How can I get assistance with my gas, electric, water, or telephone ...

Back

Numerous programs help make utilities such as electricity, gas, water and telephone more affordable for consumers. Listed below are several such programs along with information about who is eligible and how to apply.

Gas and Electric Service

In the summer, if you are 60 or more years old, you may qualify to receive $250 for an air conditioner and/ or utility assistance. Adults under 60 may qualify if you received a disconnection notice and you have a documented medical condition.

In the winter, emergency assistance is also available when households are threatened with disconnection or have less than a 10-day supply of bulk fuel in their tank.

The regular Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) for low-income consumers and the Percent of Income Payment Plan Plus provide year-round financial assistance to qualifying consumers. You may qualify for a one-time payment toward your gas bill and a payment plan based on your income on both your gas and electric bills. If you are already enrolled in PIPP and HEAP, you must continue to make monthly payments in order to remain eligible again next year.

For more information or to apply, contact the agency in the county where you live:

• Ashtabula County ? Ashtabula County Community Action Agency, Inc (440.997.5957), www.accaa.org
• Cuyahoga County ? Cleveland Housing Network (216.518.4014, or for seniors over 60 or anyone physically disabled call 216.774.2351 to schedule an in-home appointment), http://www.chnnet. com/electric-gas-bulk-fuel-water-assistance.aspx; Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland (216.696.9077), www.ceogc.org.
• Geauga County ? Geauga Community Action, Inc. (440.285.9141)
• Lake County ? Lifeline For Empowerment and Development of Consumers (440.354.2148), www.lclifeline.org
• Lorain County ? Lorain County Community Action Agency, Inc. (440.245.2009)

Water Service

Customers of the Cleveland Water Department may be eligible for the Water Affordability Program, which provides a 40% discount to qualifying households. You must be the homeowner, live in the home, and meet income guidelines to qualify. You can call Cleveland Housing Network at 216-774-2386 to apply or download an application at: http://www.chnnet.com/electric-gas-bulk-fuel-water-assistance.aspx

Water Department customers who are 65 years or older, or who are totally and permanently disabled, may qualify for the Homestead Program. Call the Cleveland Water Department Customer Service Department at 216-664- 3130 to apply or download the application at http://www.clevelandwater.com/Resident/discountprograms.aspx.

Telephone Service

Residents of Ohio who have income at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines or who participate in programs such as Medicaid, public housing, HEAP, free school lunch, food stamps, SSI, or Ohio Works First, may qualify for discounted landline and cell phone service.

The Lifeline Ohio program offered to AT&T customers provides eligible customers a $12.50 per month credit on their landline telephone bills, as well as benefits such as free line connection and payment plans on outstanding balances. Call 1-800-335-8721 to sign up (TTY users call 1-800-980-4889). See http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=10252 for more information.

SafeLink Wireless provides qualified applicants a free phone and a choice of three monthly minute plans without a contract or bill. Additional minutes can be purchased with a TracFone card. You can apply by calling 1-800-Safelink or online at: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Safelink/program_info/faq/ohio.

Important Consumer News about Telephone Service

Telephone companies in parts of Ohio are attempting to discontinue landline phone service to customers or require that customers bundle landline service with other services. Senate Bill 271 which passed the Ohio Senate in February 2012 is now being considered by the Ohio House of Representatives. The phone companies say that by eliminating landline service they will have more resources to concentrate on other services customers want. The consequence may be that currently affordable landline service for seniors and low-income customers will not be available as early as 2014.

This FAQ was written by John Kirn, Esq. and Anne Sweeney, Esq. and appeared as a story in Volume 28, Issue?2 of ?The Alert? ? a newsletter for seniors published by Legal Aid. Click here to read the full issue.

Elder Law
FAQs

Source: http://lasclev.org/how-can-i-get-assistance-with-my-gas-electric-water-or-telephone-service/

the line bobby brown arrested the happening jennifer lawrence black panthers mauritania mark sanchez

Local SEO Marketing - Why Your Business Needs Google + Local

Local SEO Marketing

Increasing the customer size is the mission of every local business. It is a fact that the customers are the back bone of every business. Local seo marketing should therefore be a priority when it comes to identifying and reaching potential customers. There are very many sites and companies today that offer wide range of platforms for seo local marketing. One of these companies is Google which is the largest search engine provider in the world.

Local seo marketing

Google + Local is a seo marketing platform offered by Google. This gives local businesses the opportunity to market themselves. This is because the business will be able to reach over 100 million users who are their potential customers. As a business company you are given the opportunity to market yourself in the most convenient and personalized way possible. It allows people to express how they feel about your business to you and also to the other people in the Google network.

The way it works

In the Google + page, there is tab named local in the sidebar. Using this tab one is able to perform a search for any local business they want. The businesses that have embraced local seo marketing and obtained Google + Local page are the ones that have the upper hand since any search done within Google is able to retrieve the Google + Local pages. This is why each local business requires to obtain a Google+ Local page.

How to acquire Google+ local

Once you make a decision to embrace local seo marketing and decide to join the Google + Local-(which I highly advocate you do) just visit the Google page and register. They have made the registration process as simple as local seo marketing.

If you are to secure your future in local business, then local seo marketing is not an option. Get yourself a Google+ Local Page and be able to reach millions of customers.

Share and Enjoy

About Webfective Online Solutions LLC.

Webfective Online Solutions is an award-winning SEO firm specializing in cost effective and proven solutions for your growing business. With services ranging from custom website design and development, to aggressive online marketing, Webfective has the experience needed to bring added exposure to your business. Click here to contact us about our services. This entry was posted in Helpful Tips. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.webfective.com/local-seo-marketing/

telenav telenav wade phillips wade phillips time person of the year sag nominations sag nominations

Critically endangered whales sing like birds; New recordings hint at rebound

ScienceDaily (July 31, 2012) ? When a University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland, she was stunned at what she heard: whales singing a remarkable variety of songs nearly constantly for five wintertime months.

Kate Stafford, an oceanographer with UW's Applied Physics Lab, set out to find if any endangered bowhead whales passed through the Fram Strait, an inhospitable, ice-covered stretch of sea between Greenland and the northern islands of Norway. Only around 40 sightings of bowhead whales, which were hunted almost to extinction, have been reported there since the 1970s.

Stafford and colleagues put two hydrophones, or underwater microphones, on moorings attached to the seafloor in Fram Strait, leaving them there for as long as the batteries would last: nearly a year. Since the population of bowhead whales likely to pass through was thought to number in the tens, they didn't anticipate much interesting data.

"We hoped to record a few little grunts and moans," Stafford said. "We were not expecting to get five months of straight singing."

Not only did they record singing nearly every hour of the day and night, they picked up more than 60 unique songs. A paper detailing their discoveries appears July 31 as the feature article in Endangered Species Research and is openly accessible online.

The variety of tunes was so surprising that the researchers compared the whales' song catalog to that of birds.

"Whether individual singers display one, multiple or even all call types, the size of the song repertoire for? bowheads in 2008-2009 is remarkable and more closely approaches that of songbirds than other? whales," they wrote in the report.

They have yet to learn why the whales sang so consistently last year.

Scientists believe that bowhead whale song comes from males during mating season. In most other kinds of whales, individuals either sing the same song their whole lives or all members of a population sing the season's same popular tune. If bowheads are like the former, that would mean more than 60 males were in the Fram Strait. If the population is evenly split between males and females, there could have been more than 100 whales -- far more than anyone thought comprised this population.

With further study, the scientists instead could discover that individual bowhead whales have a repertoire of songs that they sing during a season. That would be equally interesting because it would make the bowheads the only known whales to sing a variety of songs in the same season.

The findings also hint at the possibility of a rebound in bowhead whales.

"If this is a breeding ground, it would be spectacular," said Stafford. "For such a critically endangered species, it's really important to know that there's a reproductively active portion of the population."

In addition, since the whales are difficult to study given their year-round residence in the Arctic, virtually nothing was known about where they spend their winters. The research offers a clue about the whales' migration path.

Only a handful of bowhead whale populations remain. The largest historic population, which includes the individuals studied for this report, once possibly numbered more than 30,000 members but was hunted to near-extinction from the 1600s through the 1800s. Commercial whaling reduced bowhead whale populations in other regions as well; combined, the four remaining populations are thought to number fewer than 10,000 members.

Bowhead whales are massive creatures. They grow to over 60 feet long, may live to 200 years old and can weigh 200,000 pounds. They use their huge skulls to break through ice as thick as 1.5 feet.

Bowhead whale song is unique in that the whales appear to sing with "two voices," simultaneously producing high- and low-frequency sounds. The whales sometimes repeat the same tune for hours at a time.

Stafford and her colleagues deployed the two hydrophones 60 miles apart. They made 2,144 hours of simultaneous recordings from September 2008 through July 2009. In order to conserve battery power and take recordings for a longer period of time, the hydrophones worked for nine minutes out of every half hour.

The hydrophone in the west, covered in dense ice and in colder water, picked up far more singing than the one in the east, where there was spotty ice coverage and warmer water. The greatest frequency of song occurred in the darkest, coldest period.

"It's clear there's a habitat preference," Stafford said. The thick canopy of ice may provide better acoustics than the loose pack ice and therefore might be favored by singing whales, she said.

"As Arctic sea ice declines, there may be some places like this that are important to protect in order to preserve a breeding ground for the bowhead whales," Stafford said.

To answer new questions that the data opens up -- including how many whales make up this North Atlantic population -- Stafford hopes to do additional study.

Co-authors of the paper include Sue Moore and Catherine Berchok from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; ?ystein Wiig of the University of Oslo; Christian Lydersen, Edmond Hansen and Kit M. Kovacs from the Norwegian Polar Institute; and Dirk Kalmbach with the Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research in Germany. The research was funded by NOAA and supported by the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Alfred Wegener Institute.

Bowhead whale song 1: http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2012/07/feb09songs_47USE.mp3

Bowhead whale song 2: http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2012/07/feb09songs_47USE.mp3

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington. The original article was written by Nancy Gohring.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. KM Stafford, SE Moore, CL Berchok, ? Wiig, C Lydersen, E Hansen, D Kalmbach, KM Kovacs. Spitsbergen?s endangered bowhead whales sing through the polar night. Endangered Species Research, 2012; 18 (2): 95 DOI: 10.3354/esr00444

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/fXjSYIZJ-Js/120731123248.htm

channel 5 news uc berkeley harrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara

How To Simplify Our Busy, Baby Boomer Lives! | Living better at 50+ ...

By Kathi Casey, ERYT, CPI ?

When I looked up what?s going on in August in order to write a relevant column for all of us over 40 women who truly want to live long and healthy lives, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the first week of August has been designated ?National Simplify Your Life Week?. Now, that?s a timely subject!

Most of the Baby Boomers that I know are either continuing in their jobs because their retirement funds are not quite there yet, or starting new businesses, or taking care of grandkids or elderly parents. We are so busy that it?s sometimes difficult to find time for our friends. This can lead to a lot of stress, sometimes good stress if you love helping with the grandchildren, but it can seem like an overload just the same.

For the nation to have a week completely designated to simplifying our life means that it?s not only our Baby Boomer generation who are living stressful lives, but everyone! Let?s all take advantage of this week to STOP and take a good look at how we can best make our lives a little simpler. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1.? Set aside an hour this week to take an inventory of your household ?stuff.? Are there too many dishes cluttering your kitchen? Can you donate those old curtains that you?ve been saving for the last ten years to a charity? How about the printer that stopped working last July? Start a list with two columns. In the first column write down items that you haven?t used in the last five years or have been broken for more than six months (you aren?t really going to get around to fixing them?); in the second column write down the date that you will remove them from the house by. Then act on your list one item at a time until you have cleared some of the clutter from your life. There?s nothing like a good purge to make us feel all clean and bright!

2. The best way to get all of the things on your ?to do? list completed is to take time for meditation every day. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but when you try it, you will see for yourself what a difference ten minutes in the morning can make. Start by relaxing your shoulders: sit up straight in a comfortable chair or couch, then squeeze you shoulders in and up toward your ears, and hold for five seconds. Next, squeeze those shoulders down toward your feet for five seconds. Then relax, and gently roll your shoulders around. When your shoulders are relaxed, you will be more comfortable. Close your eyes and inhale deeply, thinking the words peace and joy (or any mantra that appeals to you and makes you feel calm), and then exhale slowly, thinking peace and joy again. Imagine that your breath is coming in and out of your heart as you repeat your mantra. Exhale longer and slower than you inhale, and as an added bonus, you will lower your blood pressure. When you begin your day with a clear head your work is easier, you get more done, and you feel less stressed. Set a timer so that you don?t have to think about the time and when you hear it go off, take one more deep, full, breath as you open your eyes and start your day with a smile.

3. ?Evaluate your commitments. This is a tough one for most of us, but necessary, none the less. Take a good look at everything that you do on a weekly basis and make a list of those that give value to your life, or that you love to do, and another column of those that are perhaps not in line with your life?s priorities. Anything that you?ve committed to, out of guilt or pressure from others, should get a serious, questioning, re-look. Decide how you can drop even one task that falls into this category and then take action. Learning how to say no is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. Even if it frees up 20 minutes a week, that?s twenty minutes that you can do something for yourself, to keep yourself healthy and well, so go for it!

Since August is also National Foot Health Month, here?s a link to my lovely Yoga self massage that?s great for your feet and can help remove some of those extra stress hormones coursing through your body. You can use that 20 minutes you?ve freed up from those old, nonessential priorities, to massage your feet and meditate!

?

Kathi Casey, ?The Healthy Boomer Body Expert? is a renowned health and wellness coach, popular Baby Boomer columnist, Amazon bestselling author, has appeared on Fox 23, ABC-8 Evening News, and produces her own TV show, ?To Your Health.? She?s the founder of The Healthy Boomer Body Center in Massachusetts. Her book ?STOP Back Pain? is an Amazon international best seller. Her blog ranked #10 in nursingschools.net list of 50 top Health Blogs.?For the last 9 years, she?s been teaching people how to take charge of their own Health Care ? Regardless of what Congress does! http://www.HealthyBoomerBody.com

Source: http://www.livingbetterat50.com/simplify-busy-baby-boomer-lives/

march of dimes james randi wargames blake griffin dunk florida primary full force odd fellows

Special Reference and Education Press: Paypal Founder Peter ...

This month, graduates and their families will celebrate achievement and recognition as they toss their tassels and march with seas of caps and gowns to accept diplomas at universities across the nation. Will these eager graduates and aspiring job seekers ever realize their dreams? Will they make enough money to pay off their student debt? According to Peter Thiel, the outlook is grim.

Peter Thiel, self-made billionaire and venture capitalist, has stirred up an ongoing controversy about the value of education. He claims college degrees may not be worth the inflated tuition costs and meager job outlook following graduation. He cites Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as examples of college dropouts who became visionaries and made millions while helping society advance.

The Problem

With student loan debt toppling $1 trillion and only half of recent graduates landing full-time jobs, Thiel proposes that many students would be better off investing their time and money into developing their ideas rather than wasting them on an education.

He claims, "When you do something entrepreneurial, the credentials are not what really matters. What matters is having the right idea at the right time, the right place."

To prove his theory, Thiel started a yearly program that pays 20 college students $100,000 to drop out of school and develop their ideas for the betterment of society.

Educators Speak Out

Is dropping out of school the answer to the problem? According to professor and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, "If you don't even have a bachelor's degree; if you don't even have basic education, basically you are beyond hope."

Wadhawa is one of Thiel's foremost opponents appalled by the "anti-education sentiment" developing in the United States as a result of this educational paradigm shift. He agrees that students should take their ideas and develop them to enrich society, but he also advocates education as the avenue to help students get there.

Wadhawa says, "Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has them. What makes you successful is being able to take that idea and turn it into an invention, and then turn that into a company. Those skills you only gain through education. You're not born with them. There might be one Mark Zuckerberg out of a million. But there aren't five Mark Zuckerbergs."

Incriminating Evidence

Education advocates have studied Thiel's actions under a magnifying glass, which has led to some interesting observations. One of his hedge fund companies published a job posting which cited a high GPA from a top-tier university as a preferred requirement, not exactly what one would expect from someone who advocates dropping out of college. Thiel has also accepted a job at Stanford University teaching the course, "Computer Science 183:Startup."

In response to Thiel's new teaching venture, Wadhawa sarcastically states, "On the one hand, he's telling these kids to 'drop out, you're wasting your lives.' But then he comes back to teach. The question to ask him is: Will he pay students to drop out of his class on the first day?"

The Debate

Whether more aspiring entrepreneurs drop out of school to pursue Thiel's ideas is yet to be seen. But the debate is far from over. Most people would agree that the education system is far from perfect, but according to educators, the flaws do not necessitate dropping out of school. Though Thiel is known for turning new ideas into promising outcomes, his latest venture may not make it past the proverbial drawing board. Only time will tell.

----------------------------------------------------
The shifting tide of education and the popular opinion of education as an insitution is being challeged by entrepreurs like Peter Thiel. But is the debate more of an academic excercise than a practical approach to education reform? Article Courtesy of SNHU.EDU's online college program. http://www.snhu.edu/online.aspx

EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=277516

Source: http://special-reference-education-press.blogspot.com/2012/07/paypal-founder-peter-thiel-versus.html

kyle orton ncaa tournament schedule black and tan dwight howard trade ncaa bracket 2012 2012 ncaa bracket john carlson

Bathroom Dangers Mitigated with In Home Care Services

In home care services can help to mitigate what is surprisingly one of the most dangerous rooms in the house for seniors: the bathroom. Maintaining independence is what senior care is all about, but independence at the expense of safety just isn't worth it. Understanding the dangerous presented to seniors in the bathroom and how in home care services can help to alleviate these concerns can create a better lifestyle for your entire family and everyone involved in the care of your much-loved senior family member.

The Tub and Shower

The tub and shower can present serious risks to seniors, even in large bathrooms. Slippery surfaces can lead to dangerous falls on brittle bones, and water temperatures that can sometimes be difficult to control may result in scalds or burns.

Additionally, many elderly are injured simply by getting into the tub or shower, which may require a long step-up and step-down, confined spaces and little to grab onto. Standing for long periods of time may be difficult or impossible for some seniors, leading to slips and falls. Other mobility or range of motion issues can be seriously exacerbated by these conditions.

Finally, there is always the risk of drowning during a bath, especially if the person falls asleep or suffers a cardiovascular or neurological event.

The Toilet

Like the tub and shower, sitting down on and getting up from the toilet can not only be very difficult for some elderly people, it can also cause pain and injury. The low proximity to the floor is hard on older knees, legs and core muscle and ligament groups and can lead to strains, tears and falls that can cause dangerous fractures.

Toilets also often sweat and sometimes they leak, creating a slip and fall hazard that could be disastrous.

Dryers, Curling Irons and other Accessories

Hair dryers, curling irons, electric and straight razors -- there are many things in the bathroom that present some danger even for younger, fully healthy people, so when senility and/or mobility issues are present these dangers can be greatly amplified and result in injuries, electrocution or fire.

How In Home Care can Help

In home care services can help to mitigate the risks of what is usually the most dangerous room in the house by taking the following steps:

*Education of fellow caregivers and other family members about the potential for injury in the bathroom and other rooms in the house that are normally considered safe.

*Assistance with preparation & adaptation of the bathroom, including installing safety bars around and near the toilet, sinks, tub and shower. Anti-slip surfaces installed in wet locations and on any steps or other difficult-to-navigate surfaces.

*Direct in-home senior care services including observation and monitoring, help with mobility issues in the bathroom, help with incontinence issues, help with bathing and grooming and general companionship, among other significant benefits.

While it might seem strange to some that care could be required to minimize what are normally simple tasks in the bathroom, the fact of the matter is that for our beloved seniors these things may not be so simple. Give them the help they need while allowing them to preserve their independence -- contact a professional provider now for an immediate consultation about how dedicated in home care specialists can help to improve the lifestyle of your senior family members.

Click here to speak to an expert at our Pittsburgh Senior Care agency now. Click here for the original source of this article: http://www.pittsburghseniorcare.org/bathroom-dangers-mitigated-in-home-care-services/

Keywords: in home care,senior care,in home care provider,in home care for seniors

This article has been viewed 19 time(s).

It is a violation of our terms and conditions for writers to submit material which they did not write and claim it as their own. If this article infringes on your copyrights, you MUST either call us at 706-866-2295 or send proof of infringement along with the offending article's title, URL, and writer name to

IdeaMarketers.com
Attn: Marnie Pehrson - Copyright Concern
514 Old Hickory Ln
Ringgold GA 30736 USA
If you email us or use our problem submission form, we CANNOT guarantee we'll receive your notice!

Source: http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=3439452

obama on jimmy fallon google drive apple stock pilar sanders andrew young real life barbie zipper

Runoff Day (Offthekuff)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/238567399?client_source=feed&format=rss

san diego chargers san diego chargers j.r. martinez lance ball lance ball kansas city chiefs chiefs