Kudzu.com, a website that helps homeowners choose the best service providers for their home and family, announces a multi-media partnership with HGTV.com to provide detailed, hyper-local listings of home service professionals by neighborhood, homeowner ratings and reviews of their experiences with specific companies and timely specials from local contractors.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/cox/45350/
The new Hotels at Per Diem website links U.S. government travelers with hotels offering rates at or below the U.S federal per diem allowance for their location. Its simplified interface is now easier to navigate and allows government and military staff to quickly locate and book hotels based on their requirements. Government travelers can search among top hotels by location or keyword and filter results by amenities, star ratings or other criteria. Hotel photos, descriptions and FEMA numbers assist visitors who are planning their accommodations.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/53257-ubm-aviation-announces-new-hotels-at-per-diem-website
Honda unveiled the dynamic Accord Coupe Concept today at the North American International Auto Show, providing the first official glimpse of the athletic styling direction, as well as revealing a host of new technologies for the all-new, ninth-generation 2013 model, set to go on-sale this fall.
The 2013 Accord will feature three all-new powertrains, including the first U.S. application of both a 2.4-liter direct-injected engine and two-motor plug-in hybrid system from Honda’s suite of next-generation Earth Dreams™ powertrain technologies. In addition, the V-6 Accord will be the first Honda sedan to feature a new 6-speed automatic transmission. Both the Accord Sedan and the Accord Coupe models are expected to achieve class-leading fuel economy ratings and will be available with a number of innovative new safety and technological features.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/honda/45742/
Boosters are better than they used to be at fitting lap and shoulder belts on 4 to 8-year-old kids to restrain them in a crash - so parents don\'t have to search as hard for a good fit for their child and vehicle. Most belt-positioning boosters, though, don\'t offer consistently good fit in all vehicles. This is the bottom line in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety\'s third round of booster evaluations.
Researchers assessed the safety belt fit of 72 boosters, assigning the best ones the top ratings of BEST BET or GOOD BET because they correctly position belts on average booster-age kids in most vehicles. The worst performers are ones the Institute doesn\'t recommend because they do a poor job of fitting belts. A good booster routes the lap belt across a child\'s upper thighs and positions the shoulder belt at midshoulder.
Germany is witnessing a constant rise in the number of private schools – there are roughly 3000 at present. The reason: Many parents have lost faith in state-run education, not least after the damning verdict and the abysmal ratings of the so-called 2006 PISA report. They prefer to send their children to privately funded schools. The percentage of private students has reached eight percent nationwide and has doubled since the mid-1990s, regardless of monthly tuition fees of an average 150 Euros per child. Private schools may follow a variety of different educational approaches. Nevertheless they are united in their ultimate objective of providing a better and individually-tailored education to their pupils. Hamburg’s Bugenhagen College is one of the schools that are going down this route. It is particularly worth mentioning that the college does not differentiate between non-handicapped and disabled youngsters.
The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf earn the highest safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the first-ever U.S. crash test evaluations of plug-in electric cars. The milestone demonstrates that automakers are using the same safety engineering in new electric cars as they do in gasoline-powered vehicles.
The Volt and Leaf earn the top rating of good for front, side, rear, and rollover crash protection. With standard electronic stability control, they qualify as winners of TOP SAFETY PICK, the Institute’s award for state-of-the-art crash protection. The ratings help consumers pick vehicles that offer a higher level of protection than federal safety standards require.
The aluminum-body 2015 Ford F-150 crew cab swept the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s full slate of crashworthiness evaluations to qualify for a 2015 TOP SAFETY PICK award. The F-150 extended cab turned in a good performance in 4 of 5 assessments but stumbled in the small overlap front test. The results are the first ratings for large pickups in a group the Institute is evaluating this year.
The F-150 crew cab, which Ford calls the SuperCrew, earns good ratings for occupant protection in all five IIHS crashworthiness evaluations — small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations. The extended cab, or SuperCab, earns good ratings in the moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations but just a marginal rating for occupant protection in a small overlap front crash.
Sixty-six vehicles earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s TOP SAFETY PICK award for 2011, including 40 cars, 25 SUVs, and a minivan. TOP SAFETY PICK recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover, and rear crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also must have available electronic stability control, a crash avoidance feature that significantly reduces crash risk. The ratings help consumers pick vehicles that offer a higher level of protection than federal safety standards require.
Six of 13 small cars recently evaluated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety earn the TOP SAFETY PICK award, and none earn a poor rating in any of 4 tests. This is a turnaround from a few years ago when small cars struggled to earn top safety ratings. The new tests include hybrids and gasoline-only models that are among the most fuel-efficient vehicles available in the U.S. market.
The ratings are based on performance in front, side, rollover, and rear impact evaluations. Cars that earn the top rating of good in each test and have available electronic stability control (ESC) qualify for TOP SAFETY PICK. Winners are the 2012 Ford Focus and Honda Civic, along with the 2011 Hyundai Elantra, Lexus CT 200h hybrid, Nissan Juke, and Toyota Prius hybrid. The Civic, CT 200h, Elantra, Focus, and Prius have at least one version with a government fuel economy rating of at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway. The Dodge Caliber, Honda CR-Z and Insight hybrids, Nissan Sentra and Versa, Scion xD, and Suzuki SX4 also were rated but didn’t earn TOP SAFETY PICK.
A good fit is easier than ever to find when shopping for a booster seat, new ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show.
A record 31 seats have been designated BEST BETS, meaning they correctly position a vehicle safety belt on a typical 4 to 8 year-old in almost any car, minivan, or SUV. Prices for these top-rated seats range from less than $15 to several hundred dollars.
Beginning this Earth Day (April 22), Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) will no longer carry red-rated, wild-caught fish in its seafood departments. The move, which comes one year ahead of the company’s self-imposed deadline of Earth Day 2013, makes Whole Foods Market the first national grocer to stop selling red-rated seafood.
A red rating indicates that a species is suffering from overfishing or that current fishing methods harm other marine life or habitats; the ratings are determined by nonprofit research organizations Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium’s green or “Best Choice” ratings mean species are abundant and are caught in environmentally friendly ways; yellow or “Good Alternative” ratings indicate some concerns with the species’ status or catch methods.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/49713-sustainable-seafood-whole-foods-eliminates-red-rated-wild-caught-fish
The list of winners of the Institute's TOP SAFETY PICK award is longer than ever this year, with vehicles in nearly every size category the Institute evaluates earning accolades. From minicars to sedans to pickups, consumers have a record number of choices among 2012 models.
In all, 69 cars, 38 SUVs, 5 minivans, and 3 pickups earn TOP SAFETY PICK. The award recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover, and rear crashes based on ratings in Institute evaluations. The ratings, which cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes, help shoppers pick vehicles that offer the highest levels of crash protection. Because the federal government now requires all 2012 and later passenger vehicles to have electronic stability control to help drivers avoid loss-of-control crashes, ESC no longer is a requirement to win as it was in prior years.
The winners’ circle includes 18 new recipients for 2012, while 97 models that previously qualified for the 2011 award carry over to 2012.
