Top Interior official heads to firm working for BP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The former chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has taken a job with one of the law firms representing BP in legal proceedings stemming from the massive Gulf oil spill last year.

Tom Strickland joined the Interior Department as Salazar's chief of staff and an assistant secretary in 2009. He worked there at time when the department ushered in reforms and new ethical rules to reduce conflicts of interest between offshore oil drilling's regulator and drilling companies after a series of scandals at offices in Colorado and along the Gulf Coast.

Federal law and an executive order from President Barack Obama bar Strickland temporarily from dealing with …

Dalglish in Preston link

Scotland legend Kenny Dalglish has been linked with the vacantmanagerial job at Preston North …

UK's CashBox Reports ATM Growth.(News Briefs)

Cashbox PLC, a United Kingdom-based nonbank ATM owner and operator, said Friday it had an installed base of 2,838 machines as of Dec. 31, up 38.8% from 2,045 machines six months earlier. Cashbox, which disclosed the numbers at its annual general meeting, says it increased its ATM fleet by buying competitors. "The integration of these machines onto …

MEMORIES, MUSIC FLOW FOR IAN AT VAN DYCK.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MICHAEL ECK Special to the Times Union

As far as the history books are concerned, Janis Ian will forever remain ``Society's Child,'' a lonely girl locked in her lonely room ``At Seventeen.''

Ian herself doesn't live in the history books, and while she still duly rolls out her two biggest hits, she sticks to her new stuff onstage, which is exactly what she did Saturday night at the Van Dyck.

Ian entered the Van Dyck space already playing the riff from the title song to her latest album, ``God and the FBI.'' She then continued to focus on the record for much of her 85-minute set.

She sounded more like a full band than a solo act on …

Staffing Firm's San Bernardino, Calif.-Area Offices Open as Fraud Charges Pend.

Byline: Bob Dixon

Jan. 12--None of the remaining Inland Empire offices of Checkmate Staffing will close as a result of the company's Dec. 30 bankruptcy filing, according to Marc Winthrop, the company's bankruptcy attorney. Winthrop is a partner in Winthrop Couchot LLP, a Newport Beach law firm that specializes in bankruptcy cases.

As part of an earlier restructuring effort, one of the temporary labor firm's two Corona offices closed. The San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga offices remain open, Winthrop said.

Orange-based Checkmate Staffing sought protection under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy protection laws scant weeks after company officials …

Astronauts Prepare for First Spacewalk

HOUSTON - Astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery and the international space station geared up Friday for the first spacewalk of their joint mission and the robotic installation of a new live-in compartment, called Harmony.

Spacewalkers Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock donned their spacesuits and were preparing to help astronauts inside the station use a robotic arm to transfer Harmony from Discovery's payload bay to its position on the orbiting lab.

The Italian-made module is about the size of a school bus, weighing nearly 16 tons. It will serve as the docking port for European and Japanese laboratories that will be delivered on the next three shuttle flights.

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Research Data from Charles University Update Understanding of Biomedical Engineering.

According to the authors of recent research from Prague, Czech Republic, "Several groups found different impact of erythropoietin (EPO) on liver regeneration. Both proproliferative as well as anti-proliferative and non-proliferative activities have been reported using high dosage of EPO."

"Systemic administration of high doses of this cytokine is a clinical concern due to risk of thrombosis. Herein, we applied EPO in low dosages and investigated whether it can stimulate liver regeneration after liver resection. Main methods: Parameters of liver regeneration were assessed 3 days after 70% hepatectomy by means of immunochemistry and proteomics. EPO was given twice in low dosages …