(BPT) - Al fresco dining is one of the great pleasures of warm weather. Whether you’re hosting a neighborhood barbecue or an intimate dinner party on your deck, outdoor dining is a great way to savor good food, company and the great outdoors. To ensure your meals are safe and enjoyable, it’s important to know how to prepare, transport and store food for outdoor eating.

So your mind is made up, and you are ready for a home renovation project. You have met several contractors, some referred, others you found, reviewed many estimates, laughed at a few, and feel you have nailed it. Countless pictures have been shown to you, vision has been sold, and you have enough samples in product selection to open your own home improvement store. Are you as ready as you think? True, it took you weeks, maybe even months of researching to help make that final decision, and you feel that the contractor of your choice is going to bring your vision to light. This all may be true, but there are mistakes you do not want to make that tend to get overlooked. If you are looking for your upcoming home renovation to be headache free, these are 5 mistakes to avoid running to the medicine cabinet.

(BPT) - When it comes to home improvement, Americans have embraced doing it themselves – in a big way. Among homeowners who plan to make improvements, 64 percent say they will do it themselves, according to American Express’ Consumer Spending and Saving Report. Yet one area of home improvement continues to give even adventurous and confident DIYers pause – bathroom renovation.

Joel Miele Sr., who served as chairman of Community Board 10 for 11 years and later was commissioner of the Department of Buildings and the Department of Environmental Protection under Mayor Giuliani, passed away Monday at the age of 78.

Miele, a resident of Old Howard Beach, was also a well-known engineer in private practice with a firm on Furmanville Avenue in Middle Village. His partner in that firm was Benjamin Leonardi, who served as chairman of Community Board 9 in the 1990s.

(BPT) - Winter lingered far too long this year. It was cold, it was blustery, and many of us were left wondering if it would ever end. Now summer is here - and it’s time to get outdoors.

(BPT) - The arrival of milder temperatures means dining al fresco, hosting neighborhood cookouts and enjoying intimate cocktail parties under the stars. When creating a backyard oasis to entertain family and friends this summer, it’s important that it be both inviting and able to withstand the wear and tear that goes hand-in-hand with warm weather fun.

(BPT) - One in five Americans suffer from allergies, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). As the 2013 allergy season begins, experts warn that it may be one of the worst in recent years, with people experiencing an unusually strong reaction due to increased tree pollen.

(StatePoint) With more women rising to top positions in business and government, the topic of women and their capacity for leadership has been all the buzz in the media lately.

(BPT) - Warm weather is here, which means many homeowners are beginning new DIY projects. Have you included home safety on your list?

For the third straight hearing and the third straight month, the Board of Standards and Appeals declined to vote on whether to grant a zoning variance for a medical building on 31st Street in Astoria, instead postponing the decision again until next month.

The project’s developers and the neighbors who live behind the building have been fighting for years over substantial damage to the neighbors’ homes that they say was caused by the facility’s construction. The neighbors are also worried about noise, light and air pollution they say the structure and the 135-car parking garage may cause.

A phone rings on the first floor of a one-family home on Cronston Avenue in Belle Harbor. The sound of the ring echoes through the rooms and hallways of the home, which is in no shape to inhabit, but works just fine for a makeshift office space.

Todd Miner storms down the staircase and across the torn-up floors of the home to answer the receiver, which sits on a folding table in the middle of what in better times would serve as a living room, but now is nicknamed the “war room.”

(NAPSI)—A remodeled basement can add comfort and value to a home. In fact, according to Remodeling magazine’s 2013 Cost vs. Value Report, basement remodels are still one of the top remodeling projects and typically consist of about a third of the entire home’s available space.

(NAPSI)—If you’re like an increasing number of Americans at springtime, you’ve begun thinking about better weather and outdoor entertaining. One of the most popular ways to enjoy the season is making sure you have a great outdoor space. For some 30 million American homes, this means a deck.

(BPT) - When you’re done with spring cleaning, you may assume you’ve eliminated any allergy triggers that were lurking in your home. But the truth is, if you don’t clean the right way, you might be making the problem worse.

(BPT) - Humans may sneeze and sniffle when trees and flowers start to bud in the spring, but many pet owners wouldn’t know if their pet was suffering from treatable allergy symptoms, which are likely to occur at the same time of year.

(NAPSI)—Many people may be surprised to learn how simple it can be to design a closet system that works beautifully with their unique space.