MILTON, Ga., Nov. 27, 2013 - Don't forget Milton's holiday season will kick off this Friday, Nov. 29 with the fifth annual City of Milton Tree Lighting ceremony from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the corner of Ga. 9 and Webb Road.
Click here for directions to the tree lighting ceremony, which will be held in front of the Deerfield Place shopping center at Webb Road and Ga. 9.
The tree lighting ceremony will last 30 minutes, from 6:30 to 7 p.m., and include musical performances and Milton's Mayor and City Council counting down to the big moment.
After the tree is lit, good St. Nick will arrive by fire truck to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus."
Following the ceremony, there will be complimentary popcorn from It's My Party Rentals, free hot chocolate from American Family Care, photos by Blencoe and Co. Photographic Arts with Santa Claus and holiday music. It's an evening of fellowship with your neighbors - not to mention a perfect opportunity to get some holiday shopping done at one of the Ga. 9/Deerfield Parkway corridor's many retailers.
And don't forget about the sixth annual Christmas in Crabapple Dec. 7 and the second annual Mayor's Holiday Open House hosted by City Council on Sunday, Dec. 15.
Sixth annual Christmas in Crabapple Saturday, Dec. 7 is sure to have heaps of holiday cheer in Milton as the city, in partnership with the CCA, hosts the sixth annual Christmas in Crabapple from 2 to 5 p.m. in historic downtown Crabapple.
Again, Christmas in Crabapple will be a celebration throughout the Crabapple Crossroads. At Friendship Community Park there will be Christmas, Hanukkah and holiday music favorites, a holiday bounce house, funnel cakes, hot chocolate and holiday train rides.
In historic downtown Crabapple, the CCA is offering photos with Santa Claus at Blencoe and Co. Photographic Arts, a bonfire and the return of the "North Pole Passport" program featuring local businesses.
Click here for directions to the park, located at 12785 Birmingham Highway between Crabapple Crossing Elementary and Northwestern Middle schools. Clickhere for directions to historic downtown Crabapple.
Second annual Mayor's Holiday Open House hosted by City Council In an effort to create the most welcoming, inclusive community in the state, every resident of Milton is again cordially invited to the second annual Mayor's Holiday Open House hosted by City Council Sunday, Dec. 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the home of Mayor Joe Lockwood on Dorris Road.
You read that right: The entire city is welcome to the informal holiday party, which will be held at the Mayor's home. All food and drinks will be donated by City Council and local businesses.
To RSVP, please e-mail rsvp@cityofmiltonga.us and include your name and address to verify you are a Milton resident. You will be sent an invitation to print out.
Incorporated on Dec. 1, 2006, the City of Milton has been recognized for having the highest quality of life in the state of Georgia and ninth-highest in the southern United States by the Business Journals' "On Numbers" survey. It is a distinctive community that embraces small-town life and heritage while preserving and enhancing the city's rural character. The City of Milton will provide opportunity and value in a responsive and responsible environment through active partnerships with the community and its stakeholders. For more information, visit www.cityofmiltonga.us, or call 678-242-2500.
Study says nut eaters have lower cancer, heart disease risk
http://www.foxnews.com
DALLAS – Help yourself to some nuts this holiday season: Regular nut eaters were less likely to die of cancer or heart disease — in fact, were less likely to die of any cause — during a 30-year Harvard study.
Nuts have long been called heart-healthy, and the study is the largest ever done on whether eating them affects mortality.
Researchers tracked 119,000 men and women and found that those who ate nuts roughly every day were 20 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who never ate nuts. Eating nuts less often also appeared to lower the death risk, in direct proportion to consumption.
The risk of dying of heart disease dropped 29 percent and the risk of dying of cancer fell 11 percent among those who had nuts seven or more times a week compared with people who never ate them.
The benefits were seen from peanuts as well as from pistachios, almonds, walnuts and other tree nuts. The researchers did not look at how the nuts were prepared — oiled or salted, raw or roasted.
A bonus: Nut eaters stayed slimmer.
"There's a general perception that if you eat more nuts you're going to get fat. Our results show the opposite," said Dr. Ying Bao of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
She led the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The National Institutes of Health and the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation sponsored the study, but the nut group had no role in designing it or reporting the results.
Researchers don't know why nuts may boost health. It could be that their unsaturated fatty acids, minerals and other nutrients lower cholesterol and inflammation and reduce other problems, as earlier studies seemed to show.
Observational studies like this one can't prove cause and effect, only suggest a connection. Research on diets is especially tough, because it can be difficult to single out the effects of any one food.
People who eat more nuts may eat them on salads, for example, and some of the benefit may come from the leafy greens, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist and former president of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Ralph Sacco, a University of Miami neurologist who also is a former heart association president, agreed.
"Sometimes when you eat nuts you eat less of something else like potato chips," so the benefit may come from avoiding an unhealthy food, Sacco said.
The Harvard group has long been known for solid science on diets. Its findings build on a major study earlier this year — a rigorous experiment that found a Mediterranean-style diet supplemented with nuts cuts the chance of heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them.
Many previous studies tie nut consumption to lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and other maladies.
In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration said a fistful of nuts a day as part of a low-fat diet may reduce the risk of heart disease. The heart association recommends four servings of unsalted, unoiled nuts a week and warns against eating too many, since they are dense in calories.
The new research combines two studies that started in the 1980s on 76,464 female nurses and 42,498 male health professionals. They filled out surveys on food and lifestyle habits every two to four years, including how often they ate a serving (1 ounce) of nuts.
Study participants who often ate nuts were healthier — they weighed less, exercised more and were less likely to smoke, among other things. After taking these and other things into account, researchers still saw a strong benefit from nuts.
Compared with people who never ate nuts, those who had them less than once a week reduced their risk of death 7 percent; once a week, 11 percent; two to four times a week, 13 percent; and seven or more times a week, 20 percent.
"I'm very confident" the observations reflect a true benefit, Bao said. "We did so many analyses, very sophisticated ones," to eliminate other possible explanations.
For example, they did separate analyses on smokers and non-smokers, heavy and light exercisers, and people with and without diabetes, and saw a consistent benefit from nuts.
At a heart association conference in Dallas this week, Penny Kris-Etherton, a Pennsylvania State University nutrition scientist, reviewed previous studies on this topic.
"We're seeing benefits of nut consumption on cardiovascular disease as well as body weight and diabetes," said Kris-Etherton, who has consulted for nut makers and also served on many scientific panels on dietary guidelines.
"We don't know exactly what it is" about nuts that boosts health or which ones are best, she said. "I tell people to eat mixed nuts."
World powers and Iran were set to resume key talks Thursday on a deal to roll back Iran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief, despite strong opposition from Israel and unease in both Congress and among Iranian hard-liners.
A new round of negotiations began Wednesday amid tough talk from Iran's supreme leader, reflecting tensions from nearly a decade of negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program that have begun to make headway only recently.
While voicing support for the talks, Iran's supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted there are limits to the concessions Tehran will make. And he blasted Israel as "the rabid dog of the region" — comments rejected by French President Francois Hollande as "unacceptable."
“The (Israeli) Zionist regime is a regime whose pillars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse,” Khamenei said, according to French news agency AFP. “Any phenomenon that is created by force cannot endure.”
French spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters in Paris that such statements complicate the talks, but France still hopes for a deal and its position has not changed.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden stressed in a meeting Wednesday with a dozen Democratic senators that the goal of talks involving the U.S., other world powers and Iran is to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Some lawmakers want to slap Iran with a new round of sanctions. But the Obama administration has been urging them to hold off, arguing that existing sanctions have been so onerous that they have forced Iran to come to the table seeking relief. The administration says new sanctions could jeopardize the delicate talks.
The White House said Biden emphasized that President Obama has a responsibility to seek a peaceful solution. Biden's meeting follows a personal appeal by Obama at the White House to other lawmakers on Tuesday.
America's longtime allies Israel and Saudi Arabia fear a deal will fall short of ending the Iranian threat and that a resurgent Iran will transform the balance of power in the Middle East.
A senior U.S. official said Wednesday's brief plenary was only a formality and that bilateral meetings would continue through the evening to try to hammer out the first steps of a deal. She demanded anonymity under U.S. government briefing rules.
Khamenei gave no further details in a speech to a paramilitary group aimed at both placating hard-liners and showing his backing for the Iranian officials meeting with international negotiators in Geneva. But his mention of Iran's "nuclear rights" was widely interpreted as a reference to uranium enrichment.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed ahead with criticism of what he asserts is a deal in the making that will give Iran too much for too little in return.
Netanyahu, in Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin, renewed his demand for a full stop to all Iranian nuclear programs that could be turned from peaceful uses to making weapons.
He said that Israel wants to see a negotiated settlement, but added that it must be "genuine and real."
"Israel believes that the international community must unequivocally ensure the fulfillment of the U.N. Security Council's decisions so that uranium enrichment ends, centrifuges are dismantled, enriched material is taken out of Iran and the reactor in Arak is dismantled," Netanyahu said, referring to Iran's plutonium reactor under construction.
Putin had no public reaction to Netanyahu's comments. "We expect that mutually acceptable solutions will be found shortly," he told reporters.
If the talks produce a deal to freeze Iran's nuclear efforts, negotiators will pursue a more comprehensive agreement that would ensure that Tehran's program is solely for civilian purposes. Iran would get some sanctions relief under such a first-step deal, without any easing of the harshest measures — those crippling its ability to sell oil, its main revenue maker.
Iran has suggested it could curb its highest-known level of enrichment — at 20 percent — in a possible deal that could ease the U.S.-led economic sanctions.
But Iranian leaders have made clear that their country will not consider giving up its ability to make nuclear fuel — the centerpiece of the talks since the same process used to make reactor stock can be used to make weapons-grade material.
Details of sanctions relief being discussed have not been revealed. But a member of Congress and legislative aides on Wednesday put the figure at $6 billion to $10 billion, based on what they said were estimates from the U.S. administration.
The aides and the member of Congress demanded anonymity because they weren't authorized to divulge the estimate publicly.
The senior U.S. administration official declined comment beyond saying that envisaged sanctions would give Iran only limited relief and they could be rolled back if Iran reneges on terms of any initial deal.
"We will not allow this agreement, should it be reached ... to buy time or to allow for the acceptance of an agreement that does not properly address our core, fundamental concerns," Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Washington
But Kerry said the issue of whether Iran will ultimately be allowed to enrich uranium would not be decided in an interim deal under consideration by the world powers, Reuters reported.
"We are at the initial stage of determining whether or not there is a first step that could be taken, and that certainly will not be resolved in any first step, I can assure you," Kerry was quoted as saying.
The talks are being convened by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top diplomat. Her spokesman, Michael Man, said there is "room for flexibility" on sanctions relief if Iran's concessions warrant it.
In Washington, Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki expressed optimism, saying the Obama administration believes "we have an opportunity to move forward on a diplomatic path with the Iranians."
Khamenei said he would not "interfere in the details of the talks," in a clear nod of support for the government of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which has opened historic exchanges with the U.S. However, he also said the main goal is "stabilization of the rights of the Iranian nation, including nuclear rights."
But, 'there are red lines," he told the Tehran gathering. "There are limits. These limits must be observed."
Colorado man informed his dog has successfully signed up for ObamaCare
It's a real shaggy dog story. While Americans across the country are struggling to sign up for ObamaCare due to problems with the federal health care website, at least one enrollee has successfully gotten covered through a state-run exchange: a Colorado man’s 14-year-old Yorkie.
Fort Collins resident Shane Smith told KDVR he received a letter last week informing his dog,Baxter, that a health insurance account had been opened for the pup through Connect for Health Colorado.
Smith told the station he had to sign up for coverage through the state exchange because his health insurance plan was cancelled under ObamaCare. He isn’t sure how Baxter wound up getting enrolled instead, but he said he did give Baxter’s name as a security question as part of the registration process.
“It was pretty funny. Typical ObamaCare, that they would insure your dog by mistake,” Smith told KDVR.
Smith said when he called Connect for Health Colorado they fixed the problem, but he is still wary of ObamaCare due to all the issues.
“There’s been a lot of headaches that’s come from all of this,” Smith told KDVR. “All the phone calls. All the nonsense. They ended up giving me good coverage I think, but who knows if they’re going to take it away,” Smith said.
“As long as Baxter’s covered, that’s all the counts,” he joked.
Colorado runs its own health insurance exchange that is separate from the problem-plagued website Healthcare.gov, which is run by the Department of Health and Human Services. A Connect for Health Colorado spokesman told KDVR its system would never make up a name when generating a letter, but it works quickly to resolve the situation when mistakes are made.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Jason Wright jason.wright@cityofmiltonga.us 678-242-2523 (office) 404-861-9271 (cell) Note: In an effort to provide the most up-to-date information for Milton citizens, the Communications Department now sends monthly zoning notices highlighting upcoming cases.
The planning meetings listed in this report take place at Milton City Hall, 13000 Deerfield Parkway Suite 107 Milton, GA 30004 (click here for directions).
For a full list of all city sponsored meetings, click here to see the calendar. To stream archived meetings, click here (for mobile devices, use the MP4 link).
For more information on any of these cases, please contact Robyn MacDonald, principal planner for the City of Milton, at 678-242-2540 or robyn.macdonald@cityofmiltonga.us.
Persons needing special accommodations in order to participate in any city meeting should call 678-242-2500. November zoning notice Petition Number: U13-03 Location: 13440 Cogburn Road Applicant: St. Francis Day School, Inc. Request: A Use Permit to increase the area of the school and the total square footage from 92,616 square feet to 109,116 square feet that includes a practice gym and two maintenance buildings. Public Hearings: Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. Item was deferred at the October meeting
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________
Petition Number: U13-04/VC13-04 Location: 13895 Hopewell Road Applicant: Jeff Runner Request: A Use Permit to use the existing house and approximately five acres for a special event facility (Sec 64-1812). A three part concurrent variance for the following: 1) To delete the 8 foot high opaque fence along the south property line. (Sec 64-1812 (b)(2)) 2) To delete the 75 foot undisturbed buffer and 10 foot improvement setback along all property lines (Sec 64-1141 (3)(b)). 3) To delete the three year period requirement (Sec 64-1812 (b) (6)). Public Hearings: Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. Item was deferred at the October meeting
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________ Petition Number: RZ13-16/VC13-06 Location: Northeast Corner of Bethany Bend and Cogburn Road Applicant: Arrowhead Real Estate Partners, LLC Request: To rezone from AG-1 (Agricultural) to NUP (Neighborhood Unit Plan) to develop a total of 28 single family residences on 9.09 acres. The applicant is also requesting a concurrent variance to reduce the interior building separation from 14 feet to 10 feet for the entire development (Sec 64-921(k)). Public Hearings: Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________
Petition Number: RZ13-17 Location: 13980 Freemanville Road Applicant: Fuqua and Associates Request: To rezone from AG-1 (Agricultural) to CUP (Community Unit Plan) to develop 9 single family residences on 16.98 acres. Public Hearings: Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________ Petition Number: RZ13-18 Location: 14738 Birmingham Highway Applicant: Piedmont Atlantic Capital Request: To rezone from AG-1 (Agricultural) to CUP (Community Unit Plan) to develop 17 single family residences. Public Hearings: Community Zoning Information Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
Design Review Board Meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________
Petition Number: RZ13-19 Location: 13941 and 13943 Ga. 9 North Applicant: Ashton Atlanta Residential, LLC Request: To rezone from O-I (Office-Institutional) to TR (Townhouse Residential) to develop 24 single family residences. Public Hearings: Community Zoning Information Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
Design Review Board Meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________
Petition Number: RZ13-20 Location: 16340 Birmingham Highway with additional frontage on New Bull Pen Road containing a total of approximately 65.71 acres Applicant: Christopher Perry Request: To rezone from AG-1 to CUP (Community Unit Plan) to develop 54 single family residences. Public Hearings: Community Zoning Information Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
Design Review Board Meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. ______________________________________________________________
Petition Number: RZ13-21 Location: 975 Birmingham Road and 15755 Birmingham Highway containing a total of 22.3 acres Applicant: Acadia Homes and Neighborhoods LLC Request: To rezone from MIX(Mixed Use) and AG-1 (Agricultural) to CUP (Community Unit Plan) to develop 55 single family residences. Public Hearings: Community Zoning Information Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.
Design Review Board Meeting Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.
Planning Commission Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Mayor and City Council Meeting Monday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.
The location for the Atlanta Braves' new stadium would be just outside the perimeter where I-75 (right) crosses I-285 (below) in Cobb County. The stadium's footprint is marked in blue. The red overlays denotes the property lines for the stadium site dedicated to parking and other structures.
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