"Yet relatively few in the U.S. know much about these diseases -- and far too few adults get vaccinated, find surveys by the CDC and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)."
"It may surprise you to learn that over 50,000 adults die each year of diseases that are potentially vaccine preventable," NFID president-elect William Schaffner, MD, said at a news conference held to announce the survey results."
"CapGemini's survey contains some interesting geographic wrinkles. High-tax areas like New York and California—places where politicians have been talking about potentially raising taxes on the rich to deal with budget crises—held up better than the national average. The New York region, which has the most HNWIs, at 561,000, lost only 13.6 percent of its rich population last year. Los Angeles and San Francisco lost 17.8 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively. As for Maryland, the Baltimore metro area had a 19 percent drop in high-net-worth population."
"Comparative tax havens like Florida, Nevada, and Arizona didn't see an influx of millionaires in 2008. Far from it. In 2008, Las Vegas lost 38 percent of its HNWIs, and Phoenix lost 34 percent. Florida, which has no state income tax and hasn't been talking about one, was a killing field for the rich. The three major metro areas that lost more than 40 percent of millionaires in 2008 were all in no-income-tax Florida—Orlando (42 percent), Miami (42 percent), and Tampa (51 percent). The decline has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with bursting asset bubbles. Florida, Vegas, and Phoenix are places whose economies were dominated by ultra-bubbly real estate markets and where lots of businesses owned by wealthy people are dependent on construction, tourism, and leisure—sectors that got seriously whacked in 2008."
"The Rand researchers examined the economic performance of 38 industries from 1987 through 2005, in an attempt to assess the economic impact of “excess” growth in health care costs on U.S. industries. Excess growth is defined as the increase in health care costs that exceeds the overall growth of the nation’s GDP—a yearly occurrence in the U.S. The team compared changes in employment, economic output and the value added to the GDP product for industries that provide health benefits to most workers to those where few workers have job-based health insurance."
"After adjusting for other factors, industries that provide insurance had significantly less employment growth than industries where health benefits were not common. Industries with a larger percentage of workers receiving employer-sponsored health insurance also showed lower growth in their contribution to the GDP."
"The rate of growth in U.S. health care costs has outpaced the growth rate in the gross domestic product (GDP) for many years. In 1940, the share of GDP accounted for by health care spending was just 4.5%. By 1990, it had reached 12.2%, and 16% in 2005, when health care spending totaled nearly $2 trillion, or $6,697 per person, far more than any other nation. This year health care spending is on track to equal 18% of GDP.""The committee voted to approve an amendment to set the millage rate at 8.48, which happens to be the current millage rate for homeowners."
"We felt it important to get into our budget and cut unnecessary expenses and dig into the budget process before we raise taxes," said City Council president Richard Clark. "We need to look at the budget before we look at tax increases."
"The issue will be voted on by the full city council on July 28. The committee has a total of 7 members."
"Figures from various sources, including the Census Bureau, show that 30% to 50% fewer Mexicans came here — legally or illegally — in 2008 compared with 2006, says Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the non-partisan research center, who is a co-author of the study."
"Last year, 653,035 of the 705,005 people caught breaching the southern border were Mexican, he says."
"The mushrooming foreclosure crisis affected more than 1.5 million homes in the first six months of the year, according to a report released Thursday by foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc."
"The data show that, despite the Obama administration's plan to encourage the lending industry to prevent foreclosures by handing out $50 billion in subsidies, the nation's housing woes continue to spread. Experts don't expect foreclosures to peak until the middle of next year."
"Foreclosure filings rose more than 33% in June compared with the same month last year and were up nearly 5% from May, RealtyTrac said."
"It was the fourth-straight month in which more than 300,000 households receiving a foreclosure filing, which includes default notices and several other legal notices that homeowners receive before they finally lose their homes. Banks repossessed more than 79,000 homes in June, up from about 65,000 a month earlier.""The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, issued a report analyzing racial and ethnic jobless rates in the 50 states. It said the 18-month recession has erased many recent gains for minorities because manufacturing, construction and trade jobs, often the easiest for them to obtain, are melting away."
"At the end of the first quarter of this year, Alabama's black jobless rate soared to 15.1 percent from 5.3 in the 2007 fourth quarter. For whites, however, the rate rose to 5.8 percent from 3 percent.""For blacks, Louisiana had the worst comparable rate. They were three times more likely than whites to be jobless. In Alabama, New York, Mississippi and Texas, blacks were more than twice as likely to be unemployed."
"Marquez is just one of hundreds of sex offenders who are unable to find work or housing in Broward County. One local blogger describes his plight as being "under house arrest without a home."
"And the problem isn't just there. In Miami, a legal battle has erupted over a growing colony of sex offenders who have been forced under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The vagrants live in shacks, creating a national dialogue over the unintended consequences of residency laws."
"Marquez was required to register in his Oakland Park neighborhood and carry a large GPS box to track his every move. He must observe an indoor curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and not live within 2,500 feet of a school, day care facility, playground or other place where children regularly congregate."
"That, in addition to the high cost of rent, has made finding a place to live impossible, according to his public defender lawyer, Cheryl Koewing."
"No one wants to employ him," Koewing told ABCNews.com. "How can law enforcement keep track of these individuals and not have them turning to other means to get food to live? They've served their time."
"Some of you were nice enough to play "research team" for this correspondent, and search out a few things in the bill. Jason read my mind by searching for provisions that would authorize spending "such sums" as may be necessary for certain sections of the bill."
"There are a dozen of them:
* p. 120, to cover the start up costs of the government health insurance option
* p. 300, to pay for a study on why Medicare costs vary around the nation
* p. 404, to pay for a section on "Ensuring Effective Communication In Medicare"
* p. 610, for a study of large intrastate chains of nursing facilities
* p. 864, to increase funding for Community Health Centers between 2013-2019
* p. 869, to fund the National Health Service Corps Program for 2013-2019
* p. 892, to increase money for the Public Health Investment Fund
* p. 897, more on funding for the Public Health Investment Fund
* p. 931, "such sums" to fund a cryptic reference to public health law
* p. 1001, money to fund School Based Health Clinics for 2011-2014
* p. 1006, to fund the National Medical Device Registry
* p. 1018, to fund Grant Programs to Provide Education to Nurses"
"Since taxes are such a hot button issue, I thought I would also look at the tax hikes included in this bill, as a penalty for those not getting health care coverage."
"If you make $350,000-$500,000 in modified adjusted gross income and don't buy health insurance, then you would be subjected to a 1% surtax; If you make $500,000 to $1,000,000 and don't buy health insurance, you would be hit with a 1.5% surtax;"
"And if you make more than a million a year, you would see a 5.4% surtax. After 2012, the 1% rate would go up to 2% and the 1.5% rate would double as well to 3%."
"Allied troops reported 736 IED incidents last month, up from 234 in June 2007, according to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, a Defense Department group. "Incidents" include bombs that detonate and are effective, as well as bombs that are found and cleared and those that detonate but are not injurious."
"So far this year, 107 American service members have been killed in Afghanistan – compared with 155 for all of 2008, according to the website icasualties.org. Last month, there were 38 coalition fatalities, but so far in July, not yet half over, there have already been 40. British forces have lost 15 soldiers in the past 11 days."
"Climate change legislation pending in Congress could translate into a 10 percent electricity rate increase for JEA customers within three years."
"JEA CEO Jim Dickenson said Tuesday the cost would trickle down to customers — many of them irritated already with a number of recent rate increases — if the city-owned utility has to purchase $130 million in pollution allowances in order to obey the law in 2012."
"By 2020, utility companies would have to be generating 20 percent of their electricity with renewable resources like solar and wind power. The JEA grid currently includes 1 percent renewable energy. Even with a 15-megawatt solar farm planned for a 100-acre plot in the Westside, the total renewable portfolio would be only 1.2 percent."
"By 2050, utility companies would have to either reduce carbon emissions to 80 percent of what they were in 2005, or purchase carbon credits from other companies meeting the demand."
"U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., the lone regional legislator who voted in favor of the climate change bill, released a statement saying it would cost the average American household 50 cents daily, a small price to protect the environment — including the 1,350 miles of Florida coastline in the crosshairs of global warming. Brown said the bill would also spawn needed green-energy jobs."
"Her Republican counterpart in the 7th District, John Mica, voted against the bill. He said it would cost the average American family $1,400 a year and force some businesses to send jobs overseas.""The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, a supporter of Duncan and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's push for more control of city schools, issued the report June 30. It says city schools have made little progress since 2003."
"Its key findings stand in stark contrast to assertions Obama made last December when he nominated Duncan to be Education secretary. And though the findings are by no means as explosive, they're reminiscent of revelations from Houston in 2003, when state investigators found that 15 high schools had underreported dropout rates under former superintendent Rod Paige, who by then was George W. Bush's Education secretary."
"In December, Obama said that during a seven-year tenure, Duncan had boosted elementary school test scores "from 38% of students meeting the standards to 67%" — a gain of 29 percentage points. But the new report found that, adjusting for changes in tests and procedures, students' pass rates grew only about 8 percentage points."
"Obama also said Chicago's dropout rate "has gone down every year he's been in charge." Though that's technically true, the committee says it's still unacceptably high: About half of Chicago students drop out of the city's non-selective-enrollment high schools. And more than 70% of 11th-graders fail to meet state standards, a trend that "has remained essentially flat" over the past several years."
"Even among those who graduate, it says, skills are poor: An analysis of students entering the Chicago City Colleges in the fall of 2006 showed that 69% were not prepared for college-level reading, 79% were not prepared for writing, and 95% were not prepared for math."
A list of $993.8 million in expenses for Jacksonville's next fiscal year shows that despite departmental budget-trimming, spending at City Hall is projected to increase.
Although the city's projected $110 million in pension costs next fiscal year has been made a primary culprit, there are also concerns about the growing cost of health care and electricity.
The numbers remain fluid until Mayor John Peyton delivers his budget proposal Monday to City Council, but overall spending appears to be going up by $22.4 million.
The 2.3 percent increase for 2009-10 tops last year's 1.8 percent, which was heralded as the lowest since 1991, despite a multimillion-dollar public safety increase.
Next year's budget is growing despite $41 million in planned cuts, most of them to employee compensation. To prevent deeper cuts, Peyton is proposing a 12 percent property tax rate increase.
Although he gave department heads a directive to cut at least 5 percent from their operating budgets, total departmental expenses are expected to jump by $33 million, according to the latest figures released by the mayor's office.
However, $30 million of that increase stems from more spending by the police and fire departments, which were not directed to trim their budgets.
Although Peyton is proposing cutting $1.1 million from the libraries on top of the 5 percent reduction, the library budget actually is increasing by $3.3 million."Such an expansion would require spending billions more than the $7.5 billion the administration has budgeted annually to build up the Afghan army and police over the next several years, and the likely deployment of thousands more U.S. troops as trainers and advisers, officials said. "
"College students are borrowing more and taking on riskier forms of debt than ever before, according to a national analysis released Thursday."
“Drowning in Debt: The Emerging Student Loan Crisis,” released by an independent education policy think tank called the Education Sector, analyzed 15 years of data through the 2007-2008 academic year."
"The study found:
"Some of the specific stats included in the report include:
"How a police boycott of Gate would hurt the business is uncertain. A veritable empire built by the mayor’s father, Herb Peyton, in the 1960s, Gate has 225 locations in six Southeastern states."
"The company also has a stake in $21 million worth of contracts to fuel the city motor pool, including police cruisers, which officers take home after work."
"Earmarks are usually listed in what's called the "report" which accompanies the bill, where the legislative intentions of the Appropriations Committee are spelled out. They are just recommendations, which some argue don't even have the force of law."
"If you think it is time consuming to read a bill, it is much more time consuming to read the report, which can be hundreds and hundreds of pages of explanation."
"The report provides one of the first in-depth looks at obese boomers, and its implications are sobering. This first wave of aging boomers will mean a jump of obese Medicare patients that ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the oldest boomers are obese."
"Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the obese would save money by dying sooner. But more recent research instead suggests that better treatments are keeping them alive nearly as long — but they're much sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Medicare spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for an obese senior than for the non-obese, Levi said."
"The U.S. economy decreased at an annualized rate of 5.5 percent in the first quarter after a 6.3 percent decline in the last quarter of 2008."
"The Bureau of Economic Analysis, which released first quarter gross domestic product figures Thursday, said the improved performance is due to a 1.4 percent increase in real personal consumption."
"The decline in GDP, which measures the output of goods and services produced in the U.S., coincided with a rise in corporate profits, which increased $48.1 billion in the first quarter following a $250.3 billion decrease in the fourth quarter of 2008."
"The US has revealed it is sending weapons and cash to the Somali government to aid its fight against al Shabab."
"The US state department said on Thursday it was "concerned" about whether the government of Sharif Ahmed could be overwhelmed by fighters from the group."
"Washington was hoping to help "repel the onslaught of extremist forces which are intent on ... spoiling efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia," Ian Kelly, a state department spokesman, said."
"The estimate is based on 2002 levels of air pollution from gasoline cars, factories, and other sources. It represents a drop from a 2006 estimate, when the EPA predicted an average of 42 cancer cases per million people based on 1999 air pollution levels."
"For an extra $115 next year, Mayor John Peyton says, the average Jacksonville homeowner would save things like fire stations, libraries, children’s programs and recycling."
"The mayor made his plan for a 1.2 mill property tax increase official Thursday."
"Peyton called his proposed 14 percent property tax rate increase a “marginal revenue play” that he thinks taxpayers will ultimately accept for the good of the city. Jacksonville, he said, has spent years under-investing in everything from parks to police."
“We have ordered up government on the cheap,” he said. “My concern is with further cuts, we make our city not only a lesser place to live but un-competitive as we try to grow this economy.”
"His “Fix it Now” plan also depends on $40 million in spending cuts, most of them coming from freezing wages, furloughing employees, eliminating 100 vacant positions and requiring all workers to contribute to their health-care plan.""Of the $40 million in cuts — which are coming regardless of a tax increase — city employees are hit hardest:
- A salary freeze is expected to save $8 million.
- A 5 percent across-the-board departmental budget cut would save $8.5 million.
- Eliminating 100 vacant positions would free up $5 million in salary and benefit expenses.
- Targeting $10 million in savings from furloughs and a renegotiated union worker health plan."
"The Labor Department said the number of mass layoff actions -- defined as job cuts involving at least 50 people from a single employer -- increased to 2,933 in May from 2,712 in April, resulting in the loss of 312,880 jobs."
"It was the largest loss of jobs connected to mass layoffs on records dating to 1995."
"The economy has lost six million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Economists polled by Reuters expect the economy shed a further 368,000 jobs in June."
"The study was done by Press Ganey, a consultant for more than 10,000 health care facilities (more than 40% of the USA's hospitals). For the fifth straight year, customer satisfaction showed a slight increase, to 83.7% from 83.1% in 2007."
"The bad news in the report: The average time spent for each visit to an emergency room is 4 hours and 3 minutes, a two-minute decline from 2007. Lengthy stays also were highlighted in April by the Government Accountability Office, which found some waits for emergent patients — those who should see a doctor in one to 14 minutes — were more than twice as long as they should be."
"The seasonally adjusted rate for May is 10.2 percent. That translates to 943,000 unemployed out of a labor force of 9.2 million, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation."
"Nationwide, the unemployment rate is 9.4 percent."
"The state’s unemployment rate is up 4.4 percentage points from the same period a year ago. The last time the rate was higher was October 1975, when it was 11 percent."
"The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan statistical area was 9.7 percent, up from 9.3 percent in April and 5.2 percent a year ago. The rate in Duval County was 10.2 percent, up from 9.8 percent in April and 5.4 percent a year earlier.""Crist also signed a new law making it more difficult for elected officials and high-ranking public employees to "double dip" by collecting a salary and a pension at the same time. Another measure he signed would give law enforcement officers suspected of wrongdoing the opportunity to review evidence and witness statements before they are questioned."
"Pharmacies will be required to tell the state within 15 days who received a drug and what was prescribed. Pain clinics also will be required to register with the state and submit to annual inspections."
"The double-dipping measure (SB 479) will require officials to stay in retirement for six months, instead of only one under existing law, before going back to work in the same or another sate or local government job."
"There are 148 public schools in the county, and 101 of them scored A or B, more than two-thirds. Last year, the number was 85."
"In 2008, 26 schools scored a D or F; this year, the number is down to 19."
"Or did they?"
"Defeated challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi claims that the official result of 62.6 percent for Mr. Ahmadinejad and just 33.7 percent for him was a "dangerous charade," and has called for a new election. His newspaper, Kalameh Sabz, reported that more than 10 million votes were missing personal identification numbers that made the votes untraceable. He also says some polling stations closed prematurely, preventing some voters from casting ballots. "
"Results from 39.2 million handwritten ballots came much more swiftly than in previous votes, emerging within hours. Detailed election data typically released has not been made public."
"Iran's Supreme Leader sanctioned Ahmadinejad's victory after a day, instead of the customary three. "
"Earlier polls appeared to indicate a stronger showing for Ahmadinejad, who – though under fire for poor economic performance, a surge of inflation, and unemployment – had made 60 visits to Iran's provinces handing out cash and development projects."
"The final "official" figures, however, gave Ahmadinejad 24.5 million votes, and Mousavi 13.2 million. That result was a shock for many Iranians and analysts."
"A study released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Children and Families shows violent crime committed by minors while drinking costs about $316 million. Alcohol-related traffic crashes by minors costs about $642.7 million."
"According to the study, the number of Florida minors who reported drinking in the past 30 days was higher than the national average at 37 percent, compared to 29 percent.""Senators who oversee the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package held stocks in many of the banks bailed out towards the end of last year, according to financial disclosure reports released Friday."
"According to the reports detailing senators’ finances in 2008, nearly half of the members of the Senate Banking Committee had holdings in financial institutions that have taken funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The panel has jurisdiction over the bailout fund and other relief efforts directed by federal regulators to save the nation’s financial system."
"Net worth for households and non-profit groups decreased to $50.4 trillion, the lowest level since 2004, from $51.7 trillion in the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds report today. The government began keeping quarterly records in 1952."
"And venture capitalists agree that investments are more likely to increase in countries outside of the U.S. than domestically in the next three years. Half of the venture capitalists surveyed said investment will increase in Asia (excluding India); 43 percent named India; 36 percent selected South America; 25 percent said Europe and the United Kingdom; and just 17 percent said investment would increase in North America."
"Fifty-two percent of all venture capitalists surveyed said they already invest outside their home countries."
"The study found the city isn't setting aside enough money every year for maintenance and construction and is not able to adequately take care of its assets."
"And the biggest threat to the city's financial health is the underfunded pension plans owed to fire and police and other city workers. The city now owes the funds $1 billion."
"The taxpayers’ investment in the U.S. auto industry rose to $80.3 billion, after the U.S. Treasury provided a new $30.1 billion bankruptcy loan to General Motors (GMGMQ: undefined, undefined, undefined%) on Wednesday, two days after GM filed for bankruptcy, a new Treasury report said."
"The funding amounts, through 15 transactions since December, total more than 10% of the $700 billion in bailout money Congress approved for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, in October, when it was expected to help stabilize mainly banks."
"If you do not immediately surrender possession and move out of the unit by May 30, 2009, FEMA will initiate legal action to gain possession of the housing unit," reads the May 1 note sent to thousands of residents living in the Cavalier model trailers along the Gulf Coast."
"However, after FEMA was contacted by The Washington Times with questions about the evictions, the agency released a statement Friday that suggested not everyone will be put out on the street."
"The expenditures were legal, properly accounted for and drawn from allowances the U.S. government grants to lawmakers. Equipment purchased with office expense accounts must be returned to the House or the federal General Services Administration when a lawmaker leaves office."
"The records show that some lawmakers spent heavily in the final months of the year to draw down allowances before the end of December -- a time when U.S. households were paring their budgets and lawmakers were criticizing Detroit auto executives for taking private aircraft to Washington to plead their case for taxpayer funding.""House members get a government expense allowance of $1.3 million to $1.9 million a year. Senators get $2.9 million to $4.5 million. The disparity is based on several factors, with lawmakers whose home states are far from Washington, for example, typically receiving more to cover their higher travel expenses."
"If lawmakers don't seek reimbursement for all of their allowance money for the year, the remainder doesn't roll over to the next year, but stays with the Treasury. The review showed that the increased year-end spending went not only toward equipment but also to fund year-end "bonuses" to aides. The average House aide earned 17% more in the fourth quarter of the year, when the bonuses were paid, than in previous quarters, according to an earlier Journal analysis. Payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $14,000."
"The report found that, in 2008, uninsured people received $116 billion in health care from hospitals, doctors and other providers. The uninsured paid 37 percent of that amount out of their own pockets, and government programs and charities covered another 26 percent."
"That left about $43 billion unpaid, and that sum made its way into premiums charged by private insurance companies to businesses and individuals, the report said."
"Prime fixed-rate loans comprise 65 percent of the $9.9 trillion in outstanding first mortgages, according to the industry group."
"Foreclosure actions were started on an all-time high 1.37 percent of first mortgages in the quarter, a record increase from 1.08 percent the prior quarter."
"It seemed among the easiest of his transparency pledges and is entirely under his control, but President Obama is finagling his promise to post bills on the White House Web site for comment for five days before he signs them."
"Mr. Obama last week signed four bills, each just a day or two after Congress passed and sent it over to him."
"The White House said it posted links from its Web site to Congress' legislative Web site about a week before Mr. Obama signed the measures, but transparency advocates say that doesn't match the president's pledge to give Americans time to comment on the final version he is about to sign."
"He didn't say, 'When there's a bill heading to my desk,' or 'When we're pretty sure a bill will soon be passed.' He said when a bill ends up on his desk - a strong implication that public review would follow the bill arriving at his desk," said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute."
"By a 5-4 vote, the conservative majority overruled a 23-year-old Supreme Court decision that barred the police from initiating questioning after a defendant asserted the right to an attorney at an arraignment or similar proceeding."
"Unemployment in Jacksonville dipped slightly to 9.2 percent in April, down from a seasonally adjusted 9.4 percent in March but still double the rate a year ago."
"The numbers were announced Friday by the state’s Agency or Workforce Innovation. Statewide unemployment dipped from a seasonally adjusted 9.8 percent in March to 9.6 percent in April. The rate was 4.9 percent in April 2008."
"Florida’s air travel bill between April 13 and April 30 was nearly $33,000, with the governor and state attorney general racking up the most flight time."
"The information comes from state travel logs that Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced are now posted on line by the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS)."
"The third grade results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) were released today."
"More students are at or above grade-level than the FCAT has ever seen. Looking long-term, the percentage of third graders at grade level or better is up 26% in nine years."
"Overall, 78% of third graders are at or above grade level, a 2% increase over last year. The reading scores slipped from 72% last year to 71% this year."
"Only 35 percent of customers polled said they are highly committed to their retail banks, down from 37 percent in 2008 and 41 percent in 2007."
"Rising fees were the main reason that customers switched banks. One in three who changed banks in the last year said they did so because of higher fees, according to the survey, which was released on Tuesday."
"A study late last year by Bankrate.com found that lenders were imposing record high fees on such items as bounced checks and ATM charges, while boosting the minimum deposit amounts needed to avoid monthly fees."
"When banks are charging 30 percent interest rates, they are not making credit available," said Senator Sanders. "They are engaged in loan sharking." Also known as usury. Throughout history, usury has been decried by writers, philosophers, and religious leaders."
"Nearly 70% of JEA customers consume 6,000 gallons or less of water each month. For those households the water-sewer bill starting in October will go up slightly more than $5.00 a month."
"The October 1 water and sewer increase is the first of four rate hikes that will have bills go up around 10% each year."
"A mid-year budget report for Jacksonville shows revenues have dropped, but so have expenses. Revenues are $15.8 million below expectations. At the same time, city officials have cut spending by $22.4 million."
"The report notes a $10.7 million falloff in sales tax revenue alone, hinting at the overall economic woes city officials expect will continue preying on the coffers into next year. Among expense cuts, the report notes the city should save $14 million in salaries and benefits for a number of open jobs that have not been filled."
"Employers trying to save money in the current recession have forced workers to take on a greater portion of their healthcare costs, according to Milliman Inc., the consulting firm that prepared the report."
"Costs grew by an average of $1,162 per family this year from an average of $15,609 last year, the report said.'
"While employers' contribution to workers' monthly premiums increased by 5.4 percent over the past year, employees' contributions went up 14.7 percent, the third straight year of double-digit increases, the report said."
"Employers still pay the lion's share of healthcare costs, with an average contribution of $9,947 per worker. Employees paid an average of $4,004 in payroll deductions and an additional $2,820 in out-of-pocket expenses, the report found."
"Mr Steinbrück admitted the federal deficit would exceed €50bn in 2009 and rise to €90bn next year, more than twice the previous record of €40bn set in 1996 as Germany was absorbing the huge cost of its unification. In contrast, the federal deficit last year was only €11.9bn."
"The average base salary of a CEO at a U.S. public company dropped 23.9 percent in the past year to $1.2 million, according to a study."
"The drop is the largest decline in base salaries in the past 12 years, according to the Redmond, Wash.-based ERI Economic Research Institute’s Executive Compensation Index."
"In May 2009, the average base pay was $1.2 million, down from $1.58 million in May 2008. But other parts of an average CEO’s compensation package haven’t fallen nearly as dramatically."
"Bonus and nonequity incentives have risen 1 percent in the past year, as well as other compensations. The average CEO compensation package, which includes bonuses, options, pension and other items, is now $16.65 million annually, down 3.3 percent from $17.21 million a year ago."
"In the four years from January 2004 to January 2008, the Medicare trustees reported that the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare grew by a stunning $10.4 trillion. The average annual growth topped $2.5 trillion. "
"An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could lead to regulating the gases blamed for global warming will prove costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions, according to a White House document."
"The nine-page memo is a compilation of opinions made by a dozen federal agencies and departments during an internal review before the EPA issued a finding in April that greenhouse gases pose dangers to public health and welfare."
"That finding could set in motion for the first time the regulation of six heat-trapping gases from cars and trucks, factories and other sources under the Clean Air Act."
"The document, labeled "Deliberative-Attorney Client Privilege," says that if the EPA proceeds with the regulation of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, factories, small businesses and institutions would be subject to costly regulation."
"Making the decision to regulate carbon dioxide ... is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities," the document says."
"A year ago, the trustees projected that the Social Security trust fund would start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2017 and that the trust fund would be depleted in 2041."
"For the Medicare trust fund, which pays for hospital care, the situation was more urgent. It was projected to start paying more in benefits than it collects in taxes within a year, and the trustees forecast that it would be depleted by 2019."
"Fewer people working means less being paid into the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that Social Security will collect just $3 billion more in 2010 than it will pay out in benefits. A year ago, the CBO had projected that Social Security would have a much higher $86 billion cash surplus for the 2010 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The difference in the two estimates is the result of the recession."
"Thousands of taxis, buses and council vehicles could be fitted with devices that prevent them from exceeding the speed limit."
"The technology — known as Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) — is being tested by Transport for London in a trial starting this summer on all roads inside the M25."
"Drivers of vehicles with ISA will be able to select an option that prevents them from accelerating over the limit. The vehicle will also automatically slow down if the driver fails to reduce his speed when he passes a sign marking a lower limit."
"The device uses satellite tracking and a digital road map to detect the local speed limit."
"About 30 million people -- 14 percent of the US population 16 and older -- have trouble with basic reading and writing. Correlating factors that were explored in a new government report include poverty, ethnicity, native language background, and disabilities."
"Of these 30 million people, 7 million are considered "nonliterate" in English because their reading abilities are so low. When shown the label for an over-the-counter drug, for instance, many in this subgroup cannot read the word "adult" or a sentence explaining what to do in the event of an overdose."
"Dr. John Muney, president of AMG Medical Group, said he started the program in September after noticing that many of his patients were losing their jobs, and therefore, their health insurance coverage."
"About 500 people have registered for Muney's $79-a-month plan, accounting for 15 percent of patients at the practice, which has offices in each of New York's five boroughs."
"The monthly $79 fee -- roughly equivalent to the price of a Starbucks coffee a day -- covers unlimited preventive visits and onsite medical services such as minor surgery, physical therapy, lab work and gynecological care."
"So far the program has not turned a profit, but Muney said he estimates that it could be profitable with 4,000 patients. In the meantime, he said, his motive is to give something back and provide a model of how healthcare can be more efficient."
"Our healthcare system lends itself to abuse, fraud and waste," he said, adding that bypassing insurers saved on administrative costs, which he said were about 25 percent of the price of care. "With this model, we're bypassing all that."
"Muney said he received initial complaints from state insurance authorities in November. "The law says you can do preventive checkups unlimited, but if they come for sick visits you have to charge your overhead costs," he told Reuters."
"In February he received a letter instructing him that he must charge that minimum cost, which he calculates at $33 a visit -- a price he says will deter people from signing up."
"An analysis by The Associated Press, based on data collected by the U.S. Postal Service and the Housing and Urban Development Department, shows the emptiest neighborhoods are clustered in places hit hard during the recession of the 1980s — cities such as Flint, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Indianapolis."
"In some sections of certain areas like Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, roughly two of every three homes are vacant or used by squatters. The area is more than 70 percent black and poor, with unemployment often around 50 percent. It's a place where simmering resentment and frustration boiled up into three days of rioting in 2001 after police fatally shot a young, unarmed black man fleeing arrest on traffic warrants.""The budget raises an historic amount of taxes, fees and licenses -- about $2 billion worth -- on smokers, drivers, property owners, sportsmen, university students and sportsmen."
"Pumped with $5 billion in federal bailout cash, the budget provides a small boost in per-student spending for K-12 schools, and trims a wide array of Medicaid reimbursements to doctors and hospitals and applied a 2 percent reduction to the salaries of state workers earning more than $45,000 yearly."
"The government is going to want some of that money back."
"The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month."
"The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible."
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