More Americans are burdened by chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure, often having more than three at a time, and this has helped fuel a big rise in out-of-pocket medical expenses, a study released on Tuesday showed.
Progress Energy in Florida is planning to retire two of its old coal-fired power plants and replace them with nuclear power units from Westinghouse Electric Co.
The two units, which will cost the energy company about $7.65 billion, are expected to be online in about eight years.
In a regulatory sea change that could cost billions of dollars, thousands of U.S. companies — plus foreign corporations that do business here — will adopt global financial reporting rules within five years if regulators have their way.
The impact is likely to surpass that of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the tough anti-corporate fraud law of the Enron era that cost individual businesses millions of dollars in accounting fees. Whether U.S. companies like it or not, the new era of global accounting appears unstoppable, and businesses that ignore the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will fall behind.
Early Sunday morning, Jan. 4 at approximately 1:30 a.m., police from St. Mary’s, Calvert, Maryland State and a canine unit were called handle a disturbance in the rental hall over the Hollywood firehouse.
Eyewitnesses report that multiple fights broke out upstairs during a very large, “go-go” like party.
Reductions proposed to O’Malley would hit schools, health agencies and local police
Maryland’s budget secretary has proposed about $66 million in additional cuts in funds for local jurisdictions, including reductions in state aid to public schools, community colleges, health departments and local police, according to an internal document obtained yesterday by The Baltimore Sun.
Our view: Too many state jobs that should enjoy civil service protection are classified as political appointments; lawmakers should rectify that when the legislature convenes this month
About 7,000 Maryland state workers are classified as “at will” employees, meaning that they serve at the pleasure of the governor and can be fired at any time or for any reason. Governors have long used such plum appointments to bring in trusted aides to carry out their policies and to reward political supporters. But the spoils system is also subject to serious abuse when important posts are filled with unqualified appointees or when competent jobholders become the targets of partisan witch-hunts.
A controversial U.S. Forest Service plan that would have made it easier to build houses in Western mountain forests was dropped Monday when the nation’s largest private landowner abruptly backed off the request that sparked the issue.
Plum Creek Timber, which owns 8 million acres nationwide, withdrew its request for an explicit legal understanding that it has the right to use roads across Forest Service lands for residential development, not just for logging. The Seattle firm cited widespread opposition to the proposal it negotiated behind closed doors over two years with Forest Service chief Mark Rey.
The government’s billion-dollar program to help people prepare for the transition to digital television has run out of money, potentially leaving millions of viewers without coupons to buy converter boxes they need to keep their analog TV sets working after the switch.
As of this past Sunday, consumers who request a $40 coupon to help offset the cost of a converter box are being placed on a waiting list. They may not receive the coupons before Feb. 17, when full-power television stations will shut off traditional analog broadcasts and transmit only digital signals.
With sagging oil prices putting pressure on its own budget, the government of Venezuela has ended its three-year-old, $100 million program providing home heating-oil assistance for poor Americans in 23 states.
GOP Asked to Help Design Bill; $300 Billion in Tax Cuts Sought
President-elect Barack Obama arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday and immediately set to work reassuring skeptical Republicans about his massive economic stimulus package—part of a campaign that earned him praise for seeking their input but questions from those averse to hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending.
I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or ablities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. William Penn
As Congress and President-elect Obama’s transition team craft a stimulus plan, one big question they will have to settle is just how the money will be distributed to ailing states and cities.
The recovery package is expected to be the largest government intervention in the economy since the New Deal. Still, some local officials are worried not enough money will trickle down to them.
Please, please accept a high-paying job with us. In fact, just swing by for an interview and we’ll give you a chance to win cash and prizes.
Sounds too good to be true, especially in an economy riddled with job cuts in nearly every industry. But applicants for nursing jobs are still so scarce that recruiters have been forced to get increasingly inventive.
More signatures, full addresses now needed
A decision by the state’s highest court last month on the county’s transgender case upheld rules that make it more difficult for groups to put referendum issues on the ballot.
The Court of Appeals issued the 63-page opinion after ruling in September that a referendum proposed by a conservative group seeking to overturn the county’s new law that bans discrimination against transgendered people could not go on the Nov. 4 ballot.
E-ZPass users and operators of large trucks will pay more for the use of the state’s toll facilities under a series of changes proposed by the Maryland Transportation Authority to offset declines in revenue and increases in the cost of maintenance, Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari said today.
Police in Charles County are investigating a stabbing at a local high school. A female student was stabbed by a male student this afternoon at Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret. School officials say the incident happened shortly before noon.
Updated by Quack @ 3:03 p.m.:
Information Released by the school:
> January 5, 2009
>
> Dear Parents/Guardians:
>
> I want to make you aware of a serious incident that occurred late this
> morning in the school hallway. A student attacked another student with a
> knife and stabbed her. A third student was able to intervene and our
> administrators as well as community police officer went immediately to the
> area and got the situation under control.
>
> The student who was stabbed was flown to an area hospital for treatment of
> her injuries. Our initial information is that the injuries are serious,
> but not life threatening. The student with the knife was taken to Civista
> Medical Center in the custody of police for treatment of a wound sustained
> in this incident. The school nurse treated the third student who
> intervened.
>
> The administrators and I are continuing our investigation into this
> situation. We take the possession of weapons and attacks on students
> seriously, and in addition to possible criminal charges placed by police,
> any student in possession of a weapon on school grounds is subject to
> discipline up to and including expulsion.
>
> I ask you to again review the school system’s Code of Conduct and talk to
> your children about the seriousness of bringing weapons to school and the
> severe consequences of disregarding the rules. Please also remind your
> students that if they have any information about any illegal, threatening
> or dangerous activity, they should immediately contact a staff member at
> the school.
>
> Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions or
> concerns, please feel free to call the office or e-mail me at
> jpetty@ccboe.com.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jervie Petty
> Principal
> Maurice J. McDonough High School(301)934-2944
For decades, public access programming on cable television has provided a virtually free forum for community activists and aspiring entertainers, for preening star wannabes as well as serious-minded political watchdogs.
But in Los Angeles and across California that forum began crumbling last week, a development that advocates say will strip ordinary citizens of a valuable 1st Amendment platform.
Schoolteachers, college professors and hospital employees should keep an eye out for changes in their retirement plans this year. That’s because they are among the 10 million workers at nonprofit and educational organizations who may face fewer investment choices and tighter restrictions on how they can use the money in their retirement plans because of new IRS rules.
The IRS is requiring retirement plans designed for tax-exempt nonprofit groups and some public sector workers — called 403(b) plans after the IRS code section that created them — to comply with stricter rules. The IRS has allowed such plans to operate with less oversight than their for-profit world counterpart, the 401(k), for the last 40 years.
- Wasted Tax Payer Money- or questionable Judgement in Spending
last comment by: Anne P
01/03/2009 at 05:06 pm - Statues on Rosewick Rd.?
last comment by: BJGoodwin
12/23/2008 at 12:14 pm - Did you ever wonder what happened with......... (read post 1 first)
last comment by: BJGoodwin
12/21/2008 at 09:48 pm - SENATORS/ Congressman- do they work for us? Or for the highest bidder?
last comment by: BJGoodwin
12/21/2008 at 07:15 pm - thirty six hour work week
last comment by: Jack Wyatt
12/20/2008 at 03:40 pm
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