NEW YORK (AP) -- Jim Calhoun has spent more than half his life as a head basketball coach, never venturing far from the New England area where he was born.

Between coaching stints at Northeastern and Connecticut, he racked up 873 wins - 625 of them coming at his beloved UConn, where he ran the men's program for 26 years and won three national titles.

Recently, though, the 70-year-old Hall of Famer has struggled with health problems, including a fractured hip last month that put him on crutches. On Thursday, he planned to announce his retirement, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because Calhoun's move had not yet been made public. WVIT-TV in Hartford first reported the expected announcement.

Assistant coach Kevin Ollie was expected to replace Calhoun, the person who spoke to the AP said. The school scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference ''to address the future of the men's basketball program.''

Ollie will take over a Huskies team that is ineligible for the 2013 NCAA tournament because of its failure to meet national academic standards, one of several off-court problems that hit UConn late in Calhoun's tenure.

The Huskies will open this year with just five players who saw significant playing time last season.

Before fracturing his hip, Calhoun fought off cancer three times and missed eight games last season while suffering from a painful spinal condition. He returned just four days after having back surgery to coach the Huskies in their regular-season finale and the postseason.

UConn finished the year 20-14, losing to Iowa State in the first-round of the NCAA tournament.

In addition to his medical leave, Calhoun served a three-game suspension at the start of the Big East season last winter for failing to maintain an atmosphere of compliance in his program with NCAA rules, an issued that dated back to recruiting violations in 2008.

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AP Source: UConn coach Jim Calhoun retiring

Jim Calhoun led the Connecticut Huskies to three NCAA championships, four Final Four berths and seven Big East Tournament titles in his 25-year coaching career, but now the program must step into a new era.

Calhoun's announcement that he will retire on Thursday turns a new page in Storrs, Connecticut. Calhoun's former player and assistant coach Kevin Ollie will take over on the sidelines, but how do you replace someone with his success and experience?

You can't do it. Connecticut's program will take a step back, and it's not necessarily the university's fault. Calhoun was just that good.

This is a coach with 873 career wins. Granted, only 618 of those came as the Huskies coach, but that doesn't change his impact on the UConn program.

The Huskies haven't had a losing record since Calhoun's debut yearin 1986. They have been one of the country's most consistent programs, and they did it without blue-chip players the majority of the time.

Sure, they had their Rudy Gays and Richard Hamiltons, but Calhoun created a foundation based on blue-collar, hard-working talents. Those players seemed to identify with him, and they bought into his system.

He got every ounce out of every player, and he knew how to manage his team in big games.

Just look at the big games the Huskies managed to win. How about Tate George's famous buzzer-beater to beat Clemson in the 1990 NCAA Tournament? Or Hamilton's less famous, but no less miraculous, game-winner against Washington in the 1998 tournament?

Calhoun was instrumental in keeping his team focused during those critical moments. That doesn't even go into the Huskies' 2011 national championship. With or without Kemba Walker, that was Calhoun's most impressive effort.

The Huskies have played with a chip on their shoulders for years, just like their coach. Ollie comes from Calhoun's system, so you'd like to think that will stay the same, but his coaching philosophy could be completely different.

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Jim Calhoun Retirement: How Will the Huskies Fare as Life after Calhoun Begins?

CALIFORNIA WOW

Members of the embattled health club California Wow yesterday demanded a total of 21.62 million baht in compensation from the company for failing to provide the fitness services it promised.

About 100 California Wow customers and Consumer Protection Foundation staff converge at Silom Complex in Bangkok yesterday morning, demanding the financially troubled fitness club repay membership fees after closing down its branches. SOMCHAI POOMLARD

About 100 members of the health club gathered in front of the Consumer Protection Foundation (CPF) office on Silom Road demanding the company accept responsibility for failing to provide the services agreed upon.

The protesters said they had paid the company the membership fees stipulated for the use of exercise equipment and the company had reneged.

CPF official Sawanee Chumchaliew said a total of 300 members had prepaid a combined total of 21.6 million baht for use of the equipment and had not received the promised services when the health club went into bankruptcy.

The demanded compensation would be much more if the fees paid by another 200 members were included, she said.

The company was closed down in July without giving any notice to its members.

Many of the members still have assets in the club's lockers and could not get them out.

In addition, the members' payments were made through credit cards and cannot be cancelled. The fees are still being charged by the company without any services being provided, Ms Sawanee said.

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Health club creditors want B21m refund

Fidelity Investments has come up with a rule of thumb workers can use to see if their retirement savings are on track.

It shows what percent of their current salary workers should have saved up at various ages if they want to be able to retire at age 67 and live on 85 percent of final pay.

To get there, the average worker should have saved (in all retirement accounts combined) about a year's worth of salary at age 35, three times at age 45, five times at age 55 and eight times by age 67.

For example, a worker earning $100,000 at age 67 should have saved $800,000.

The rule makes various assumptions - such as that the worker starts saving at age 25, saves continuously until age 67, lives until age 92 and earns an average investment return of 5.5 percent. It also assumes the person starts contributing 6 percent of pay to a workplace plan and increases that by one percentage point a year until reaching 12 percent and gets a matching contribution equal to 3 percent of pay from the employer.

Change any of those assumptions and the amount needed at various ages also changes.

Fidelity, like most retirement-plan administrators, has more sophisticated tools workers can use to get personalized answers to their questions.

It devised the rule of thumb because so many of its more than 17 million retirement-plan participants wanted to know if they were on track to retire and "didn't want a half-hour explanation," says Jeanne Thompson, a vice president of market insights with Fidelity.

Most retirement rules of thumb focus on how much to save each year (10 to 15 percent is a common benchmark), how much you should have saved by the end of your career or what percent of your final pay you need to live on in retirement (70 to 85 percent is a good target).

But none provided a benchmark workers could use to see if they are on track.

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Retirement rule of thumb from Fidelity

Summer reading is over, and so if you're starting to veer away from lighter beach reading and more into the heavier stuff, you might want to take a look at some of the self-help personal finance books out there and put them on their reading list especially if you've been crunching numbers and wondering why you took that wildly expensive vacation and used up most of the money in your bank account and on your credit cards. Or if, even worse, you're crunching numbers and wondering why you didn't have any money so you could take a wildly expensive vacation.

So in case you're looking for something to read, here are a few of the many new personal finance books that have either just come out or are coming out soon.

Title: Personal Freedom and Finance: Short Foundational Discussions on Personal Economics and Finance in Today's Young Adults

Author: Brooks Levonitis.

What it's about: It's a series of topical discussions about defining financial success individually and what it really takes to become independent in today's uncertain and complex world. In other words, it's an investing book aimed at the young adult crowd.

Title: Rich Kid Smart Kid: Giving Your Child a Financial Head Start

Author: Robert T. Kiyosaki

What it's about: Presumably his book, which hits bookstores on October 30, is along the same lines as the rest of Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad motivational self-help financial books, a phenomenally successful series (his 15 books are said to have sold around 26 million copies). For comparison's sake, the personal finance book I co-authored in 2010, Living Well with Bad Credit sold well, let's put it this way. Kiyosaki is a rich dad, and I'm still a poor dad.

Title: How to Give Financial Advice to Women: Attracting and Retaining High-Net Worth Female Clients

Author: Kathleen Burns Kingsbury

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Your Fall Personal Finance Reading List

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSNn3KWQ0j0

12-09-2012 17:28 Online education has been around for years but there was a hearing in Trenton today focusing on the introduction of online education in New Jersey's charter schools. It's an idea that has sparked controversy among educators. NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider spoke with Assemblywoman Connie Wagner (D-38) who co-chaired today's hearing. For more New Jersey news, visit NJ Today online at

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Education Committee Holds Hearing on Virtual Charter Schools - Video

PLAINSBORO, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The go-to source for excellence in continuing medical education (CME), Physicians Education Resource (PER), announced today the appointment of Harold I. Magazine, Ph.D., as president. In addition, PER has named Alexis A.M. Mascitti, MD, as the companys vice president of scientific affairs.

In his role as president, Magazine will lead all operations of PER including development of the organizations online CME activities and live congresses and symposiums. PER hosts over a dozen annual, live conferences, in conjunction with industry leaders to advance cancer care.

Prior to joining PER, Magazine served as the director of medical education at Allergan, Inc., a multi-specialty healthcare company in Irvine, Calif. There, he oversaw independent medical education grants across multiple therapeutic areas and established improved communication with cross-functional teams.

His other previous experience includes serving as vice president of professional education for Science Care Inc.; president of Veritas Institute for Medical Education; and vice president of scientific affairs for Health Science Communications as well as for Hurley Consulting Associates in Chatham, N.J.

Magazine received his Ph.D. from University of Floridas Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. He then attended Albany Medical College for his post-doctoral fellowship in pulmonary physiology.

Alexis A.M. Mascitti, MD, joins PER as vice president of scientific affairs from ParagonRX, where she was a risk management clinical consultant. In that role, she oversaw, developed and implemented risk mitigation strategies, adapted client systems to meet FDA requirements and instituted clinically targeted data analytics.

Additionally, Mascitti was a pediatric resident at New York University School of Medicine, where she directed the clinical care of infants, children and adolescents. She also has served as a research assistant for Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Childrens neuroscience department in Wilmington, Del.

Mascitti received her bachelors in neuroscience from the University of Delaware and earned her doctor of medicine from Jefferson Medical College.

To learn more about how PER is advancing cancer care through professional education, visit http://www.gotoper.com.

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Physicians’ Education Resource Names President

By Gina Potthoff/Staff Writer Email this story Print this story

Aiden Douglas works on his spelling with his mom, Jamie Douglas, at his desk in his room. Aiden, along with his brother and sisters are home-schooled solely online through California Virtual Academies. //Daniel Dreifuss/Staff

A postcard sitting in the mailbox, addressed to a former resident, piqued Jamie Douglas interest a decade ago.

California Virtual Academies, a tuition-free online K-12 public school, was just getting off the ground the postcard announced.

Douglas decided to keep tabs on the program and see how many families took advantage of the one-on-one attention, the 21st century learning tools and the advanced curriculum.

When she moved to Pismo Beach from Ventura a year and a half ago, Douglas had already enrolled two of her four children into the academies, commonly called CAVA, with a main office in Simi Valley.

I was really looking forward to it, Douglas said last week, recalling the years she waited for now 8-year-old Aiden and 7-year-old Corbin to be of school age. There are so many choices. I didnt have to worry about writing my own curriculum.

Douglas is joining a growing number of families, locally and across the nation, who turn to online learning instead of the traditional brick and mortar public school setting.

CAVA has grown from 250 students when it opened in 2002 to about 13,500 today.

More recently, the school has added 1,500 or 2,000 students each year, said Katrina Abston, CAVA senior head of school.

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Locals enjoy online K-12 education option

By: Mary Elizabeth Robertson | Morganton News Herald Published: September 12, 2012 Updated: September 12, 2012 - 5:28 PM

As a way to stretch, promote recovery month and good health, a day of yoga will be offered on the Old Courthouse Lawn on Saturday.

It started in recognition of recovery month, said Rhonda Lynne Cook, a yoga instructor and independent marketing event coordinator. Yoga teachers in the area are coming together to promote unity and transformative qualities of yoga.

Cook created the event as a way to recognize recovery month and raise money for Burke Substance Abuse Network.

All of the funds raised will go to awareness activities of Burke Substance Abuse Network, she said. We will not turn anyone way.

At Yoga on the Lawn, three yoga classes will be offered beginning at 10 a.m.

Yoga is for everybody at any time in their life, she said.

Morgantons own yoga instructor Peggy Carter, will teach a 45-minute class on the lawn. Following her class, Prema Lynn Felder of Winston-Salem and Asheville Rich Fabio will teach a 45-minute class each.

Following the yoga classes, a drum circle will begin at 1 p.m. The public is invited to bring their percussion instruments and participate.

It will be people sitting in a circle connecting and enjoying the experience together, Cook said. Its wonderful to participate in and watch.

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Yoga on the Lawn set for Saturday

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbK3v8dLSLw

10-09-2012 22:33 presenting a video with 4 easy health and fitness tips. These tips will be very handy if you are planning to get fit, but not compromising your health. You can get more information from your Fitness Gym in Vaughan.

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4 Easy Health and Fitness Tips | Fitness Centre Vaughan | Gym Vaughan | Fitness Club Vaughan - Video