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The best neighbour-friendly workouts to do from home

Burpees making the walls rattle? Phoebe Luckhurst picks the classes that won't send you through the ceiling




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Meet the London photographer capturing his neighbours' intimate isolation moments

With permission, of course




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Tottenham defender Ben Davies caring for elderly neighbour during lockdown: 'He didn't know I play for Spurs!'

Tottenham defender Ben Davies has revealed how he has been keeping busy during the coronavirus shutdown by helping care for an elderly neighbour.




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Apartment owners fear for 'suicidal' neighbours as combustible cladding crisis takes its toll

Owners of apartments affected by the combustible cladding crisis in Victoria tell researchers of the emotional and financial toll it has taken on them and their neighbours.




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Neighborhood and cognitive performance in middle-age: Does racial residential segregation matter?

A study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that black subjects who were exposed to highly segregated neighborhoods in young adulthood exhibited worse performance in cognitive skills in mid-life. This outcome may explain black-white disparities in dementia risk at older age.




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'It's going to be very bad': COVID-19 fears for Australia's neighbours

One of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, Johnson & Johnson, is racing to make a billion vaccines. Its chief scientist is most worried about the impact of coronavirus on developing nations.




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Like giant ice cream trucks, supermarkets on wheels get ready to roll into the neighbourhood

Shoppers tired of waiting in line outside a supermarket, or trying to secure a slot with one of the overbooked grocery delivery apps, have new options to bring groceries home. Startups and established companies alike are eager to offer Canadians fresh alternatives during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond.




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Klopp makes "easy" Liverpool transfer choice over neighbour Gerrard

Klopp says he'd choose Gerrard if he was able to magically sign a legend from Liverpool's past to play in his current team, but warned him he'd have to fight for his place




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Selena Gomez is bringing a quarantine cooking show to HBO Max

Pop star Selena Gomez will executive produce and star in a quarantine cooking show on HBO Max, alongside master chefs who will join remotely.




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Video: L.A. Phil musicians give porch recitals for their Pasadena neighbors

L.A. Phil players Jonathan and Cathy Karoly find a new way to share music. "It's a privilege to get to play for people who want to listen," Cathy says.




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Morningstar Acquires PitchBook Data for $225,000,000

We help our clients build the great companies of tomorrow by providing them with the world's meaningful business information and resources to understand it.




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Louisiana Man Convicted of Federal Hate Crime for Burning His Neighbors’ Home

A Louisiana man pleaded guilty today to firing three shots from a shotgun at the home of three Hispanic men and, after they fled, entering the home and setting a fire that burned it to the ground.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Project Safe Neighborhoods Annual Conference

"Our future progress, I believe, will depend on our ability to bring innovative, evidence-based solutions to the work of addressing our most overwhelming and intractable challenges – namely, the prevalence and consequences of gun-, gang-, and drug-related violence, as well as the devastating impact of childhood exposure to violence," said Attorney General Holder.




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Justice Department Announces Recipients of Annual Project Safe Neighborhoods Achievement Awards

The Department of Justice today announced the 24 recipients of the annual Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Achievement Awards in a ceremony hosted by Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler at the PSN national conference in New Orleans.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler Speaks at the Project Safe Neighborhood Awards Ceremony

"What makes Project Safe Neighborhoods so unique as an initiative is that it relies on teamwork that goes beyond law enforcement," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler.




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U.S. Clean Water Act Settlement in Northeast Ohio to Protect Lake Erie, Revitalize Neighborhoods and Create Green Jobs

A comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) will address the flow of untreated sewage into Cleveland area waterways and Lake Erie.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Attorney General Eric Holder, Justice Department and Administration Officials Join with Actors from HBO’s The Wire for Launch of Drug Endangered Children Public Awareness Campaign

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today the launch of a public awareness campaign at a Federal Interagency Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Task Force event to bring attention to the challenges faced by children and families affected by drug abuse and highlight the work being done across the country to address these issues.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Department of Justice on Behalf of Partner Agencies Releases Solicitation to Build Capacity in Distressed Neighborhoods

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance today announced the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator Solicitation, part of an innovative approach to build capacity in distressed neighborhoods.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the STANCE Initiative Meeting/Neighborhood Crime Prevention Event

"Today, together, we have an opportunity to discuss the goals and responsibilities that we share – to reach the young people who need our help most; and to ensure that violent crime rates – here in Cleveland and across the country – continue to head in the right direction."




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Department of Justice and Partner Agencies Announce Training and Technical Assistance Award to Build Capacity in Distressed Neighborhoods

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), together with its partners, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Education, Health and Human Services and Treasury, today announced the selection of the Center for the Study of Social Policy as the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program (BNCP) Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Department of Justice and Partner Agencies Announce Neighborhoods to Receive Innovative Support Through the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, on behalf of the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, today announced the eight neighborhoods that will receive training and technical assistance through the groundbreaking Building Neighborhood Capacity Program.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West Speaks at the United Neighborhood Centers of America Neighborhood Revitalization Conference

"For more than a century, UNCA has worked to improve conditions in distressed neighborhoods and restore opportunity to those who live there," said Acting Associate Attorney General West.




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Department of Justice Awards Funding to Enhance Communities’ Ability to Improve Safety in Distressed Neighborhoods

Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance Director Denise E. O’Donnell today announced more than $11 million in awards to address neighborhood-level crime in 15 locations nationwide.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West Speak at Faith and Neighborhoods in Action: A Symposium to Address Economic Recovery Through Strong Communities and Job Creation

"Through the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative, the White House is leading a federal effort to spark economic growth in five cities and one region, helping them to maximize resources and leverage partnerships with businesses, philanthropies, and non-profit organizations," said Acting Associate Attorney General West.




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Alabama Man Sentenced for Attempting to Hire Ku Klux Klan to Kill Neighbor

Allen Wayne Densen Morgan, 29, of Munford, Ala., was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to serve 72 months in prison to be followed by three years supervised release for attempting to hire members of the Ku Klux Klan to torture and murder his African-American neighbor.



  • OPA Press Releases

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People believe that on Kashmir, Modi will be able to do something: Mehbooba

In this Idea Exchange the PDP president also expresses disappointment with Rahul Gandhi.




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Protecting our most economically vulnerable neighbors during the COVID-19 outbreak

While we are all adjusting to new precautions as we start to understand how serious the COVID-19 coronavirus is, we also need to be concerned about how to minimize the toll that such precautions will have on our most economically vulnerable citizens. A country with the levels of racial and income inequality that we have…

       




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Vote Like Thy Neighbor

The buzz these days is that American politics may be entering a “postpartisan” era, as a new generation finds the old ideological quarrels among baby boomers to be increasingly irrelevant. In reality, matters are not so simple. Far from being postpartisan, today’s young adults are significantly more likely to identify as Democrats than were their predecessors. Along with colleagues at the Brookings and Hoover institutions, we recently completed a comprehensive study of the nation’s polarization. Our research concludes not only that the ideological differences between the political parties are growing but also that they have become embedded in American society itself.

Large events made some increase in polarization inevitable. In the wake of the Vietnam War, the post-World War II foreign-policy consensus collapsed. Less than a decade after President Nixon declared that “we are all Keynesians now,” stagflation and soaring interest rates spawned the controversial tenets of supply-side economics. Social movements and the Supreme Court put long-suppressed, highly divisive cultural issues back on the public agenda.

But polarization has proceeded even further than these shifts made necessary. The great majority of voters now fuse their party identification, ideology and decisions in the voting booth. The share of Democrats who could be called conservative has shrunk, and so has the share of liberal Republicans. The American National Election Studies asks voters a series of issues-based questions and then arrays respondents along a 15-point scale from -7 (the most liberal) to +7 (the most conservative). These data indicate that 41 percent of the voters in 1984 were located at or near the midpoint of the ideological spectrum, compared with only 28 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, the percentage of voters clustering toward the left and right tails of the spectrum rose from 10 to 23 percent.

Most strikingly, political polarization has become akin to political segregation. You are less likely to live near someone whose politics differ from your own. It’s well known that fewer states are competitive in presidential races than in decades past. We find similar results at the county level. In 1976, only 27 percent of voters lived in landslide counties where one candidate prevailed by 20 points or more. By 2004, 48 percent of voters lived in such counties.

What accounts for the decline of ideologically mixed localities? Bill Bishop, a journalist, and Robert Cushing, a sociologist, who have studied this issue, stress that the age of “white flight” to the suburbs is over. Instead, during the past two decades, many whites have moved to one group of cities and many blacks to another. Meanwhile, young people have deserted rural and older manufacturing areas for cities like Austin and Portland. Places with higher densities of college graduates attract even more, so that the gap between such communities and less-educated areas widens further. Zones of high education, in turn, produce more innovation and enjoy higher incomes, generating communities dominated by upper-middle-class tastes. Lower-educated regions, by contrast, tend to be more family-oriented and more faithful to traditional authority.

Not surprisingly, this demographic sorting correlates with a widening difference in political preferences. What’s more, according to Bishop and Cushing, once a tipping point is reached, majorities tend to become supermajorities. This is consistent with the findings of recent political science and social psychology: individuals in the minority of their group tend to shift their views toward the majority, while members of the majority become more extreme in their views. In such circumstances, discussions within groups often intensify, rather than moderate, the underlying polarization.

Our study shows that this geographical sorting worsens polarization in several ways. When counties become more homogeneous, it becomes harder to use redistricting to create more competitive Congressional districts. (Recent research indicates that gerrymandering accounts for, at the very most, one-third of noncompetitive districts in the House of Representatives.) When states become more homogeneous, presidential campaigns begin by conceding a large number of contests to the opposition, disheartening their supporters in those states and increasing the majority’s electoral advantage. Polarization feeds on itself.

Because politics is a contact sport, hard-hitting partisan competition is unavoidably part of the game. A party system that differentiates sharply between alternatives has virtues, not the least being that it engages more voters, offers clearer choices and enhances accountability. But hyperpartisan politics also do damage, not least to public trust and confidence in government — and many Americans understandably yearn for less polarization. Because the underlying structure of our politics remains so deeply divided, the 2008 election may not requite their wish.

Publication: The New York Times Magazine
     
 
 




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Turkey, its neighborhood, and the international order


Event Information

April 14, 2016
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM EDT

The Brookings Institution
Falk Auditorium
1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036

Register for the Event

Increasingly, there are concerns about the direction of Turkey’s politics, economy, security, and foreign policy. Debate is growing about the Turkish economy’s vibrancy, and its commitment to democratic norms is being questioned. Moreover, against the backdrop of the chaos in the region, its ability to maintain peace and order is hindered. These difficulties coincide with a larger trend in which the global economy remains fragile, European integration is fracturing, and international governance seems under duress. The spill-over from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq has precipitated a refugee crisis of historic scale, testing the resolve, unity, and values of the West. Will these challenges prove pivotal in reshaping the international system? Will these trials ultimately compel the West to formulate an effective collective response? Will Turkey prove to be an asset or a liability for regional security and order?

On April 14, the Turkey Project of the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings hosted a discussion to assess Turkey’s strategic orientation amid the ever-changing international order. Panelists included Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Bruce Jones, Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan of the University of Maryland, and Francis Riccardone of the Atlantic Council. Cansen Başaran-Symes, president of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) made introductory remarks. Turkey Project Director and TÜSİAD Senior Fellow Kemal Kirişci moderated the discussion.

Audio

Transcript

Event Materials

     
 
 




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Class Notes: Barriers to neighborhood choice, wage expectations, and more

This week in Class Notes: Barriers in the housing search process contribute to residential segregation by income. Greater Medicaid eligibility promotes many positive outcomes for children, including increased college enrollment, lower mortality, decreased reliance on the Earned Income Tax Credit, and higher wage incomes for women. The large gender gap in wage expectations closely resembles actual wage differences, and career sorting and negotiation…

       




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Playbrary: A new vision of the neighborhood library

“Shhhhhh.” This is perhaps the sound most associated with libraries. Yet, libraries are also portals to the world outside that take us to faraway places and spur new ideas. Libraries offer community gathering spaces where neighbors without internet access can complete job applications and families can gather for story time. But as times have changed,…

       




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Playbrary: A new vision of the neighborhood library

“Shhhhhh.” This is perhaps the sound most associated with libraries. Yet, libraries are also portals to the world outside that take us to faraway places and spur new ideas. Libraries offer community gathering spaces where neighbors without internet access can complete job applications and families can gather for story time. But as times have changed,…

       




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1,000,000 of Our Neighbors at Risk: Improving Retirement Security for Marylanders

Increasingly, many Marylanders are unprepared for retirement.

The US has the broadest range of retirement savings options in the world. There are thousands of retirement products offered. But most Marylanders don’t use them.

The need is growing. The Baby Boomers are the largest generation in history. They will live longer in retirement than any generation in history.

But – financially – many are not prepared. Many have virtually no retirement savings: more than a third those within ten years of retirement age have saved less than $10,000. $10,000 invested and spent over the average person’s retirement works out to about $1,000 of income per year. Even with Social Security, that’s not much to live on.

Fears about retirement are the #1 economic concern. Many Marylanders know they’re unprepared – and they’re worried about it. Concerns about retirement security are now more broadly based than the cost of health care, fear of job loss or other economic concerns – and have been for over a decade.3 Those concerns have grown since the financial crisis, even though the stock market has recovered. Many know they’ll have to defer retirement—and many fear they will never be able to afford to retire at all.

The key to retirement saving is having a retirement plan and contributing to it every paycheck. But many businesses, including most smaller businesses, don’t offer retirement plans. As a result 1,000,000 Marylanders working in private businesses across the State don’t have a retirement plan. There are, of course, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) -- but almost no one uses them who didn’t get access through an employer-based plan via payroll deduction.

Having a plan is essential, but not a panacea. Even when plans are available, many employees don’t join. Many who do contribute and save less than they need to meet their own goals. Even with plans, many will need to save more.

The challenge continues at retirement, because most of these plans are paid out in a single lump sum payment—few plans offer reliable retirement income for life that traditional pensions do. Since most retirees do not consult financial advisors and are not financial experts themselves, some who live longer than average or are unlucky in their investments will find that they haven’t saved enough and will exhaust their savings.

They will, of course, have Social Security. That’s why it’s so important that Social Security be both preserved and strengthened. But the average monthly benefit in Maryland is about $1,300 and for most people Social Security covers only a fraction of their basic needs in retirement. Most Marylanders will need additional income from retirement savings – and the State of Maryland can help them get it.

Other states and other governments are making it easier for people to save and for private employers to help them do it. Maryland should, too. Acting now will save Maryland taxpayers millions in the future.

California, Massachusetts, and Illinois have already enacted legislation. Illinois created a new program that requires employers who have no retirement plan to automatically enroll their employees in a state-created program. Massachusetts authorized a program for uncovered employees of non-profits. California created a board to plan and propose program similar to that in Illinois. Similar legislation is being or has been introduced in some fifteen other states – states all across the country with varying political orientations, populations, and economic bases.

Although there are many variations under consideration, these programs generally provide for an automatic payroll deduction of a set amount unless the employee opts out. Funds are to be invested professionally and may be pooled to achieve higher returns and lower costs. Those who cannot or do not want to make complex financial decisions are not required to do so – their contributions are placed automatically into a reliable fund or set of funds.

In order to ensure that employers – many of whom are small businesses – can participate in a program, it must be designed to help them avoid significant disruption, expense or administrative burden. This can be accomplished by enabling employers to use current payroll processes to help their employees to build retirement security, without requiring employers to make contributions themselves.

If Maryland doesn’t act now, Maryland taxpayers will face higher costs for decades to come.

These plans are designed to be self-sustaining: their operating costs are paid for by plan contributions and the State would not assume any obligations. In practice, however, these plans will end up saving taxpayer funds: If Maryland doesn’t act now, Maryland taxpayers will face higher costs for decades to come, as retirees are forced to turn to State assistance instead of living on their own savings.

There are many ways to improve retirement security. The key is for businesses to help their employees save, without becoming overburdened themselves.

Task Force is not recommending any one approach, but strongly recommends that Maryland join other states, by developing and implementing a plan that helps Marylanders have more secure retirements.We recommend development of a specific state-based program that meets Maryland’s needs from the options discussed in our report.

We Can Do Better: Principles for Improving Marylanders’ Retirement

In developing that program, we recommend the following principles as guidelines:

Make it easier for all Marylanders to save for retirement.

  • Access: Every Marylander should have access to an automatic payroll deduction retirement savings plan through their employer. People who are self-employed or unemployed should be able to make contributions at the same time that they pay their State taxes.
  • Simplicity: People should have access to simple, low cost retirement savings plans that make enrollment automatic (auto-enrollment), that don’t require complex investment and savings decisions by providing low-cost automatic (default) options, and that enable savers to grow their saving rate over time through auto-escalation.
  • Portability: They must be able to keep their retirement savings plan when they change jobs. Individuals should never be forced out of a plan because they change or lose their jobs. Workers should have the choice of keeping their existing retirement savings in the plan when they move to another employer or consolidating their retirement savings by moving it to another retirement plan.
  • Choice: Of course, they should have the ability to change the amount that they save, change their investments, move to another plan, or stop saving entirely.

Make it easier for private employers to help their employees save.

  • Since most of the companies who do not offer a retirement plan are smaller businesses, it’s essential that they aren’t forced to take on significant additional financial, administrative or regulatory burdens.
  • Employers should be able to use their current payroll processes to quickly and easily forward employee contributions to a savings plan without assuming significant additional legal or fiduciary responsibilities or taking on significant additional cost.
  • Employer contributions should not be required, but should be permitted if allowed by federal law.
  • Consumer protection, disclosure, and other protections are essential, but these and other regulatory responsibilities should be undertaken by the program itself and not imposed on businesses.

Make it easier for Marylanders to get reliable retirement income for life.

When people retire, they no longer have a paycheck that provides reliable monthly income. They should be able to have a reliable monthly income stream from their retirement savings, too. Retirees should not have to worry about how much their retirement income might be or how long their pension will last if, like half of Americans, they live longer than average.

Investments should be low cost, provide good value, and be professionally managed.

Any program should be self-sustaining. Maryland should help Marylanders save for retirement without risking the State’s credit. It should cover its own operating costs without relying on taxpayer funding or risking the State’s credit by creating contingent liabilities.

Downloads

Publication: The Maryland Governor’s Task Force to Ensure Retirement Security for All Marylanders
      
 
 




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New directions for communities: How they can boost neighborhood health

In America today, where you live can truly have a significant impact on how you live. According to the CDC, your zip code is a greater indicator of your overall health and life expectancy than your genetic code. The social factors that your doctor can’t see during a routine check-up – like the distance from…

      




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Neighborhoods and opportunity in America

I. Introduction How much does place – that is, the neighborhood in which a family lives – affect one’s earnings, likelihood of being incarcerated, and other key life outcomes? To answer this question, in 1994 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration. MTO enrolled several thousand…

       




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China and its Neighbors: Changing Dynamics and Growing Uncertainty

As East Asia’s political, economic and security dynamics continue to evolve, regional powers are pursuing policies to cope with the change. China, the largest and fastest-changing player, is the focus of many of these policies. In this fluid environment, China and its neighbors face the challenge of growing uncertainty as they seek both to respond…

       




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Modernist Matchbox is an off-grid micro-house in a micro-village

Built as part of a community of tiny homes in Washington DC, this contemporary solar-powered tiny home collects its own rainwater and has a thoughtful interior to boot.




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Elderly Man Killed By Neighbor for Watering Lawn in Australia

According to CNN, a 66 year-old man was beaten to death on his front lawn by his 36 year-old neighbor for watering it yesterday in Sydney, Australia. Apparently, the pair started arguing over his water usage, and the victim sprayed his neighbor with




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Industrial spaces and condos are neighbors in this Vancouver development with shipping container look

Another look at a controversial housing project.




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Turkey's Dam Plans Make New Problems With Neighbors

Fresh criticism from Georgian environmentalists adds to the diplomatic tensions created by Turkey's dam-building spree.




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On MNN: Tanks for printers, the return of the water fountain and the end of hitchBOT

And put away your phone if you are on vacation.




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Facebook launches live data center efficiency dashboard

You can now view the energy and water efficiency performance of the company's North Carolina and Oregon data centers in real-time.




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San Francisco Solar Map Lets You Spy on Your Neighbor

This cool, interactive solar map put out by the San Francisco Department of the Environment lets you identify exactly where and how many solar panels are on houses in San Fran. Even better than that, the site has a search




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No distraction here: Harman introduces "helpful" dashboard for Maserati

It runs the full width of the car. What could possibly be the problem?




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89-year-old Michigan Beekeeper May Lose his Hives After Neighbor Complaints

Beekeeper, and World War II veteran, is at risk of losing his beehives he's had since the 1950s.




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Borrowing a cup of sugar from a neighbor benefits everyone

It fosters connection and community, boosts happiness... and results in delicious baked goods.




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"There Goes the Neighborhood." Two Ways to Deal with Foreclosed Homes

While some cities are tearing down thousands of vacant homes, Occupy Our Homes movement offers a compassionate alternative.




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Net-zero building unveiled in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood

The Bright ’N Green building is an experimental effort to combine sustainable technologies.




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How to Save Money By Sharing Your Car With Neighbors

Zipcar has made car sharing cool, but it doesn't always need a fancy business model. Sometimes you can just share with your neighbor.




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Gardens make "bad hombres" into good neighbors

All this talk of "bad hombres" got you down? Here's an antidote.