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A Look Ahead to 2012 Tax Changes for Small Business
April 2, 2012
With the 2011 tax deadline behind us, and special Recovery Act incentives phasing out, small businesses need to reassess their strategies for upcoming 2012 tax changes.
Equipment deductions, new reporting requirements and a whopper of a tax credit are all on the table.
Here are five key 2012 tax changes of Federal tax law provisions for small businesses.
What a Boon: Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
With unemployment down substantially from its peak, even very small businesses should consider offering at least partially paid health insurance, to retain high potential employees.
The good news is that, if conditions are met, small employers can claim a tax credit of up to 35 percent of the employee premiums they pay in 2012.
Add in a deduction for the remaining 65 percent of employer-paid premiums and your company could get back in tax savings more than half of what you invest in this coveted employee benefit.
Even better news: the maximum Small Business Health Care Tax Credit is scheduled to rise to 50 percent on Jan. 1, 2014.
"If you can clear all the hurdles on an ongoing basis and sustain paying for half or more of the premium, it's a great credit," says Tim Gagnon, CPA, a professor at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University.
The Incredible Shrinking Section 179 Deduction
The Section 179 deduction for tax year 2012 should be filed under "half full, half empty." For tax year 2011, business could immediately deduct up to $500,000 in certain business equipment purchases, rather than depreciate it over a period of years.
For 2012, the ceiling on this deduction drops to $139,000 — still a generous amount for a very small business. And it's a brass ring to grab before the maximum deduction drops again, to $25,000 in 2013.
New for 2012: real estate no longer qualifies for the Section 179 deduction.
A Smaller Bonus for Small Business
The bonus depreciation deduction is also taking a haircut in tax year 2012.
This business deduction, which applies after you've maxed out your Section 179 deduction, enables you deduct up to 50 percent of certain equipment investments, up to a total of $2 million for both Section 179 and bonus deductions. That's down from a 100 percent bonus deduction for tax year 2011.
Keep in mind that a big current-year deduction, however enticing, isn't always superior to depreciation over the long haul. Consult with a tax professional.
"The government is providing these generous incentives," says Mike D'Avolio, a senior tax analyst at Intuit in Mountain View, Calif. "You just want to know how generous they are for your particular situation."
A New Reporting Requirement: Form 1099-K
Does your small business accepts merchant credit or debit card payments or payments via online networks, such as PayPal?
If so you may need to update your bookkeeping and accounting systems to keep on top of new IRS reporting requirements for these transactions, according to Gagnon.
When you've gotten over your headache from trying to understand what the IRS has to say about the new 1099-K requirements, consult with your tax professional.
Keep an Eye on Perennial 'Tax Extenders'
Because of Congress's annoying habit of repeatedly renewing dozens of tax incentives for just one year at a time, small business owners need to keep an eye on these so-called tax extenders.
The largest of these tax savers, the research and development tax credit, has faced an up-or-down vote annually for about 30 years, creating economically destructive uncertainty among business owners.
"The R&D tax credit seems likely to be extended, but who knows," says Valerie Colin, senior vice president with accounting firm Gumbiner Savett in Santa Monica, Calif.
Tax extenders of particular interest to small business include a 15-year write-off period for restaurant and rental-property renovations and a $1,000 credit for new hires and the 100 percent exclusion of gains on small business stock.
Keep up with legislative action on the tax extenders by subscribing to IRS newsletters or asking your tax professional. And don't forget to check on changes to state and local tax law.
Disclaimer: All tax laws are subject to change. None of the information provided herein constitutes legal or tax advice on behalf of the author or Monster.


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UPDATE: The FCC this morning confirmed that Chairman Julius Genachowski will be leaving his position "in the coming weeks." The FCC is holding a planning meeting, and Ars will have more detailed coverage later today.
The Wall Street Journal reported tonight that the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, will announce Friday that he is stepping down from his position. Genachowski was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009. It's not clear yet when his final day will be.
Genachowski was at the helm through an interesting period in the history of the FCC—as connection to the Internet became more of a rule than an exception, Genachowski faced the daunting task of meting out spectrum between telecom providers and public entities, dividing wavelengths and assigning importance to things like wireless networks, TV, GPS devices, "responder" networks for things like 911 calls, and broadcast radio. Genachowski also chaired the FCC as it heard debates over net neutrality, and during the infamous interruption of cell phone service in San Francisco's BART subway during protests in 2011.
The FCC has not issued a comment, but other groups aren't hesitating to hold forth. "Genachowski claimed broadband was his agency's top priority, but he stood by as prices rose and competition dwindled." Craig Aaron, President and CEO of Free Press, a media and technology advocacy group, said in a statement. "He claimed to be a staunch defender of the open Internet, but his Net Neutrality policies are full of loopholes and offer no guarantee that the FCC will be able to protect consumers from corporate abuse in the future."
Genachowski would be the second FCC commissioner to announce his resignation this year: Robert McDowell said yesterday that he would step down from the five-member panel (which includes Genachowski). McDowell is the senior republican on the commission, and Genachowski is the senior Democrat.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The IC Code Librarian 2000 VB/VBA shareware add-in is now available for free
download and installation, in a self-extracting zip file, at
http://www.icaddins.com. It was developed by Gene Swartzfager, the author of
the definitive book on add-ins (Creating Visual Basic 5 Add-Ins, ISBN
1-57610-167-3, Coriolis Press).
The 50,000+ lines of royalty-free source code in the add-in's library are
yours to keep and do with as you please. The shareware add-in itself lets
you load the IC Code Librarian 2000 thirty times (plenty of time to play
with it and see its features in action) and then locks itself. If you like
the add-in and want to continue to use it, you can register/unlock it for
$10.00 (see the web site for details).
Try it, you'll like it!


text:
Gender Violence (tagged articles)
The keyword Gender Violence is tagged in the following 2 articles.
The Role of Female Quotas and Female Activism in Passing Gender Based Violence Legislation in Sub Saharan Africa: South Africa as a Case Study
Published by Cornell International Affairs Review
Expedited Article Review
Submit an article and get a decision fast.
If you need a fast decision, INQUIRIES Journal offers expedited processing of your submission for a small fee. Depending on the expedited review option you choose, you can receive a decision in as few as 3-days.
In addition to a shorter review period, the fee supports the journal's continued operation. Standard submissions are always free. Learn more »- Submit an Article to Inquiries Journal -
Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines.
Representing the work of students from hundreds of institutions around the globe, Inquiries Journal's large database of academic articles is completely free. Learn more | Blog | Submit


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Few groups this side of the now-moribund Moral Majority seem to excite as much ire and hatred among liberals as the National Rifle Association. Most Americans feel otherwise. In a Gallup poll released last week, the NRA received a 54 percent favorable rating. By comparison, as of this writing, the Real Clear Politics average of President Barack Obama's approval rating stands at 53.4 percent. For Congress, the figure is an abysmal 18 percent. In other words: The NRA is as popular as the president, and three times as popular as Congress.
The Democrats, who read polls very well, have no doubt come to see that the firearms issue offers less political advantage than they'd hoped. In a Pew Research Center poll taken two weeks ago, respondents were asked if either party "could do a better job reflecting your views about gun control." Twenty-seven percent said the Republicans could; 28 percent said the Democrats could. The same poll asked about the influence of the National Rifle Association on policy. Some 36 percent said the NRA had too much influence, and 47 percent said the group had the right amount or too little.
These numbers suggest that directing hatred and invective toward either the NRA or the gun owners it represents is not, to say the least, a winning strategy. Nor should it ever be: In a democracy, invective is not a proper form of political argument.
There is a reasoned case to be made for reducing access to certain firearms, as there is a reasoned case to be made for many a controversial policy. But we don't live in a reasonable era. We live in an era of fury and invective, of applause lines and slogans.


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Frosty 5 Miler Race Report >>
Juana Run 8K Race Report
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Juana Run 8K Race Report
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:48 pm
After last week's half-marathon, I threw myself straight into another race this weekend. It's a benefit for the local schools whose course winds through a maze of neighborhood streets. 8K is nearly exactly 5 miles. I hoped to run at about a 7:35 pace, based on the results of last week's half.
I arrived later than intended, and wasted too much time shuttling back and forth to my car to drop things off. I ended up having to run half a mile to the finish line, getting there just a couple of minutes before the start, already a little bit tired. Around 400 other runners packed onto a side street with me for the start of the race. Overnight rains left a lot of puddles that needed to be avoided throughout the course.
1. 7:35 - Feels too hard? I don't think I can hold this for 5 miles. Back off some.
2. 7:53 - Backed off too much?
3. 7:32
4. 7:50
5. 7:27
That's about a 7:40 average pace, a little slower than I'd been hoping. As a race, it was OK but not great. I'll think of it as one more step on the road to fitness.
After the 8K, they ran children's race for 5th grade down to pre-K. My 4-year-old daughter Alice was entered in the 200 yeard pre-K event, and was excited to be doing her first ever race. I think Dad was probably even more excited than she was. This was more formal than the kid's races I've seen elsewhere-- everyone had to officially register and wear a bib number, just like the adults.
Alice did great, and ran the whole way through, despite Dad's crazy cheering and cowbell-ringing. The only hiccup came after she finished, when instead of continuing through the chute to where they'd take the tag off her bib and record her time, she turned around and ran backwards out of the chute and over to me. Note for next time: position parent past the end of the finish area, not before it.
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Re: Juana Run 8K Race Report
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 10:18 am
Here's a photo of the father and daughter team:
Joined: 09 May 2006
Re: Juana Run 8K Race Report
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:12 pm
Great report and a really great time considering you just came off of a Half Marathon!!
Thanks for sharing the pic as well!!
Way to go!!
Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Re: Juana Run 8K Race Report
Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:17 pm
Great job, Rickshaw!
Oh, and your daughter is ADORABLE! I actually "awed" when I saw the pic.
South Orange, New Jersey
Joined: 19 Dec 2004
Re: Juana Run 8K Race Report
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:39 pm
Nice job Rickshaw. You're daughter IS adorable. She looks like a future 16:00 5K PR. Now isn't that an interesting way to describe a child's potential.
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'Tributes for Heroes' winners set for ASG
SAN FRANCISCO -- Major League Baseball and PEOPLE magazine on Wednesday announced the 30 winners of the "Tribute for Heroes" campaign, a national initiative that recognizes veterans and military service members and which builds upon both organizations' commitment to honoring our country's heroes.
All of the winners, including Gil Calac, the Giants' representative from White Swan, Wash., will be included in All-Star Week festivities (private tour of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, a VIP reception on the Intrepid, All-Star Red Carpet Show Presented by Chevrolet, Chevrolet Home Run Derby) and will attend and be honored during the pregame ceremony leading up to the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field, which airs Tuesday on FOX beginning at 4:30 pm PT.
Inspiring stories include heroes from multiple branches of the Armed Forces ranging in ages from 26 to 92 years old (World War II through Afghanistan) .
Along with MLB and PEOPLE, a guest panel including Giants starter Barry Zito assisted in the selection process for the 90 finalists, who were then voted on by fans to select the 30 winners.
The "Tribute For Heroes" campaign supports Welcome Back Veterans, an initiative of Major League Baseball and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, which addresses the needs of veterans after they return from service. Major League Baseball has committed more than $23 million for grants to hospitals and clinics that provide post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment to veterans and their families in a public/private partnership with "Centers of Excellence" at university hospitals throughout the country.
The list of "Tribute For Heroes" winners and their full stories can be found at TributeForHeroes.com.


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Science Supersized Thanksgiving Dinner
Nearly everything on your plate has been enhanced by science.
Nov. 26, 2008 -- Your corn is sweeter, your potatoes are starchier and your turkey is much, much bigger than the foods that sat on your grandparents' Thanksgiving dinner table.
Most everything on your plate has undergone tremendous genetic change under the intense selective pressures of industrial farming. Pilgrims and American Indians ate foods called corn and turkey, but the actual organisms they consumed didn't look or taste much at all like our modern variants do.
In fact, just about every crop and animal that humans eat has experienced some consequential change in its DNA, but human expectations have changed right along with them. Thus, even though corn might be sweeter now, modern people don't necessarily savor it any more than their ancestors did.
"Americans eat a pound of sugar every two-and-a-half days. The average amount of sugar consumed by an Englishman in the 1700s was about a pound a year," said food historian Kathleen Curtin of Plimoth Plantation, a historical site that recreates the 17th-century colony. "If you haven't had a candy bar, your taste buds aren't jaded, and your apple tastes sweet."
The traditional Thanksgiving dinner reflects the enormous amount of change that foods and the food systems that produce them have undergone, particularly over the last 50 years. Nearly all varieties of crops have experienced large genetic changes as big agriculture companies hacked their DNA to provide greater hardiness and greater yields. The average pig, turkey, cow and chicken have gotten larger at an astounding rate, and they grow with unprecedented speed. A modern turkey can mature to a given weight at twice the pace of its predecessors.
In comparison with old-school agriculture or single-gene genetic modification, these changes border on breathtaking. Imagine your children reaching full maturity at 10 years old.
This human-directed evolution has generated animals and plants that share little more than a name with their wild or pre-industrial farm-domesticated relatives. The accumulation of agricultural breeding knowledge and consumer testing has resulted in plants and animals that are physically shaped by consumer tastes. Americans like a medium-size corn kernel, so kernels aren't too big or small. American consumers like white meat, so turkeys are grown with larger breasts.
The breeding programs of the last half-century are, in some ways, a tremendous scientific accomplishment. For example, the United States pumped out 33 times more pounds of turkey at a lower cost to consumers in 2007 than our farmers did in 1929.
Turkeys more than doubled in size in that time from an average of 13 pounds to an average of 29 pounds, and as seen in the chart above, show no signs of stopping. If the trend continues, we could see an average turkey size of 40 pounds by 2020. According to the National Wildlife Turkey Federation, the largest wild turkey on record is 38 pounds.
In fact, in commercial and academic turkey-breeding programs, adult male turkeys, called toms, can reach 50 pounds at the tender age of five months, said John Anderson, a longtime turkey breeder at Ohio State University. "We get 50 pounders at 20 weeks, but that's at the top edge of our normal distribution," Anderson said. "We've got some adult male-line birds that went over 80 pounds."
Anderson, who has bred the birds for 26 years, said the key technical advance was artificial insemination, which came into widespread use in the 1960s, right around the time that turkey size starts to skyrocket. The reason is that turkeys over 30 pounds are "inefficient" breeders: It's difficult for them to actually perform the natural mating act. With artificial insemination, the largest birds can still be used as sires, even if they have a hard time walking, let alone engaging in sexual reproduction.
"You can spread the one tom around better. It adds a whole new level of efficiency. You can spread him over more hens," Anderson said. "It takes the lid off how big the bird can be. If the size of the bird keeps them from mating, then you're stuck."
This process, compounded over dozens of generations, has yielded turkeys with genes that make them very big. In one study in the journal Poultry Science, turkeys genetically representative of old birds from 1966 and modern turkeys were each fed the exact same old-school diet. The 2003 birds grew to 39 pounds while the legacy birds only made it to 21 pounds. Other researchers have estimated that 90 percent of the changes in turkey size are genetic. Perhaps the most obvious change in turkey genetics is that, unlike the colorful pictures we all drew in elementary school, modern, factory-farmed birds are all white. The Broad Breasted White turkey became the dominant commercial breed in the middle of the 20th century.
These fast-growing, big birds are more energy efficient than their forebears. They can convert 2.5 pounds of feed into a pound of body weight. Legacy breeds take a longer time to add weight and can need over 4 pounds of feed to add a pound of weight.
But all that bulk comes with consequences. Commercial turkeys can't fly and researchers have even invented a way of quantifying how impaired the birds' walking has become. The 1-to-5 scale ranges from "birds whose legs did not have any defect" to bowlegged birds who have "great difficulty walking." After 30 years of breeding, Ohio State's big birds average a 3.
The birds also have a hard time regulating their own food intake. In essence, they eat too much and get fat. "Commercial broiler breeder strains, selected for rapid growth and high meat yields, do not adequately regulate voluntary feed intake commensurate with their energy needs," wrote two USDA scientists last year. "Consequently, these birds must be given a limited amount of feed to avoid overconsumption that can lead to excessive accumulation of energy stores [fat tissue]."
And some food lovers argue that fast growth and genetic change have robbed turkey meat of its distinctive taste. Some are turning to heritage-breed turkeys like the Blue Slate variety that pack pre-industrial genomes.
"One thing I would say about a modern turkey is that they have a lot less flavor," said food historian Curtin. "If you've ever had a chance to taste a heritage breed, there's subtleties in turkey."
Turkey isn't the only element of the iconic Thanksgiving dinner that science has given an overhaul. Corn breeding has made corn six times sweeter than the variations that the Pilgrims probably encountered back in 1620.
We eat a type of corn called, appropriately enough, sweet corn. The maize that American Indians grew in the 17th century would have been more like the type we feed to animals now, said Bill Tracy, a corn agronomist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The maize would have looked like the ear pictured on the left. Eventually, this type of corn was crossed with the Virginia Southern dent on the right to create the field corn that we feed to animals. You wouldn't want to eat any of these.
"It wouldn't have been particularly sweet," Tracy said.
Sweet corn is the result of a mutation that replaces some of the corn's starchiness with sugar. It spread from the Iroquois to European settlers in the late 1770s. While it's considerably sweeter than the nasty stuff the Pilgrims ate — due to a mutation in a gene called Sugary1 — it wouldn't taste much like the corn we know.
"From that time, it has gone through quite a few changes. Today, through conventional breeding, we have genes in it that make it sweeter, maintain its quality longer, and make it much more tender," Tracy said. "If people had the opportunity to taste Jeffersonian sweet corn and modern sweet corn, there'd be no question what they'd prefer." That original sweet corn was only about 10 percent sugar, but it also was about 25 percent phytoglycogen, lending it a nice, creamy texture. In the next major corn transition — to supersweet corn in the 1970s through a variation in the Shrunken2 gene — that creamy texture was lost, even as the sweetness of the corn skyrocketed.
Among the thirteen genes known to affect corn sweetness, however, industrious agronomists have found an even better gene to work with, called SE, and they made "sugar enhanced corn."
"That's the most popular for fresh market today," Tracy said. "It gives a sugar level of 20 to 25 percent and it turns out to be very tender."
But even as modern consumers prefer the SE corn — and often find the supersweet corn too sweet — the Shrunken2 corn is making a comeback as retailers prefer its longer shelf life.
Retailer and food processor demands, rather than your fresh-vegetable interests, play a major role in the evolutionary history of potatoes as well. Though they were not present at that original feast, they have been a major part of the holiday since Lincoln created it in 1863.
Potatoes are now driven by a decidedly nonfestive activity: the making of french fries and potato chips. Almost a mirror of corn genetics, agronomists have ratcheted up the starch in potatoes and turned down the sugar, said Gregory Porter, a potato specialist at the University of Maine.
"High-starch french fries, when they fry, don't get soggy," Porter said. "Low sugars are important because high sugars in potatoes would result in a dark brown discoloration. High-starch potatoes result in a nice golden-colored fry."
So the modern potatoes of today, even the round ones that look more like their colonial predecessors, have undergone major biological changes.
"When you look at potatoes that would have initially come in the 1700s, those potatoes weren't being selected for processing ability," Porter explained. "Those potatoes probably would have been round and had lower starch content and high sugars. They would not have made good french fries or potato chips."


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Facial Scrub:
This is the perfect sugar scrub. It's all vegan and natural. Your face will feel so smooth and you won't even have to put lotion on afterwards.
The ingredients are:
Sugar, which is the perfect exfoliant.
Sweet Almond Oil, great for dry skin and penetrates well into skin.
Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant.
Grapefruit Essential Oil, the stimulant aroma helps balance moods and lift spirits. And is good for combination skin types.
Lavender Essential Oil, this aroma has a calming effect on the central nervous system.
Lemon Essential oil, helps restore natural skin pH. The aroma is uplifting.
Sweet Orange Essential oil, the aroma helps relieve anxiety. Good for combination skin types.
All of this in one 4 ounce glass jar.
This can also be used as a gentle body scrub.
My products are always VEGAN. I never use any animal by-products such as leather, bone, shell, feathers, silk or pearls etc.
Body Scrub
This vegan body scrub will exfoliate your skin and soften it too! Your body will feel so smooth and you won't even have to put on lotion afterwards. Sweet almond and rosehip oils are readily absorbed and will nourish the skin.
Other ingrdients include, dead sea salt, lime, sweet orange, frankincense, clary sage, and geranium essential oils.
You get a full 16 ounces in a glass jar, this will last you a very very long time. It's a good investment. And the jar can be reused!
Lip Balm
This lip balm is a bit different than what is sold in a tube. It is not hard like a tube balm rather its more creamy and you use a lip brush to apply (or your finger).
Ingredients include castor oil which provides shine and staying power. Jojoba oil penetrates well into skin and helps leave chapped lips smooth. Candelilla wax (plant based)replaces beeswax to keep this product vegan. Sweetend corn syrup to sweeten, thicken and shine. And Strawberry flavoring is added for a sweet and delightful scent.
You will get a 1/8 oz jar
This balm is perfect for mixing with your mineral make-up to add a bit of color or over matte lipstick.
This lip balm smells, feels and tastes (yes I said tastes) great. Just don't lick it all off!


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Aglaonema pictum TricolourRegular price $2,000.00 Save $-2,000.00
Plant pictured is the plant that you will recieve.
Established plant with stunning markings.
Please note this is not a beginner plant & will require consistent conditions to thrive.
You'll see we are constantly updating the website with new stock and plants and have begun deliveries in Lake Macquarie, Newcastle & The Hunter regions.
We will do our best to get your plants to you the same day, but we are still a small team so it may be the next day depending on when you place your order.
Please provide your mobile number when checking out as we will TXT you when your order has been delivered.
Delivery is charge at a flat rate of $10 for all orders within 30kms of our Boolaroo store. Our minium order is $20 for all local deliveries.
Australia Post & Sendle are available for further out than that with our plant postal service but we would prefer to deliver in person.
Plant postal service
As of June 1st 2020 we will only be posting a select range of plants.
You can find these plants in the "Plants we can post" collection.
Shipping is capped at $16.95 AU sitewide. This excludes large or heavy items, which may occur an extra postage fee.
All parcels are sent with tracking numbers, which you will receive once your order has been processed.
Plants can vary in appearance due to growing conditions, the seasons and maturity. Please note that plants pictured on the website are representative only and the plants received may be slightly different in appearance.
Please remember that plants are living, breathing creatures and just like us they can get grumpy and have some flaws. Don't be discouraged if your new plant gets a little shock or a lost leaf here or there after arrival. This can be perfectly normal after spending a few days in a sealed dark box.
Please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com before placing your order.
Click & Collect
For Click and Collect, we will send you an email/txt message to let you know that your order is ready to be collected from the store. Depending on how busy we are, Click and Collect should be available within an hour or two during business hours.
Please collect your 'Click & Collect' purchases within a week of purchase. If you are unable to make it in within a week please contact us via our Facebook page or email. If your order is not collected 30 days after purchase no refunds will be given and the order will be voided. If you think you may not be able to make it in store please communicate clearly with us. We are happy to work with you to find a solution.
We do not give change of mind refunds.
Questions? Shoot us an email at email@example.com and we can help you out.
Updated 29th April
As of 2nd May 2020 our store will re open to the public with social distancing measures in place.
Important changes
In store
- We will only be accepting payment via Eftpos until further notice.
- There will be a limit to 3 people in the store at any one time.
- We will have hand santiser available throughout the store as well as reguarly cleaning surfaces,
Click & Collect
Is still available & usually ready within 24hrs. You will recieve an email once your order has been prepared and is ready for collection.
Local Delivery
We will deliver all orders on Friday/Saturday and will notifiy you via email and txt (if your mobile number was provided) when your delivery is due and when your delivery has been made.


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State Dept extended US security team in Libya
The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, requested - and received - a four-month extension of a 16-member security team, a February request that showed just how dangerous the situation in the country had become for American diplomats.
The commander of the security team, Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, told ABC News that slain U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens had wanted the team to stay even longer - past the end of its extended deployment in August.
A senior State Department official confirmed to The Associated Press that the initial extension request was granted, but said that despite Wood's comments, a request for an extension past August was never made.
Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is preparing for a hearing Wednesday on whether the State Department refused repeated requests for more security in Benghazi.
The embassy request for an extension of the security team through August was in a February memo to department officials, obtained by the AP from a government official who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release the document.
The State Department will send two officials to testify at the hearing, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has named an agency review board to determine whether security was lax. The FBI also is investigating the attacks, which Obama administration officials initially described as a spontaneous protest but now acknowledge was an act of terrorism.
The State Department official said that after the team remained through August, it was replaced by an equal number of personnel with the same skill sets. Had the security support team still been in Tripoli at the time of the attack in Benghazi, it wouldn't have made any difference, the official said.
"They had nothing to do with Benghazi, zero," the official said. "They were based in Tripoli and they were not a quick reaction force jetting around the country."
However, State Department emails show that the 16-member security team did play a role in Benghazi, even though its main mission was to provide security at the embassy in Tripoli. A State Department security official who was temporarily assigned to Benghazi thanked Wood for members of the team escorting U.S. officials to a dangerous area outside of Benghazi and also for providing training to members of a Libyan quick reaction force, teaching a tactical medicine class and reviewing defensive tactics.
Another email from a security official in Benghazi said the staff there had spoken to Wood when he visited about equipment needed for the Benghazi mission.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said late Monday that the Security Support Team was "enlisted to support the reopening of Embassy Tripoli to help ensure we had the security necessary as our diplomatic presence grew. They were based in Tripoli and operated almost exclusively there. When their rotation in Libya ended, Diplomatic Security Special Agents were deployed and maintained a constant level of security capability. So the departure of the SST had no impact whatsoever on the total number of fully trained American security personnel in Libya overall, or in Benghazi specifically."
While the February memo referred to conditions in Tripoli, the description also generally described the security situation in Libya.
"Overall security conditions continue to be unpredictable, with large numbers of armed groups and individuals not under control of the central government, and frequent clashes in Tripoli and other major population centers," the memo said.
The memo added, "Until these militias are off the streets and a strong national police force is established, we will not have a reliable host government partner that is capable of responding to the embassy's security needs.
"It is likely that we will need to maintain a heightened security posture for the foreseeable future."
The February memo said the 16-member team was an integral part of the mobile and fixed site security protections. The team's duties beyond securing diplomatic facilities included training local guards, being a quick response force, and providing medical support, communications, and disposal of explosives.
The force also supplied security for visits from government officials, including deployment of 13 of the 16 members for a congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.


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Recognizing & Treating Epilepsy in Individuals with Autism
Epilepsy is a brain disorder marked by recurring seizures, or convulsions. Epilepsy is more common among individuals with autism than among the general population. Seizures are more common in individuals with lower verbal abilities.
Diagnosing and treating epilepsy is critically important. Research shows that individuals with autism and untreated epilepsy are at greater risk for overall poor health, and in extreme circumstances, premature death. Compared to those without seizures, children with ASD and seizures are also more likely to have sleep difficulties and behavior problems.
Studies suggest that 15 to 30 percent of individuals with autism also have epilepsy.
About 5 percent of those who develop epilepsy in early childhood also develop autism.
Experts propose that some of the brain abnormalities associated with autism may also contribute to seizures. These abnormalities may include chemical imbalances in the molecules that send signals between brain nerve cells. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), some individuals with epilepsy have abnormally high levels of neurotransmitters that increase neuron activity (excitatory). Others have low levels of neurotransmitters that decrease neuron activity (inhibitory). An overload of neuron activity can result in seizures.
The good news is that epilepsy can usually be controlled with medication.
Recognizing Epilepsy Symptoms
Seizures can begin at any age. Characteristic symptoms include:
- Unexplained staring spells
- Stiffening of muscles
- Involuntary jerking of limbs
- Facial twitching
- Unexplained confusion
- Severe headaches
Other less-specific symptoms can include:
- Sleepiness or sleep disturbances
- Marked and unexplained irritability or aggressiveness
- Regression in normal development
Like autism, epilepsy exists on a spectrum. Severity varies widely among people with epilepsy. There are several types of seizures, each with somewhat different symptoms:
- Tonic-clonic seizures are the most common. Also known as gran mal seizures, they produce muscle stiffening followed by jerking. Gran mal seizures also produce loss of consciousness.
- Absence seizures can be difficult to recognize. Also known as petit mal seizures, they are marked by periods of unresponsiveness. The person may stare into space. He or she may or may not exhibit jerking or twitching.
- Tonic seizures involve muscle stiffening alone.
- Clonic seizures involve repeated jerking movements on both sides of the body.
- Myoclonic seizures involve jerking or twitching of the upper body, arms or legs.
- Atonic seizures involve sudden limpness, or loss of muscle tone. The person may fall or drop his or her head involuntarily.
Diagnosing and Treating Epilepsy in Individuals with Autism
If a parent or guardian suspects that a child or adult is having seizures, it's important to seek evaluation by a neurologist.
Most likely, the neurologist will order an electroencephalogram (EEG). An EEG is a noninvasive process that involves the placing of electrodes on an individual's head in order to monitor activity in the brain. By analyzing the brain activity patterns that the EEG measures, the neurologist can determine if someone is having seizures.
Treating epilepsy in individuals with autism follows the same principles as treatment of epilepsy in any person. Typically, the physician selects an anti-epileptic drug based on several considerations such as the type and severity of seizures and their associated EEG patterns.
Anti-epileptic drugs do not cure epilepsy. In most cases, however, they can prevent or minimize seizures. At present, U.S. doctors can choose from more than twenty medications. After starting a medication, it's important to closely monitor effectiveness and possible side effects. Relatively common side effects include mild fatigue, abdominal discomfort or dizziness. These tend to ease off after the first weeks of use. To minimize side effects, the doctor may start medications at a low dose and slowly increase it. Dosage adjustments are to be expected when taking anti-epileptic medications.
Epilepsy drugs eliminate seizures in around two-thirds of patients. More difficult-to-control cases sometimes respond to combinations of two or more medications.
When medications fail to control seizures, physicians and families can discuss other options. These include vagus nerve stimulation, a technique that prevents seizures by sending pulses of electrical energy to the brain through a device that acts like a "pacemaker" for the brain. Another option is the surgical removal of seizure-producing areas of the brain.
Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network is dedicated to enhancing the ability of pediatricians and other doctors to treat associated medical conditions including epilepsy. Many ATN centers are staffed by neurologists with expertise in treating children with autism and epilepsy.
Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy
The combination of autism and epilepsy is often associated with overall poor health and, in extreme circumstances, premature death. According to a recent scientific literature review, the incidence of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) ranges from 1 to 93 cases per 10,000 people with epilepsy per year (depending on the study).
Unexpected death is more common in those with uncontrolled grand mal seizures, including those who are who are not taking sufficient antiepileptic medication to control their seizures. Causes of death include not breathing, loss of normal heart rhythm, brain dysfunction or a combination of these.
Physicians work with patients on strategies that minimize the risk of death associated with epilepsy. First and foremost is prevention of seizures to the utmost extent possible. This includes finding the right medicines and ensuring that the affected child or adult takes the proper dosage at the proper time. Also useful are seizure monitors that can notify caretakers when a seizure is beginning.
For more information on monitors and other helpful resources, see our Family Services Epilepsy Resource Page. For more information on SUDEP, visit the Epilepsy Therapy Project.
Research on Epilepsy and Autism
Recent research suggests that certain gene mutations, or changes in DNA, may increase the occurrence of both epilepsy and autism. The best understood of these genes cause rare syndromes associated with autism and epilepsy. These syndromes include tuberous sclerosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form in organs. Forty percent of people with tuberous sclerosis also develop autism, and ninety percent experience seizures. Cortical dysplasia-focal epilepsy, a congenital disorder caused by abnormal development of neurons, is another such syndrome. Nearly two-thirds of those affected also have autism.
More research is needed to increase understanding of the shared brain networks, genes and other biological mechanisms that cause both autism and epilepsy. Autism Speaks is currently partnering with the International League Against Epilepsy and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy to further this research. You can explore epilepsy studies funded by Autism Speaks here.
In July 2012, Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geri Dawson, Ph.D., spoke on "Autism and Epilepsy" before the U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Follow the links to watch the videocast, view the presentation slideshow, or read the transcript.
Also see this website's Family Services Resources on Autism and Epilepsy.
The following information is intended solely for educational purposes. It should not be construed as medical advice nor a substitute for medical care. Autism Speaks does not engage in the practice of healthcare or the provision of healthcare advice. Please consult your or your child's physician for guidance about care and treatment.