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BY MIKE SULLIVAN

NORTH AURORA -- One of life's most frustrating -- and expensive -- propositions is getting your car to the shop for regular maintenance. Or worse -- getting your car repaired.

But a new company says beleaguered motorists no longer need rely on the phone book or an Internet search to determine which shop will give them the best price and most responsive service.

Ianauto.com (International Automotive Network+auto) has arrangements with professional mechanics who provide online estimates for needed repairs in just a few minutes, says Drew Turnbaugh, president.

He says he dreamed up the concept a few years ago. Last year, with the help of a silent partner, Turnbaugh got financial backing from business developers and rolled out Ian Auto.

Turnbaugh left his previous job, staffing and training of people for the mortgage industry, in order to devote more time to his company, based in North Aurora.

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Off The Menu: Make Time for Thyme

Marie Graham grew up in her grandmothers restaurant kitchen in San Leandro, and now shes playing in her own kitchen restaurant, appropriately titled, Thyme to Eat.

The name might as well be time to play since thats what this 48-year-old has been doing ever since she opened her cafe doors a little over a year ago.

I love to cook, its in my blood. And I love to talk, so everyone at the restaurant has a hard time shutting me up! says Graham, of Danville, who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary at the very place her life-altering career decision took place, Sakuras in San Ramon.

We celebrated with sushi and sake, she says.

Before pots and pans took over, Graham worked as an insurance agent for State Farm, while helping her husband, Michael, run his auto repair business.

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Your car insurance rate can go down, if you shop

The typical American driver will pay less for auto insurance this year than in 2006, according to the Insurance Information Institute. This is the first decrease in insurance premiums since 1999.

But the average annual cost for car insurance is still a hefty $847 (it was $851 in 2006).

There are ways to bring down your costs:

• Shop around for insurance quotes. Get estimates from at least three places.

• Consider insurance costs when buying a car. Some cars just cost more to insure.

• See if buying your homeowners and auto insurance from the same company is cheaper.

• Raise your deductible. But be sure you can afford to pay it if you have an accident.

• Ask for discounts.

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State Farm gives out dividends

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. announced Thursday that slightly more than 1 million policyholders in Missouri will receive a share of $21.8 million in dividends. State Farm will distribute $1.25 billion nationwide.

Each policyholder in Missouri will receive 7.3 percent of their semi-annual premium, an average of $22 per vehicle insured, a State Farm press release said.

Tia Lindell, a State Farm spokeswoman, said the dividend was a result of fewer losses than the company anticipated when it estimated premiums last year as well as a higher return on its investments.

The last time State Farm paid out dividends was in 2000.

Lindell said because it is a mutual fund company, the dividends pay directly to policyholders.

Our policyholders are like our stockholders, she said.

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Pentagon transcripts: Suspected Nine-Eleven mastermind confesses during hearing

WASHINGTON The man believed to be the mastermind of Nine-Eleven is said to have confessed to the attack and others.

That's according to court documents from a military hearing held for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (HAH'-leed shayk moh-HAH'-med) at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

According to transcripts released by the Pentagon, Mohammed claimed responsibility for planning, financing, and training others for a list of attacks. They ranged from the 1993 attack at the World Trade Center to the attempt by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

In all, Mohammed said he was responsible for planning 29 individual attacks, including many that were never executed.

Some information on the transcripts was blacked out.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

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Bus life: The other side of college sports

It is 11 hours of red dirt, flat land and two-lane highways from Texas A&M-Kingsville to Eastern New Mexico, and the best way to do it is by night. This is where they separate the shoe deals from the Hardee's meals, on a crowded bus with 40 college athletes, a driver named Pete and snoring giants.

This is life on the road in small-college athletics.

"You learn a little more about the guy sitting across from you or next to you," said D.R. Coleman, a fullback at Kingsville. "It makes you appreciate them more."

The bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team that crashed early Friday morning in Atlanta could have come from almost any school, any sport, anywhere -- Kingsville, Texas, or Hanover, Ind., or Bellevue, Neb. A bus is the mode of transportation for the majority of money-strapped small-college programs that don't fall under the letters BCS.

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Women take the wheel in car buying

When Jennifer Schwanberg graduated with a doctorate in clinical psychology last year, she felt a reward was in line.

"I just decided as a graduation present to myself I would get a new car," she said.

She knew what she wanted: safety, high gas mileage, a five-speed transmission and a sunroof. The 54-year-old St. Cloud woman found it last month in a 2007 periwinkle Forester

With increasing numbers of women staying single longer, working outside the home and earning higher wages, more women are taking control of the car-buying experience.

"I see more women involved because there is a lot of independence and shared decision-making with relationships," said Patty Yarbrough, owner of McKay's Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge in St. Cloud. "It's been going on for years."

National statistics now show women buy 50 percent of new cars and 48 percent of used cars.

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Clijsters plays Key Biscayne for the final time

KEY BISCAYNE – One more Key Biscayne before she retires later this year. One more trademark split as she races to her forehand corner to retrieve a ball.

And, of course, before Kim Clijsters departs this place for the last time, one more hug for the woman handing out towels in the locker room, for the security guards she has befriended over the years, for the drivers who get players back and forth to their hotels and for a great number of other people at the Sony Ericsson Open, who are annually amazed that one of the world's finest tennis players could care this much about ordinary people.

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Haryana reduces CST on cars

Chandigarh, March 31: The Haryana government Friday reduced central sales tax (CST) on Maruti cars and vehicles from three per cent to two per cent with effect from April 1, 2007 on the basis of the representations made by Maruti Udyog Limited.

A decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet in its meeting held here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, an official spokesman said.

It was decided to reduce rate of CST on inter state sale of cars, vans including gypsy jeeps manufactured by Maruti Udyog Limited to any registered dealer on production of prescribed declaration in form "C" from three per cent to two per cent with effect from April 1, 2007, the spokesman said.

Bureau Report

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Wyoming wins attendance battle

BROOKINGS - The decision makes dollars and sense, yet South Dakota State University associate athletic director Rob Peterson couldn't help but wonder if he made a misstep in the bidding process.

After selling out Frost Arena for their first two WNIT games, breaking the program attendance record twice in six days and bringing organizer Triple Crown Sports the second and third largest turnouts of the tournament, how could the Jackrabbits be sent on the road for Sunday's quarterfinal?

"I asked them if there was anything that we did that would have prevented it and they said obviously not, they loved the atmosphere, they watched the game online last night and said it was incredible," Peterson said of Triple Crown, which receives both the bid and a portion of any profits from WNIT games.

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Turn Lukewarm Leads into Loyal Customers

Zag Inc.'s CEO shows dealers how to use patience, consistency and some common sense to turn up the heat on those lukewarm online leads.

Sure, you'd rather be able to feed your sales team hot leads of ready-to-buy consumers; people who want appointments for that very afternoon. That's an understandable, even good, strategy. But what about online window shoppers? How do you make the most of "lukewarm" online leads to seed future sales?

The immediacy of the internet means it's easier than ever to find people close to a purchase, since consumers often have similar goals: find what they want and buy right away. Or, in the case of shopping for cars, get as close to the actual transaction as possible while online.

Of course, there are some buyers who know what they want and if you don't have it, they won't be back.

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Chess news

Last November the British parliament passed the Charities bill, which among other things, changed the definition of sport to include physical games such as chess. This mean that chess can now receive government funding and chess clubs and organisations can apply for charity status. Hopefully the same bill will be passed in Ireland. Junior chess The Chess School Polimac is in the final phase of its preparations for the All-Ireland junior championship which will take place in Limerick in April. Around 30 young players aged from 8 to 16 will represent Kilkenny and the Chess School Polimac Kilkenny. This year the teams are very strong in all the age groups and chess coach Darko Polimac is expecting two All-Ireland titles this year for Kilkenny. In the under 12s Robert White and John Courtney will be the favourites.

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5 More Undiscovered Growth Stocks

Game-changing events can happen like that, just as game-changing growth stocks can produce gushing returns for a portfolio. Just ask David Gardner, who captains the good pirate ship Rule Breakers. By discovering and then investing in little-known and frequently misunderstood fast movers, he produced nine years of 20% average annual returns. History told him that these were the best value stocks available.

That's why David and his team still seek to get in early on stocks that are reshaping, or creating, important industries. You can, too, with the help of our completely free-of-charge Motley Fool CAPS investor-intelligence database, which currently contains information on more than 4,400 stocks.

CAPS applies user input to rate stocks from one to five stars. So, using CAPS, we're once again going to search for stocks that haven't yet met the threshold for a star rating, that have a minimum $250 million market cap, and that are expected to grow their earnings by at least 15% annually over each of the next five years.

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Cheboygan Catholic made run at State title in 1967

Sports dominated local news on the front page of the Cheboygan Daily Tribune 40 years ago today. Basketball was making top headlines on March 15, 1967.The Cheboygan Catholic Eagles were to journey to Charlevoix to face Ewen in the first step of the state post-season play. The Detroit Free Press predicted the Eagles would defeat Ewen, while The Associated Press forecast a win for Ewen. The game would have a huge Cheboygan contingent, as 1,000 tickets had already been sold in advance through a sale at the Callan Shoe Store. Ewen would prove victorious, defeating Cheboygan Catholic in a 76-54 win. Chris Lindsay led the Eagles in scoring with 19 points, hitting six of 13, most of them from the outside. John Baiers picked up 12 points for the Eagles.Several regional names were on the Northern Lakes League All-Conference team.

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Tension over ECB rate rises

The ECB's forecasts for growth and inflation are based on the premise that the bank's base lending-rate will rise by half a percentage point to 4 per cent during the course of the year. It last rose, to 3.5 per cent, in December.

Most economists expect a quarter-point rise on Thursday and many predict the ECB's governing council will decide a similar increase in May, June or July. A few observers even see rates hitting 4.25 per cent in the latter half of the year.

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Huge Profits Spawn Critics

NEW YORK -- The headline numbers were eye-popping: Allstate reported a record $5 billion profit for 2006. State Farm Insurance's profit climbed 65 percent for the year. St. Paul Travelers' earnings rose sixfold in the fourth quarter; American International Group's rose eightfold.

A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, profits at the nation's major property-casualty insurance companies soared - and are expected to be strong again in 2007, according to estimates by the A.M. Best Co. rating agency.

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USA : Nordstrom to open at The Domain in Austin

Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc announced it has signed a letter of intent with Endeavor Real Estate Group to open a Nordstrom store at The Domain, a mixed use community being developed in Austin, Texas.

The new two-level, 149,000 square foot Nordstrom store is scheduled to be completed by or before fall 2011. Phase I of The Domain, which opened on March 9, 2007, features 700,000 square feet of luxury, couture, contemporary fashion and restaurant space, 85,000 square feet of office space, and 393 multifamily units.

The Nordstrom at The Domain will be the retailer's eighth store in Texas and second store in Austin. The Nordstrom at Barton Creek Square opened in August 2003. Nordstrom also operates two Nordstrom Racks in Texas.

"We're excited to open another store in Austin, having served customers at Barton Creek Square since 2003.

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Gilead Board of Directors Approves Two-for-One Stock Split

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:GILD) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a two-for-one stock split of the company's outstanding common stock to be effected through a stock dividend. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 24, 2007 will receive a stock dividend of one additional share of common stock for every share of common stock they own. Based on the total number of shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2007, the stock split will increase the total number of shares of common stock outstanding from approximately 465,544,000 to 931,088,000, out of the 1,400,000,000 shares of common stock currently authorized.

Because Gilead will establish a Direct Registration System for its stockholders prior to the dividend distribution date, the company's transfer agent, Mellon Investor Services L.L.C., has been instructed to mail a Direct Registration Transaction Advice for the additional shares to stockholders that have physical possession of their stock certificates on June 22, 2007.

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Ossama El-Deeb

Ossama El-Deeb is 54 years old. His failing body and lined skin are the result not of a very long life, but of voluntarily living on the streets of Downtown Cairo for seven long years. He sits in his home, a roofless but orderly heap of discarded material, on Ismail Abaza street. At the corners, like fence posts, are oil drums on which he has attached large posters, flags and signs, all written beautifully in his own hand.

The streets are muddy from last night's rain and El-Deeb's cardboard signs and bedding are all damp. "I bear all the cold weather and the heavy rain," he says, resigned to it. "Yesterday, I took it all on my head, and see — all my things are wet."

El-Deeb is camped out here because he believes that if he can attract the attention of the powers-that-be to his condition, they might cover him the cost of his medical treatment.

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Bureau pushes white squirrels in statewide promotional campaign

The white squirrels lost their bid to become one of the state's Seven Wonders, but Olney has been chosen as one of 12 towns to be showcased in a statewide promotional campaign by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism.According to the letter received by City Hall in December, IBOT's Spring/Summer 2007 Illustrated Poster Campaign features “vintage-inspired" designs that serve to “highlight kitschy and off-the-beaten-path attractions throughout the state," said City Clerk Belinda Henton.The letter also stated these attractions have “benefited from increased traffic due to advertising."

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