NASA already has $3.5 billion in cargo contracts with two rocket makers ? SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation ? and has added $270 million in seed money to four companies to develop technologies to transport crews. This summer, NASA expects to provide additional money to help private space companies develop full-scale systems. Here are the key players:

- Pete Spotts,?Staff writer

1. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, a co-founder of the online payment service, PayPal. Mr. Musk’s team has developed rockets aimed at driving down the cost of launching payloads and people into space.

In 2008, after three failures, the company’s two-stage Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately financed rocket to reach orbit. It lofted its first satellite in 2009.

The company’s next model, the Falcon 9, is designed to be the workhorse for space-station resupply missions and for launching commercial satellites. As a resupply ship, it’s topped by a capsule (called Dragon) designed to carry cargo and ? in the future ? space-station crew members. So far, NASA has spent $75 million on the company’s efforts to develop the human-transportation portion of its efforts.

Falcon 9 aced its first test launch in June 2010, topped with a dummy capsule. A second launch six months later put the company into the record books as the first privately financed rocket maker to orbit and recovery a capsule.?

As early as the end of this year, SpaceX plans to test its next rocket, the Falcon Heavy, in a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It’s designed to loft up to 53 metric tons of cargo to low-Earth orbit, more than twice the capacity of the space shuttle. It would be the most powerful rocket in the US stable since NASA’s Saturn V first launched astronauts to the moon’s surface in 1969.?

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In a speech in the northwestern city of Manchester, Cameron urged core countries in the 17-member eurozone, of which Britain is not a member, and the European Central Bank to support demand and cut deficits.

Cameron admitted that his message would be unpopular in Europe where he angered many leaders by delaying a fiscal treaty last year, but said his priority was to protect Britain.

“The eurozone is at a crossroads,” Cameron said in the speech to business leaders.

“It either has to make up or it is looking at a potential break-up,” he said.

“Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone — or we are in uncharted territory which carries huge risks for everybody.”

Cameron was holding a videoconference at 1515 GMT with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, new French President Francois Hollande, Italian premier Mario Monti, EU president Herman Van Rompuy and and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso.

The meeting was called to discuss the upcoming G8 meeting of industrialised nations in the United States at the weekend, but Cameron’s Downing Street office said the eurozone was likely to come up.

Fears of a Greek exit from the eurozone have spiked after voters on May 6 supported anti-austerity parties that want to tear up an EU-International Monetary Fund bailout agreement and reverse harsh austerity measures.

Cameron’s finance minister George Osborne, who earlier this week warned against speculating on the future of the euro, told lawmakers Thursday that now the “genie was out of the bottle”.

“When eurozone central bank governors and finance ministers openly speculate on the possibility of a Greek exit, then the genie is out of the bottle. That, and the Greek elections, make this a perilous time,” he said.

Osborne added that Britain is “making the necessary contingency plans — we will take the steps needed to secure our economic stability and protect our financial system.”

Cameron said he was open to new ideas for ensuring European stability.

“I welcome the opportunity to explore new options for such monetary activism at a European level, for example through President Hollande’s ideas for project bonds,” he said.

But he urged the eurozone to become more competitive, support demand through loose monetary policy and cut its deficits.

“I realise that countries inside the eurozone may not relish advice from countries outside the eurozone — especially from countries, such as Britain, that have debts and difficulties of their own. But this affects us too,” he said.

Cameron, whose Conservative party is largely sceptical on Britain’s European Union membership, infuriated many European leaders in November last year when he vetoed a new EU fiscal treaty.

The rest of the bloc eventually went ahead without Britain.

The British premier meanwhile restated his coalition government’s commitment to austerity.

“Those who argue we should spend more want us to borrow more, driving up our deficit and our debt and putting our hard-won credibility and low interest rates at risk,” he said.

But in a sign of concern about growth, he said he had asked the finance ministry to “examine what more we can do to boost credit for business, to help housing and infrastructure.”

The Bank of England on Wednesday warned that the eurozone debt crisis was the biggest threat to Britain’s economic recovery, even if a credible solution is found.

BoE governor Mervyn King said the eurozone was “tearing itself apart without any obvious solution”.

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The largest home based business opportunity ?s sales. You can run a home based business selling candles. You ??n run a home based business selling make-up. You can run ? home based business selling ?n?th?ng und?r th? sun.

A hybrid home based business i? b??oming more popular for sales professionals wh? work for ? specific company. Certain companies ?llow their sales force to work fr?m the comfort ?f the?r ?wn home.

Some people make a home based business by selling products ?n th? internet. Ebay ?s ? large marketplace th?t th? home based entrepreneur ha? flourish with. Other sales opportunities ?n th? internet include running y?ur own website to sell ??ur own crafts or artisan products.

Another home based business that offers ? plethora of opportunities ?s the service industry. Offering services to companies ?r individuals is ? great way t? run ? home based business. Some common examples ?f services th?t people have made int? ? home based business are medical billing services, accounting services and marketing services. Any skill that an?th?r person m?? n?t h?v? can b? offered a? ? service including computer technical h?l? or tutoring help.

There ?r? m?n? unique service-oriented home based businesses lik? offering ? pet clean u? service ?r offering ? daily faxes to local business for s?me ?f the area restaurants.

The key to offering ? service ?? to b? abl? to offer ?t f?r les? th?n th? company ?r person i? paying at th? moment ?nd offering ? service th?t i? valu? added. The unique service of offering ? pet clean up service m?y n?t hav? a monetary valu? initially to th? person, but it do?? h?v? ? time ??so?iat?d with ?t as well a? th? unwanted task factor.

If ??u are good ?t budgeting and finding ways to save a penny ??u ??n create ? home based business offering your services t? people or business you h?ve ? hard time finding tho?e areas th?t th?y ??n save. Your service should be abl? to save ? person or business more money th?n y?u charge them.

Working ?n ? ?articular industry f?r a long time will give you ?n opportunity t? start ? home based business f?r th? industry ??u are. Or y?u can start ? home based business to offer services to customers that have problem dealing with th?? type ?f company. For example, dealing w?th an insurance agency can b? ? nightmare. If ??u h?v? the expertise ??u c?n g?t paid f?r giving advice on h?w t? deal with certa?n situations.

You c?n make a home based business b? taking y?ur passion ?n life ?nd finding ways to make oth?r people with the sam? passion ways to pursue th?ir passion.

One ?f the be?t home based business adventures includes pursuing ? hobby that i? interesting to you. If you l?k? dogs, golf, ?r ??u name it you ??n make ? great home based business. All ?t takes ?s finding out what people w?nt with the hobby you ar? interested ?nd determining how to fulfill th?ir want. If y?u l?ke to t?k? photos make ? home based business taking ?nd selling pictures. You ?an b?c?me ? photographer for weddings, birthdays ?r an? oth?r special occasion. You ?an also set u? a home based business playing with animals b? offering a pet sitting business.

There are many home based businesses out th?r? with people working online. Learning t? design web sites ?nd program ??n give y?u an advantage. However, y?u can al?o make a home based business b? d?ing tasks programmers and designers don’t h?ve time t? do l?k? writing articles ?r performing data entry.

There are man? companies that are beginning t? lo?k at persons wh? w?nt t? have ? home based business ?nd telecommute. These jobs ?r? n?t ?lw?ys readily av??lable on m??t employment websites, but when ?ou ?re surfing the web t?ke a lo?k ?t th? employment offers web hosting or oth?r computer based companies hav? available. Many of th?se companies hav? customer service positions they contract ?ut t? tho?? wanting ? home based business.

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The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators declined 0.1 percent in April from March.

The index now stands at 95.5. That’s down slightly from a March reading of 95.6, which had been the highest level since mid-2008. Before the recession began in December 2007, the index routinely topped 100.

“The indicators reflect an economy that’s still struggling to gain momentum. Growth is slow, but choppy, consumers, executives and investors are looking for more progress,” said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein.

The weakness in April came mostly from a drop in applications for building permits for homes and an increase in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits. Other components of the leading index showed strength.

Applications for benefits surged in April to a five-month high of 392,000. They have fallen back since then. Last week, unemployment aid applications stayed at a seasonally adjusted 370,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell from roughly 380,000 to 375,000.

When applications drop below 375,000 a week, it generally suggests hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said that the small dip in the leading index was not a signal that the recovery was in danger.

Builders requested fewer permits in April, the Commerce Department said earlier this week. But the drop was entirely because of a decline in permits for apartments, which shift sharply from month to month. Requests for permits to build single-family homes increased.

Economists tend to pay more attention to single-family home construction because it makes up 70 percent of the market and is less volatile than apartment construction. Single-family home construction is now 39 percent higher than its recession low.

The index, which tracks 10 components, is designed to anticipate economic conditions three to six months out. Most of the data have been previously released in separate reports.

In addition to weakness from unemployment claims and building permits, the other components that acted as a drag on the index were stock prices and consumer expectations. The average workweek, the consumer goods orders and the new orders index were among the components showing strength.

Associated Press

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Wal-Mart‘s shares jumped and briefly recovered all of the 8.2 percent plunge suffered after an April 21 New York Times report uncovered an alleged past bribery scheme in Mexico that the newspaper said Wal-Mart executives knew about.

The first-quarter results, including a 10.1 percent jump in profit, showed that Wal-Mart‘s U.S. recovery is on track and efforts are progressing to cut costs and establish everyday low pricing in markets such as China.

“The real question is, would the stock be higher if it weren’t for the investigation? It’s very hard to know,” said Faye Landes, managing director at Consumer Edge Research.

At the same time, Wal-Mart is seen as a defensive play amid weak economic data and worries about Europe.

Wal-Mart shares could rise to $65 to $70 and perhaps in six to nine months break out of their 13-year trading range, driven by earnings growth, said Gilford Securities analyst Bernard Sosnick. The shares last traded above $70 in 1999.

A strong performance from the giant Walmart U.S. unit pleased investors. Sales at Walmart U.S. stores open at least a year rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter and should rise 1 to 3 percent in the second quarter, the company said.

The rebound in the United States follows Walmart’s reversal of its inventory reduction plan after shoppers headed elsewhere to find goods not on Walmart shelves.

“The turnaround they initiated several quarters ago is starting to show some benefit, it’s starting to gain traction. But at the end of the day it is still a very challenging backdrop for them,” said Walter Stackow, a senior research analyst at Manning & Napier, which owns Wal-Mart shares.

Stackow cited the economic concerns of Walmart’s core customers as well as the competition Walmart faces from dollar stores and online retailers.

Economic concerns, led by joblessness, weigh on the world’s largest retailer and its shoppers. Many Walmart U.S. customers are still shopping on a paycheck cycle – spending more and buying larger packages of items at the beginning of the month, and then buying less-expensive items and smaller packages as money runs low later in the month.

“We have to continue to see jobs added in the economy, I think that’s important across all sectors, especially retail,” Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley told reporters.

Wal-Mart‘s shares were up 5 percent at $62.16 on Thursday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. Thursday’s intraday high of $62.50 marked the first time Wal-Mart shares have risen above the $62.45 level where they closed just before last month’s New York Times story came out.

PROFIT, SALES TOP EXPECTATIONS

Wal-Mart earned $3.74 billion, or $1.09 per share, up from $3.40 billion or 97 cents a share a year earlier. An earlier Easter and warmer weather contributed to the gains, it said.

Wal-Mart had forecast earnings per share of $1.01 to $1.06. Analysts, on average, expected it to earn $1.04 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 8.6 percent to $112.27 billion, ahead of analysts’ forecast of $110.54 billion.

The 2.6 percent rise in same-store sales topped the company’s forecast of flat to 2 percent growth and analysts’ average forecast of 1.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters.

Walmart U.S. same-store sales have risen for three straight quarters following nine consecutive quarterly declines. Store traffic has risen for two straight quarters after six declines. Same-store apparel sales rose for the first time in six years.

For the current second quarter, Wal-Mart expects to earn $1.13 to $1.18 per share from continuing operations. Analysts were looking for a profit of $1.16 per share.

BRIBERY INVESTIGATIONS PROCEED

Wal-Mart has been bombarded by negative comments from shareholders, employees and activists after the Times report that Wal-Mart de Mexico, or Walmex, allegedly orchestrated bribes of $24 million to help it grow quickly last decade and that Wal-Mart’s top brass tried to cover it up.

Wal-Mart said on Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are both investigating, as are a number of government agencies in Mexico.

It contends the matter should not have a material impact on its business, but cannot say for certain that it will not. Along with incurring costs related to the probes, lawsuits and its own review, the process may impinge on the time some executives have to devote to other matters.

On Thursday, proxy advisory firm Egan Jones said Wal-Mart shareholders should withhold their votes for Chief Executive Mike Duke and former CEO Lee Scott and vote for a proposal brought by shareholders requesting regular reports on the company’s political spending.

Also on Thursday, two U.S. lawmakers asked for Wal-Mart to allow a former company lawyer to cooperate in their probe.

Walmex sales rose 13 percent and its same-store sales in Mexico rose 5.6 percent. Operating income at the unit was flat. It opened 45 stores in Mexico during the quarter.

Holley declined to comment on Wal-Mart’s prior fiscal-year forecast, which calls for earnings of $4.72 to $4.92 per share. The company is expected to update that forecast when it issues second-quarter results. Sales are still expected to rise 5 to 7 percent, he said.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl and Brad Dorfman in Chicago, additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Aruna Viswanatha in Washington; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Matthew Lewis)

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The looming cuts cited by Bloomberg News and the technology blog All Things D would trim as much as 9 percent of HP’s workforce, based on the 349,600 people employed by the Palo Alto, Calif., company as of last October. A breakdown on HP’s website listed 324,600 employees, but company spokesman Michael Thacker said the information was wrong. He pointed to the October figure listed in HP’s annual report as the most accurate head count.

Bloomberg News says HP is mulling 25,000 job cuts. All Things D, which is affiliated with The Wall Street Journal, estimates the purge will jettison 30,000 jobs. Both reports cited unnamed people familiar with HP’s plans.

Thacker declined to comment on the reports.

The job cuts could be announced next Wednesday, when HP is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings.

Those results are expected to show that HP, the world’s largest maker of PCs and printers, is still struggling to adapt to a technological shift that is enabling more computing tasks to be completed on smartphones and tablet computers such as Apple Inc.’s hot-selling iPad.

The trend has been crimping HP’s sales. Analysts predict HP’s revenue for its current fiscal year ending in October will total $122 billion, down 4 percent from $127 billion last year.

If HP trims its payroll by at least 18,000 workers, the company could save more than $1 billion annually, according to ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall.

If it occurs, the purge would be the most dramatic step taken so far by HP CEO Meg Whitman, who took the job last September after the company abruptly ended the 11-month reign of her predecessor, Leo Apotheker.

Whitman told analysts that she inherited such a messy situation that it may take several years for the company to bounce back. HP is trying to lift its stock price back to where it was nearly two years ago before the company demanded the resignation of another CEO, Mark Hurd, who was widely respected on Wall Street. Hurd stepped down in August 2010 amid questions about his relationship with an HP marketing contractor.

HP’s shares are worth half as much as they were before Hurd’s departure. The stock gained 3 cents Thursday to close at $22.03.

Whitman has said she is also trying to fix some problems that she blames on Hurd. In particular, she says Hurd crippled HP’s ability to innovate by imposing deep reductions in the company’s research and development budget. Whitman has indicated that she would reduce expenses in other areas so she can funnel more money into research and development.

Associated Press

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Narayan Mahon for msnbc.com

Iraq War veteran Steven Acheson at his home in Platteville, Wis., on May 14, 2012.

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com

Iraq war veteran Steven Acheson will engage in the rarest of protests this weekend: He will hand back his military service medals at the NATO summit in Chicago, an?act one veteran calls “disgraceful.”

Acheson, who served for five years in the Army, including more than a year in Iraq that he says?left him with PTSD and nightmares, is taking this step to protest the “war on terror”?and the force leading it, NATO. He will be joined by a few dozen veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are concerned about the wars’ fallout on veterans and civilians alike.

?I feel like this is a really good way for me to kind of, not clear my conscience, but just make a step in the direction of healing and kind of reconciling with the Afghan people and the Iraq people,? said Acheson, a 27-year-old college student from Wisconsin and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, which includes soldiers who served in any of the post- 9/11 conflict zones, ?? and let them know that we?re standing by their side and we?re not standing with NATO anymore. We don?t agree with the policies that are driving these wars.?

Acheson and 30-50 fellow 9/11-era veterans will carry their medals as they lead an anti-war march this Sunday through Chicago?s downtown area to the convention center where NATO is holding its summit. President Obama and other world leaders are scheduled to be among the summit attendees, and the city of Chicago is bracing for major protests.

Organizers are hoping the rally, which caps a week-long series of anti-NATO actions, will draw thousands. The Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will be flanked by Vietnam veterans and will hold a reconciliation ceremony with Afghans for Peace.

They intend to carry an American flag that they will lower and replace with a white one as they approach the summit venue. They are planning to pin their medals to the American flag, which they?d like to present to NATO officials. If they?re unable to do so, they may construct an ad hoc memorial or toss the medals toward the convention center — like some 900 Vietnam veterans did in 1971 on Capitol Hill in an anti-war protest dubbed ?Operation Dewey Canyon III.?

Barry Romo was West Coast coordinator for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the 1971 week-long demonstration.

?Wives left husbands; parents said ? those medals were something you should be giving the grandkids. But I mean, the level of death was just really too much for us to deal with at that time and we said, you know, if there?s a question of medals versus lives then there was no question,? he said.

Returning the medals ? even those that are given just for showing up to the theater of conflict, as are some of the ones the veterans plan to return ? is not without controversy.

?They?re as much of a disgrace as the veterans back in the Vietnam days that did the same thing,? said retired Army 1st Sgt. Troy Steward, of New York, who served 22 years and is now a military blogger. ?If these veterans aren?t proud of the service that they did ? then they should never have accepted them (medals) in the first place.?

Steward, 43, who served in Afghanistan, said the action was ?disgraceful and disrespectful? to others who had served. While the veterans were welcome to express their opinions, he said, there were a lot of ?better ways to do it than essentially shaming your military service and your brethren.?

Acheson will return his ?Global War on Terrorism Service Medal? and the ?Iraq Campaign Medal?; he is keeping others he received.

Aaron Hughes, a 30-year-old organizer for IVAW who served six years in the Army, including 15 months in Iraq and Kuwait, also will return two medals.

In the process of searching for a way to heal ?we came to these symbols of the occupations, which are these medals that we carry around and we still have,? Hughes said. ?They?re these ? reminders of what we?ve done, that it?s time to let go of.?

?I think it?s something that many of us are conflicted about, but we also feel like this is the right action to take,? he noted, adding that there was a lot of consensus on the returning of the medals. ?It is a sacrifice, but it?s one that we feel is worth it.?

But some?cautioned the veterans to think carefully before handing over the medals.

?They become almost like family heirlooms in some ways,? said Adrian Lewis, a professor specializing in 20th century warfare at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. ?It’s not the norm to give them back. Most folks are proud of them. They feel like they earned them and they?re indications that they served their country.?

?They may regret it at some point … and their family may ultimately regret it, too,? he added.

Unlike the Vietnam War, Americans today don?t have the same outrage over the current conflicts, Lewis said.

?Most Americans are not paying attention to the war … they have no stake in it, no commitment to it,? he added, noting that he therefore didn?t expect the veterans? medal protest to ?be a big deal. It’s not a game-changer.?

It?s not clear how many other veterans have taken similar action. The Department of Defense, the Air Force and Army said they did not keep records on how many medals have been given back.

“We’re very proud of the service rendered by our soldiers and veterans, and they are free to do with their awards and decorations as they please,” George Wright, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said in an e-mail.

Acheson said the veterans don?t have high expectations for how NATO officials will receive their protest. He also noted that he was keeping some of his medals because he was proud of his service, even though he was upset that he ended up fighting in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

?I?m tired of seeing ? fellow vets being redeployed with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, and I?m tired of seeing soldiers being deployed in general to an illegal war,? he said. ?I just feel like we?ve spent enough money and enough lives over there ? it?s time to come home.?

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The policy change announced earlier this year is being tested at nine brigades, including one at Fort Campbell, before going Army-wide. It opens thousands of jobs to female soldiers by loosening restrictions meant to keep them away from the battlefield, after the experience on the ground in the past decade showed women were fighting and dying alongside male soldiers anyway.

Col. Val Keaveny Jr., commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team that is among units piloting the change, told The Associated Press that for the last decade it has been common to have women temporarily attached to the combat units and serve alongside them.

“Women have served in our Army since the Revolutionary War and they have done phenomenal work and continue to do so today. There is great talent and now we can have it in the headquarters of infantry, armor and cavalry,” he said.

Under the new policy, female officers and non-commissioned officers will be assigned to combat units below the brigade level. The change will open up about 14,000 new jobs for women in the military, but there are still more than 250,000 jobs that remain closed to women.

The new jobs within combat battalions are in personnel, intelligence, logistics, signal corps, medical and chaplaincy. The Army is also opening jobs that were once entirely closed to women, such as mechanics for tanks and artillery and rocket launcher crew members.

The 4th Brigade draws its lineage from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, whose World War II heroics led to books and a TV miniseries called the “Band of Brothers.” But these days, Keaveny said there are more than 350 women already serving in the brigade and they will be opening 36 new jobs to women in the battalions.

“For the last 10 years, we have been fighting alongside women. In my experience I have seen that the Band of Brothers quickly integrate their sisters and they are a family,” he said.

Capt. Elizabeth Evans, a 44-year-old mother of five, is one of the first women assigned to the combat battalions. She will be serving as a battalion S1, whose job is to oversee personnel issues within the battalion, including awards, casualties, human resources and other administrative responsibilities. She said there is a lot of pride associated with serving in an infantry unit.

“I think there’s a rich history in the 101st and especially the 4th Brigade Combat Team,” she said. “To me that means something. It means something to be a part of not necessarily history, but to be a part of a once all-male battalion.”

Evans, who has deployed to Afghanistan, noted that women have been serving in dangerous jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan for 10 years.

“With the fluidity of the battlefield and how there are no front lines, it just makes more sense to me to allow women to come into those roles, those noncombat staff roles,” she said.

Keaveny said these changes will have minimum impact on where women will be located while deployed. Battalion headquarters are generally located at bases where women were already stationed and the Army has been using female engagement teams to reach out to civilians in remote areas.

“Quite honestly we don’t see there’s going to be any friction,” he said.

Kayla Williams, author of “Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army,” served with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team under the 101st Airborne Division during the initial invasion into Iraq as an enlisted soldier in military intelligence.

Early in the war, she wasn’t even issued plates for her ballistic vest “because females can’t serve in combat,” she said. She said she was once attached to an infantry battalion that had no female latrines.

As an Arabic translator, she was attached to infantry units rather than assigned, but doing the same things as her male infantry counterparts, including going on foot patrols and living in remote combat outposts.

“Women have been serving in very forward deployed roles, and women have been serving side-by-side with combat arms personnel, just not in a formalized assigned method,” said Williams, who is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project.

She said these incremental changes could improve the professional development of both men and women in the military, but acknowledged that the military still has a long way to go to leveling the field for women.

“It is my personal opinion that the institutionalization of women as not being able to serve in combat arms has a way of subtly allowing sexism within the military,” she said.

Evans said she hopes the expanded roles will encourage more women to consider a career in the Army.

“I think for females in general, it’s bringing us new avenues for accomplishments, for professional growth. In my personal belief, we are a part of supporting our infantryman,” she said.

__

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State Farm Insurance, one of the nation’s largest home insurers, paid more than $109 million on about 3,800 dog bite claims nationwide last year, spokesman Eddie Martinez said Wednesday. In 2010, there were about 3,500 claims and $90 million in payouts.

The Insurance Information Institute estimated that nearly $479 million in dog bite claims were paid by all insurance companies in 2011, spokeswoman Loretta Worters said. In 2010, it was $413 million.

It’s no surprise that California ? home to more dogs and people than any other state ? led the way in 2011.

Martinez says 527 claims were filed in California and victims received $20.3 million, a jump of 31 percent over 2010.

State Farm is still working to determine reasons for the spike, Martinez said.

About 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year and more than half of the victims are children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. About 800,000 people seek medical attention for the bites. Less than half of those people require treatment and about 16 die, the agency said.

After children ages 5 to 9 years old, the agency said that seniors represent the largest group at risk, followed by letter carriers.

Nationally, about 5,600 U.S. Postal Service letter carriers were attacked by dogs each of the last two years, said Los Angeles spokesman Richard Maher.

In California, a carrier was attacked in March and died of complications four days later after she suffered a stroke likely caused by trauma, Maher said.

Los Angeles carriers recorded the most bites with 83; San Diego was second with 68; followed by Houston at 47; and Cleveland at 44.

Medical expenses from dog attacks cost the Postal Service just over $1 million last year, officials said.

The third full week each May is National Dog Bite Prevention Week and State Farm, the U.S. Postal Service, the American Veterinary Medical Association and CDCP release dog bite statistics and launch campaigns to promote dog safety.

Despite the large number of attacks on letter carriers, the Postal Service decided to focus on children for their campaign because a child is 900 times more likely to be attacked than a letter carrier, Maher said.

Heredity, training, socialization, health, and the behavior of humans around it can all contribute to a dog’s tendency to bite, Martinez said.

The ASPCA predicts half of all children in the United States will be bitten by a dog before 12. The majority of bites will be from the family dog or the dog of a neighbor or friend.

People across the country own about 78.2 million dogs, according to the American Pet Products Association.

State Farm’s figures listed the top 10 states by number of claims, claims paid and claim average.

California was tops in the first two categories, then came Illinois, 309 claims, $10 million; Texas, 219 claims, $5.1 million; and Ohio, 215, $5.4 million.

At the bottom of the claims per state list were Maine, New Mexico, Montana, Hawaii and South Dakota, Martinez said.

The average cost per claim nationally in 2011 was $28,799, Martinez said.

California had a per-claim average of $38,500 but New York came in first because the company paid an average of $45,900 per claim there. Michigan was second with an average $38,700 per claim.

In 2010, California led the way with 369 claims and total payouts of $11.3 million. But the average cost per claim in the state was $30,000, placing it second behind Florida, where the average cost per dog bite claim was $38,400. Florida had 146 claims for a total of $5.6 million.

There are ways to help a child avoid dog bites, the ASPCA says.

A youngster should never stare into a dog’s eyes, tease a dog, approach a chained dog, touch an off-leash dog, run or scream if approached by a loose dog, play with a dog while it is eating or touch a dog while it is sleeping. If a loose dog comes close, children should stand very still and be very quiet. Always ask a dog’s owner for permission to pet it and let the dog sniff your closed hand before you start touching it.

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