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By Katie-Bird Brupbacher on
12/10/2009 3:52 AM
… and my personal prescription for jolliness is to have a delicious libation to celebrate the season. Champagne and wine are wonderful on their own, but they are even better when mixed with other spirits and ingredients to create real holiday cheer. Following are some of my tried and true recipes for making the holidays bright at all of the fun events that the season brings.
Mulled Wine - This is a holiday tradition that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years. It’s simply wine that has been slightly sweetened, spiked and spiced. When it’s cold outside, this is a great drink to enjoy around a bonfire or at any outdoor event. Here’s what you need:
2/3 cup sugar
(1) 750ml bottle red wine
1/2 cup brandy
6 to 8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Orange peel from 1/2 orange
Pour the wine into a saucepan and place over low heat. Cut the zest off the orange peel with a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler (if some of the bitter white pith is still attached...
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By Mary.Gilliam on
12/10/2009 3:50 AM
In the last twelve months since the financial crisis rocked the world’s economy, nonprofit groups have cut budgets, laid off staff members and taken other steps to shore up their finans. While opinions are mixed, many philanthropy experts say that charities have been complacent in developing the radical thinking that is needed to maintain, and potentially strengthen the nonprofit world. As the effects of the economic downturn continue to linger, nonprofits across the US are exploring new ways to raise money. Many innovative approaches are now either being considered or implemented in nonprofit organizations across the US, and here in Louisiana:
The for-profit with the non-profit soul. Eighteen months ago, Vermont became the first state to pass a law to give for-profit entities providing social benefits their own legal designation, know as low-profit limited-liability companies of L3C. Five other states have followed suit and now supporters are pressing Congress to pass legislation...
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By Elizabeth Manshel on
12/10/2009 3:48 AM
Have you ever had a recipe that you have made so many times and for so many years, that others believe it is yours? Well, I have a little confession to make - the mini pecan pies I have been making for the past 25 years are not really from my recipe! I never meant to claim them as my own, it just slowly happened over the years. But, I am here today to give credit where credit is due. The original recipe came from a long lost friend’s mother, Mrs. Linda Wineski. Back in high school, I commented on how much I loved her mini pecan pies and she was kind enough to give me her recipe. (I still have the original copy, barely legible, yet a treasured piece of my recipe collection)
Over the years I have made, literally thousands upon thousands of these pies. I have given them as Christmas presents, shown up at many a party with them in hand and sold more of them than I care to remember to a select group of Yankees who knew a good pie when they tasted one! In fact, my husband’s cousin will ask me every time we go up to the Northeast for a visit if I packed a batch of these mini pecan pies for him in my suitcase. I think that side of the family will forever know me as – “that southern girl who could make those awesome mini pee-can pies”!
...
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By Denis Bechac on
12/10/2009 3:45 AM
While national headlines scream bad tidings of great trepidation, the local picture is much brighter. In St. Tammany Parish, our unemployment rate is about half the national average and is about two-thirds of Louisiana’s rate. While retail sales and, thus, tax collections are down from the last two years, the data show a significant spike from pre-Katrina days, before the false economy of storm recovery sent sales rates and taxes into the stratosphere. And in the midst of all of these things, there have been many bright spots in the economy over the last year.
Major corporations continue to consider St. Tammany a prime location for expansion and relocation. Last spring, 3001, Inc., expanded its operations in Slidell. The Rooms To Go warehouse and retail center in Pearl River opens this month. And we have been visited by countless site-selectors from national and international corporations who are looking at the northshore as the place to be for operations along the Gulf Coast. Indeed, we can hardly...
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By Denis Bechac on
12/10/2009 3:42 AM
Robin Roberts, accomplished student-athlete, media personality, author, and breast-cancer survivor, is the 2009 recipient of the Walter Camp Football Foundation “Distinguished American” Award.
The Walter Camp “Distinguished American” award is presented each year to an individual who has utilized his or her talents to attain great success in business, private life or public service and who may have accomplished that which no other has done. He or she may have a record of dedication to mankind that should not pass unrecognized and a life that has been dedicated to the preservation of the American ideal. The recipient need not have participated in football but must be one who understands its lesson of self-denial, cooperation and teamwork, and one who is a person of honesty, integrity and dedication. He or she must be a leader, an innovator, even a pioneer, who has reached a degree of excellence that distinguishes him or her from contemporaries, as well as someone who lives within the principles of Walter Camp.
...
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By Jeff Crouere on
12/10/2009 3:39 AM
After a very slow start the race for Mayor of New Orleans is finally taking shape. Currently, there are six serious candidates: businessman John Georges, businessman Troy Henry, former Orleans Parish School Board Member Leslie Jacobs, State Senator Ed Murray, non-profit housing executive James Perry, and former Judge Nadine Ramsey.
Last week, Jacobs decided to enter the field of candidates, after poll results indicated that the race was winnable. Jacobs is well known to New Orleans voters because of her efforts on behalf of education reform, especially in the Orleans Parish public school system. She has worked for years as an insurance executive and served on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). Post-Katrina, Jacobs has been at the forefront of the charter school movement in Louisiana. With New Orleans witnessing significant improvement in the local public education system, Jacobs can claim at least partial credit for pushing for the serious changes that were needed.
It is...
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By James Hartman on
12/10/2009 3:37 AM
Think things are pretty bad? Unemployment is through the roof, right? Here on the northshore, not so much. Retail sales are at rock-bottom! Um… no, not really. It’s gonna be a hard candy Christmas? Well… not really.
“We’re going to have a Christmas. People are tired of gloom and doom,” said Ann Freibert, Specialty Leasing Manager at Northshore Square Mall in Slidell, one of two properties owned by Morguard Revenue Properties.
“We’re doing a lot better than most,” said Grady Brame, Executive Vice President of Stirling Properties, which owns or manages dozens of retail shopping centers, including Hammond Square, Mandeville’s Premier Center, and the Stirling Covington Center (informally the “Target Center”) on Hwy. 21. “It’s not easy out there, but most of our properties are holding their own.”
Indeed, anything more than a cursory glance at local and regional data will show that although the economy may, in fact, be tanking in California or Kentucky, hereabouts things are pretty hot – or at least tepid – compared with other locales.
...
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By Nixon Adams on
12/10/2009 3:35 AM
Time just seems to slip away. I’ve been meaning to write this article all year, but here it is December and I haven’t. I suppose I should have planned better, especially since … drum roll please … the year 2009 is the 100th anniversary of professional planning in the United States. (The previous verbiage was voted the third-best introductory paragraph of this issue by Conifer staff.)
Now, you might be asking yourself, “What on earth could the words ‘professional’ and ‘planning’ possibly have to do with St. Tammany Parish?” Actually, issues related to planning have been at the center of contentious public debate over the past two generations as rapid development has come to the area. Despite this, and the fact that a major portion of most people’s wealth – their homes and other real estate holdings – can be dramatically impacted by planning and zoning, very few citizens really understand the governmental processes involved.
We learned in high school civics...
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By Sheri.Sable.Campbell on
12/10/2009 3:31 AM
Season’s Greetings, northshore! I’m so excited to welcome the month of December and all the festivities that come along this time of year. Like many of us, I love the holidays and the spirit of the season that fills the air. The sights and sounds of the holidays evoke memories of Christmases past and inspire me to fill these next few weeks with holiday filled activities, to ensure more happy memories made with my family and friends.
The northshore provides me again this year with every opportunity to embrace the season and participate in an array of events sure to bring on that warm and fuzzy feeling I associate with December. With all the hustle and bustle, it will be impossible to do it all, but I’m going to give it my best try.
There’s no better way to get yourself in the spirit of the season than by listening to Christmas music! The St. Timothy United Methodist Church Choir will perform their annual concert, Christmas on the Northshore, December 13 and 14. ...
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By Donna Plaia on
12/10/2009 3:27 AM
"Bah Humbug! Pay the rent."
A little bit louder now.
"BAH Humbug! Pay the rent."
A little bit louder now.
"BAH HUMBUG! Pay the rent."
A little bit louder now.
"BAH HUMBUG! PAY THE RENT."
Now you’ve got it. The Isley Brothers had it: shout it out! Only this time you can be shouting the famous line uttered by Ebeneezer Scrooge, and if loud enough, walk away with a $50 first price in the Scrooge Shouting Contest. This event is part of the 6th Christmas Past Festival in Old Mandeville on Dec. 12 sponsored by the Old Mandeville Business Association.
Be loud and proud. Here is a contest that encourages you to be heard above the others by bellowing the phrase, "bah humbug. Pay the rent." Before purists point it out we have indeed embellished the most famous line attributed to Scrooge in Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge only says "bah humbug" twice and never adds to it, "pay the rent." But in...
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By Evans C. Spiceland on
12/10/2009 3:24 AM
The great American humorist and social commentator Will Rogers once quipped, “thank heavens, we don’t get the government we pay for.” His insightful message has been somewhat eroded by the changing times in which we live. Today we can’t afford the government we have and if ever we needed “our money’s worth,” it is now as ominous economic clouds foretell serious consequences for governmental and civic organizations at all levels. Over the past few decades we have witnessed phenomenal growth in the number and scope of government. While much attention has been focused on federal issues, the impending impact is at state and local levels where government officials are already scurrying around desperate to find solutions to the crisis caused by a declining revenue base. Local government and its often overlooked partners, non-governmental organizations, to include charities, are beginning to join hands to tackle problems that may very well defy solutions within the established political system. Traditionally these same agencies have at times resorted either by cutting services or increasing taxes. These options will not be palatable to the majority of citizens. Having grown accustomed to a level of services that will not be surrendered willingly, the electorate expects bold innovative thought in finding alternatives to this economic and political dilemma.
...
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By Sandra Slifer on
12/10/2009 3:22 AM
It started in January with an analysis of the Riverboat Gaming District and the changes the Parish Council had made to the new Unified Development Code that made locating a gaming establishment a possibility. Parish President Kevin Davis floated this idea as part of a larger entertainment district. The river boat gaming plan sunk under its own weight when over forty St. Tammany Parish ministers and countless residents took aim at this idea.
In February, I highlighted the new and improved White House website. The site is easy to use and informative. More voters are tech-savvy and expect governmental agencies at all levels to provide access to timely and relevant data.
In March, I railed against the idea that St. Tammany Parish residents would fare well if the homestead exemption was raised. It’s time to re-examine all of our tax policies in Louisiana. Will we have the political will to place everything on the table, including the homestead exemption sacred cow, and reprioritize government responsibilities, revenues, and spending?
...
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By Don Dubuc on
12/10/2009 3:19 AM
December is the hunter’s rush hour. Ducks, geese and deer seasons are in full swing, and it is not easy working as many trips in as possible between all the playoff football games and family holiday gatherings. For the more serious hunters it is the other way around.
Doves, snipe and woodcock are often overlooked as late season game. Doves are without a doubt the most forgotten late season quarries. Dove hunting is regarded as a late summertime hunting season kickoff. It is usually associated with freshly harvested grain fields lined with hunters and their dogs. It’s a social event. Leg band recoveries since 2003 show approximately one-third of the banded doves are taken by hunters on opening day. Another third of these banded birds are taken by the end of opening weekend. I contend those figures are not the result of a lack of birds later in the year but a lack of hunters going after them.
Well, for a very few of us who some might consider anti-social, late season is the most enjoyable time to hunt doves. Think about it. The September opening in Louisiana is usually in 90 plus degree heat complete with bugs and a guy next to you who thinks his 20 gauge has the range of an anti-aircraft gun and whose dog you’d like to be left alone with for just 2 days. Not only do few hunters venture out for doves; most don’t even realize we have a mid December to early January season. No, there won’t be a freshly mowed field to stand in and for sure you won’t see as many birds but you won’t feel any bug bites and won’t have to put up with Joe Yahoo. You probably won’t hit many because the fact they’re alive and flying proves that no one else has managed to hit these fast flyers either. And they haven’t gotten any slower. The key here is finding and setting up on their natural flyways. Food sources are slim this time of year, look for whatever they’re feeding on and they won’t be far away. Another late season dove tactic is to jump shoot them. Look for small feeding flocks to be well hidden in thin straw-type grass that has those tiny black seeds late in winter. These patches are often found in clear cuts. Tallow tree groves will also hold birds feeding on their dried seeds. At last some useful purpose for these unwanted exotics that have been swallowing up St. Tammany woodlands for the last 30 years. But that’s another story for another day.
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By Jean Champagne on
12/10/2009 3:16 AM
The governing bodies of professional sports (e.g. NFL, NBA) regularly impose sanctions upon professional athletes who violate their rules. In addition to discouraging illegal behavior, explicit in these sanctions are a desire to have these athletes serve as role models for today’s youth, which is admirable, given the inordinate role that these athletes play in shaping the psyche of the next generation. The question of why athletes and other entertainers play such a large role is best left for another column.
Athletes are routinely punished for drug abuse, and occasionally for violation of laws proscribing other behavior. What strikes me as odd is that there is not a greater insistence on integrity in the conduct of their performance of their professional duties. While there are penalties for personal fouls in football, technical fouls in basketball, and yellow and red cards for unsportsmanlike behavior in soccer, where are the penalties for obvious dishonesty? For example, several weeks ago, Miami...
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By James Hartman on
12/10/2009 3:14 AM
Well it was. There’s no denying it, much as some of you might like. As if 2008 wasn’t memorable enough, the last 11 months (it’s only 11 at this writing) have brought beauty and angst, fear and loathing, and enough eyebrow-raising events to make it even more memorable than ’08. Really.
Top Story of the Year. Hands down. As if there was any doubt: Mandeville. Enough said… almost.
“Hysteric Mandeville on the Lake.” After the saga began in early 2008 with allegations of a misused police benevolent fund, the situation in Mandeville city government escalated – or deteriorated, depending on your perspective. And it escalated rapidly. A couple of alleged DWIs, an indictment for perjury, a state audit, the “forced retirement” of the 30-year police chief and… well… it wasn’t pretty. It got even less pretty in October 2009, when the mayor pled guilty to federal charges and resigned. It was, for the second year in a row, the top story. Now served by interim Mayor Bubby Lyons, who has promised not to seek the office in the March special election, the city is returning to something like “normal” while candidates line up to seek the remainder of the mayor’s term, which will end in 2012.
...
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By Rhonda Landry on
12/10/2009 3:12 AM
Waiting a week to see your primary doctor with a sore throat or ear infection? Visiting the emergency room on Saturday evening to see if your child has a broken collarbone from that soccer injury? That was so yesterday. Today you can have those minor ailments and injuries attended to almost as quickly as you can order a latte in the drive-thru.
Walk-in clinics have been around since the 1980’s, but the industry declined and just recently started to flourish again with clinics opening in strip malls and retail stores. Two different business models have emerged: the urgent care clinic and the retail clinic. Recent studies estimate there are currently 8,000 urgent care clinics and 1,000 in-store retail clinics nationwide.
Why the Need?
One big reason is a scarcity of doctors. According to a recent survey of medical students at 11 U.S. medical schools, only two percent planned to pursue careers in general internal medicine. More physicians...
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By James Hartman on
12/10/2009 3:09 AM
The first motto of Louisiana was incorporated with the long-recognized symbol of the Brown Pelican, and bore in Latin the message our state’s founders had surely hoped would be embodied in its people: Non sibi sed suis – not for oneself, but for one’s own. The motto has since been replaced by “Union, Justice & Confidence,” but the Brown Pelican endures as the official symbol of Louisiana. And last month, the revered animal that adorns the state flag was officially removed from the list of endangered species in Louisiana.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu joined Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Sam Hamilton at a Nov. 11 press conference to announce the bird’s removal from the list. “I am extremely proud that Louisiana, and the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in particular, has been chosen to host today’s important announcement,” said Sen. Landrieu. “It is a tribute to the great work that has gone into saving this lake and...
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By Lacey Toledano on
12/10/2009
In an effort to recognize that local businesses contribute to our great north shore quality of life, each year we seek nominations for our Business Appreciation Awards. This year’s winners were recognized at the special November luncheon where awards were presented in eight different categories.
Recipient of the All in the Family Award, Coscino's Pizza Italian Restaurant is a successful family-owned and operated business, established in 2004. Mike and Jamie Coscino, together with their son, Jeremy, and daughter, Danielle, cook all the food using secret family recipes.
The EEIC Award, an acronym for “Encourages Employee Involvement in the Community,” was awarded to Capital One where they strongly believe that the value of its corporate support is made even greater by the volunteer efforts of its associates. As of September, 210 northshore associates contributed a total of 2,925 hours of service to various community organizations this year.
Best Buy is a business that prides...
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By Donna Hellmers on
12/10/2009 3:03 AM
The Hammond Chamber is pleased to announce our newest board members for the 2010-2011 term. Board members are made up of local business and community leaders and are elected by our general membership to serve on the board of directors.
We are excited about our new leadership as they are dedicated and committed to advancing the goals and objectives of the chamber. Our newest board members are: Dawn Panepinto, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office; Jeffrey C. Cashe, Cashe, Coudrain and Sandage; Dr. Bill Neal, Southeastern Louisiana University; Pastor Dennis R. Hebert, Jr., Beacon Light Baptist Church of Hammond; Avril Font, International Baccalaureate Consultant and James Stewart, Charter Business.
We would also like to recognize our returning board members: Michelle Gallo, Child Advocacy Services; Chris Moody, Moody & Johnson Attorneys at Law; Grady Brame, Stirling Properties; Daryl Ferrara, Hancock Bank; Lemar Marshall, North Oaks OB-GYN; Ron Taylor, RAM Computer...
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By Dawn Sharpe on
12/10/2009 3:01 AM
Recently, the City of Slidell was honored by being selected as one of 12 communities in the State participating in a new project that offers customized support for economic growth so that we can effectively compete with out-of-state communities for jobs, business development and capital investment.
The committee is looking for key players in Slidell’s business network and citizens to voice their experience and contribute to organizing this program at all levels of excellence. For more information about the Ready Communities Program and what goals we are striving to reach, visit www.LouisianaCommunityNetwork.com for more specifics, or contact the committee co-chairs, Brenda Case at brendac@ldvc.com or Jack Francioni at francioni@brianharrisslidell.com to discuss this project and what committee volunteers are being sought. This is great opportunity for Slidell and East St. Tammany to open its doors to economic growth.
Louisiana Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, Steven Moret,...
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