader (PRIMELC03) are old, which is not such great news.

I'm not sure what to think here. Normally I'd shy away from something like this, as a new radio, a new system version, an old kernel, and an unchanged bootloader just doesn't feel right. We all know how easy it is to fake this sort of thing, and even if real, running on one tester's phone doesn't mean a whole lot to everyone else. 

I think Verizon is trying to put out a recent version of the firmware for the Galaxy Nexus, I really do. They are close enough partners with Google, that a testing build using an old kernel and bootloader is entirely possible. And new baseband information on the about screen can't be faked with just a build.prop edit. We're going to accept this news at face value, and advise anyone with a Verizon Nexus who is worrying about an update to follow along and see how it unfolds. 

I want to believe.

Source: XDA; via: Droid-Life

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/cAZ75fOSMn4/story01.htm

close encounters of the third kind beyonce and jay z baby droid 4 tom brady sister dad shoots daughters laptop brandon jennings the vow review

Horse meat may be back on US menu after 6 years

Stephanie Strom , The New York Times ? ? ? 2 hrs.

The United States Department of Agriculture is likely to approve a horse slaughtering plant in New Mexico in the next two months, which would allow equine meat suitable for human consumption to be produced in the United States for the first time since 2007.

The plant, in Roswell, N.M., is owned by Valley Meat Company, which sued the U.S.D.A. and its Food Safety and Inspection Service last fall over the lack of inspection services for horses going to slaughter. Horse meat cannot be processed for human consumption in the United States without inspection by the U.S.D.A., so horses destined for that purpose have been shipped to places like Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the agriculture department, said that ?several? companies had asked the agency to re-establish inspection of horses for slaughter. ?These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and the F.S.I.S. must complete its inspector training,? he wrote in an e-mail referring to the food inspection service.

He said the Obama administration was urging Congress to reinstate an effective ban on the production of horse meat for human consumption that lapsed in 2011.

The impending approval comes amid growing concern among American consumers that horse meat will somehow make its way into ground beef products in the United States as it has done in Europe. Major companies, including Tesco, Nestl? and Ikea, have had to pull food from shelves in 14 countries after tests showed that products labeled 100 percent beef actually contained small amounts of horse meat. Horse meat is not necessarily unsafe, and in some countries, it is popular. But some opponents of horse slaughtering say consumption of horse meat is ill-advised because of the use of various kinds of drugs in horses.

?We now have the very real prospect of a horse slaughtering plant operating in the U.S. for the first time in six years,? said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. The last plant that slaughtered horse meat for human consumption in the United States closed in 2007, after Congressional approval of an appropriations bill that included a rider forbidding the U.S.D.A. from financing the inspection of such meat. That rider was renewed in subsequent appropriations bills until 2011, when Congress quietly removed it from an omnibus spending act.

That opened the door for a renewal of the horse slaughter business, but only if the U.S.D.A. re-established inspections. The agency never moved to restart its equine inspection service.

Valley Meat sued Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, and Al Almanza, the head of the food safety inspection service, charging that the department?s failure to offer inspection of horse meat violated the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

That law directs the agriculture department to appoint inspectors to examine ?all amenable species? before they enter a slaughtering facility.

?Amenable species? were animals subject to the act the day before it was enacted, including cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses and mules.

A. Blair Dunn, the lawyer for Valley Meat, said that the Justice Department recently asked the company for an additional 60 days to file a response to its lawsuit. Mr. Dunn said the Justice Department indicated it was asking for the extra time because ?the U.S.D.A. plans to issue a grant of inspection within that time, which would allow my clients to begin operations.? Mr. Dunn said that Valley Meat had hired experts in the humane treatment of horses for slaughter and was training employees. The company is not planning to sell meat in the United States, at least at the outset of its operations. ?Last spring, they were in discussions with several companies in European countries about exporting their products,? he said of his clients. ?I?m sure if markets do develop in this country for horse meat for human consumption, they will look at them.?

He cautioned that Valley Meat might still face challenges to opening, noting that several parties had filed briefs on both sides of the case. The Humane Society has petitioned the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of any facility for horse slaughter, raising questions about the presence of drugs like phenylbutazone, which is used to treat inflammation in horses.

Conversely, R-CALF USA, an organization representing about 5,000 family cattle ranching operations, has filed a brief supporting Valley Meat?s legal case. Bill Bullard, its chief executive, said his members needed horse slaughtering facilities to humanely dispose of the horses they used in their businesses once they became old or incapacitated.

?Beginning in 2006, when inspections were temporarily prohibited, these U.S. horses continue to be slaughtered in foreign countries like Mexico and Canada,? Mr. Bullard said. ?We believe the Mexicans do not adhere to the same humane standards as in the United States, and so some of our members won?t sell their horses.?

Mr. Pacelle said he had been surprised to see anyone from the beef industry supporting horse slaughter. ?For the cattle industry, it is a self-destructive move, since the more horse meat that?s circulating, the greater the chance it will infiltrate the food supply and decrease consumer confidence in beef,? he said.

This story first appeared in the New York Times on Feb. 28, 2013, under the headline "U.S.D.A. May Approve Horse Slaughter Plant."

Copyright ? 2013 The New York Times

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/horse-meat-may-be-back-us-menu-after-6-year-1C8638596

trump presidential debate debate marco scutaro Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2

After Newtown, states slow to embrace new gun laws - U.S. News

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, new state-level restrictions on guns have been slow in coming, and they?ve mostly been concentrated in a handful of states that already have tough gun laws.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in at least a half-dozen other states have gone the other way, proposing and in some instances passing bills that would expand where and when a person can be in possession of a firearm.

But for residents in the vast majority of states, gun ownership looks unlikely to change much absent federal legislation.?

A person can still buy a pistol at a Nevada gun show without a background check or carry a rifle inside the New Hampshire state house, just as he or she could before Adam Lanza brought a Bushmaster .223 rifle into a Newtown, Conn., elementary school and opened fire.

?There has been activity in other states that one might not ordinarily think of -- Colorado, for example,? said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. But there remain ?the Idahos of the world, where really little has changed since Newtown.?

Gun-control advocates had high hopes that the Newtown tragedy would serve as a galvanizing moment for the country. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said at the time that he hoped it would be a ?catalyst to demand the sensible change.?

While recent mass shootings do appear to have moved public opinion ? a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found American support for stricter gun laws at its highest level in a decade ? there has not been a rush at the state level to embrace sweeping new gun laws.

And most of the dozen or so states where significant new restrictions have been proposed already have a ?C+? rating or above from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, putting them among the nation?s top states for gun control.

?Most of the viable proposals on the federal level and in most states would have very little impact on self-defense,? said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. ?But pretty much all the gun control proposals out there are not going to be terribly effective at combating criminals.?

In New Jersey, several lawmakers began calling for new gun laws in the immediate aftermath of the Newtown shooting, even though the state already has an A- rating from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Legislators voted a raft of bills through the Democrat-controlled state assembly on Feb. 22, including a ban on .50 caliber weapons and a 10-round magazine limit. Those bills may still be held up by a hesitant Senate and Republican governor.

?We?re going to take a hard look at the bills the Assembly did,? New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said in an interview with Philadelphia radio station 106.9FM. ?Some might be changed, some might not go through at all.?

At the same time, lawmakers in Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Tennessee, Texas, and Arizona all moved to loosen their controls on firearms, in many cases thumbing their nose at prospective federal legislation.

An Arkansas bill allowing holders of concealed-carry permits to bring their gun into churches was signed into law by Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, on Feb. 11.

First sponsored by state Senator Bryan King, the Church Protection Act passed the state?s Republican-controlled Senate by an overwhelming majority. In Kentucky, the state Senate voted 34 to 3 on Feb. 25 to approve a bill outlawing the enforcement of federal gun laws that do not yet exist.

The most aggressive gun-control legislative action so far has come in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo championed one of the nation?s toughest bans on assault weapons, the first to come in the wake of Newtown. But the state already boasted gun laws that were among the nation?s toughest.

Even in states seared by recent tragedies, lawmakers have found their progress slowed.

After Connecticut lawmakers failed to coalesce around any of the gun laws offered in the days after Newtown, Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy introduced his own proposal and vowed to shove it through.

Lawmakers are trying to forge a bipartisan consensus but they are finding it difficult. ?I would hope that we would have a broadly supported bipartisan bill, but I think it?s more important that we have a strong bill that meets the need,? said Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney, a Democrat.

In Colorado, home of the Aurora theater shooting, House lawmakers advanced gun-control bills after some last-minute lobbying from Joe Biden, drawing the wrath of Republicans.

The bills would mandate universal background checks, ban magazines with more than 15 rounds, and allow college campuses to prohibit concealed carry. With the Senate planning to vote soon, the magazine maker Magpul Industries threatened to abandon its plant 28 miles from Denver?if the proposed magazine limit is put into law.

?Colorado is in a unique position in that we have suffered these tragedies firsthand, so there is a drumbeat in Colorado,? said Colorado Senate President John Morse, a Democrat. ?I think the governor will be in support of all of these bills once we get them to his desk.?

Passing a bill expanding gun rights can be complicated, too, as Wyoming State Representative Kendell Kroeker, a Republican, found out.

He got a bill passed in the state House of Representatives that would have made it illegal for anyone to enforce any new federal law that placed restrictions on guns, ammunition, or other firearms accessories within the borders of the state.

That bill died amid questions of its constitutionality, Kroeker said. But the response from his constituents was ?overwhelmingly positive,? he added.

Whether gun ownership changes for most Americans may come down to actions taken on the national level, as hesitant state lawmakers wait for a cue from Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee put a one-week hold on prospective federal gun bills on Thursday.

Related:

Gun stores running low on weapons as sales surge

Anger, violent thoughts: Are you too sick to own a gun?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/02/17151151-after-newtown-states-slow-to-embrace-new-gun-laws

miss canada justin bieber boyfriend marianas trench camille grammer camille grammer us supreme court breaking dawn part 2 trailer

Horse meat may be back on US menu after 6 years

Stephanie Strom , The New York Times ? ? ? 2 hrs.

The United States Department of Agriculture is likely to approve a horse slaughtering plant in New Mexico in the next two months, which would allow equine meat suitable for human consumption to be produced in the United States for the first time since 2007.

The plant, in Roswell, N.M., is owned by Valley Meat Company, which sued the U.S.D.A. and its Food Safety and Inspection Service last fall over the lack of inspection services for horses going to slaughter. Horse meat cannot be processed for human consumption in the United States without inspection by the U.S.D.A., so horses destined for that purpose have been shipped to places like Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the agriculture department, said that ?several? companies had asked the agency to re-establish inspection of horses for slaughter. ?These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and the F.S.I.S. must complete its inspector training,? he wrote in an e-mail referring to the food inspection service.

He said the Obama administration was urging Congress to reinstate an effective ban on the production of horse meat for human consumption that lapsed in 2011.

The impending approval comes amid growing concern among American consumers that horse meat will somehow make its way into ground beef products in the United States as it has done in Europe. Major companies, including Tesco, Nestl? and Ikea, have had to pull food from shelves in 14 countries after tests showed that products labeled 100 percent beef actually contained small amounts of horse meat. Horse meat is not necessarily unsafe, and in some countries, it is popular. But some opponents of horse slaughtering say consumption of horse meat is ill-advised because of the use of various kinds of drugs in horses.

?We now have the very real prospect of a horse slaughtering plant operating in the U.S. for the first time in six years,? said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. The last plant that slaughtered horse meat for human consumption in the United States closed in 2007, after Congressional approval of an appropriations bill that included a rider forbidding the U.S.D.A. from financing the inspection of such meat. That rider was renewed in subsequent appropriations bills until 2011, when Congress quietly removed it from an omnibus spending act.

That opened the door for a renewal of the horse slaughter business, but only if the U.S.D.A. re-established inspections. The agency never moved to restart its equine inspection service.

Valley Meat sued Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, and Al Almanza, the head of the food safety inspection service, charging that the department?s failure to offer inspection of horse meat violated the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

That law directs the agriculture department to appoint inspectors to examine ?all amenable species? before they enter a slaughtering facility.

?Amenable species? were animals subject to the act the day before it was enacted, including cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses and mules.

A. Blair Dunn, the lawyer for Valley Meat, said that the Justice Department recently asked the company for an additional 60 days to file a response to its lawsuit. Mr. Dunn said the Justice Department indicated it was asking for the extra time because ?the U.S.D.A. plans to issue a grant of inspection within that time, which would allow my clients to begin operations.? Mr. Dunn said that Valley Meat had hired experts in the humane treatment of horses for slaughter and was training employees. The company is not planning to sell meat in the United States, at least at the outset of its operations. ?Last spring, they were in discussions with several companies in European countries about exporting their products,? he said of his clients. ?I?m sure if markets do develop in this country for horse meat for human consumption, they will look at them.?

He cautioned that Valley Meat might still face challenges to opening, noting that several parties had filed briefs on both sides of the case. The Humane Society has petitioned the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of any facility for horse slaughter, raising questions about the presence of drugs like phenylbutazone, which is used to treat inflammation in horses.

Conversely, R-CALF USA, an organization representing about 5,000 family cattle ranching operations, has filed a brief supporting Valley Meat?s legal case. Bill Bullard, its chief executive, said his members needed horse slaughtering facilities to humanely dispose of the horses they used in their businesses once they became old or incapacitated.

?Beginning in 2006, when inspections were temporarily prohibited, these U.S. horses continue to be slaughtered in foreign countries like Mexico and Canada,? Mr. Bullard said. ?We believe the Mexicans do not adhere to the same humane standards as in the United States, and so some of our members won?t sell their horses.?

Mr. Pacelle said he had been surprised to see anyone from the beef industry supporting horse slaughter. ?For the cattle industry, it is a self-destructive move, since the more horse meat that?s circulating, the greater the chance it will infiltrate the food supply and decrease consumer confidence in beef,? he said.

This story first appeared in the New York Times on Feb. 28, 2013, under the headline "U.S.D.A. May Approve Horse Slaughter Plant."

Copyright ? 2013 The New York Times

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/horse-meat-may-be-back-us-menu-after-6-year-1C8638596

final four lotto winners mega ball winning numbers baltimore county current tv megamillions ncaa basketball tournament 2012

Next Pope: Appoint More Teachers and Preachers, Fewer Administrators and Fundraisers

As Pope Benedict XVI resigns on Thursday, Yahoo News asked American Catholics: What would they like to see in the next pope? What would they like him to focus on? Here's one perspective.

COMMENTARY | Practicing, faithful Catholics of course first want the next pope to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church established by Jesus. A pope who would change Church teachings on matters like the sacrament of Matrimony, the sacredness of human life, or the entire economy of salvation as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church would be leading Catholics to conform to the spirit of modern society instead of the Holy Spirit.

I want the next pope to continue many of the outreaches established by his immediate predecessors (Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI): the current Year of Faith; World Youth Day; the Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans; true renewal of the liturgy and understanding of the Second Vatican Council, conversations with Orthodox Christians, and most of all the New Evangelization. I want the next pope to be as accessible as recent popes, traveling around the world to reach out to Catholics and non-Catholics, preaching the Gospel, and calling all to the love of Jesus.

Most of all, I want the next pope to appoint bishops who will really serve the New Evangelization and who will be teachers and preachers more than they are administrators and fundraisers. They need to be able to demonstrate that the love of Christ and His church is the way to holiness and happiness on earth--not necessarily pleasure and satisfaction--and eternal joy in heaven.

The next pope can be young or old; black or white; from Europe, South America, North America, or Africa. But he must have the energy and strength to call the entire church, clerical and lay, to holiness and faithfulness and unity with the Most Holy Trinity.

Stephanie Mann is a Kansas resident.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/next-pope-appoint-more-teachers-preachers-fewer-administrators-164300831.html

college basketball oakland pinnacle airlines kansas vs kentucky joe posnanski michael kidd gilchrist national championship

Arkansas Senate overrides veto of abortion bill

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? The Arkansas Senate voted Thursday to override a veto of a near-ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy and backed a separate measure that would only allow the procedures before the 12th week, with few exceptions.

The Republican-led Senate voted 19-14 along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the 20-week bill, a day after the GOP-led state House voted to override it. A simple majority was required in each chamber.

That law, which took effect immediately, is based on the contested claim that fetuses can feel pain by that point. It includes exemptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Senate President Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, voted to override the veto, but later told reporters he wasn't sure the new law would survive a constitutional challenge.

"If it was an easy answer, then people wouldn't be raising that subject," he said after the vote.

Minutes after overriding Beebe's veto, the Senate's voted 26-8 in support of the measure that would outlaw most abortions starting in the 12th week of pregnancy. In addition to the exemptions for rape, incest and the mother's life, it would allow abortions when lethal fetal conditions are detected.

Beebe declined to say whether he'd veto the 12-week ban, and has until next week to decide. He has said he thinks it's on even shakier legal ground than the 20-week ban, which he believes contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion until a fetus can viably survive outside of the womb, which is typically at 22 to 24 weeks.

Beebe said Thursday's override did nothing to allay his concerns about the new abortion restrictions, including the amount of money the state will have to spend defending them.

"Nothing's changed from the standpoint of what I think the problem with the bill is," Beebe told reporters. "It's still the same problem it was before they overrode the veto."

Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said she was disappointed with the Senate's override and said her group is considering suing.

"We are going to do everything within our power to protect the health and reproductive decision-making abilities of women and in this case that includes looking very carefully at litigation," she said.

Democrats who previously voted for the 20-week ban but against the override said they did so out of deference to Beebe and the concerns the governor raised over the measure's constitutionality.

"The budget's tight. We're working on giving businesses and individuals some tax relief. I don't think it makes sense to spend money on expensive litigation," said Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, who is a co-chairman of the budget committee.

The near ban of abortions starting in the 20th week of pregnancy is based on the disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain by then and therefore deserves protection from abortion. Seven states have enacted similar 20-week restrictions based on the fetal pain argument, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws affecting women's health. A similar law in Arizona has been blocked while a federal appeals court reviews a lawsuit challenging it.

The Arkansas bill is based on research the bill's sponsor, Rep. Andy Mayberry, and other abortion opponents cite that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks.

"I'm confident this will hold up to constitutional and judicial scrutiny," said Mayberry, R-Hensley.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, however, says it knows of no legitimate scientific information supporting the idea that a fetus experiences pain.

The 12-week bill is based on the argument that a fetus should be protected from abortion once its heartbeat can be detected during an abdominal ultrasound. The governor has not said whether he'll veto the bill but said earlier that he has constitutional concerns with the measure.

Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, the sponsor of the 12-week ban, said Beebe should let the measure go into law without his signature.

"I respect his opinions and what he has to do as an individual, but I believe he should honor the vote of the Legislature," Rapert told reporters after the vote.

___

Andrew DeMillo can be reached at www.twitter.com/ademillo

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-senate-overrides-veto-abortion-bill-152939504.html

fisker atlantic social darwinism jamie lynn spears wisconsin recall election april 4 santa monica college wisconsin primary