"The Muckrakers: American Journalism During the Age of Reform"
"The Muckrakers"
Overview
"Bloggers are this Generation's Muckrakers"
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Key Vote: Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010
Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 - Vote Passed (237-187, 9 Not Voting)
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The House passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The legislation was sent to the President, who is expected to sign it.
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Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
The House passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The legislation was sent to the President, who is expected to sign it.
Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
Key Vote: Cloture Motion; Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections
Cloture Motion; Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act - Vote Rejected (59-39, 2 Not Voting)
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The Senate again rejected a motion to end debate on campaign finance disclosure legislation. The bill’s future is not clear.
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Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted NO
The Senate again rejected a motion to end debate on campaign finance disclosure legislation. The bill’s future is not clear.
Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted NO
Key Vote: Cloture Motion; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011
Cloture Motion; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 - Vote Rejected (56-43, 1 Not Voting)
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The Senate rejected a cloture motion to move forward on this bill authorizing $726 billion for defense programs in fiscal year 2011. The bill contains provisions repealing a 1993 ban on homosexuals serving openly in the armed forces. The legislation is expected to be considered again in a "lame duck" session after November’s election.
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Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted NO
The Senate rejected a cloture motion to move forward on this bill authorizing $726 billion for defense programs in fiscal year 2011. The bill contains provisions repealing a 1993 ban on homosexuals serving openly in the armed forces. The legislation is expected to be considered again in a "lame duck" session after November’s election.
Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted NO
Key Vote: Rural Energy Savings Program Act
Rural Energy Savings Program Act - Vote Passed (240-172, 20 Not Voting)
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The House passed a bill that would authorize $5 billion over five years to create two energy efficiency loan programs. The bill now goes to the Senate.
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Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
The House passed a bill that would authorize $5 billion over five years to create two energy efficiency loan programs. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
Key Vote: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010
Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 - Vote Passed (61-38, 1 Not Voting)
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The Senate passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The bill now returns to the House, which is expected to agree to Senate amendments and clear the bill for the President's signature.
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Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted YES
The Senate passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The bill now returns to the House, which is expected to agree to Senate amendments and clear the bill for the President's signature.
Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted YES
Key Vote: Confirm Branstetter Stranch
Confirmation of Jane Branstetter Stranch, of Tennessee, to be US Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit - Vote Confirmed (71-21, 8 Not Voting)
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The Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Jane Branstetter Stranch, a Nashville attorney, to the federal bench.
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Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted YES
The Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Jane Branstetter Stranch, a Nashville attorney, to the federal bench.
Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted YES
Key Vote: Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act
Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act - Vote Passed (247-161, 25 Not Voting)
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On Tuesday, the House passed this bill to provide $16.1 billion to extend increased Medicaid assistance to states and $10 billion in funding for states to create or retain teachers' jobs. The bill was then sent to the president, who signed it into law on the same day.
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Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
On Tuesday, the House passed this bill to provide $16.1 billion to extend increased Medicaid assistance to states and $10 billion in funding for states to create or retain teachers' jobs. The bill was then sent to the president, who signed it into law on the same day.
Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted NO
Still Few Women in Management, Report Says
Women made little progress in climbing into management positions in this country even in the boom years before the financial crisis, according to a report to be released on Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office.
As of 2007, the latest year for which comprehensive data on managers was available, women accounted for about 40 percent of managers in the United States work force. In 2000, women held 39 percent of management positions. Outside of management, women held 49 percent of the jobs in both years.
Across the work force, the gap between what men and women earn has shrunk over the last few decades. Full-time women workers closed the gap to 80.2 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2009, up from just 62.3 cents in 1979. Much of this persistent wage gap, however, can be explained by what kinds of jobs the sexes are drawn to, whether by choice or opportunity.
USA is fattest of 33 countries, report says
The United States is the fattest nation among 33 countries with advanced economies, according to a report out today from an international think tank.
Two-thirds of people in this country are overweight or obese; about a third of adults — more than 72 million — are obese, which is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy weight.
Report: Poor science education impairs U.S. economy
Nevertheless, the Rising Above the Gathering Storm review finds little improvement in U.S. elementary and secondary technical education since then.
"Our nation's outlook has worsened," concludes the report panel headed by former Lockheed Martin chief Norman Augustine. The report "paints a daunting outlook for America if it were to continue on the perilous path it has been following":
•U.S. K-12 education in mathematics and science ranks 48th worldwide.
•49% of U.S. adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to circle the sun.
Florida's gay-adoption ban unconstitutional, court rules
Florida's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami ruled Wednesday that the state's 33-year-old ban on gay adoption is unconstitutional, unleashing cheers from the gay community and condemnations from conservatives.
A three-judge panel upheld a Miami court ruling that Martin Gill could adopt the two foster children he had been raising with his partner. The appeals court ruled that the ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional because it singled out gays as unfit parents.
Judge Gerald Cope, who wrote the opinion, said there was no evidence to show that gays were less effective than heterosexual parents.
"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents," Cope wrote. "To the contrary, the parties agree 'that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents.' "
Florida will immediately stop enforcing its ban on adoptions by gay people, Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday.
"It's a very good day for Florida," said Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate as an independent. "It's a very good day for children. Children deserve a loving home to be in, and the opportunity for judges to make this call on a case-by-case basis with every adoption I think is wonderful."
Florida's ban, the only law of its kind in the U.S., dates to 1977. Although gays are allowed to be foster parents, they are denied full adoption rights.
A three-judge panel upheld a Miami court ruling that Martin Gill could adopt the two foster children he had been raising with his partner. The appeals court ruled that the ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional because it singled out gays as unfit parents.
Judge Gerald Cope, who wrote the opinion, said there was no evidence to show that gays were less effective than heterosexual parents.
"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents," Cope wrote. "To the contrary, the parties agree 'that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents.' "
Florida will immediately stop enforcing its ban on adoptions by gay people, Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday.
"It's a very good day for Florida," said Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate as an independent. "It's a very good day for children. Children deserve a loving home to be in, and the opportunity for judges to make this call on a case-by-case basis with every adoption I think is wonderful."
Florida's ban, the only law of its kind in the U.S., dates to 1977. Although gays are allowed to be foster parents, they are denied full adoption rights.
Voters don't support scaling back class-size law
An attempt to scale back Florida's class-size law is going nowhere, according to a new poll.
In November, voters will decide whether to modify the law that they approved eight years ago or keep the strict class size rules that are going into effect this year.
But the poll, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., shows that more than half of voters will oppose Amendment 8, making it highly unlikely the measure could win the 60 percent it would need to pass.
The situation has been made worse because the Legislature did not fully fund the class-size law.
Electives have been cut so principals can afford additional teachers, although some classes are being taught by substitute teachers because of a statewide shortage of math and science instructors.
School Boards across Florida think the law's final requirements — hard caps of 18, 22 and 25 students per class, depending on grade level — are too strict and too expensive.
The Legislature could have helped school districts deal with the cost, but did not do so. The final phase of class size was estimated by the state Department of Education to have cost $350 million, but the Legislature did not provide the additional money.
Amendment 8 aims to keep some of the state's class-size rules in place but give schools more wiggle room when it comes to assigning students to classrooms.
If it does fail, the Florida Legislature will, in the spring, have to figure out a way to keep funding the changes. School districts are already expecting a funding shortfall when the federal stimulus money they have been receiving to stave off layoffs runs out next year.
"Statewide, only 35 percent say they will vote for it, while a 53 percent majority is already lined up against it," J. Bradford Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon, wrote in the report released Friday.
In November, voters will decide whether to modify the law that they approved eight years ago or keep the strict class size rules that are going into effect this year.
But the poll, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., shows that more than half of voters will oppose Amendment 8, making it highly unlikely the measure could win the 60 percent it would need to pass.
The situation has been made worse because the Legislature did not fully fund the class-size law.
Electives have been cut so principals can afford additional teachers, although some classes are being taught by substitute teachers because of a statewide shortage of math and science instructors.
School Boards across Florida think the law's final requirements — hard caps of 18, 22 and 25 students per class, depending on grade level — are too strict and too expensive.
The Legislature could have helped school districts deal with the cost, but did not do so. The final phase of class size was estimated by the state Department of Education to have cost $350 million, but the Legislature did not provide the additional money.
Amendment 8 aims to keep some of the state's class-size rules in place but give schools more wiggle room when it comes to assigning students to classrooms.
If it does fail, the Florida Legislature will, in the spring, have to figure out a way to keep funding the changes. School districts are already expecting a funding shortfall when the federal stimulus money they have been receiving to stave off layoffs runs out next year.
"Statewide, only 35 percent say they will vote for it, while a 53 percent majority is already lined up against it," J. Bradford Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon, wrote in the report released Friday.
History of the White Man's Burden
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Corrine Brown helps kick off campaign opposing redistricting amendments
U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, a black Democrat from a district that spans from Jacksonville to Orlando, and Mario Diaz-Balart, a Hispanic Republican from a South Florida district, are supporting a group called Protect Your Vote, which wants to defeat Amendments 5 and 6. Those amendments are aimed at minimizing gerrymandering in the once-a-decade redrawing of legislative and congressional districts, set to take place again in 2012.
Tax Increase Would Hit Few Small Businesses
Mr. Obama wants to extend the cuts for most taxpayers. But he proposes eliminating them for the top 2 percent of wage earners, whose taxes would rise. Opponents of the plan warn that a tax increase would batter hundreds of thousands of small businesses — from Silicon Valley start-ups to mom-and-pop convenience stores — and prevent them from creating the jobs that might lift the sagging economy.
Despite that emotional appeal, Internal Revenue Service statistics indicate that only 3 percent of small businesses would be subject to the higher tax, and many studies of previous tax increases suggest that it would have minimal impact on hiring.
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, 97 percent of all businesses owners do not earn enough to be subject to the higher rates, which would be levied on income of over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.
Even among the 750,000 businesses that would be subjected to the higher rates in 2011, many are sole proprietors — a classification so amorphous it can include everyone from corporate executives who earn income on rental property to entertainers, hedge fund managers and investment bankers. Because 80 percent of America’s 32 million businesses are sole proprietorships, 90 percent of the tax cut would be derived from businesses without employees.
Number of Americans in poverty jumps to 43.6M; working-age poor at highest level since 1960s
The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
The poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.
The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent — or 50.7 million people — mostly because of the loss of employer-provided health insurance during the recession. Congress passed a health overhaul this year to address the rising numbers of uninsured people, but its main provisions will not take effect until 2014.
The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.
The poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.
The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent — or 50.7 million people — mostly because of the loss of employer-provided health insurance during the recession. Congress passed a health overhaul this year to address the rising numbers of uninsured people, but its main provisions will not take effect until 2014.
Teens report high exposure to sex education
More than 95 percent of U.S. teenagers report that they have had "formal instruction" in sex education in school or other venues outside the home, the federal government said in a survey released Tuesday, but only about two-thirds have been taught about birth-control methods.
The report does not contain trend data, but researchers said their findings that an overwhelming number of U.S. teens receive sex education has been the status quo for at least a decade.
According to data from nearly 2,800 teens, 97 percent of boys and 96 percent of girls said they had received some form of formal sex education in a school, church, community center or some other place before they were 18, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) said.
This gender gap widened when it came to learning about "methods of birth control." Seventy percent of girls said they had such instruction, compared with 62 percent of boys.Costs imposed on Jacksonville library system creating tension with City Hall
Since 2005, the portion of the budget that the Jacksonville library system has control over has increasingly been drying up.
Numbers prepared by the library's accountants show that costs that library officials say are out of their hands - fees imposed on their department by the city - have increased by $11 million, to about 38 percent of the library's $41.7 million budget this year.
Racial Disparity in School Suspensions
The study analyzed four decades of federal Department of Education data on suspensions, with a special focus on figures from 2002 and 2006, that were drawn from 9,220 of the nation’s 16,000 public middle schools.
The study, “Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis,” was published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization.
Throughout America’s public schools, in kindergarten through high school, the percent of students suspended each year nearly doubled from the early 1970s through 2006, the authors said, an increase that they associate, in part, with the rise of so-called zero-tolerance school discipline policies.
In 1973, on average, 3.7 percent of public school students of all races were suspended at least once. By 2006, that percentage had risen to 6.9 percent.
Both in 1973 and in 2006, black students were suspended at higher rates than whites, but over that period, the gap increased. In 1973, 6 percent of all black students were suspended. In 2006, 15 percent of all blacks were suspended.
Among the students attending one of the 9,220 middle schools in the study sample, 28 percent of black boys and 18 percent of black girls, compared with 10 percent of white boys and 4 percent of white girls, were suspended in 2006, the study found.
SC Radioactive Waste Program Runs $1.5B Over Plan
A federal audit shows that the cost of cleaning up millions of gallons of radioactive waste at a South Carolina facility will cost almost $1.5 billion more than expected.
The report released Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the U.S. Department of Energy underestimated the true costs of cleaning up the Savannah River Site in its $3.2 billion bid.
The GAO says the department underestimated labor costs by up to 70 percent and did not account for numerous other expenses.
College Loan Default Rates Rise, Report Says
The number of college students who defaulted on their federal student loans climbed in the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, according to new government data released Monday.
And once again, those who attend for-profit colleges and universities were the most likely to default.
Figures from the U.S. Department of Education show 7 percent of borrowers of federal student loans defaulted within two years of beginning repayment, up from 6.7 percent the previous year and 5.2 percent the year before that.
Default rates crept up in all sectors of higher education -- from 3.7 to 4 percent for private nonprofit schools, 5.9 to 6 percent for public nonprofit schools, and 11 to 11.6 percent for for-profit schools.
The data covers borrowers whose first loan repayments came due between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, and who defaulted before Sept. 30. 2009.
Students at for-profit schools represented 26 percent of federal loan borrowers and 43 percent of all defaulters in 2008-09, the department says.
College Loan Default Rates Rise, Report Says
The number of college students who defaulted on their federal student loans climbed in the fiscal year that ended in September 2008, according to new government data released Monday.
And once again, those who attend for-profit colleges and universities were the most likely to default.
Figures from the U.S. Department of Education show 7 percent of borrowers of federal student loans defaulted within two years of beginning repayment, up from 6.7 percent the previous year and 5.2 percent the year before that.
Default rates crept up in all sectors of higher education -- from 3.7 to 4 percent for private nonprofit schools, 5.9 to 6 percent for public nonprofit schools, and 11 to 11.6 percent for for-profit schools.
The data covers borrowers whose first loan repayments came due between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, and who defaulted before Sept. 30. 2009.
Students at for-profit schools represented 26 percent of federal loan borrowers and 43 percent of all defaulters in 2008-09, the department says.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
History of the Atlanta Compromise Speech
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Number of Families in Shelters Rises
Nevertheless, from 2007 through 2009, the number of families in homeless shelters — households with at least one adult and one minor child — leapt to 170,000 from 131,000, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
U.S. Pressures I.M.F. to Expand Role of Growing Economies
In a move that has met with resistance in Europe, the United States is pushing to reduce the Continent’s influence over the International Monetary Fund and grant more of a say to economies outside of Europe that are growing and leading the global recovery.
The move could shape the governance of the fund, which has taken a more prominent and stronger role after the financial crisis.
Since the onset of the crisis, the I.M.F.’s lending commitments have soared to $195 billion from less than $2 billion in 2007, and total capital on hand is set to rise to about $850 billion from $250 billion.
Graduation rate dismal for Duval black males
In Jacksonville, nearly three out of four black ninth-graders fail to earn a high school diploma four years later, according to a study by the Schott Foundation for Public Education.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based foundation ranks Duval County third from the bottom of school districts nationwide for its black male graduation rate in the 2007-08 school year. Only two other Florida school districts, Pinellas County and Palm Beach, ranked below Duval’s 23 percent graduation rate.
Statewide, white students are 20 percent more likely to graduate than their black counterparts, the study found.
The numbers are not without controversy. The Florida Department of Education says that most national organizations use estimations and different methodology. The state’s own numbers say that 51 percent of black males in Duval County graduated in 2008-09, according to a district spokeswoman.
Jackson came armed with a list of possible solutions — among them, stronger literacy programs, more highly qualified teachers in majority black schools and mentoring. All require funding, something he acknowledged is in short supply. But invest now in education, he warned, or pay later for more prisons and probation officers.About $28 million in federal education funds headed to First Coast
First Coast school districts are expecting about $28 million in federal education funds to try innovative programs starting in the 2011-12 school year.
But none of the participating First Coast school districts said the money they expect to receive will be enough to fully implement the initiatives.
Duval County Public Schools is expecting to receive $5.5 million to $6 million a year for four years. That will be more than $15 million a year short of what the district projects would be needed to satisfy the state’s vision.In Duval, Pratt-Dannals said some of the money could also go to developing an urban academy to prepare educators teaching in urban environments. Ultimately the federal funds will be an asset, he said.
“I think it’s a positive thing,” he said. “I’m confident that we can move forward with this and it can be a helpful source of funds in order to get us where we want to go.”
Jacksonville gets additional $7 million for neighborhood program
A major portion of new federal neighborhood stabilization funds announced Wednesday will go to Florida, with Jacksonville getting $7.1 million to boost its program.
The $1 billion in additional federal money being distributed throughout the United States is mostly aimed at rehabilitating foreclosed properties and creating jobs and affordable housing while keeping property values from declining further in the neighborhoods hit hardest by the recession, federal officials said.
The program has been operating in Jacksonville mostly on the Northside and Westside. Wight Greger, director of the city Housing and Neighborhoods Department, said the funds would be a much-needed boost to the program, which helps pay for 40 percent of the cost to buy and renovate foreclosed homes.
The idea is to spur developers to work on projects they might not otherwise try and to keep abandoned and crumbling foreclosed homes from further bringing down neighborhoods.
The $26 million the city received as part of the 2008 stimulus package resulted in the acquisition of 253 vacant, foreclosed units that have been rehabbed or are in the process of it, and the demolition of 100 more.
CDC chief says U.S. smoking rate of 20% is 'a paradox'
After a 40-year decline, the U.S. smoking rate has hovered around 20% since 2005, although states with aggressive tobacco control programs have seen their rates drop as low as 13%, Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday.
"In some ways, this is a paradox," Frieden said at a news conference about a new CDC smoking report. "Tobacco control has strong bipartisan support. Even most smokers want to quit. In 2010, we know better than ever what works to reduce tobacco use."
Yet nearly 47 million adults smoke, he said. Smokers are more likely to be male, high school dropouts and living below the poverty level, according to the CDC.
Florida slow to spend federal stimulus cash
Florida agencies have spent only about 40 percent of their share of federal stimulus money, a slow flow of funds that has made a limited impact on the state's dire job market.
Cities, counties, universities and some other recipients in the state have used only about one-fifth of their share. In all, about $5.7 billion of stimulus grants awarded to Florida has yet to be spent.
Florida's stimulus money is expected to reach $21.7 billion. The bulk of it is in the pipeline, and the state has until 2015 to spend it all.
About half — $11 billion — has been or will be sent to individuals through extra unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid and direct-aid programs.
But nearly 60 percent of the $6.4 billion awarded so far to state agencies — about $4 billion — has not been spent, according to Don Winstead, Gov. Charlie Crist's stimulus adviser. This includes money for schools, transportation, job training and placement, health care, police and environmental protection.
Other grant recipients, mostly local governments and universities, have been awarded $2.3 billion. But through July, they had spent only $472 million.
With the exception of the money given to public schools — which state officials say has saved the jobs of at least 20,000 teachers, aides and other personnel — much of the stimulus spending has provided unemployed Floridians with benefits and health care rather than create jobs. And it's the job-creation money that has not been spent as rapidly.
Cities, counties, universities and some other recipients in the state have used only about one-fifth of their share. In all, about $5.7 billion of stimulus grants awarded to Florida has yet to be spent.
Florida's stimulus money is expected to reach $21.7 billion. The bulk of it is in the pipeline, and the state has until 2015 to spend it all.
About half — $11 billion — has been or will be sent to individuals through extra unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid and direct-aid programs.
But nearly 60 percent of the $6.4 billion awarded so far to state agencies — about $4 billion — has not been spent, according to Don Winstead, Gov. Charlie Crist's stimulus adviser. This includes money for schools, transportation, job training and placement, health care, police and environmental protection.
Other grant recipients, mostly local governments and universities, have been awarded $2.3 billion. But through July, they had spent only $472 million.
With the exception of the money given to public schools — which state officials say has saved the jobs of at least 20,000 teachers, aides and other personnel — much of the stimulus spending has provided unemployed Floridians with benefits and health care rather than create jobs. And it's the job-creation money that has not been spent as rapidly.
Food safety groups slam USDA egg graders at farms in recall
U.S. Department of Agriculture staff regularly on site at two Iowa egg processors implicated in a national salmonella outbreak were supposed to enforce rules against the presence of disease-spreading rodents and other vermin, federal regulations show.
Though USDA says its authority was limited, the agency's egg graders were at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms at least 40 hours a week — including before the outbreak — inspecting the size and quality of eggs inside processing buildings.
USDA regulations say buildings and "outside premises" must be free of conditions that harbor vermin, but the agency takes a narrow view of its responsibilities. Under the USDA's unwritten interpretation of the regulations, egg graders only look for vermin inside the specific processing building where they are based, said Dean Kastner, an assistant USDA branch chief in poultry grading program.
New report shows state highways in good shape
A new report on the condition of the USA's state highways finds that they are in the best shape they have been in nearly 20 years.
The annual study by the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based, libertarian, non-profit think tank, credits road improvement progress man by states and decreased wear and tear as commuters and commercial truckers drove less during the recession.
Hartgen measured the condition and cost-effectiveness of state roads in 11 categories, including deficient bridges, urban traffic congestion, fatality rates and pavement condition. National performance in all of those areas improved in 2008, he says. For instance, pavement on urban interstates and rural primary roads is the smoothest since 1993.
Young, single, childless women out-earn male counterparts
Single, childless women in their twenties are finding success in the city: They're out-earning their male counterparts in the USA's biggest metropolitan areas.
Women ages 22 to 30 with no husband and no kids earn a median $27,000 a year, 8% more than comparable men in the top 366 metropolitan areas, according to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data crunched by the New York research firm Reach Advisors and released Wednesday. The women out-earn men in 39 of the 50 biggest cities and match them in another eight. The disparity is greatest in Atlanta, where young, childless single women earn 21% more than male counterparts.
Education is the key: "Young women are going to college in droves," Reach Advisors reports. "Nearly three-quarters of girls who graduate from high school head to college, vs. two-thirds of the boys. But they don't stop there. Women are now 1.5 times more likely than men to graduate from college or earn advanced degrees." Armed with degrees, young women command higher salaries.
Florida's illegal immigrants have fled state
The analysis by Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., found that more illegal immigrants have been leaving Florida than have moved in during the past few years. A small percentage have become legalized.
The population of immigrants living illegally in Florida dropped by an estimated 375,000 as the economic downturn worsened from 2007 to 2009, the study said. There were an estimated 675,000 undocumented immigrants in the state in 2009, down from more than a million in 2008.
The population of immigrants living illegally in Florida dropped by an estimated 375,000 as the economic downturn worsened from 2007 to 2009, the study said. There were an estimated 675,000 undocumented immigrants in the state in 2009, down from more than a million in 2008.
Sarah Palin Speech Contract Should Not Have Been Secret, Rules Judge
A California judge has ruled that the $75,000 in fees paid to Sarah Palin for her speech at a state university should not have been kept secret.
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