A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. Governments usually create tax holidays as incentives for business investment. The taxes that are most commonly reduced by national and local governments are sales taxes. In developing countries, governments sometimes reduce or eliminate corporate taxes for the purpose of attracting Foreign Direct Investment or stimulating growth in selected industries.
Tax holiday is given in respect of particular activities, and sometimes also only in particular areas with a view to develop that area of business.
- 1 Sales tax holidays in the United States
- 2 See also
- 3 References
- 4 External links
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[edit] Sales tax holidays in the United States
A statewide sales tax holiday was first enacted by the New York Legislature in 1996 and enabled the first tax-free week in January of 1997. Local governments in New York were given the option of whether or not to participate. [1] Since then, the initiative has been adopted by thirteen states. It commonly takes place as a form of tax-free weekend lasting Friday through Sunday, usually during a major shopping period for necessities, such as just before school starts. During that period, sales tax is not collected on selected items, such as clothing and school supplies. The items subject to the sales tax exemption may also be restricted by price (for example, clothing up to $100), but consumers are free to buy unlimited quantity of items.
As with other sales taxes, visiting residents of non-participating states who purchase tax-free goods (holiday or not) may still have to pay “use tax” on their goods that they take home.
| State (Or Capital) |
Items Included |
Period |
Days |
| Alabama |
clothing, computers, school supplies, books |
1st weekend in August |
3 |
| Connecticut |
clothing |
3rd week in August |
7 |
| District of Columbia |
clothing, school supplies |
August and November |
9 |
| Georgia |
clothing, school supplies, computers |
1st weekend of August |
4 |
| Iowa |
clothing |
1st weekend of August |
2 |
| Massachusetts[2] |
school supplies, computers, sports equipment, health & beauty aid |
2nd weekend of August |
2 |
| Missouri |
clothing, school supplies, computers |
1st weekend in August |
- |
| New Mexico |
clothing, school supplies, computers |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
| North Carolina |
clothing, school supplies, computers, sport equipment |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
| Oklahoma |
clothing |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
| South Carolina |
clothing, school supplies, computers |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
| Tennessee |
clothing, school supplies, computers |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
| Texas[3] |
Cd’s, DVD Movies,cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, clothing, diapers, backpacks , school supplies |
3rd weekend of August |
3 |
| Virginia |
clothing, school supplies |
1st weekend of August |
3 |
Seven states in the U.S. (Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, Texas, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon) do not impose general sales taxes at all (but may still tax gas, cigarettes, alcohol, meals, etc). See Sales taxes in the United States for details.
BARNSTABLE, Mass. – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a sister of President John F. Kennedy and a longtime champion for the disabled, was in a Massachusetts hospital with family at her side.
The 88-year-old Shriver, who has been weakened in recent years by a series of strokes, was in critical condition Friday.
Her husband, 1972 vice presidential candidate and former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, was at her side along with their children and grandchildren at Cape Cod Hospital in Barnstable, said family spokesman Stephen Rivers.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the husband of Shriver’s daughter, Maria, was also there, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.
The Shrivers live in Hyannis Port, near the family compound where her brother, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been staying as he undergoes treatment for brain cancer. He left the compound Friday in a golf cart with his wife and dog, headed toward the area where the family sailboat is docked.
Eunice Shriver is the fifth of the nine Kennedy children. Edward Kennedy and Jean Kennedy Smith are her sole surviving siblings.
In a recent interview posted on eunicekennedyshriver.org, Sen. Kennedy said his sister has never backed down from the rest of the competitive clan.
“She always strived to be the best, and she in many respects has made such an extraordinary difference in the lives of so many people around the world,” he said.
Shriver is perhaps best known for her work to establish the Special Olympics, inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.
She organized the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago. The two-day event drew more than 1,000 participants from 26 states and Canada. By 2003, the Special Olympics World Summer Games, held that year in Dublin, Ireland, involved more than 6,500 athletes from 150 countries.
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (July 10, 1921) is a member of the Kennedy family and helped to found Special Olympics in the 1960s as a national organization. Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A., she is the fifth of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy (née Fitzgerald).
Personal life
Kennedy was educated at The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Roehampton, London, England, and in 1944 graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, with a Bachelor of Science in Social Science/Social Thought, after which she went to work for the U.S. Department of State, in the Special War Problems division. In 1950, she became a social worker at the then-named Federal Industrial Institution for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and the following year she moved to Chicago, Illinois, to work with the House of the Good Shepherd and the Chicago Juvenile Court.
On May 23, 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. at Roman Catholic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, New York.
Her husband served as the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970 and was the Democratic U.S. Vice Presidential candidate in 1972 (with George McGovern as the candidate for U.S. President).
They have five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III (born April 28, 1954), Maria Owings Shriver (November 6, 1955), Timothy Perry Shriver (August 29, 1959), Mark Kennedy Shriver (February 17, 1964), and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (July 20, 1965).
With her husband, she has nineteen grandchildren, the second-most of any of the children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. Her late brother U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy had eleven children who have produced thirty-two grandchildren.
Upon the death of her sister, Rosemary Kennedy, on January 7, 2005, Shriver became the eldest of the four then-surviving children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. (Her sister, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, later died on September 17, 2006, leaving just her brother U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy and her sister, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.)
Shriver, who is believed to suffer from Addison’s disease,has had several health setbacks in recent years, and on November 18, 2007, she was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts;she spent several weeks there.
Political career
Shriver actively campaigned for her elder brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during his successful 1960 U.S. presidential election.
In 1968, she helped Ann McGlone Burke nationalize the Special Olympics movement and is the only woman to have her portrait appear, during her lifetime, on a U.S. coin – the 1995 |commemorative Special Olympics silver dollar.
Her daughter, Maria, is married to actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger who is currently Governor of California (elected 2003). Shriver, a lifelong Democrat, supported her Republican son-in-law’s successful bid. During the 1992 Democratic presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, she was one of several prominent Democrats including Governor Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania, Bishop Austin Vaughan of New York, who signed a letter to the New York Times, protesting the Democratic Party’s plank in favour of abortion, in its platform.
She and her husband are opponents of abortion, and she has been a supporter of Feminists for Life of America,the Susan B. Anthony List,[6] and Democrats for Life of America.
On January 28, 2008, she was present at American University, Washington, D.C., when her brother, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, announced his endorsement of Barack Obama’s U.S. presidential campaign.
[edit] Charity work and awards
A longtime advocate for children’s health and disability issues, Shriver was a key founder of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a part of the National Institutes of Health, in 1962, and has also helped to establish numerous other health-care facilities and support networks throughout the country.
In 1968, Shriver founded the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring at The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
She was awarded the nation’s highest civilian award, the (U.S.) Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1984 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, because of her work on behalf of those with mental retardation.
For her work in founding the Special Olympics, Shriver received the Civitan International World Citizenship Award.Her advocacy on this issue has also earned her other awards and recognitions, including honorary degrees from numerous universities.
Shriver received the 2002 Theodore Roosevelt Award, an annual award given by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In 2008, the U.S. Congress changed the NICHD’s name to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Rare Halo Display: Portrait of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, David Lenz, 2009 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Commissioned as part of the First Prize, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2006
On 9 May 2009, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., unveiled a historic portrait of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the first portrait the Gallery has ever commissioned of an individual who had not served as a U.S. President or First Lady. The portrait of Mrs. Shriver depicts her with four Special Olympics athletes (including Loretta Claiborne) and one Best Buddies participant and was painted by David Lenz, the winner of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2006. As part of the Portrait Competition prize, the National Portrait Gallery commissions a work from the winning artist to depict a living subject for the collection. Lenz, whose son, Sam, has Down syndrome and is an enthusiastic Special Olympics athlete, was inspired by Mrs. Shriver’s dedication to working with people with intellectual disabilities.
Shriver involved Dorothy Hamill’s special skating program in the Special Olympics after her Olympic skating win.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American recording artist. She began playing in clubs in the New York City area while also working at Interscope Records as a songwriter for several established acts, including Akon, who signed her to a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution after hearing Gaga sing. She then started to work on new material for her first studio album.
She began working with a collective called the Haus of Gaga in 2008, and released her debut album The Fame. The album peaked in countries such as the United Kingdom and Canada, and topped the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart in the United States. To date, the album has spawned the international number one singles “Just Dance” (nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 51st Grammy Awards) and “Poker Face.” After opening for New Kids On The Block and the Pussycat Dolls, Gaga headlined her first tour, The Fame Ball Tour.
Gaga has been influenced by fashion and has been appreciated for her provocative sense of style and her influence on other celebrities. Musically, she is inspired by glam rockers such as David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Biography
1986-2004: Early life and education
Gaga was born in Yonkers, New York, the eldest child to Italian American parents.[1] Her father, Joseph Germanotta, is an internet entrepreneur, and her mother, Cynthia, works as a telecommunications assistant.[1][2][3] By the time she was eleven, Gaga was set to join Juilliard School in Manhattan,[4] but instead attended the private Catholic school Convent of the Sacred Heart.[5] Having learned piano at the age of four, Gaga went on to write her first piano ballad at thirteen and began performing at open mic nights by the age of fourteen.[6] At the age of seventeen, she gained early admission to the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied music.[6] She improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion and socio-political order.[7] Gaga later withdrew from the school.[8]
2005-2007: Career beginnings
Grayscale image of two young women standing side-by-side. The woman on the right is blond and wears a leotard while tilting her head back. She keeps her body straight and holds her waist with her left hand. The other woman is a brunette. She stands facing the blond woman. Her hands are raised up to her head with her fingers spread. She wears a silk robe that comes up to her knees. Her face has a hint of smile.
Lady Gaga (left) and Lady Starlight at their weekly party New York Street Revival and Trash Dance.
Gaga first signed with Def Jam Records when she was nineteen years old; it happened after record executive L. A. Reid heard her singing down the hallway from his office. However, she claims Reid never met with her. After three months, she was dropped from the label.[10] She moved out of her parents’ house and started performing downtown, in the Lower East Side club scene with bands Mackin Pulsifer and SGBand.[11] Wanting to differentiate herself from the prevalent rock and roll scene, she chose to focus on pop music and started taking drugs and performing at burlesque shows.[12] Gaga said her father could not look at her for several months and “just didn’t understand” her drug use and performance in the shows.[5] One day music producer Rob Fusari compared her vocal style to that of Freddie Mercury. He nicknamed her Gaga after the 1984 Queen single “Radio Ga Ga.” She started using it as her stage name and was known thereafter as Lady Gaga. It was Fusari who helped her to write some of her earlier songs, including “Disco Heaven,” “Dirty Ice Cream,” and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich.”
Throughout 2007, Gaga collaborated with the similarly named Lower East Side rock DJ, go-go dancer and performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped Gaga create her onstage fashions.[13] The pair began playing gigs at downtown club venues like Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and Rockwood Music Hall,[9] with their live performance art piece known as “Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue.”[14] Billed as “The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow,”[15] their act was a low-fi tribute to 1970’s variety acts.[16] In August 2007, “Lady Gaga and The Starlight Revue” were invited to play at American music festival Lollapalooza, where they awed the crowd with their performance.[17] The show was critically acclaimed and their performance received rave reviews.[6][9] Having initially focused on avant-garde, electronic dance music, Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the vintage glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into the mix.[18]
During this time, she was noticed by music executive Vincent Herbert and was signed to Interscope in January 2008. She began writing for artists signed to Akon’s Konvict label, as well as Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, and New Kids on the Block after her songwriting abilities left an impression.[5] Around the same time, Akon, hearing her sing a reference vocal for one of his tracks, formed the opinion that she was also a good singer.[19] He ultimately convinced Interscope’s chairman Jimmy Iovine to sign her for a joint deal with his own label, Kon Live Distribution,[10] and would later call Gaga his “franchise player.”[20] Through her affiliation with Akon, Gaga started to work on her own new material for her debut album with producer RedOne. Already having a solid selection of electro-glam, David Bowie-esque, and Queen-inspired songs, Gaga wanted to mix her retro dance beats with urban melodies, a pop chorus and still retain a rock and roll edge. The first song they produced was a mash-up of Mötley Crüe’s single “Girls, Girls, Girls” (1987) and AC/DC’s single “T.N.T.” (1976)[12]
2008-present: The Fame
A distnat image of a blond woman performing onstage. She is clad in a white leotard. She is singing onto a microphone in her left hand. Her right hand is held by somebody whose appearance is not clear. On her left, two African dancers imitate a pose where they appear to be looking at the woman throuogh a camera.
Gaga performing at the New Kids on the Block: Live tour
By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles, working closely with her record label to finalize her debut album The Fame.[12] For the album, Gaga stated she combined a lot of different genres, “from Def Leppard drums and handclaps to metal drums on urban tracks.”[10] She started to work with a collective called the Haus of Gaga, who collaborate with their muse on clothing, stage sets and sounds.[5]
The Fame received mostly positive reviews from critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic, it has received an average score of seventy-one out of hundred.[21] Times Online described the album as “a fantastic mix of Bowie-esque ballads, dramatic, Queen-inspired midtempo numbers and synth-based dance tracks that poke fun at celebrity-chasing rich kids.”[5] The album’s lead single, “Just Dance,” was released on April 8, 2008, and has topped the charts in six countries – Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[22] It received a Grammy nomination for the Best Dance Recording, but lost to Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”[23] The second single, “Poker Face”, was released on September 29, 2008, and has reached number one in nearly twenty countries, including almost all major music markets in the world. “Poker Face” became Gaga’s second consecutive number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2009.[24] The Fame peaked at number one in Austria, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland, and number four in Australia and the United States.[25][26] Worldwide sales stand at 2.3 million copies.[27]
A blond woman in a bob-cut, sitting cross-legged on a transparent platform which is full of bubbles and lit from inside in pink. The woman is wearing a dress made of transparent bubbles of varying sizes. She is holding a microphone in her left hand and appears to be smiling.
Gaga wearing a plastic bubble dress while performing a concert on The Fame Ball Tour.
Afterward, the Haus of Gaga turned its focus further upon the American market with Gaga going on her first ever concert tour with fellow Interscope pop group, the reformed New Kids on the Block. Gaga started her stint with them in Los Angeles on October 8, 2008, and continued through the end of November.[28] She appeared as a guest artist on the song “Big Girl Now” from their new album, The Block.[29] Gaga’s first North American tour, The Fame Ball Tour, began on March 12, 2009. It was critically appreciated.[30][31] Gaga’s opening for the Pussycat Dolls in Australia in May was well-received, with a reviewer claiming that she upstaged the Dolls with her performance.[32][33] The music video for her third single, “LoveGame,” was banned by the Australian channel Network Ten, who refused to play the video reasoning that it contained sexually explicit imagery.[34]
Gaga appeared semi-nude, wearing only plastic bubbles on the cover of the annual ‘Hot 100′ issue of Rolling Stone in May 2009.[27][35] In the issue she discussed that while she was making her beginnings in the New York club scene, Gaga was romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer. Gaga described their relationship and their break-up, saying of it, “I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny [of Grease], and I just broke.” He later became an inspiration behind some of the songs on her debut album The Fame.[36] Gaga also stated that she is bisexual and is inspired by beautiful women. According to her, it’s an aspect of her sexuality that makes her boyfriends “uncomfortable.”[36] A month before, she had told a crowd at one of her concerts that her song “Poker Face” deals with fantasizing about a woman while being in bed with a man.[37] In June 2009, she revealed plans of touring with Kanye West.
Musical style and image
Lady Gaga “Just Dance”
Play sound
A 30-second sample of Gaga’s “Just Dance” featuring the chorus sung by Gaga and Colby O’Donis in the range of B3 to C♯ backed by a synth marching beat. The song became Gaga’s first international hit single.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Gaga has been primarily influenced by glam rockers such as David Bowie and Queen, singers Michael Jackson and Madonna, artist Andy Warhol, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, fashion icon and entertainer Grace Jones, and fashion as a whole.[34][10][39] Gaga’s vocals have drawn frequent comparison to Madonna and Gwen Stefani, while the structure of her music is said to be reminiscent of classic 1980s pop and 1990s europop.[40] Gaga is said to have “a husky voice kept mostly in reserve” with the “gumption of vintage Madonna” and the “unlikely pop persistence of Taylor Swift.”[41] Author Baby A. Gil of The Philippine Star asserts that her voice is “just right for the mix of dance and rock that she does.”[42] As an artist, Alexis Petridis of The Boston Globe commented that although Gaga lacks originality, “[p]op music doesn’t have to be blindingly original or clever to work: it needs tunes, and Lady [Gaga] is fantastically good at tunes.”[40]
Gaga has stated that she is “very into fashion” and that it is “everything” to her.[5][43] Her love of fashion came from her mother, who was “always very well kept and beautiful.”[3] Gaga stated:
“When I’m writing music, I’m thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It’s all about everything altogether – performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it’s everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us.”[43]
Gaga has said she channels Versace in everything she does, and considers Donatella Versace as her muse in many ways.[5] Melissa Magsaysay of Los Angeles Times commented, “[Gaga's] aversion to wearing a top and bottom at the same time [...] swigging champagne and being fanned by oily men in Speedos [is] very Donatella-esque.”[44] Gaga has her own creative production team called the Haus of Gaga, which she handles personally. The team creates many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos.[45] Gaga is a natural brunette, but her hair is dyed blonde because she was often mistaken for fellow musician Amy Winehouse.[3]
Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashion sense of Gaga and American recording artist Christina Aguilera, noting similarities in their styling, hair, and make-up.[5] Aguilera later claimed she was “completely unaware of [Gaga]” and “didn’t know if it [was] a man or a woman.”[5] Afterward, Gaga released a statement in which she welcomed the comparisons due to the attention providing useful publicity.[46] Gaga said, “She’s such a huge star and if anything I should send her flowers, because a lot of people in America didn’t know who I was until that whole thing happened. It really put me on the map in a way.”
John Hughes, Jr. (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American film director, producer and writer. He made some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon’s Vacation; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Weird Science; The Breakfast Club; Some Kind of Wonderful; Sixteen Candles; Pretty in Pink; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Uncle Buck; Home Alone and its sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Biography
Personal life
Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan, to a mother who volunteered in charity work and John Hughes, Sr., who worked in sales.[1] A 1968 graduate of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, Hughes used Northbrook and the adjacent North Shore area for shooting locations and settings in many of his films, though he usually left the name of the town unsaid, or referred to it as “Shermer, Illinois”, Shermerville being the original name of Northbrook. In high school, he met Nancy Ludwig, to whom he was married from 1970 until his death. They had two sons, John Hughes III, born in 1976, and James Hughes, born in 1979.
Career
Hughes began his career as an ad copywriter in Chicago. During this time, he created what became the famous Edge “Credit Card Shaving Test” ad campaign.
His first attempt at comedy writing was selling jokes to well-established performers such as Rodney Dangerfield and Joan Rivers. This led him to pen a story, inspired by his family trips as a child, that was to become his calling card and entry onto the staff of the National Lampoon Magazine. That story, “Vacation ‘58″, became the basis for the film Vacation. Subsequent stories such as the April Fool’s Day classics “My Vagina” and “My Penis” gave an early indication of Hughes’ ear for the particular rhythm of teen speak, as well as the various indignities of teen life in general.
His first credited screenplay, Class Reunion, was written while still on staff at the magazine. The resulting film became the second disastrous attempt by the flagship to duplicate the runaway success of Animal House. It was Hughes’ next screenplay for the imprint, National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), however, that would prove to be a major hit, putting the Lampoon back on the map.
His first directorial effort, Sixteen Candles, won almost unanimous praise when it was released in 1984, due in no small part to its more realistic depiction of middle-class high school life, which stood in stark contrast to the Porky’s-inspired comedies being made at the time. It was also the first in a string of efforts set in or around high school, including The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (See also Brat Pack).
To avoid being pigeonholed as a maker of teen comedies, Hughes branched out in 1987, directing Planes, Trains & Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. His later output would not be so critically well received, though films like Uncle Buck (one of the first films to display the change in teenager’s choice of music from rock to rap) proved popular. Hughes’s greatest commercial success came with Home Alone, a film he wrote and produced about a child accidentally left behind when his family goes away for Christmas, forcing him to protect himself and his house from a pair of inept burglars. Home Alone would be the top grossing film of 1990, and remains his most successful live-action comedy of all time. His last film as a director was 1991’s Curly Sue.
He has been noted as an inspiration for many in the film industry, including Wes Anderson.[citation needed] He also wrote screenplays using his pseudonym, Edmond Dantès (protagonist of Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo).
In 1994, Hughes retired from the public eye and moved to Wisconsin,rarely granting or giving interviews or photographs to the media save a select few interviews in 1999 to promote the soundtrack album to Reach the Rock, an independent film he wrote.[3] The album was compiled by Hughes’ son, John Hughes III, and released on his son’s Chicago-based record label, Hefty Records.[4] He also recorded an audio commentary for the 1999 DVD release of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.[5] A photograph of him visiting his son on the set of his son’s film in 2001 was the last photo taken of him in public. In the later years of his life, he was a farmer in Illinois.
Death
Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack on August 6, 2009, while walking in Manhattan, where he was visiting his family.In addition to his widow and sons, Hughes is survived by four grandchildren.
With the economy showing signs of life and plenty of great car deals to be had, many people may be more eager than ever to purchase a new car. A major added incentive has even appeared in the form of the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program, which offers up to a $4,500 rebate when you trade in your old car. It’s quite the deal, but if you don’t qualify and are still inclined to drop some cash on a new vehicle, here’s a suggestion.
» Don’t Want to Wait? Use Cash for Clunkers
» Slideshow: Cars Worth Waiting For
The automotive industry has witnessed the perfect storm over the last two years. Drastic drops in sales, unpredictable rises in gas prices, a punch-drunk economy trying to get its legs — all of this has culminated in auto manufacturers being forced to make major modifications. Stagnant brands have been downsized and eliminated, while automakers have moved their focus from behemoth SUVS to small, fuel-efficient cars.
However, the time it takes for a car designed from scratch to make it into production is significant. Cars that have been in the works for the last year or two will only be rolling out on dealer lots starting next year and into 2011 and 2012. What that means is, eventually, the fallout from the automotive crisis will result in a whole slate of efficient, innovative cars making it to the market in true lemonade-out-of-lemons fashion. We’ve put together a list of our favorites. Start putting money aside now and you won’t be sorry later.
Chevrolet Volt
Projected Release Date: Late 2010
When you’re discussing anticipated autos, it would be poor form not to begin with the Chevrolet Volt. One of the most talked-about cars in the industry, it will be the first Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV) in mass production. The Volt is an electric car that employs a gasoline engine in order to expand its range. Price estimates place the Volt at around $40,000.
Ford Fiesta
Projected Release Date: Early 2010
Ford is taking a throwback approach to fuel efficiency with the nifty Fiesta. Instead of going with hybrid technology or a newfangled electric powertrain, the Ford Fiesta will simply be a small, lightweight car. In addition to being a lot cheaper to produce than its alternative-fuel contemporaries, it will match and surpass most of them in fuel economy. Pricing is unknown, but many expect it to be in the neighborhood of a lower-end Ford Focus.
Nissan EV-02
Projected Release Date: 2012
Gas-sipping cars are nice, but cars that don’t use any gas at all are even better. Nissan hopes to be among the first to bring an affordable electric vehicle to production with its EV-02. Nissan has already made an EV mule available to the press (in the form of a Nissan Cube outfitted with components of the EV technology) for testing purposes. CNET says the “drivetrain was whisper quiet” and they were “quite impressed with the linear acceleration exhibited by the EV-02, and its willingness to move ” Many details are yet to be revealed, such as the exterior, price and eventual name but for green drivers on a budget, the Nissan EV is an interesting proposition.
Chevrolet Spark
Projected Release Date: 2011
The second Chevy on our list, the Spark is the domestic answer to the Smart ForTwo. Where it has a leg up on the ForTwo is that it will be for four — as in four passengers, and four doors for easy access. With a motorcycle-style instrument panel and a painfully cute exterior, the Spark is bound to have a large fan base. Pricing has not yet been announced — though speculation is that it will be priced along the lines of the budget Chevy Aveo.
Chrysler Town & Country EV
Projected Release Date: Late 2010
Last fall, Chrysler shocked the industry when it unveiled a lineup of electric vehicles that are in development. While the Dodge Circuit has garnered the most attention for its mind-numbing performance and flashy styling, the Town & Country EV is innovative in its practicality. Most of the electric cars that are going to hit the streets are either sports coupes or miniature econo-boxes. The idea of an electric minivan that can transport the family while producing zero emissions sets the Town & Country EV apart from everything else in the works. Pricing information has not been released.
Scion iQ
Projected Release Date: Late 2010/Early 2011
The iQ is Toyota’s attempt to take on the Smart ForTwo and the aforementioned Chevrolet Spark. To be released under their “alternative” brand, Scion, the iQ will feature a 3+1 seating arrangement (two in the front, one in the back) — just don’t expect to fit a full-sized adult in the rear seat. The price of the iQ hasn’t been released as of yet, but expect it to be somewhere close to the $14,650 MSRP of the Scion xD.
Recent Articles
A powerful new type of Internet attack works like a telephone tap, except operates between computers and Web sites they trust.
Hackers at the Black Hat and DefCon security conferences have revealed a serious flaw in the way Web browsers weed out untrustworthy sites and block anybody from seeing them. If a criminal infiltrates a network, he can set up a secret eavesdropping post and capture credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive data flowing between computers on that network and sites their browsers have deemed safe.
In an even more nefarious plot, an attacker could hijack the auto-update feature on a victim’s computer, and trick it into automatically installing malware pulled in from a hacker’s Web site. The computer would think it’s an update coming from the software manufacturer.
The attack was demonstrated by three hackers. Independent security researcher Moxie Marlinspike presented alone, while Dan Kaminsky, with Seattle-based security consultancy IOActive Inc., and security and privacy researcher Len Sassaman presented together.
They reached essentially the same conclusion: There are major problems in the way browsers interact with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, which is a common technology used on banking, e-commerce and other sites handling sensitive data.
Browser makers and the companies that sell SSL certificates are working on a fix.
Microsoft Corp., whose Internet Explorer browser is the world’s most popular, said it was investigating the issue. Mozilla Corp., which makes the No. 2 Firefox browser, said most of the problems being addressed were fixed in the latest version of its browser, and that the rest will be fixed in an update coming this week.
VeriSign Inc., one of the biggest SSL certificate companies, maintains that its certificates aren’t vulnerable.
Tim Callan, a product marketing executive in VeriSign’s SSL business unit, added that the “tap” won’t work against so-called Extended Validation SSL certificates, which cost more and involve a deeper inspection of a company’s application for a certificate.
The attack falls into a class of hacks known as “man-in-the-middle,” in which a criminal plants himself between a victim’s computer and a legitimate Web site and steals data as it moves back and forth.
Jeff Moss, founder of the Black Hat and Defcon conferences who this summer was appointed to the Homeland Security Department’s advisory council, said the fact a hacker has to actually break into a victim’s network for the attack to work can limit its usefulness.
“That’s the nice mitigating thing,” he said.
But he warned that “for targeted attacks it’s absolutely deadly. This is the way you can get everything. If you can get in the middle, you can get everything. It’s a big, giant wake-up call for the industry.”
SSL certificates are a critical technology in assigning trust on the Web.
Sites buy them to encrypt traffic and assure visitors it’s OK to enter confidential information. Companies that sell SSL certificates verify that someone trying to buy a certificate actually owns the site that certificate will be attached to.
The presence of an SSL certificate on a site is designated by a padlock in the address bar. But many people don’t pay attention to whether a padlock is present or not.
Browsers do care, though, which is why this week’s talks were significant.
Browsers are programmed to block sites that don’t have a valid SSL certificate, or have a certificate displaying a Web address that doesn’t match the address a Web surfer was trying to reach (which can indicate someone has hijacked a person’s Internet session). If the sites aren’t blocked, users are warned about potential danger, and have the option to click through.
The problems outlined by researchers center on a quirk in the way browsers read SSL certificates.
Many SSL certificate companies will allow people to attach a programming symbol called a “null character” into the Web address onto the certificates they receive. Web browsers generally ignore that symbol. They stop reading at that symbol when they’re checking the Web address on a certificate.
The trick in the latest type of attack is that all a criminal would need to do is put the name of a legitimate Web site before that character, and the browser will believe that the site it’s visiting – which is under the criminal’s control – is legitimate.
The criminal could then forward the traffic onto the legitimate site and spy on everything the victim does on that site. It’s a complicated attack, but it highlights a significant weakness in the very technology widely used to assure people it’s safe to navigate sensitive sites.
Jon Miller, an SSL expert and director of Accuvant Labs, said he expects significant attacks against corporations using this technique in the coming months. Criminals who run “phishing” scams, in which people are tricked into visiting phony sites, will also likely latch on.
“What kind of makes this earth-shattering is these aren’t the most sophisticated attacks in the world,” he said. “This is going to become a huge problem.”
There are signs it’s already starting.
VeriSign’s Callan said within hours of the talks, his company got a number of applications for SSL certificates featuring null characters, but they were denied.
We’re not going to lie. A man boasting abs chiseled to perfection and biceps that pop just enough when flexed (without shredding shirts He-Man style) will no-doubt turn our heads. And even if caught mid check-him-out glance, we’re not about to look away. Fit, toned bodies are the result of hard work and dedication to a healthy lifestyle. We certainly pay homage to that. But for a man to achieve a skyrocketing score on the sexiness scale there’s got to be more to him than physical assets. Throw in these seven traits and he’s guaranteed irresistible.
1. He Has Mastered The Wink. We don’t know how they learn the technique but some guys really have the Richard-Gere wink down pat. There’s an art to this wink and getting it right can be tricky. It’s more suave and smoky than cheeky and laughable. He’s comfortable giving this signal and has the timing to the tee. Done right, this move is pure sexy. Caveat: The wink can be tricky to pull off. Practice first.
2. He Radiates Calm. It’s sending shivers up our spine just thinking about how powerful a man’s calm presence can be. Neurotic or hyper or frenzied is stressful, no matter how busy the man or what his excuse. But if he’s got cool written all over his face and his gaze is pure steady and peaceful his sex appeal will shoot through the roof (think old-school James Dean). We women can unwillingly fall into the trap of over-worrying about things we can’t control. A man who sets us at ease by reminding us how things always manage to work out in the end is absolutely hot. Read: 3 Secrets To Exuding Sexy
3. He Takes Care Of Himself. Look, we’re not saying it’s a certain height or build that matters. If he keeps his body in relatively good shape this shows us he knows how to take care of himself. It also clues us in that he sets health as a priority. What’s more, if he’s active, working out even a few times a week, the endorphins his body is producing during gym sessions are sure to keep him in good spirits and energized. The bottom line: If he takes good care of himself he’s likely to take good care of his partner (or at least help keep her motivated to do so). That’s a turn-on. Read: Play Together: Top Sports For Couples
4. He’s Got Style. We don’t want to give the wrong idea here. This is not to say he has to be one certain type of style, and that mimicking a prescribed “it” style is a surefire path to sexy (whether that’s clean-cut, tattooed-up or punked-out). Not at all. Rather, what’s attractive in a guy is that he has a style at all, a way of dressing that reflects in some way who he is and what he’s into. A guy who wakes up hum-drum and throws the same dingy shirt and pair of jeans on every day? Not sexy. At all.
5. He Has A Manly Scent. Sounds so animalistic, we know. No man can control his natural scent, and it turns out our DNA compatibility dictates who smells good to us, anyway. But, every guy can augment his essence with a spritz (one will do just fine) of cologne. As long as it’s not overdone, a man with a strong scent has the potential to drive women wild.
6. He Is Affectionate. Though we women try not to let on, affection (be it an arm around the shoulder or hand on the leg) lights us up like fireflies. Consider it your secret weapon. By affection, we do mean to include expressing your feelings through words, such as “I love you.” It’s amazing how many hot men fall short of sexy just for lack of articulating and showing their love. Let’s put it this way: There are guys who reach out to their partner while driving, and there are guys who keep both hands on the wheel and eyes straight ahead. The lads of the former group qualify for sexy.
7. He Laughs Loud, Hard, Often. No news flash here. Comedy is highly enticing. It’s worth noting though that there are different types of humor. The insecure comedy that’s based on putting others down or calling them names doesn’t gibe with us. But give us fun-loving, belly-jiggling jokes and laughter and you’ll head straight to the top of the sexiness charts.
NAPA, Calif. (AP)-For most of the Oakland Raiders, the first few days of training camp under coach Tom Cable are like nothing they’ve been through before as football players.
Quarterbacks are forbidden to pass the ball in seven-on-seven drills. They practice barking out audibles in the corner of the field while their teammates do other drills. The whistle blows almost as soon as the ball is handed off as coaches make sure each player is in the right spot. And then the process repeats itself.
“It seemed like it was weird at first when he talked about the concept, but you go through it and it’s a great concept,” linebacker Isaiah Ekejiuba(notes) said. “We’re doing a lot of learning, get all the mistakes out the way.”
The Raiders spent Saturday participating in their third straight day of what Cable has called a “learning-intensive” approach to football, eschewing pads, contact and running actual plays in favor of drilling fundamentals in this outdoor classroom in wine country.
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Fullback Lorenzo Neal(notes) told Cable he hadn’t seen anything like it in 17 years in the NFL. The approach is in stark contrast to what the Raiders’ cross-bay rivals are doing under coach Mike Singletary. The 49ers opened camp Saturday with two contact practices in pads as Singletary tries to instill a physical mentality with his team.
Cable says there is plenty of time for hitting later in camp, in preseason games and the regular season. So for the first four days of his camp, he’s focusing on the mental part of the game.
“When you hand them a set of pads and it’s time to go do that, they get into that part of it rather easily. That’s the way they’re wired,” Cable said. “Remember now, the NFL season starts now and it hopefully ends sometime in February for you. The human body can only take so many car crashes.”
For the Raiders, those crashes won’t begin until Monday, the fifth day of training camp. For now, they have one more day of drills that may look mundane but are ones Cable says are vital for the Raiders to reverse a six-year slide of losing.
In seven-on-seven passing drills, the quarterbacks drop back, survey the field as receivers run their patterns, then stop without making a pass. JaMarcus Russell(notes) pleaded with his coaches to be able to show off that strong arm of his to no avail, although defensive coordinator John Marshall did shout out at one point, “It’s time for a pick.”
Later in practice, the quarterbacks line up near a fence, calling signals and taking simulated snaps. They bark out audibles, hand signals and all, as quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett calls out different defensive looks.
Defenders practice their run fits, going to a particular spot to fill a gap in the defense even though no plays are being run.
Then when the team lines up for 11-on-11 drills, the quarterback takes the snap and hands off the ball, only for a whistle to blow after the blockers and defenders take just a step. That’s repeated over and over again, as coaches watch footwork and other small details.
“You’re really trying to get their mind into the who and the how part,” Cable said. “When you throw pads on, you add that combative part of it, and that really changes everything. … You’ve trained them, and now it’s just handling it the right way.”
Cable says one benefit of the approach that he first used as a college coach at Idaho is that younger players can get more practice time as the first and second teams are on separate fields, with no fear of injuries.
The players say the back-to-basics drills have been helpful, reinforcing what they learned in offseason workouts and allowing them to get back up to speed without the risk of injury.
“I think it’s great,” offensive lineman Mario Henderson(notes) said. “In my opinion, at camp when you get out the first day, you sometimes are not really focused on trying to do the right things. You’re just focused on going out there and trying to win the starting job. Sometimes that can be bad because you are going fast, but you’re not really doing your assignments. Now we have four days where we get everything down pat so then when it comes time Monday to earn a job, it’s not your assignments slowing you down.”
While the players like the approach, they’re also eager to put on the pads and hit each other like football players again.
“They are like, `Come on coach, let’s go play,”‘ Cable said.
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Vangelakos’ southwest Florida condominium has marble floors, a large pool overlooking a river and modern furnishings that speak of affluence and luxury. What they don’t have in the 32-story building is a single neighbor.
The New Jersey family of five purchased their unit four years ago, when Fort Myers was in the midst of a housing boom and any hints of an impending financial crisis were buried in lofty dreams of expansion and development. They made a $10,000 down payment and eagerly watched as builders transformed an empty lot into an opulent high rise, one that now symbolizes the foreclosure crisis.
“The future was going to be southwest Florida,” said Victor Vangelakos, 45, a fire captain who planned to eventually retire and live permanently in the condo.
Most of the other tenants in the 200-unit condo didn’t close on their contracts, and the few that did have transferred to an adjacent building owned by the same company because more people live there.
The Vangelakos’ mortgage lender will not allow them to do the same.
That leaves them as the sole residents of the Oasis Tower One.
“It’s a beautiful building,” said their attorney, John Ewing, who is representing 27 others who made deposits on units. “The problem is, it’s a very lonely building.”
When the Vangelakos’ travel from Weehawken, N.J., to spend a week or a few days in their Florida home, they have exclusive use of the pool, game room and gym, but they miss having a few tenants around.
“Being from the city, it’s very eerie,” Vangelakos said. “It’s almost like a scary movie.”
A large, circular fountain in front of the building is dry. The automatic glass doors that lead to the front lobby are locked. On the front desk is a guest sign-in sheet. The last entry: Feb. 13, 2009.
“It’s like time froze here six months ago,” Ewing said.
Vangelakos said they closed on the apartment in the fall, unaware the other tenants had failed to follow through. When they visited around Christmas, they didn’t think much of the emptiness. They were just happy to be there.
“We wanted to believe,” Cathy Vangelakos said. “We were looking for what we were offered.”
On subsequent visits, however, the building grew more deserted.
The lights on the pool and palm trees were off. Their garbage shoot was sealed, a trash bin placed in front of their unit instead.
Despite the empty units, they faithfully parked in their assigned spot on the second story of the parking garage. Then those lights went off, too.
Then there were security concerns. One night, someone pounded on their door at 11 p.m. They called the front desk at the next door building, which contacted police. A search turned up no one, though a pool entrance was open.
Another morning they awoke to find lounge chairs in the pool.
The parents and their children sleep with their cell phones by their beds.
“I’m not a chicken, but this is a big building,” Cathy Vangelakos said.
Betsy McCoy, vice president and associated general counsel with The Related Group, which sold the family their unit, said they have tried to help find a solution – even offering them a unit in the building next door, free of cost, while the situation is resolved.
“They haven’t wanted to take us up on that,” McCoy said Friday. “They frankly rejected every solution and offer and proposal that we’ve come up with.”
McCoy said some of the interested buyers who put down deposits lost their jobs, others were unable to get mortgages and some were just nervous when the financial collapse came.
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area in Lee County has some of the worst economic stress – a combination of foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcies – in the country, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis of more than 3,100 U.S. counties.
The latest AP Economic Stress Index, which assigns each county a score from 1 to 100 with higher numbers reflecting the greatest stress from the recession, found Lee County had a score of more than 20. Anything above 11 is considered stressed.
Victor Vangelakos said they don’t want to move to the tower next door because they would still be paying the mortgage and maintenance costs on the condo they own. They paid $430,000 for the unit and took out a $336,000 mortgage – essentially spending their life savings.
He’d like for The Related Group to buy them out.
“They want us to be refugees in Tower II,” Victor Vangelakos said. “That’s not how I expected us to live here.”
The family’s attorney said he has filed two lawsuits on behalf of would-be tenants because the building wasn’t finished as promised. He said they expected a clubhouse, marina, private cinema and restaurants.
McCoy said those amenities could be developed, but were never promised.
On Friday evening, the pool area was dark, most of the doors locked. Cathy Vangelakos and her 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, stepped into an elevator to head up to their unit. “Going up,” an automated voice chimed.
“Going up,” Cathy Vangelakos said. “That’s all we hear.”