Sunday, March 3, 2013

Anyone else not having a baby shower? - BabyandBump

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Source: http://babyandbump.momtastic.com/pregnancy-second-trimester/1759775-anyone-else-not-having-baby-shower.html

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

AP PHOTOS: A look at past Iditarod sled dog races

Essential News from The Associated Press

AAA??Mar. 2, 2013?3:48 PM ET
AP PHOTOS: A look at past Iditarod sled dog races
By The Associated Press?THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES?By The Associated Press

FILE - Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)

FILE - Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester, File)

FILE - Rick Swenson leads his team the final few yards at the conclusion of the ninth annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, March 19, 1981. The Eureka musher won the race for the third time, covering the 969 miles from Settlers Bay, near Anchorage, to Nome in 12 days, 8 hours, 45 minutes and 2 seconds. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Last year?s winner and veteran dog musher Susan Butcher pulls into this checkpoint in the heat of the day in McGrath, Alaska, March 12, 1987. (AP Photo/Rob Stapleton, File)

FILE - Bruce Johnson of Atlin, B.C., Canada, takes a nap in the heat of the day at Nikolai checkpoint along the Iditarod trail in Alaska, March 12, 1987. (AP Photo/Rob Stapleton, File)

FILE - The aurora borealis, or northern lights, fill the sky above the Takotna, Alaska checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen, File)

The world's most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, kicks off Saturday with an 11-mile-long trot through Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. The race consists of a grueling 1,000-mile trek through unpredictable wilderness to the old gold rush town of Nome on Alaska's western coast. Whoever reaches Nome first wins a new truck and a cash prize of $50,400. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split between the next 29 mushers to cross the finish line. The iconic race, however, seems to be about more than a monetary prize for most involved: a competition of human versus wild.

Here's a gallery of pictures looking back at more than 30 years of "The Last Great Race."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-02-AP-Iditarod-Photo-Gallery/id-0fd5b7011aed4c039249b30688648ef6

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Generating Leads With LinkedIn - Social Media Examiner

Do you use LinkedIn for business?

Are you wondering how you can use LinkedIn to generate quality leads?

To learn how to use LinkedIn to attract leads and build networking relationships, I interview Stephanie Sammons for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

More About This Show

Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It?s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Stephanie Sammons, who blogs at Build Online Influence?and?is the CEO of Wired Advisor?a firm that helps those in the financial industry. She also writes exclusively about LinkedIn for Social Media Examiner.

Stephanie shares her LinkedIn knowledge, tips and experiences when it comes to social networking for your company.

You?ll learn about the tools and techniques that will help you attract leads and connect with business professionals.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

Listen Now

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you?ll discover in this show:

LinkedIn for Business

Why LinkedIn is so important for business professionals seeking leads

Stephanie explains how most people think of Facebook as a personal web, whereas LinkedIn is a professional web.

LinkedIn is the largest professional network for working people. It doesn?t matter if you?re an employee or a business owner, a freelancer or a marketer within a company.

linkedin join today

There are over 200 million active and engaged members on LinkedIn.

People typically visit LinkedIn with a purpose to make connections, gain insights about their industry and anything that can help them get smarter. They also use LinkedIn to network.

In Stephanie?s mind, it?s the purest form of business networking online.

Listen to the show to find out how LinkedIn has evolved from just being a place to look for a job.

LinkedIn tools to help generate leads

You?ll discover that it?s not just about the awesome tools and features that LinkedIn has, it?s also about how you use them.

Stephanie recommends having a relationship mentality when on LinkedIn and to position yourself as a thought leader. Look where you are building influence with your network and niche. It?s the right thing to do when it comes to attracting leads and people for your business. The smarter you are about marketing, the less people realize you are marketing to them.

Your main goal is to aim to be consistently visible and valuable. Studies have shown that it takes someone 7 exposures to you before they really start to pay attention, listen and determine whether it makes sense to take the next step.

Stephanie looks at LinkedIn as an opportunity to position herself as a resource within her niche using the various tools.

For example, LinkedIn Today?is a great way to quickly find content that is relevant to your target market and be able to share it on LinkedIn. You?ll find out the benefits of using these rich status updates to stay top of mind.

linkedin today 1

LinkedIn today is a great way to find relevant content for you to share.

It?s really important to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date. The more people see you on LinkedIn, the more they are likely to come and check out your profile to learn more about you. And if that person is relevant and potentially interested in your business, they may click through to your blog or website and take the relationship from there.

Another great LinkedIn tool to consider is Groups. If you spend time in group discussions, you have the opportunity to connect with mutual group members whom you might not necessarily know. As you get to know some of the members in the group, you can send them an invitation to connect with you.

Stephanie goes into greater detail about how many LinkedIn Groups you can join and how adding value to the conversation can lead to potential clients and customers. You?ll also discover why you should only concentrate on 3 or 5 groups at a time.

Listen to the show to find out the benefits for Social Media Examiner of creating a private group on LinkedIn when running online conferences.

How a marketer or salesperson should use LinkedIn to find leads

First of all, it?s important to build a rich?personal profile on LinkedIn. You need your prospective clients and customers to be able to understand what you do without using any fancy terminology. Be very clear in what you do, whom you help and how you can help.

stephanie sammons linkedin profile

Stephanie Sammons' LinkedIn profile.

A lead generation process that works really well is:

  • Build a great personal profile.
  • Activate that profile so you begin to share interesting, valuable, helpful content with your network.
  • Be consistently visible and stay top of mind.

It?s not about selling. You have to educate and provide great information.

It?s a personal decision whom you connect with on LinkedIn and how you generate leads. It all depends on your business situation and if you want to make your network as big or small as possible.

Stephanie prefers to work on the depth and breadth of her network. She has the belief that the more connections you have, the more opportunity there is for visibility and more business opportunities you can create for yourself. You?re going to show up in more LinkedIn searches.

You?ll hear Stephanie give an example of how her network facilitated a valuable relationship for someone else.

Listen to the show to learn about how promoting your blog, ebook or webinar can work on LinkedIn.

The process of growing your network

If your goal is to generate business and leads on LinkedIn,?you need to think about growing your connections. There are many different ways to connect, from meeting people offline to connecting with them on Facebook or Twitter. Think about peers in your industry, clients, prospective clients, community leaders, etc.?anybody you may know and have a good reason to be connected with.

Stephanie shares her rules for LinkedIn when it comes to making connections.

Listen to the show to hear what you need to do when meeting people at a trade show, event or?conference, to take it to the next level on LinkedIn.

The time commitment for getting the most out of LinkedIn

Once you know your way around the network, Stephanie feels you only need to spend 10 minutes a day to make a good impact on your network.

It?s about having a focus and a purpose when you go in.

Listen to the show to find out more about why it?s important to engage in high-impact activities.

How to use LinkedIn to reach someone in a big company

Stephanie describes why she loves LinkedIn?s feature called?InMail. LinkedIn has a strong integration with email inboxes, which include frequent notifications.

You?ll also discover the reason behind members trusting emails from LinkedIn. Open rates for InMail on LinkedIn are greater than open rates for typical email marketing collateral. InMail gives you the ability to send a direct message to any member of LinkedIn, regardless of whether you are connected to them. The response rates on these are high.

But remember, you?ve got to have a good reason to connect. It can?t be just a sales pitch.

about in mail

InMail is a great way to send a direct message to anyone on LinkedIn.

Listen to the show to hear the best approach when writing direct messages to other LinkedIn members.

What to avoid on LinkedIn

You need to be careful when you grow your connections, as LinkedIn will stop showing publicly if you have more than 500 connections. So you need to be careful about being too active. If many of your connections have fewer connections within their network, then all they are going to see is you when they log into LinkedIn.

You have to be thoughtful in the way you promote your own content.

Listen to the show to hear why it?s so important to have your profile looking good and up-to-date.

Stephanie?s Top Tip

You?ll hear Stephanie explain why Company Pages are becoming more important and how they are the identity for your business on LinkedIn, not your personal identity.

LinkedIn has a Self-Service Ads program that Stephanie has been experimenting with. It?s a great way to grow your group through running ads to grow followers for your Company Page. Not only is it inexpensive, it?s also easy to administer and test. Stephanie has already seen results from this.

self service targeted ads

LinkedIn's Self-Service Ads program is a great way to grow your group.

You?ll find out why LinkedIn members are receptive to ads as long as they are relevant.

Listen to the show to discover why a LinkedIn Share button on your site is a must.

This Week?s Social Media Question

Curtis Moe at SmokeHouse Podcast?asked, ?My podcast has always been a hobby and I don?t want to do much else with it. But what do you think about teaming up with a blogger? This way I won?t have to do the website and I can just focus on doing the podcast, which I enjoy doing.?

smoke house podcast

SmokeHouse Podcast.

Curtis, here is what you need to do.

Teaming up with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses is always a wise move. In my book?Launch,?there is an entire chapter about working with outside experts or other people who have a competency.

In your particular case, as someone who has an expertise in podcasting, it makes a lot of sense to work with a blogger who has an existing audience.

We?ve seen other people in our industry do this. For example, Brian Clark from Copyblogger?has a podcast called Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio. The show?is not actually produced by him, it?s hosted and produced by Robert Bruce. Brian appears on the show now and again.

It makes a lot of sense to collaborate and leverage the strengths of both of you together.

Listen to the show to hear more of Mike?s advice for Curtis.

Call in?and leave your social media?related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Other Show Mentions

Social Media Marketing World is Social Media Examiner?s latest mega-conference?taking place at the waterfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego, California on April 7-9, 2013.

As you?d expect, Social Media Examiner recruited the biggest and best names in the world of social media marketing for this conference. Only the best for you! Be sure to check it out.

Stephanie?will be one of the presenters, along with over 50 others, who are some of the biggest names in the world in social media marketing.

There will be extensive networking?opportunities?you?ll make priceless professional connections because we built this event to include networking after keynotes and lunch, and catered evening events at the historic?San Diego Natural History Museum?and aboard the?largest private yacht?in Southern California.

Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

What do you think? What are your thoughts on using LinkedIn for lead generation? Please leave your comments below.

Tags: lead generation, linkedin, linkedin company page, linkedin groups, linkedin networking, linkedin profile, michael stelzner, podcast, social media marketing podcast, stephanie sammons

Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/lead-generation-with-linkedin/

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Sky to buy Telefonica UK's fixed phone line and broadband business for up to ?200 million

Sky to buy Telefonica UK's fixed phone line and broadband business for up to ?200 million

Sky already supplies fixed phone line and broadband on top of its TV services in the UK, but it's just announced it'll be gaining a few more customers. The company has shaken hands with Telefonica UK to purchase the latter's broadband and phone line business provided by the consumer-facing O2 and BE brands. As you would imagine, big bucks will change hands: Sky plans to fork over £180 million (around $273 million) right off the bat, and will write a cheque for up to a further £20 million (circa $30 million) "dependent upon the successful delivery and completion of the customer migration process by Telefonica UK." Regulators will need to give the deal the thumbs up before it's official, but if and when that happens, Sky will become the second biggest ISP in the UK after adding over 500,000 new customers to its books. Should everything progress as planned, the buyout will be completed by the end of April, which gives Rupert Murdoch just enough time to carry out the vault extension he'll need.

Update: If you're worried this transaction will impact anything you're currently signed up to, you can probably rest easy. O2 has tweeted one of our editors to report "there will be no material change to a customer's broadband service and no fundamental contract change."

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Comments

Via: GigaOM

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/YXcGCbq3YIw/

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Friday, March 1, 2013

New Mexico company: Feds may allow horse slaughter

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? Federal officials have indicated they might soon grant the inspection needed to start processing horse meat at a southeastern New Mexico slaughterhouse. But the Obama administration threw a new twist in a more than yearlong debate over how best to humanely deal with a rising number of abused and neglected horses with a statement urging Congress to reinstate a ban on equine slaughter.

The revelations Friday come on the heels of public outcry over recent cases where horse meat was found mixed with other meat products in Europe.

Attorney A. Blair Dunn says the U.S. Department of Justice, in a response to a lawsuit by Valley Meat Co., told him this week that agriculture officials hope to grant the inspection for the Roswell slaughterhouse in the next 45 to 60 days.

The company and its owner, Rick de los Santos, last year sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture to resume the inspections necessary to open what would be the nation's first new horse slaughterhouse in more than five years. The suit alleges USDA inaction on the company's application was driven by emotional political debates and has cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The USDA said in an emailed statement that "several companies" have requested that its Food Safety and Inspection Service re-establish inspection.

"These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and FSIS must still complete its inspector training, but at that point, the Department will legally have no choice but to go forward with inspections, which is why we urge Congress to reinstate the ban," the agency said.

The dispute between Valley Meat Co. and agriculture officials began more than a year ago, after Congress removed what effectively had become a ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. De Los Santos, whose cattle slaughter business had dropped off as area ranchers sold their herds because of drought, said that is when he first talked to the USDA about converting his slaughterhouse to handle horses.

He said he was encouraged to do so but told he would have to stop slaughtering cattle to get the proper permits.

He said he shuttered his business and set about converting it, but claims he was stonewalled as publicity about his plans reignited a national debate about how to deal with a growing number of abused and abandoned horses.

Many animal humane groups and public officials were outraged at the idea of resuming domestic horse slaughter, including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

Others, however, including some horse rescues, livestock associations and the American Quarter Horse Association, support a return to domestic horse slaughter. They point to a 2011 report from the federal Government Accountability Office that shows horse abuse and abandonment have been increasing since Congress effectively banned horse slaughter by cutting funding for USDA inspection programs in 2006.

Asked about the administration publicly urging reinstatement of the ban, Dunn said, "I have trouble believing that it is merely a coincidence" that it follows the outcry over horse meat in Europe.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-01-US-Horse-Slaughter/id-475e542a1dd34e4ca2e1ff3663e27be2

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The Note's Must-Reads for Thursday, February 28, 2013

The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Carrie Halperin, Jayce Henderson and Amanda VanAllen

SYRIA

ABC News' Dana Hughes: " Obama Administration Expected to Directly Aid Syria's Rebels" Secretary of State John Kerry will meet on Thursday with leaders of Syria's opposition council and other nations that have been supporting the opposition at the Friends of Syria meeting in Rome. The outcome of that meeting is expected to move the United States towards more direct involvement in the nation's conflict. LINK

The Washington Times' " Dem lawmaker prepares bill to allow Obama direct arms sales to Syrian rebels" One of the top Democratic lawmakers on foreign policy is preparing to introduce a bill that would authorize President Obama to begin sending arms directly to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad- legislation that would open the way for significantly deeper U.S. involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. LINK

USA Today's Susan Davis " Senate poised for dueling votes on 'sequester'" The Senate will vote on dueling legislative proposals Thursday to prevent sweeping across-the-board federal spending cuts, but there is no confidence lawmakers will reach a bipartisan deal with President Obama before the Friday deadline. Obama has summoned the top four congressional leaders to a White House meeting Friday to discuss the cuts, known as the "sequester," while House Republicans are maneuvering to give the Pentagon more discretion in how to implement the cuts. LINK

The Wall Street Journal's Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook: " Jockeying Stalls Deal on Cuts" With mandatory across-the-board spending cuts set to begin Friday, the White House and congressional Republicans are poised to let the deadline pass, each calculating that their hand in negotiations only grows stronger if they scorn a quick compromise. The first face-to-face meeting on the issue between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders won't happen until Friday-the deadline for Mr. Obama to set in motion $85 billion in broad spending cuts. LINK

VOTING RIGHTS The New York Times' Adam Liptak: " Voting Rights Law Draws Skepticism From Justices" A central provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 may be in peril, judging from tough questioning on Wednesday from the Supreme Court's more conservative members. If the court overturns the provision, nine states, mostly in the South, would become free to change voting procedures without first getting permission from federal officials. LINK

CUTS / SEQUESTER The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty and Lyndsey Layton: " Sequester spin gets ahead of reality" The descriptions of the post-sequester landscape coming from the Obama administration have been alarming, specific - and, in at least some cases, hyped. Take the claim by Education Secretary Arne Duncan that there are "literally teachers now who are getting pink slips." When he was pressed in a White House briefing Wednesday to name an example, Duncan came up with one school district, in West Virginia, and he acknowledged, "Whether it's all sequester-related, I don't know." LINK

Bloomberg's Kathleen Hunter: " Senate Plans Symbolic Votes as Spending Cut Set to Begin" Senators plan a pair of symbolic votes that won't head off $85 billion in U.S. spending cuts scheduled to begin tomorrow. Neither plan is expected to advance in today's votes in Washington. Instead, they are designed to give Democrats and Republicans political cover when the across-the-board cuts take effect.

The parties are far apart on how to replace the cuts totaling $1.2 trillion over nine years, $85 billion of which would occur in the remaining seven months of this fiscal year. Democrats say tax increases must be part of a replacement plan, which Republican leaders oppose. Democrats say they expect the public to place more blame on Republicans, rather than President Barack Obama, for any reduced federal services. LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Noam N. Levey: " 'Sequester' cuts to hit healthcare hard" As the Obama administration begins to implement $85 billion in cuts to federal spending this year, no part of the budget other than defense will take a bigger hit than healthcare. LINK

BOB WOODWARD Politico's Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei: " Woodward at war" Bob Woodward called a senior White House official last week to tell him that in a piece in that weekend's Washington Post, he was going to question President Barack Obama's account of how sequestration came about - and got a major-league brushback. The Obama aide "yelled at me for about a half hour," Woodward told us in an hour-long interview yesterday around the Georgetown dining room table where so many generations of Washington's powerful have spilled their secrets. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEOS " Eric Holder Says Homegrown Terror Threat Equals International: Exclusive" LINK

The Note: LINK The Must-Reads Online: LINK Top Line Webcast (12noon EST M-F): LINK ABC News Politics: LINK George's Bottom Line (George Stephanopoulos): LINK Follow ABC News on Twitter: LINK ABC News Mobile: LINK ABC News app on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad: LINK

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/notes-must-reads-thursday-february-28-2013-092806153--abc-news-politics.html

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Miss. town stunned by slaying of mayoral candidate

This Jan. 20, 2007 photo shows Marco McMillian, 34, a candidate for mayor of Clarksdale, Miss., who was found dead on the Mississippi River levee Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 between Sherard and Rena Lara, Miss. Authorities say the case is being investigated as a homicide. McMillian had served as international executive director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. His campaign said he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi. (AP Photo/The Clarksdale Press Register, Troy Catchings)

This Jan. 20, 2007 photo shows Marco McMillian, 34, a candidate for mayor of Clarksdale, Miss., who was found dead on the Mississippi River levee Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 between Sherard and Rena Lara, Miss. Authorities say the case is being investigated as a homicide. McMillian had served as international executive director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. His campaign said he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in Mississippi. (AP Photo/The Clarksdale Press Register, Troy Catchings)

(AP) ? Whatever his prospects for winning the coming mayoral election in his hometown of Clarksdale, Miss., Marco McMillian was considered by many to be a man on the rise. So word spread fast when his SUV was involved in a wreck this week, and he was nowhere to be found.

The discovery of the openly gay candidate's body near a Mississippi River levee Wednesday stunned residents of Clarksdale, a Blues mecca in the flatlands of the Mississippi Delta.

Authorities were investigating McMillian's death as a homicide, and said a person of interest was in custody, but released few other details.

"There's a lot of people upset about it," said Dennis Thomas, 33, who works at Abe's Barbeque.

"Why would somebody want to do something like that to somebody of that caliber? He was a highly respected person in town," Thomas said.

The 34-year-old Democrat wasn't running what many would consider a typical campaign for political office in Mississippi, which is known for its conservative politics.

Campaign spokesman Jarod Keith said McMillian's campaign was noteworthy because he may have been the first openly gay man to be a viable candidate for public office in the state.

McMillian, who was black, had also forged ties while serving for four years as international executive director of the historically black Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. Photos on McMillian's website and Facebook page show him with a younger Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat.

Coahoma County Coroner Scotty Meredith said McMillian's body was found Wednesday morning near the levee between Sherard and Rena Lara. It was sent to Jackson for an autopsy.

Meredith said the case is being investigated as a homicide, but he declined to speculate on the cause of death.

Authorities had been looking for McMillian since Tuesday morning when a man crashed the candidate's SUV into another vehicle on U.S. Highway 49. McMillian was not in the car.

The sheriff's office said Wednesday that a person of interest was in custody, but had not been formally charged.

Will Rooker, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, declined to release other details.

McMillian was CEO of MWM & Associates, described on its website as a consulting firm for nonprofit organizations. In addition to his role at the fraternity from 2007 to 2011, McMillian had previously worked to raise funds as executive assistant to the president at Alabama A&M University and as assistant to the vice president at Jackson State University, according to his campaign.

A statement from the fraternity said he had secured the first federal contract to raise awareness about the impact of HIV and AIDS on communities of color. It noted that Ebony Magazine had recognized him in 2004 as one of the nation's "30 up-and-coming African Americans" under age 30.

Supporters say McMillian ? a 1997 graduate of Clarksdale High School who graduated magna cum laude from Jackson State and held a master's degree from St. Mary's University in Minnesota in philanthropy and development ? had big ideas for Clarksdale, a town of about 17,800 people.

The town is well known to Blues fans as the home of the crossroads, where Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil for skills with a guitar. Academy Award-winning actor and Mississippi native Morgan Freeman is part owner of the Ground Zero Blues Club in town. Clarksdale is also hounded by the poverty typical of the Mississippi Delta.

McMillian was hoping to win the office being vacated by Mayor Henry Espy Jr., the brother of Mike Espy, a former congressman and U.S. agriculture secretary. Henry Espy decided not to seek re-election after more than two decades in office. Espy's son, state Rep. Chuck Espy, and Bill Luckett, a partner in Freeman's club, were among the other well-known candidates in the race. The primary is May 7.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Institute tweeted: "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Marco McMillian, one of the 1st viable openly (hash)LGBT candidates in Mississippi."

McMillian's campaign said in a statement that words cannot describe "our grief at the loss of our dear friend."

"We remember Marco as a bold and passionate public servant, whose faith informed every aspect of his life," the statement said.

___

Follow Mohr on Twitter at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-28-Mississippi%20Candidate%20Killed/id-8bc479df709f454792eb0216559adea0

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