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"If you're studying politics, you're in the right place," author Mark Quinn told students during his talk Sept. 29. He explained how Chicago's political "Machine" outlasted other cities, but is no longer the force it once was.
Quinn regaled the audience with tales of Chicago's "mythology" and told facts behind what happened, explaining how race, death and even weather crafted Chicago's history. "What's more entertaining? It's great theatre. Where else can you find this cast of characters?"
Mixing different people in 1960s politics, Quinn wrote Chairman and The Chairman's Challenge, which include highly developed characters and shades of moral gray. The books feature the mythical "City" instead of Chicago. People who already know about Chicago politics see the story as a puzzle and try to figure out who's who, although no one character is one particular person. If someone who doesn't know about politics reads the book, "you'll learn about Chicago politics," Quinn said.
Quinn grew up in Chicago's 19th Ward and received a B.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from University of Iowa. He's been a panelist on political talk shows, written award-winning short stories, and managed a mutual fund. He's currently teaching at Columbia.
The event was co-sponsored by the College's urban and suburban studies program and Cultural Events. The next cultural event is set for Oct. 13 with the screening of the documentary Workers' Republic and a talk by the film's videographer Andrew Friend.
Written by Gail Oesterle '14, psychology major and student worker in the Office of Marketing and Communications.


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- They can be bought and sold at intraday market prices, unlike traditional mutual funds which are bought and sold at end-of-day prices;
- They can be purchased on margin;
- They can be sold short; and
- They can be traded using stop orders and limit orders, which allow investors to specify the price points at which they are willing to buy and sell shares.
- Sampling: A fund may sample the universe tracked by the index rather than employ full replication.
- SEC- and IRS-mandated diversification requirements: Investment company regulations state that a single company may account for no more than 25% of a funds total assets. Thus, if a company makes up more than 25% of a markets index, that stock would be underweighted by the fund. To optimize a portfolio, the manager may increase weightings of other portfolio components or even go outside the index.
- Expenses: Even if a fund identically weights all the stocks in its benchmark, performance will be reduced by the expense ratio (i.e., net return equals gross return of index less expenses).
- Broad-based indexes: A wide cross-section of equities from a broad range of industries is included in these benchmarks. Style-specific growth and value options exist for certain benchmarks; you can choose between large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and micro-cap firms; there are indexes that focus on dividends, and others that use methods other than market capitalizations to weight the holdings in the index; lastly there are proprietary indexes that focus on specific strategies or market segments.
- Sector indexes: A specific industry or stock group, such as real estate or telecommunications, is the focus.
- International indexes: Global stock indexes, regional indexes and country-specific equity indexes are included. A group of exchange-traded funds does not track foreign indexes but rather foreign currencies.
- Bond indexes: Currently bond indexes are tracked covering a wide swath of the bond market, including several Treasury indexes of varying maturities, a TIPS (Treasury inflation-protected securities) index, and multiple municipal bond indexes.
- Open-end mutual fund: By far the most common structure, these are registered with the SEC as investment companies.
- Unit investment trust: Also registered with the SEC as investment companies, but far less common. However, the first ETFs were structured this way and, thus, some of the most popular ETFsPowerShares QQQ, DIAMONDS and certain SPDRsare structured as unit investment trusts.
- Exchange-traded grantor trust: The most similar to actually owning the underlying shares. These are not registered as investment companies and are not considered exchange-traded funds under strict definitions of the term. Examples include the HOLDRs funds, and most of the exchange-traded funds that track an underlying commodity (for example, the iShares COMEX Gold Trust and SPDR Gold Shares) or currency (the CurrencyShares ETFs).
- A stock pricethe price at which trading occurs.
- An official closing net asset valuewith a few exceptions, this quantity is computed as of 4:00 p.m. Eastern time each business day.
- An estimated intraday net asset valuethis number is updated every 15 seconds based on the real-time prices of each of a funds underlying holdings. It is called intraday value for some funds while others call it the indicative optimized portfolio value.
- Market Return: The one-year return net of expenses for each fund based on its market price, through June 30, 2009. This is the actual return you would have received if you had invested in the fund over that one-year time period. Keep in mind, however, that it does not include brokerage commissions or spread costs you would incur when buying or selling the shares.
- NAV Returns: The three-year annualized return and one-year return net of expenses for each fund based on its net asset value, through June 30, 2009. This provides an indication of how the underlying portfolio of stocks performed over the time period. Funds in which the market return is closer to the NAV return trade with lower discounts and premiums.
- Index Return: The one-year return through June 30, 2009, of the underlying index tracked by the fund.
- Tracking Index NAV Return: The difference between the one-year index return and the funds one-year NAV return, an indication of how closely the ETF tracked its underlying index over the time period. Most funds tend to underperform the index, primarily due to expenses. Other factors may also lead to tracking differences. Note that a negative sign indicates a fund outperformed the index.
- RiskGrade: A risk measure that relates the volatility of a particular portfolio to a portfolio of all stocks worldwide during normal market conditions. The base worldwide stock portfolio has a RiskGrade of 100; a portfolio with a RiskGrade of 77 implies that it has a risk 77% as high as the average risk of the worldwide stock portfolio. (For more information, the RiskGrades Web site at www.riskgrades.com provides the mathematical details of the approach.)
- Closing Price, 52-Week High and 52-Week Low: The closing market price of the fund on September 10, 2008, and the high and low prices over the last year through September 15, 2009.
- Volume: The average daily volume of shares traded for the fund for the last three-month period through September 15, 2009.
- Asset Size: The net assets of the fund presented in millions of dollars. This provides an indication of the exchange-traded funds size, popularity and flexibility.
- Expense Ratio: The current reported expense ratio for each fund. Keep in mind that these expenses are at the fund level. To purchase or sell shares, you will incur brokerage commissions.
The Individual Investor's Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds
by Maria Crawford Scott
The dramatic growth in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has come to an abrupt halt, although the fund industry did experience some growth over the last year.
Total assets have increased to $640 billion as of July 31, up 9.8% from last years $582 billion (excluding HOLDRS), according to the Investment Company Institute, an investment company trade organization. The assets include $258 billion in broad-based U.S. stock ETFs, $128 billion in U.S. sector stock ETFs, $166 billion in global and foreign stock ETFs, and $87 billion in bond ETFs.
Not surprisingly, most of the growth has occurred in the bond category, which saw an 85% increase in total assets over the course of a year. Broad-based stock ETFs actually saw a slight decrease in assets.
This year, AAII tracked over 750 exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including 104 new funds that started trading within the last year. However, for the first time since AAII started tracking ETFs, there were a significant number58that have closed.
Because of the large number of ETFs that now have long-term track records, this years printed version of the Guide to ETFs includes only ETFs that have over $100 million in net assets and have been in existence for over one year. We have also excluded leveraged and inverse ETFs from the printed version, since they are primarily designed for day traders. All funds, however, are included in the table here and in the downloadable spreadsheet.
The Basics
Exchange-traded funds are portfolios of securities that are usually passively managed and that track an index, offering an alternative to traditional index mutual funds. Although they are similar to traditional mutual funds in that they consist of a portfolio of securities, ETFs are listed on an exchange and trade just like an individual stock. This provides them with trading flexibility that does not exist with traditional index funds.
The concept is not new. The first exchange-traded fund, the S&P 500-tracking SPDRs (Spiders, ticker symbol SPY), was introduced in 1993 and was an immediate hit.
|ETF Listings:
|New ETFs
ETFs: The Next Generation
The most notable development this year has been the continued introduction of a small number of ETFs that dont track an index at all, but rather offer actively managed portfolios.
These funds have not attracted much investor interest, and whether this approach will catch on in any big way with investors is still an open question. But the doors have already been opened, and several more actively managed ETFs are on their way.
Building An ETF Portfolio
For guidance on portfolio building with ETFs, see these two articles:
However, the performance of these ETFs is highly complex, with most designed for day traders rather than long-term investors. This has prompted concern from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that many investors do not understand the tracking nature of these funds.
Most leveraged and inverse ETFs are designed to achieve their stated objectives on a daily basis. However, this can result in performance over longer periods of time that differs significantly from the performance (or inverse of the performance) of the underlying index over that same period of timean effect that can be magnified in volatile markets. (For more on this, see this issues Briefly Noted article.)
The printed version of AAIIs Guide to ETFs does not include leveraged funds, but they do appear in the tables here and in the downloadable spreadsheet.
This years new ETF offerings also continue the trend toward covering every conceivable market nicheand then some.
Here is an overview of a couple of the more unusual new ETF types. Keep in mind, however, that while they may sound intriguing, many have yet to attract real investor interest, and have little or no trading volume.
In this years guide, new ETFs are listed in the tables here and in the downloadable spreadsheet, but not in the printed version.
Actively Managed ETFs
Actively managed ETFs have been widely anticipated for several years, as the first wave of applications awaited SEC approval.
Promoted as the next generation of ETF, they are supposed to bring to actively managed portfolios several of the advantages that index-based ETFs have over their mutual fund counterparts: more tax efficiency, trading flexibility and lower costs.
In addition, the funds portfolios must be designed to be transparentthis is, disclosed and readily available to the public so that market makers and traders can constantly know whats in the portfolio. The theory is that this transparency will keep the ETF share price trading close to the funds net asset value (NAV) per share, eliminating (or keeping to a minimum) any premiums or discounts to NAV, a problem that plagues their cousins, the closed-end funds. Whether this theory will hold in the real world remains to be seen, since these kinds of funds have only recently started trading.
The Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value ETF is sponsored by Grail Advisors and is billed as the first ETF to use traditional active management. To date, other ETFs that are described as active typically use rules-based quantitative analysis to select securities and determine weightings to enhance a market index. In contrast, the Grail fund allows its portfolio managers unrestricted selection of securities.
Grail Advisors serves as the funds manager, and is sub-advised by American Beacon Advisors. Assets in the new ETF will be allocated among three noted investment managers: Brandywine Global Investment Management, Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management, and Metropolitan West Capital Management. The funds expense ratio is 0.79%.
Grail Advisors intends to expand on its series of active exchange-traded funds later this year.
Asset Allocation ETFs
iShares has introduced the S&P Target Date series of ETFs designed to compete with life cycle mutual funds. These funds invest in iShare ETFs that cover a full range of asset classes (international stocks, U.S. stocks, fixed-income securities and real estate). The funds start with different exposures to the various asset categories, and gradually move along an allocation path that changes as the target retirement date approaches to eventually match the target date asset allocation.
Complete Coverage
Currently, ETFs cover almost every equity index imaginable. Fixed-income ETFs include short-, intermediate- and long-term Treasuries, corporate bonds, TIPS (Treasury inflation-protected securities), municipal bonds and international bonds.
AAIIs Guide to ETFs includes a listing of exchange-traded funds, along with information on how they work and where you can get more information on them.
The next segment What You Need to Know About Exchange-Traded Funds, describes ETFs in more detail.
The special features of fixed-income ETFs are discussed further in What You Need to Know About Fixed-Income ETFs.
|ETF Listings:
|New ETFs
Our listing of ETFs categorizes each one by the type of index it tracks for easier comparison of similar alternatives.
The printed version of our listing includes all ETFs that have over $100 million in net assets, and that have existed for over one year. The listing includes recent performance, expense ratios, net asset value and the index tracked.
Leveraged and inverse ETFs are included in the tables here and in the downloadable spreadsheet. Similarly, HOLDRS, which technically are not really exchange-traded funds, are included here in the table under the appropriate sector.
A full listing of on-line resources is available in the Hot Links column of this issue.
A Look at the Basics: What You Need to Know About ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer many of the advantages of a traditional index fund. Because they are composed of a basket of securities that track a particular index, ETFs provide diversification within the sector of the index that they track.
And because ETFs now cover almost every sector of the equity markets, they offer an easy and low-cost way to adjust the asset allocation of any portfolio.
How They Work
An exchange-traded fund is similar to a mutual fund in that it consists of a portfolio of securities. Shares in the ETF represent an ownership interest in the underlying basket of securities held by the fund.
ETFs continuously create new shares or redeem existing shares, depending on market demand. However, the creation and redemption process is limited to institutional investors that qualify as Authorized Participants (APs), who deal with the ETF in large, specified quantities called creation units and redemption units. Although any given basket of securities may be large, consisting of hundreds of different individual stocks, the trading of these baskets is instantaneous over the sophisticated electronic trading platforms that exist today.
New ETF shares are created when the AP provides the fund with a specific basket of securities (the holdings in the index the ETF tracks), and the fund in turn transfers a corresponding number of shares (a creation unit) to the AP; those shares are then sold by the AP on the secondary markets. ETF shares sold in the secondary markets trade on an exchange just like a stock. This is the marketplace individual investors go to when purchasing or selling an ETF.
Similarly, ETF shares are redeemed when the AP provides the ETF with a specific number of ETF shares (a redemption unit), and receives from the ETF the corresponding basket of securities.
Who are these APs?
They primarily consist of institutional traders who are able to make small profits on the arbitrage opportunities between the ETF shares and the underlying basket of securities. Heres how it works.
The underlying assets in an ETF are priced every 15 seconds, allowing a per unit value of the portfolio to be determined throughout the day. This is known as the intraday indicative value of the fund, and it is similar to a mutual funds net asset value (NAV), except that it is determined continuously throughout the day.
Institutional traders closely track these intraday NAVs. If an ETFs unit price diverges from its intraday NAV, the trader can profit by either delivering the basket of individual securities to the fund (for creation units) and then simultaneously selling ETF shares in the secondary markets, or by buying ETF shares on the secondary markets, and simultaneously receiving the basket of individual securities from the ETF (for redemption units).
This institutional trading and arbitraging process helps keep the prices of ETFs on the secondary markets very close to their actual NAV. In fact, the amount of divergence between an ETFs intraday NAV and its share price is related primarily to the liquidity of the ETFs underlying basket of securities. For ETFs that track indexes with less-liquid holdings, arbitraging is more difficult and therefore divergence is more likely to be greater.
ETF Advantages
ETFs have several unique advantages over traditional index funds.
Lower Costs at the Fund Level
Although index mutual funds have low annual expense ratios, ETFs typicallybut not alwayshave even lower ratios. Like their traditional index fund counterparts, most ETFs are passively managed and, therefore, do not have high management fees.
Unlike traditional index funds, ETFs are traded on an exchange and, therefore, the fund does not have to buy and sell securities to accommodate shareholder purchases and redemptions. This also results in lower annual taxable distributions by the fund, as well as lower costs.
And although an investor must pay commissions to buy and sell shares, ETFs do not impose annual 12b-1 fees.
Trading Flexibility
Because they are exchange-traded, ETFs have the same trading flexibility as an individual stock:
ETF Risks
Exchange-traded funds carry many of the risks of traditional index mutual funds. In particular, they face market riskthe risk that the sector of the market that they are tracking may drop based on a variety of factors such as economic conditions and global events, investor sentiment and sector-specific factors. ETFs also face other risks.
Market Pricing
The market share price of an exchange-traded fund is determined by the forces of supply and demand and, therefore, investors may purchase shares at a premium or discount to the funds net asset value. However, arbitrage by large institutional traders tends to keep these low. Discounts and premiums to NAV are related primarily to the liquidity of the ETFs underlying basket of securities.
Tracking Error
Tracking error refers to the fact that an index funds returns can sometimes fall short of (or exceed) the benchmark returns. Most index-based tradable funds track their benchmarks closely, as do low-cost traditional index funds.
Some portfolios may exhibit larger tracking errors than typical. Such discrepancies are not necessarily a drawback for investors, especially if limited alternatives exist for gaining exposure to a tiny segment of the stock market. Yet its important to understand why these deviations exist.
Three primary factors account for tracking errors:
One other factor that can result in tracking errors for some ETFs is dividend payments. An exchange-traded fund typically pays out dividends received from the underlying stocks it holds on a quarterly basis, but the underlying stocks pay dividends throughout the quarter. Therefore, these funds may hold cash for various time periods throughout the quarter, even though the underlying benchmark index is not composed of cash.
The Indexes
Most ETFs are designed to replicate the holdings and correspond to the performance and yield of an underlying index, although several ETFs are designed to track the price of a commodity or currency.
Benchmarks tracked by exchange-traded funds fall into four general categories:
If you are interested in an ETF, you should make sure that you understand the underlying index (or asset) that it tracks. For example, although DIAMONDS and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Index fund both cover broad-based large-cap stocks, the performance of the underlying indexes will differthe Dow Jones industrial average (tracked by DIAMONDS) covers only 30 stocks and is price-weighted, while the Dow Jones U.S. index is broader-based and is capitalization weighted.
The Rydex S&P Equal Weight Trust covers an S&P 500 index that gives equal emphasis to all 500 stocks. In contrast, the S&P 500 index is based on market capitalizations, which means the stock performances of larger companies have a greater impact on the index; ETFs tracking the S&P 500 index will perform differently than those following an S&P 500 equal-weight index.
For some ETFs, specialty indexes have been createdfor example, the Dynamic Intellidexes have been created for many of the PowerShares exchange-traded funds, and the WisdomTree indexes that focus on dividends have been created for the WisdomTree ETFs. Some of these indexes base their holdings and their weightings on fundamental rules rather than market capitalizations, introducing a strategy-based approach to the offering. Rules-based indexes will perform quite differently than a traditional index fund.
Be careful of similar-sounding names. The Select Sector SPDR indexes are different than the S&P Select Industry indexes, which are constructed from a universe of more than 5,000 securities that collectively comprise the S&P Total Market index. The S&P Total Market index measures the performance of common equities listed on New York, American, and NASDAQ exchanges. Each S&P Select Industry index is constructed with an equal-weighted methodology and is rebalanced quarterly, which is designed to prevent a few select stocks from dominating the performance of the index.
The Select Sector SPDR fund indexes, which cover the various sectors of the S&P 500, were designed so that, taken in combination, all nine of the Select Sector SPDR funds make up the S&P 500. These indexes are not the same as the more familiar S&P sector indexes that are published by Standard & Poors, although they would likely perform very similarly.
Information on the underlying indexes can be found in each ETFs prospectus, and in many instances at the fund sponsors Web site.
There are three main structures for index ETFs:
Open-End & Unit Investment Trusts
The differences between ETFs structured as open-end mutual funds and unit investment trusts are relatively minor.
ETFs structured as open-end mutual funds can reinvest the dividends they receive from their underlying holdings in the fund when they receive them, whereas unit investment trusts cannot. The latter accumulate the dividends and reinvest them quarterly, resulting in a so-called dividend drag during rising markets. The drag is not that significant with an S&P 500 index fund because the benchmark yields currently are low; it would be more noticeable with higher-yielding portfolios.
The open-end structure also allows a fund to use stock index futures to equitize its dividend stream, enabling it to be more fully invested in the underlying index.
In addition, stock loans can be made by open-end funds but not by unit investment trusts. The interest generated by such loans theoretically results in lower expenses. Stock lending is most significant for a fund that owns a lot of hard-to-borrow stock.
Grantor Trusts
Exchange-traded funds structured as grantor trusts operate quite a bit differently than ETFs structured as investment companies.
Merrill Lynchs HOLDRS are the largest group of funds organized as grantor trusts. Many information providers do not define HOLDRS as exchange-traded funds but rather list them separately; HOLDRS are included in the on-line listing at AAII.com, but do not appear in the printed listings in this issue.
HOLDRS do provide diversified exposure to a particular industry, sector or group. However, HOLDRS allow you to keep ownership benefits related to the underlying stocks: the right to vote shares, to receive dividends and to sell the stock when you want to.
HOLDRS also do not track an independent index. When a new HOLDR is developed, an industry, sector or group of securities is identified and the underlying stocks to be included in the HOLDR are then selected for inclusion on the basis of objective criteriasuch as market capitalization, liquidity, price-earnings ratio or other measures. The selected stocks may be weighted equally or on a modified market-cap basis.
However, once determined, stock composition does not change unless due to a corporate event such as a merger or spin-off. Because the relative weightings of the stocks are a function of market prices, the relative weightings within the HOLDRS will change substantially over time.
The other unique feature of HOLDRS is that you can take delivery of the underlying securities, if you choose, by canceling your HOLDR. To cancel, you simply instruct your broker to deliver your HOLDRS to the HOLDRS trustee and pay a cancellation fee. The trustee will transmit ownership of the underlying shares to your account. Canceling a HOLDR is not a taxable event.
Several exchange-traded funds are designed to track the price of a commodity, such as gold (iShares COMEX Gold Trust and SPDR Gold Shares), or currency (the CurrencyShares ETFs). These are organized as grantor trusts, where the trusts issue shares representing interests in their net assets, which tend to be the physical holdings of the asset. These funds are not registered under the Investment Company Act, which means they are regulated differently than most other exchange-traded funds.
One important implication of the trust structure concerns taxes: Trust owners are treated as if they own a corresponding share in the underlying asset. In the case of the gold trusts, the asset is taxed as a collectible. Currently, gains from collectibles held over one year are taxed at a maximum rate of 28%, rather than the lower long-term capital gains treatment that is afforded to financial securities.
Other Structures
Several funds do not fit into any of the above structures because of their use of futures contracts to track their underlying assets. The United States Oil Fund and the United States Natural Gas Fund are designed to track the price movements of crude oil and natural gas, with assets that will consist primarily of futures contracts and U.S. Treasuries. The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund is designed to track commodity pools, with assets that will consist of futures contracts and U.S. Treasuries. Like the gold trusts, these funds are not registered under the Investment Company Act, which means they are regulated differently than most other exchange-traded funds and have additional tax implications.
Trading ETFs
Because ETFs trade like stocks, you need to know their trading characteristics.
Pricing Considerations
Exchange-traded funds have pricing symbols for three different variables:
Ticker symbols for these funds, along with considerable other trading, performance and structural details, can be found in the individual fund tear sheets at the Web site of the exchange on which the fund trades.
Premiums and Discounts to NAV
While premiums and discounts are generally not a major issue, they may be larger in special instances, particularly when the underlying basket of securities is less liquid.
Liquidity and Trading
Liquidity is the ease with which an investment can be bought or sold for a price at or very close to the recent quote.
Some ETFs are based on indexes with holdings that are less liquid. This affects the arbitrage process and thus the creation and redemption of ETF shares by institutional traders, leading to wider spreads. The liquidity of an ETF is thus primarily based on the liquidity of the underlying securities in the ETFs basket.
What the Listings Show
Exchange & Ticker Symbol
The exchange and ticker symbol are provided next to the fund name. The ticker symbol that is given is for the stock price at which trading occurs. This is the symbol you would use when buying or selling shares.
Performance Information
Trading Information
ETF Structure
Whether the fund is structured as an open-end mutual fund, a unit investment trust, a grantor trust, or a special structure.
Index Tracked
The underlying index (or other asset) that the fund is structured to track.
ETFs Included
The printed version of our listing that appears in the AAII Journal includes all ETFs that have over $100 million in net assets, and that have existed for over one year.
AAIIs Guide to ETFs lists all exchange-traded funds, including those that have under $100 million in assets, HOLDRS, leveraged and inverse funds, and those that are new.
All ETFs are listed in the appropriate category. In addition, the tables here and the downloadable spreadhseets include expanded information on each ETF, including recent trading statistics and the legal structure of the fund.
|What You Need to Know About Fixed-Income ETFs
This years Guide features 37 existing ETFs that track bond indexes, plus 15 new bond ETFs.
Bond ETFs work like their stock counterparts. Each fund has both a trading symbol and an IOPV (indicative optimized portfolio value) ticker. The IOPV approximates the funds net asset value and is updated every 15 seconds throughout the trading day. By comparing the IOPV and real-time stock quote for a bond ETF, you can determine any discounts or premiums in share price to net asset value, although creation and redemption of the shares by large institutional traders helps keep these to a minimum.
You can also determine a bond ETFs end-of-day discount or premium based upon its net asset value (computed daily at the market close) and last traded price. This information can be found most readily at the sponsors Web site (see "Hot Links"). Keep in mind, however, that bond quote and price reporting is less well-developed than stock quote and price reporting, making the IOPV and net asset value less reliable for bond ETFs. Fortunately, bond quotes and price data are improving.
As with bonds themselves, the prices of bond ETFs vary inversely with the level of interest ratesi.e., rising rates lead to falling fixed-income security prices and vice versa.
Like most bond funds, fixed-income ETFs do not pay a fixed rate of return and do not guarantee that your investment will be recouped when you cash out. Bond ETFs pay monthly dividends in cash. Individuals interested in reinvesting their dividends should contact their brokers for further information, including any fees.
Bond ETFs offer benefits similar to those of stock ETFs, such as low cost, diversification, the ability to trade shares throughout the day, and the ability to short a portfolio.
Many bond ETFs feature rock-bottom 0.15% expense ratios (or lower)a major plus for fixed-income portfolios, particularly during times of low returns. The highest expense ratios are found with the foreign fixed-income funds.
Tax efficiency, an advantage for stock ETFs, would not be a relevant consideration with bond ETFs because of their income orientation. Like Treasury securities themselves, Treasury bond ETFs generate income that is subject to federal income tax but should be exempt from state and local income taxes if the fund sponsor and the shareholder meet the states administrative requirements.
A few of the bond ETFs replicate their underlying target indexes, but many other bond ETFs use optimized sampling techniques. Because bonds have a given lifespan before they mature, a bond ETF portfolio needs to be reconstituted frequently, reflecting changes in its target index. This process could lead to some capital gains distributions.
You could generally expect a fixed-income ETF to have a higher portfolio turnover rate than the broad-based equity ETFs that track benchmarks such as the S&P 500 index, Dow Jones industrial average, and the Wilshire 5000 index.
Maria Crawford Scott is editor of the AAII Journal and Cara Scatizzi is AAIIs associate financial analyst.

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Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee today blocked votes on eight judicial nominees, including five renominated by the White House after they failed to receive a vote on the Senate floor before the August recess. Republicans used a procedural rule to delay a committee vote by one week, even though some of the nominees have been pending for over a year.
"There's no way to view these delays other than as pure obstruction," said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. "Republicans have had ample time to review the records of these nominees and make up their minds about them—indeed on the five who were just renominated, they've already cast their votes. The GOP is throwing sand into the gears of government to score political points. This is more evidence that Republicans would rather try to trip up the President than participate in the business of governing."
Obstruction in the Judiciary Committee is only part of the Republican campaign against President Obama's judicial nominees. Republican leaders are currently blocking votes on 16 nominees pending on the Senate floor, including 14 who passed out of committee without a single vote of opposition, and 8 who are nominated to fill vacancies designated as "Judicial Emergencies." Senator McConnell explains the delay by claiming that the White House hasn't nominated judges quickly enough.
"That doesn't pass the smell test," said Baker. "Senator McConnell seems to be saying that there should be a ratio of blocked judges to nominated judges before he's willing to take a vote. That's absurd. There's no rule saying that there has to be a quota for backlogged nominees waiting before any one is allowed to move forward. President Obama has nominated eminently qualified jurists, and the Senate should approve them. The GOP is shirking its responsibility to ensure a well-functioning government."
Continued Baker, "I'm glad to see that the President made a point of speaking about the obstruction of judicial nominees in his remarks to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last night. A functioning legal system makes a difference to ordinary Americans. The Republicans have a responsibility to help ensure that we have one."


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This year the Sister City program between Columbus and Dresden, Germany, celebrates 20 years, so it's fitting to celebrate the art resulting from this ongoing cultural exchange.
"Time and Place: An International Exhibition of Works on Paper," showing through Oct. 20 at OSU Urban Arts Space, brings together 36 artists from Ohio and Dresden. All of the artists have taken part in the Dresden Residency Exchange funded by the Ohio Arts Council.
Each year, this printmaking exchange program sends two Ohio artists to work at Grafikwerkstatt in Dresden, and two German artists travel to Cleveland's Zygote Press.
"I think it's taken on a life of its own," Nicholas Hill said of the residency program. Hill, a professor of art at Otterbein College, is both the show's curator and a participating artist.
"The wonderful thing about having had so many exchanges over so much time is that — although the Ohio Arts Council is still very critical to its survival — there are permutations of it," he said. "So many of these artists in Ohio know so many artists in Germany that ongoing connections, relationships and exhibitions have resulted in both locations that have nothing to do directly with the exchange."
Hill, for example, who first visited Dresden in 1997 and has been many times since, collaborated two years ago with German artist Jean Kirsten on a portfolio exchange between Ohio and German printmakers.
For "Time and Place," Kirsten has contributed a show-stopping abstract collage titled "Collage for L.1." He manages to achieve a dynamic, illusory effect with a black and white palette.
Meanwhile, Hill's print "Dresden Dusk" uses an almost antique palette that could evoke the brick streets of German Village as easily as an autumn dusk in Dresden.
In choosing the theme of time and place, Hill speaks to one of the challenges artists in the residency program often face: to live in the present and immerse yourself in your surroundings while not forgetting to get to work.
"Get past the novelty of where you are and yet not ignore where you are. That requires some balance," he said.


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Infestations of insects do NOT develop overnight. If an infestation does occur, the help of a pest management professional may be needed to properly identify the pest and precisely treat the infested area for the best control. However, insects are less likely to establish in a structure if what they need (water, food, and shelter) is not available. With easy steps, you can make your home less favorable to the unwanted guests.
Reduce their water supply:
Reduce their food supply:
Reduce their access to shelter:
Reduce their shelter:
These lists offer only a few suggestions of ways to discourage pest problems in your home. Now that you have the idea, you probably can think of many more. One good way to identify problem areas, is to learn more about the different pests. Once you understand which conditions are best for a given pest, you can reduce or eliminate the resource that attracts them. For information on many potential pests look on the Internet at http://entweb.clemson.edu for other Fact Sheets in the Clemson Entomology Insect Information Series. You also can call the Clemson Home & Garden Center information line at 1-888-656-9988 for a recorded message on many pest problems.


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CHICAGO – The Cubs begin the 100th season of baseball at Wrigley Field with their home opener today against the Brewers.
In their last 97 home openers at Wrigley, the Cubs are 52-44-1. Edwin Jackson (0-1, 3.60 ERA) makes his start at Wrigley in a Cubs uniform.
Manager Dale Sveum said before the game Carlos Marmol, who was demoted from the closer role, will pitch in the middle innings, typically when the Cubs are losing. Sveum added that Marmol needs to regain command of his pitches and re-learn to trust his slider, his "bread and butter" pitch.
Brewers lineup
1. Norichika Aoki, RF
2. Carlos Gomez, CF
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Rickie Weeks, 2B
5. Jonathan Lucroy, C
6. Alex Gonzalez, SS
7. Martin Maldonado, 1B
8. Yuniesky Betancourt, 3B
9. Marco Estrada, P
Cubs lineup
1. David DeJesus, CF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Nate Schierholtz, RF
6. Welington Castillo, C
7. Luis Valbuena, 3B
8. Brent Lillibridge, 2B
9. Edwin Jackson, P
-- Meghan Montemurro


text: Salsa (3) tv-pg Play video Select your TV provider to log in to have full access to videos Select your TV provider See all providers Don't see your TV provider? Learn more You can access this video on the free HISTORY® app. *You must verify your TV provider towatch this video on the App Your Parental Control settings do not allow you to view this content. Salsa (3 min) tv-pg The best salsa is made with the freshest ingredients and a balanced mix of peppers.


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Casual, unplanned ŌĆö and heavenlyWritten by George Ellison
- font size decrease font size increase font size
You donŌĆÖt have to live in a cabin to get cabin fever. You can come down with a bad case of cabin fever ŌĆö which I think of as ŌĆ£the doldrumsŌĆØ ŌĆö even if you live in a snazzy mansion. Indeed, I often come down with them right here in my office, on the town square in Bryson City.
The term ŌĆØthe doldrumsŌĆØ is perfectly descriptive of that listless state of mind and body into which one can seemingly falls at any moment for no specific reason; indeed, if youŌĆÖve got a specific cause for your spiritual malaise, youŌĆÖre ŌĆ£depressed,ŌĆØ which isnŌĆÖt the same thing.
My dictionary defines the doldrums (a term that is correctly plural in form and usually preceded by ŌĆ£theŌĆØ) as a period of inactivity with the following symptoms: listlessness, low spirits, gloomy feelings, and being generally ŌĆ£down in the dumps.ŌĆØ
The Oxford English Dictionary quotes a 19th century gentleman named C. Keene as having observed that ŌĆ£The great thing is to avoid ŌĆśthe Doldrums.ŌĆÖŌĆØ Well, thatŌĆÖs seemingly sound advice, but the difficult thing about them is that ŌĆö like a bothersome guest ŌĆö theyŌĆÖre usually upon you before you know theyŌĆÖre coming. IŌĆÖd amend Mr. KeeneŌĆÖs observation to ŌĆ£The great thing is to know how to rid yourself of the doldrums.ŌĆØ
The OED quotes yet another 19th century gentleman as having found that ŌĆ£A glass of brandy and water is a panacea for the doldrums.ŌĆØ ThatŌĆÖs a time-honored prescription, but if you reach for the juice too often when you get the blahs youŌĆÖre going to have real problems.
The only surefire remedy for the doldrums is a good stroll ... not ŌĆ£a hikeŌĆØ ŌĆö a bothersome term that implies planning and the toting of heavy loads for some distance. No agenda. No destination. DonŌĆÖt hurry. DonŌĆÖt carry anything. Go alone. A stroll can be executed at any distance more than 440-yards and less than a mile. Break a sweat and youŌĆÖre disqualified. When in doubt, slow down. Pretty soon the doldrums will get bored and go find someone whoŌĆÖs sitting down at a desk.
The view from my office window is limited to the front of the fire department across the street, the tree line of a ridge back of town, and a thin slice of sky to the south. This morning, IŌĆÖve already checked the email, voice mail and snail mail. But I canŌĆÖt seem to settle down to the task at hand, which is writing this column. Deadline looming. I feel fidgety and a little irritated. IŌĆÖve got the doldrums. What I need is a little stroll before settling down.
When we go out with a set objective ŌĆö to observe birds or flowers or fall colors or deer sign, whatever ŌĆö that objective limits our range of comprehension. While looking at the purple-crested ŌĆ£zoombeeŌĆØ up in a hemlock, we fail to spot the polka-dotted elephant in the underbrush.
Sometimes itŌĆÖs worthwhile just to get out and see what pops up. Now, at times, no matter how adroitly you stroll along, nothing happens. ThatŌĆÖs life; indeed, there are strolling purists who maintain that the ultimate strolls are those in which absolutely ŌĆ£nothingŌĆØ happens. But generally, something pops up. LetŌĆÖs see.
October skies. The morning sun catches the gold enamel on the old courthouse clock tower just so. Generally, itŌĆÖs best to stroll on flat ground, but my feet carry me up the hill behind town to a patch of scrub pine that has overgrown a barren site where some excavation work took place years ago. Under these pines in fall, amanita mushrooms flourish. Their varied hues ŌĆö ranging from lemon to pink to orange to lime ŌĆö are gaudy, probably a warning of sorts of the deadly toxins contained therein. Exotic and menacing, they are beautiful in the same way that a thick-bodied black-and-yellow timber rattler is truly beautiful. AmanitaŌĆÖs and rattlers both favor dry, barren, exposed habitats ... and both give warnings to intruders: one with color, the other with sound.
Back down by the Tuckaseigee River, the townŌĆÖs main bridge attracts a variety of strollers and walkers. The walkers hustle on across, headed for the shops or the railroad depot. The strollers are moving at a pace that allows them to peer over the rail into the river below.
The Tuckasegee is emerald green. A multi-colored tapestry of fall leaves floats on the surface. Some have become slightly waterlogged and swirl downstream just below the surface. Others gather in piles on the bottom. A school of brightly-hued bream floats in the quiet pool just upstream from the bridge, making rings where they break the surface to feed.
Joint-weed, virginŌĆÖs-bower, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, and other plants cover the hog-wire fence beside the building supply store along the north side of the river. There are morning glories in four shades ŌĆö blue, purple, red, white ŌĆö are color forms of the same species. We call them ŌĆ£commonŌĆØ morning glory, but thereŌĆÖs nothing common about them.
My favorite grass is foxtail grass. The curve of their bristly fruiting cluster (the foxŌĆÖs tail) is accentuated in fall as the weight of the forming seeds causes them to arc. When backlit by sunlight, they shimmer like ornaments. I suppose some gardeners consider foxtail grass to be a weed, but that ŌĆö as with most things ŌĆö is all in the eye of the beholder.
The 150-foot swinging bridge leading from the north bank of the river over to Bryson City Island Park ŌĆö located several hundred yards upstream from the town square ŌĆö is just about impossible to avoid when youŌĆÖre out strolling around. You donŌĆÖt have to think about the bridge to wind up on it ... your feet just naturally take you there.
A footpath winds around the western tip of the island that ought to be marked: ŌĆ£StrollerŌĆÖs Only ŌĆö No Walking, No Jogging, No Biking.ŌĆØ On the inland side of the island, the river is a narrow channel that once served as the ŌĆ£boomŌĆØ area for a timber operation that floated logs down Deep Creek out of the high Smokies. Overhung with giant oaks and tulip poplars, itŌĆÖs now a peaceful spot.
On the river side of the island, the water crashes through a cascade called ŌĆ£DevilŌĆÖs Dip.ŌĆØ Kayakers like to fool around here, but today none are present. Instead, a group of 25 or so cedar waxwings are putting on an aerial show as they hawk insects in the bright sunlight out over the water. IŌĆÖve read about waxwings feeding in this fashion but have never actually observed them doing so.
The loose family group of young and mature birds has chosen a sycamore as their perch tree. I can see their heads moving as they follow the flight of whatever insect is hatching out. From time to time, one or more of the birds leaves the tree to feed.
They donŌĆÖt just fly out and grab an insect. ThatŌĆÖd be too easy. Waxwings do everything with style.They climb steeply and descend in leisurely, sweeping arcs upstream as if riding a roller coaster, catching a chosen morsel at the peak of each arc.
Back in the office again ... strolling concluded for the day ... doldrums at bay ... time to crank it up. Out over the fire station, beyond the far ridge, my thin slice of sky is October blue.
EditorŌĆÖs note: This column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in October 2002.


text:
Home List of Titles Deep advanced camera for surveys imaging in the globular cluster NGC 6397: reduction methods
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/47563
- Title
- Deep advanced camera for surveys imaging in the globular cluster NGC 6397: reduction methods
- Author(s)
- Anderson, Jay; King, Ivan R.; Richer, Harvey B.; Fahlman, Gregory G.; Hansen, Brad M. S.; Hurley, Jarrod; Kalirai, Jasonjot S.; Rich, R. Michael; Stetson, Peter B.
- Abstract
- We describe here the reduction methods that we developed to study the faintest red dwarfs and white dwarfs in an outer field of NGC 6397, which was observed by HST for 126 orbits in 2005. The particular challenge of this data set is that the faintest stars are not readily visible in individual exposures, so special care must be taken to combine the information in all the exposures in order to identify and measure them. Unfortunately, it is hard to find the faintest stars without also finding a large number of faint galaxies, so we developed specialized tools to distinguish between the point-like stars and the barely resolved galaxies. We found that artificial-star tests, while obviously necessary for completeness determination, can also play an important role in helping us optimize our finding and measuring algorithms. Although this paper focuses on this data set specifically, many of the techniques are new and might find application in other work, particularly when a large number of images are available for a single field.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
- Source
- Astronomical Journal, Vol. 135, no. 6 (Jun 2008), pp. 2114-2128
- Publication year
- 2008
- FOR Code(s)
- 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences; 020103 Cosmology and Extragalactic Astronomy
- Keyword(s)
- Astrometry; Globular clusters; Image processing; Low-mass, brown dwarfs; NGC 6397; Photometric techniques; Stars; White dwarfs
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- 0004-6256
- Publisher URL
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2008 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
- Peer reviewed


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Susan & Randy Jackson's '39 Ford Pickup
The NASCAR circuit has many avid fans around the country. One passionate pair of race fans is Susan and Randy Jackson of Commerce City, Colorado. The Jacksons are the proud owners of this Real Red '39 Ford pickup, purchased from the Wyoming Forest Service in 1992. Over the next decade, the Jacksons struggled to complete their street rod pickup, but were delayed by the usual responsibilities of earning a living and raising a family. When they met Russ Tilkes of Just Dream'N (Full Service Rod & Custom) in 2002, the project picked up speed and was finished three activity-filled years later.
CCT gave readers a preview of the Jacksons' '39 Ford pickup in the July '05 issue, when the Just Dream'N crew (Golden, Colorado) installed the big oval '04 Mini Cooper projector-beam headlights that were grafted into the round front fenders of the Ford. The crew also sectioned the grille several inches to make room for a functional air dam below the grille and fenders.
The '39 Ford grille is quite often less appreciated than the '40-41 design, which has a greater relationship to the passenger-car grille. As a result, the Jacksons and Russ Tilkes themed the project pickup as Fast & Ugly. From that point, the idea of a vintage NASCAR truck was born, and the name NASTRUCK stuck. Steve Haugen of Victory Illustration rendered the red truck (July '05, page 80) as a vintage race truck.
The small shop in Colorado pulled out all the fabrication skills they possessed to create a vintage truck capable of 150 mile-per-hour speeds-and not just capable, but safe as well. The solid chassis foundation is a 2×4-inch rectangular tubing frame from Art Morrison. It was originally a '40 Ford passenger car chassis that the Just Dream'N crew then altered to fit the truck by cutting and modifying the front and rear framerails. Cab and bed mounts were built to accommodate the variations in design.
Trudesign Wheel owner Jim Lyon was contracted to create a new wheel design-the spoke wheels are actually 17-inch billet aluminum Arrow-look-alike wheels mounting Z-rated Goodyear rubber that look like NASCAR tires. The tinted door glass was installed and the tinted windshield glass was V-butted by Vance at Showtime Auto Glass.
To some viewers, the little red pickup has the cute face of a Disney character, and it has made plenty of friends this summer as it has roared out of the garage and started to become a public personality. We expect the NASTRUCK to continue to make more friends and gather plenty of awards at events all over the country. However, anyone who thinks this truck is all cute stuff and no performance skill is bound to be surprised at how well it kicks butt on the asphalt, in a straight line or in circles. Patience has its reward, Susan and Randy. Congratulations for making your dream come true at Just Dream'N.


text: My lo has started sleeping through the night (4 months old), at least for now. She is sleeping about 10-12 hours and I am pumping just b/4 I go to bed. This is about 10 pm (she is in bed around 7-7:30 pm). I am having troubles with her during the day with staying on the breast (she is so very distracted) and dispite taking the advice of all (dark room, etc.) I still can't get her to stay on more than 12 - 16 minutes on a good day! We have started having to give her bottles of EBM after feedings to help her since is many times still hungry. I am trying to pump a lot and trying to encourage her to eat more from me. Her wet diaper count has decreased dramatically. In fact, after sleeping 12 hours last night, her diaper was only about 1/3 to 1/2 full! I am at a loss!


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"I listen to Catholic Answers Live via the internet all the time. Your show is truly edifying! You always present our great Catholic Faith in a clear and concise manner. Indeed, you speak the truth in love. Thank you for all that you do. Keep fighting the good fight!"
"These are the living springs of great thoughts and great actions. Everything grows clear in the reflections from the Infinite."


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The RFL have just handed out £150,000 to Featherstone, where do you think the RFL gets the money from, is Red Hall surrounded by mythical money trees. If you couldn't care less about Catalan then you do not care that they put money into the coffers but I'll bet you would be willing to accept it. Maybe Cataln should be exempt from paying into the Challenge Cup and play-off pots since they don't have anything to do with UK RL. Maybe the RFL's shareholding in SL should be reduced by 1/14th and the money given to Catalan, after all they are nothing to do with us.
With all due respect, no-one has proven categorically that SL has been the catalyst for an increase in attendance at RL matches in the UK since 1994..
I don't care about France, only SL cares, I care about the UK. I care that the propagandist won't admit SL only benefits SL to the tune of £££££. Nothing else.
The other facts are bluster and hot air.
The only caveat I had for the stats was that we look at the UK. So when Tolouse enter SL, crowds will go up again. Hoorah for SL.
Fine for you all, dance a jig if you want. Carry on repeating time and gain how better off WE are.
The RFL has various income streams and believe it or not one of those is SL through its share in SLE, through SL play-offs and the SL grand final and through SL clubs taking part in the Challenge Cup and believe it or not Catalan are part of SL and are therefore a net contributor to the coffers that allow, Keighley to have their ground protected, allow Fev to be assisted with their ground upgrade to the tune of £150k amongst many other none SL projects that the RFL funds.


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This fishing report, provided by the Department of Game and Fish and thefishphone.com, has been generated from the best information available from area officers, anglers, guides and local businesses. Conditions may vary as stream, lake and weather conditions alter fish and angler activities.
Cimarron River — The flows are 29 cfs below Eagle Nest Dam and 50 cfs near Cimarron. There are still lots of hatches all over the river and fishing is good with caddis larva or stonefly nymphs. Dry fly action is good with caddis or grasshoppers. Panther Martins, salmon eggs or worms are always a good bet.
Costilla Creek – The flows are 80 cfs below the dam and 108 cfs near the town of Costilla. The water is a little high and fishing is good with #16 PMD's, #14 Parachute Adams, yellow sallies, grasshoppers or #16-18 bead head nymphs. 281 triploid rainbows were stocked last week.
Red River – Flows at Questa are 58 cfs, and 125 cfs below the hatchery. Trout are reported as good with #16 gray or tan caddis, dry dropper rigs, spinners or Power Bait. Last week, 1,401 triploid rainbows were stocked above Questa and 770 below Questa.
Rio Grande – Flows are 76 cfs near Cerro and 312 cfs below the Taos Junction Bridge. The water is muddy from recent rains and trout are fair to good with prince nymphs or stonefly nymphs. No reports on bass or pike. Fishing should improve after the rains subside.
Rio Hondo – The upper Hondo is fishing well with #14-16 dry attractors. The lower river is slower with stimulators or grasshoppers.
Rio Pueblo – Flow is 95 cfs. The water is higher and muddy from recent rains and fishing is slow. 842 triploid rainbows were stocked last week.
Cabresto Lake – Trout are good with gray soft hackle peacocks or Royal coachman.
Charette Lakes – No report this week due to rains.
Clayton Lake – The lake is mossy and rains have kept fishermen away. No report.
Eagle Nest Lake – Kokanee are slow trolling Panther Martins, Platte River Specials, or Christmas trees tipped with corn or Power Bait. Trout are slow to fair from the shore with Power Bait and good most days trolling light weight tackle. Perch are good with worms.
Lake Alice and Lake Maloya – Due to heavy rains, there is no report. 349 triploid rainbows were stocked last week in Lake Alice and 2,100 in Maloya.
Maxwell Lakes – Due to heavy rains and no pressure, there is no report.
Santa Cruz Lake – Trout are fair from boats and poor from the bank with Power Bait, salmon eggs and worms.
Shuree Ponds – Fishing is reported as slow with woolly buggers or damsel nymphs.
Springer Lakes – Heavy rains kept fishermen away. No report.
Black River – Flow is 13 cfs. There is no fishing report.
Bonito Creek – Trout are fair to good using Panther Martins, salmon eggs and worms.
Rio Ruidoso – Flow is at 99 cfs. Trout are reported as good with Panther Martins or salmon eggs. 875 rainbows were stocked last week.
Bonito Lake – Fishing is fair with worms, salmon eggs or Power Bait.
Bottomless Lakes – Winter trout waters – There will be no more reports until stocking resumes in the fall.
Brantley Reservoir – A mandatory catch and release is in place at Brantley Lake from the dept. of Game and Fish. Pesticides, DDT's have been found in the fish, do not keep or eat them. No fishing report this week.
Grindstone Reservoir – Trout are fair with Pistol Petes or yellow Power Bait. Catfish are good with worms.
Lake Van: Winter trout waters – Catfish are slow.
Animas River – The flow is 757cfs. There has been a lot of rain and the water is high and muddy. Fishing should improve after the rains subside.
Chama River – Upper section flow is 59 cfs and dry fly fishing is fair to good above Chama with caddis, PMD's, red quills or green drakes. Below El Vado Dam, the flow is 789 cfs and the water is green and murky. Fishing is fair for 16-20 inch browns with woolly buggers, Panther Martins or night crawlers. A few 12-14 inch rainbows have been caught on salmon eggs or Power Bait.
San Juan River – Upper section-Catch and Release flow is 983 cfs and visibility is four feet. The hatches are slowing, rains have started and fishing has been variable. Best patterns have been gray zebra midges, chocolate foam wing emergers, cream or peach egg patterns, tan UFO's or gray Johnny flashes. Dry fly action is reported as good with large ants, grasshoppers or other terrestrials.
Lower section – Open waters, fishing is fair for rainbows up to 14 inches with night crawlers, orange Power Bait, salmon eggs and the same flies as for the upper section.
Abiquiu Lake – Walleye are sporadic using bottom bouncers, jigs or worms. Smallmouth bass are reported as good in the early mornings with poppers, top water lures, worms or minnows. Catfish are good in the coves on worms, hot dogs, chicken liver or stink bait.
El Vado Lake – No fishing report.
Heron Lake – Trolling for kokanee has slowed but some limits are still being reported. Most success has been in the early mornings trolling at 15-30 feet with gold or brass lures. Rainbows are slow from shore with Power Bait or salmon eggs.
Jackson Lake – Trout are reported as good with spinners or Power Bait.
Lake Farmington – Trout are good with worms, spinners or Power Bait.
Morgan Lake – Catfish are fair at night with chicken or stink bait.
Navajo Lake – Pike are good trolling Rapalas or crank baits in the San Juan and Pine arms. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are reported as good in the coves with jigs, top water lures, Seknos, spinner baits and night crawlers. Kokanee are fair to good trolling Arnie's lures or double whammies at 40 feet, with best reports from the Pine Arm and Francis Canyon. No reports on other species.
West-Central, including the Jemez Mountains
Jemez River, East Fork, Guadalupe and San Antonio – Flow on the Jemez River is 46 cfs. The rains increased the water levels in all the streams, but they are a little murky, so dry fly action is not good. Fishing is fair using bead head nymphs, Panther Martins, Power Bait or worms.
Metro Drainages – No report this week.
Bluewater Lake – Trout are reported as slow with Power Bait or salmon eggs. Tiger muskies are fair with spinners and spoons. Most have been in the 32-36 inch range with one 43-inch musky caught and released. Catfish are fair using chicken liver.
Cochiti Lake – There has been light to moderate pressure due to the rains. Bass are reported as fair with crank baits. Pike, 26-30 inches, are fair on crank baits. No reports on other species.
Fenton Lake – Stocker-size trout are reported as good from shore with pink Power Bait, salmon eggs or worms.
Tingley Beach – South Pond catch and release – Trout fishing is poor and won't improve until the temperatures are cooler. Children's and Central Ponds – Bluegills are good with worms under a bobber. Catfish are good using hotdogs. No reports on bass.
East–Central, including the Pecos River
Coyote Creek – Flow is 721 cfs. Rain over the past 5 days has caused the creek to overflow its banks. No one is fishing and there is no report.
Pecos River – Flows are 288 cfs near Pecos and 100 cfs below Sumner Dam. The water is murky and dry fly fishing was good before the rains started. Hatches are reported river wide with PMD's, yellow sallies, caddis and red quills working well. Last week 350 rainbows and 1,644 triploid rainbows were stocked from Cowles to the village of Pecos.
Conchas Lake – First it was the hot weather, and now it's the rains that have slowed the fishing. Reports are slow for all species.
Morphy Lake – No report due to heavy rains.
Santa Rosa Lake – There has been no pressure due to heavy rains and there is no fishing report.
Storrie Lake – Trout are reported as fair with garlic cheese or Power Bait. No reports on other species.
Sumner Lake – Winter trout waters, stilling basin – Pressure has been light and reports are slow for all species.
Ute Lake – Walleye are in deeper water and trolling is slow with deep diving crank baits. White bass are schooling at about 30 feet and are reported as fair trolling slabs and jigs. Smallmouth and largemouth bass are slow with soft plastics or Senkos. Catfish are fair on stink bait or chicken liver.
Gila River – The flow is 101 cfs and the water is higher and muddy. There has been a lot of rain and no pressure. Fishing is slow with Pistol Petes, spinners and salmon eggs.
Rio Grande – The flow is 2,140 cfs below Elephant Butte Dam. No fishing report.
Bill Evans Lake: Winter trout waters – No report.
Caballo Lake – Walleye are slow with jigs and minnows. White bass are good from the bank and trolling with spinners, worms or minnows. A few largemouth bass have been caught in the coves with minnows. Catfish are good with night crawlers or chicken liver.
Elephant Butte Lake – Four days of rain has slowed the fishing and there has been light pressure. White bass are slow with shiners or sassy shad. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are slow using white or green bombers. Striped bass are slow trolling big shiners or shad. No reports on other species.
Glenwood Ponds – There has been light pressure and trout are slow.
Lake Roberts – Catfish are good at the upper end of the lake with stink bait or chicken liver. It is weedy around the shore but trout are fair in the open water using spinners.
Quemado Lake – Trout are fair with Power Bait or worms. Tiger muskies are fair with Rapalas, worms or salmon eggs.
Snow Lake – Trout are reported as slow due to rains.
Tune in to New Mexico Game and Fish TV:
"New Mexico Wildlife"


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Warren County, IN (WXIN) -- School officials say a middle school teacher didn't know that the desk calendars she handed out as prizes were full of graphic and inappropriate material.
Bonnie Wright's 13-year-old son brought one of the calendars home from Creston Middle School in Warren Township on Friday. He used classroom points for good behavior to bid on the calendar as a prize.
"At first he didn't give it to me, he just said ,'Mom, I think this has some bad words in it,'" Wright said.
When she checked it out, she found a lot more than bad words.
"(It talks about) drugs and sex and inappropriate things," Wright said.
The calendar, called "Whoogle," is a 2013 edition. It's about things people Google and it looks innocent on the outside, with the tag line, "I wonder if dinosaurs eat peaches?"
Inside, though, many pages are too inappropriate to even repeat.
Some lines include "How do you know if birth control is working? Is it wrong to sleep with…" and pages full of pornographic lines and content.
"I just told him that a lot of that, it's kind of sick thoughts, sick twisted things that nobody, not a normal person, an adult should think of," Wright said.
Warren Township school officials tell FOX59 the teacher handed out four of the calendars on Friday. She and the principal have called each of the parents involved to apologize.
"On Fridays, the students are allowed to purchase items with points that they earned. The calendars were sealed, the teacher had no idea what the contents of the calendars were … and feels horrible and embarrassed by this," Assistant Superintendent Tim Hanson said.
The calendars came from Teachers' Treasures on the east side, a store that gives away free school supplies to local teachers. A manager told FOX59 that the calendars were no longer on the shelves because they are 2013 editions. The owner did not return a call for comment about where other calendars may have been distributed.
Wright found a warning right on the back of the box, saying "some content may not be appropriate for young audiences."
She said she wants other parents and teachers to know that the desk calendar isn't what it looks like so that if more of them are out there, they will be found.
"I just want this to be taken seriously," Wright said.
Teachers Treasures tells Fox 59 it is reviewing its policy for donations, after learning that a dirty calendar made its way into the hands of a young student.
"Teachers' Treasures regrets having shared a donated calendar with content that was not appropriate to a classroom setting. We have pulled the remaining calendars and are reviewing our procedures for accepting donated school supplies," Executive Director Margaret Sheehan said.
In a statement emailed to Fox 59, the owner of calendar distributor TF Publishing said his company did make donations to Teachers Treasures, but he did not believe this came from one of their donations.
"We make best efforts to not donate calendars with adult content warnings clearly printed on the box. But recognizing we are talking about a 2013 calendar that was donated over a year ago, this donation could have come from another source.
I am disappointed that it takes an incident like this to get Teacher's Treasures and my company on the news. There are a lot of people that would like to know that my company has donated over a million calendars to Teacher's Treasures / Kids in Need over the last 15 years and that this is a wonderful charity serving our community," founder and CEO Jim Purcell said.
Inappropriate calendars came from free teacher supply store
Warren County, IN (WXIN) -- School officials say a middle school teacher didn't know that the desk calendars she handed out as prizes were full of graphic and inappropriate material.


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A real point guard like Nash or CP3 would probably average 15 assists a game on the Smell****s
Rondo has the most incomplete offensive game of any starting point guard in the NBA besides Chris Duthorn. He doesnt really have a nice crossover move unless hes got a big advantage, hes not good at breaking down defenses....or i should say hes not nearly as good as he should be. He cant shoot free throws, hes got no mid range game and no long range game. The only reason why he has a high field goal percentage is because he sneeks in for layups...other teams pay very little attention to him. They play off of him, showing no respect.


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PLE Document Writing
Winter 2015 quarter
Taught by
Prior Learning from Experience allows people with significant professional and/or community-based experience to kick-start or accelerate a college degree. Students receive significant support from peers and faculty in learning how to assemble a portfolio that shows the "college equivalent learning" they have gained through professional and/or community-based work. Students earn credit through a combination of coursework and faculty evaluation of the completed essay.This separate and economical assessment and award of credit for prior learning speeds time to degree. Students completing a PLE document generally describe the experience as "transformative," helping them to understand the college level equivalence of their professional and community-based experience, as well as preparing them for future academic and professional work. The program has a prerequisite course, which you will find under "Writing from Life." You will also find further information, including a video, at http://www.evergreen.edu/eveningandweekend/priorlearning.htm . Finally, The Olympian wrote an article about the program, which you can find at http://www.theolympian.com/2013/07/10/2616654/learning-from-life-gets-less-expensive.html.
Program Details
Fields of Study
Location and Schedule
Campus location
Offered during: Evening
Advertised schedule: 6-10p Tue. First meeting will be Tuesday, January 6, 6:00pm, in Sem 2 B3109.


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For kids who love to build!
Brought to you by Coeur d'Alene Public Library Youth Services
LEGO project contests for age groups 4-13!
- Non-judged Exhibition Category for ages 14 and up!
- Guest speakers
- Building Contests!
- LEGO-themed Refreshments!
LEGO-rama Rules
Special Theme for 2013: Renewable energy is the theme for LEGO-rama 2013. Projects should reflect the use of alternate energy sources. Design a car, boat, truck, RV, house, factory, etc. reflecting the use of solar, wind, waves, biogas, recycled french fry oil, people power or whatever you can imagine. The design doesn't have to be a working model, just your concept of how alternative energy can be used to perform a task.
- Original Projects: One entry per participant, please. Entries must be participant-built. (No adult assistance.) Judging will be in age categories of 4-6, 7-10 and 11-13. Entries should be original designs created by the participant rather than just assembled kits created by LEGO (or similar company). Entries must have a footprint (the space occupied on the table) no larger than 15x15 inches. Non-LEGO parts are permitted, but must be building parts that are LEGO-compatible. Winning projects will be displayed at the Library for two weeks, at participants' discretion. Judged projects cannot be motorized or computer enhanced. (See Exhibition Category below) Lights are allowed but participants must provide their own power source (batteries). Participants should have an exhibit card showing: The Entry Title, The Builder's Name, and the Builder's Age. Entries should be assembled before being brought to the library.
- Judging: A panel of judges recruited by the LEGO Leader will select the top three winners in each age group. A "People's Choice" entry will be chosen by the audience. Each participant and audience member will be given one ballot to place in the ballot box. Entries may be brought to the library beginning at 12:30 p.m. Judging and voting will begin at 1:30 p.m. and cease at 2:15 p.m.
- Exhibition Category: Participants 14 years old and up are invited to display their original designs, but will not be included in the judging or voting for prizes. Limited to a 15X15-inch footprint. Motorized and computer-enhanced displays must provide own power supply.
- Building Contests: Participants will reach into the Bucket-O-LEGOs with one hand and will bring out as many LEGO parts as they can hold. Using those parts only (this is one time when sharing with your neighbor is not a good thing) participants will have two (2) minutes to design and build a LEGO project. Winners will be determined by the LEGO Leader and such other judges as he or she can draft.
The goal of LEGO-Rama is to have fun and learn a little about building techniques. For this reason we encourage parents and other adults to allow their children to design and build their contest entries using their own imaginations and skills so participants can compete on an equal footing. Thank you!
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Unemployment drops in Vt. and the nationThe Associated Press | March 30,2013The Vermont Department of Labor says the state unemployment rate dropped slightly in February to 4.4 percent.
Last months rate was down three-tenths of a percentage point from January and far lower than the national rate of 7.7 percent.
The Labor Department says February was the seventh straight month that the unemployment rate had not increased in Vermont.
Around the state, Vermonts unemployment rate ranged from a high of 8 percent in Newport to a low of 2.6 percent in the Warren-Waitsfield area.
Nationally, unemployment rates fell in 22 states, a sign that hiring gains are benefiting many parts of the country.
The U.S. Labor Department said unemployment rates rose in 12 states and were unchanged in 16.
The unemployment rate slid to a four-year low of 7.7 percent in February, down from 7.9 percent in January. Since November, employers across the country have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month, nearly double the average from last spring.
States hit hardest during the recession are showing improvement.
In Nevada, unemployment dropped to 9.6 percent last month, down from 11.8 percent a year ago. Thats the biggest year-over-year decrease among states.
One reason for the big drop is that people have stopped applying for jobs. Nevadas work force those working or looking for work fell nearly 1 percent in the year through February. Only those looking for work are counted as unemployed. But hiring accelerated, too: Jobs in Nevada rose 2 percent over the past year.
Unemployment in California fell to 9.6 percent last month, down from 10.8 percent in February 2012.
California and Nevada are still tied with Mississippi for the nations highest unemployment rate.
Floridas job market has also rebounded in the past year. The Sunshine States unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in February, down from 9 percent a year earlier.
North Dakota once again held the nations lowest unemployment rate, at 3.3 percent. The state is benefiting from a boom in oil and natural gas production. Nebraska had the second-lowest rate, at 3.8 percent.
Overall, 42 states added jobs in February from January, and just eight lost jobs. The biggest monthly job gains came in Texas (up nearly 81,000) and California (up more than 41,000).
In the 12 months up to February, Texas gained nearly 294,000 jobs, and California 128,000. On a percentage basis, North Dakota reported the fastest job growth over the past year, rising 5 percent.MORE IN National / World BusinessNEW YORK Its not just the musical Hairspray that will air live on NBC tonight. Full StoryOXON HILL, Md. Far from the Las Vegas Strip, MGM Resorts International opens its $1. Full Story
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Hi, I'm new here and looking for any advice you can offer.
My son is 11 months old and is my third nursling. I nursed my two daughters until they were 18 & 22 months, and experienced nursing strikes with them as well, but nothing like this little guy. He is teething, has an ear infection (which has become chronic and he will likely have tubes put in next week), this week I changed the time I was coming to feed him at daycare, on Thursday I cried out because of a hard bite that he gave me, and I'm pretty sure that my menses is returning. He does take bottles, but does not get them on a regular basis since I am able to go feed him when he is at daycare. He has never taken a pacifier ~ I have always been the pacifier.
He wasn't nursing for more than 1 minute at a time on Tuesday or Wednesday, and he has been refusing to go to the breast at all since Thursday, when I cried out with the bite. I am worried because there are SO many things going on with him…when I went through strikes with my daughters it was just teething and they resolved easily in a day or two… This little guy is just inconsolable…he just cries and cries any time we get near nursing.
I have tried nursing him while he is asleep and have tried lots of cuddling and skin-to-skin contact. We used to nurse in bed several times a day, and he now becomes very upset when I take him to the bed or to our "nursing chair". I have tried to give him expressed milk in a cup and he just cried inconsolably. I was able to give him about an ounce this morning with a medicine dropper. I have been giving him water with a cup which he takes easily, but have not been giving him bottles.
He is very likely my last baby and I really am not ready for him to wean. Can you think of other things that I can try? How many more days should I keep offering him my breast before I give up? Should I continue to offer it to him in our usual places, or try new places/positions?
I appreciate any advice you can offer. It's just breaking my heart to think that he's done nursing already!!


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Why have a wedding film? To not only see yourself and your loved ones in action, but also hear their voices, speeches and vows! And there's nothing better than watching the Best Man bust a move on the dance floor in live-action. Brides, grooms and other wedding professionals love the Illinois and Chicago Area wedding videographers listed below. How do we know? We ask them ourselves—and if we don't hear raves, we don't consider them Certified By The Guide. Before you select a videographer, make sure all your questions are answered—in writing!
|Special Offer
|Real Weddings
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Leap Weddings
Leap Weddings is truly "a departure from what you expect" from a traditional wedding video. Cookie-cutter? Not a chance. Cheesy? Never. Ben Mahoney and his team are young, fresh and as one…
Jiu Studio Video Production
Jiu Studio is a group of talented filmmakers and visual artists who love telling meaningful stories through film. They create modern, cinematic wedding films that capture the intricacies, emotions and…


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"C" isn't only for cookie. It's also for crater. The Cookie Monster Crater, that is.
Astronomers at NASA recently spotted a crater on Mercury that looks like everyone's favorite cookie-gobbling monster on "Sesame Street," Space.com reported.
An impact basin on the planet is dotted with two small craters that resemble Cookie Monster's googly eyes.
Researchers from NASA's Messenger mission posted a photo of the crater on their Flickr page a few days ago asking "Anyone Else Think This Looks Like the Cookie Monster?" BuzzFeed reported.
According to GlobalPost, the craters were likely caused by asteroids a very long time ago.
NASA's Messenger probe was launched in 2004, and became the first spacecraft to orbit around Mercury in March 2011, according to Space.com.