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Some Girls was among the first shops to reopen this afternoon at the Cannon Building in downtown Troy, nearly two weeks after the building was shut down after city inspectors found numerous building code violations.

The store and other businesses were closed just before Christmas, on what is typically one of the busiest periods of the year.

“Our heat just got turned on. Our water is being turned on,” said Tina Simeone, co-owner with Margaret Partyka of Some Girls boutique. But she said it will be a challenge to make up for the lost business.

“We want to make it. We hope to make it,” she said.

The store is holding a sale, and it has notified its customers that it has reopened. Earlier,

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Buildings under construction at T.H. Properties’ Coddington View development off of Farmington Avenue in Upper Pottsgrove are pictured in April 2009. Mercury file photo

In “The Waste Land” poet T.S. Eliot famously expounded, “April is the cruellest month.” Those words proved true on April 24, 2009, when T.H. Properties co-founder Todd Hendricks held a press conference announcing the company had suspended operations.

Six days later, on April 30, T.H.P. declared bankruptcy.

During the ensuing months several T.H.P. Full Post…

From Kelly:

“I don’t watch much TV but I’ve already lost the “cancel cable” argument in my home. I do love the internet though (when it works as it should) and want a home phone line. I’m thinking of dropping all in one, downgrading cable, and switching to Vonage for phone and Verizon high speed internet. Any feedback on Vonage of Verizon internet?”

Here’s the first answer, from Frequent Vistor John:

” I have Verizon DSL at the highest speed and it is very seldom down and works great.

Vonage you can find out about either by doing a goggle search or by going to http://www.vonage.com I note the tv commercials say its $24.95 and one month for free. But you can call

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Earlier today, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama unveiled his economic growth strategy, which is intended to…

…never mind, Hatoyama’s plan is a complete and utter farce, a sick joke with no punchline delivered to a nation of people who need real leadership. Here’s the first paragraph of the Kyodo article:

The government unveiled Wednesday a basic policy for its growth strategy through 2020, aiming to achieve an average economic growth of 3% in nominal terms by boosting demand in the environmental, health and tourism fields and creating a total of 4.76 million jobs in related industries.

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There is a patent law case that may change the way small businesses protect their business methods. According to Inc.com, a recent case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, Bilski v. Doll, may alter the extent to which small and large businesses are able to patent business methods. 

The case directly involves questions regarding the patentability of business methods, but has ramifications on the patent issues relating to computer software. Can a patent be granted to something that is not tied to a machine or transformation? Can business methods be patented? According to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the answer is no. How

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