Data Shows Less Buying of U.S. Debt by China

FOR eight years after the United States resumed running large budget deficits in 2002, China was the largest lender, buying a fifth of the new Treasury securities sold during that span — an expenditure of more than $900 billion. During 2006, China financed more than half the American deficit. When the financial crisis struck hardest, China spent more than $100 billion on Treasuries over the two-month period of September and October 2008.

But over the last year, China has been a net seller of Treasury securities, according to figures released this week by the American government. If that is true, it would be extraordinary, considering the size of the bilateral trade deficit, and there has been speculation that China has been purchasing Treasuries through accounts in other countries.

The Treasury Department estimated that China reduced its holdings of Treasuries by nearly $11 billion in November alone. For the 12 months through November, as the accompanying charts indicate, China reduced its holdings of Treasuries by more than $36 billion.

The Treasury issues separate estimates for China and Hong Kong, but they are combined for purposes of the charts and this article.

The Treasury figures indicate that over the eight years from the beginning of 2002 through the end of 2009, the total amount of United States government debt outstanding — not counting securities owned by other agencies of the American government, like the Federal Reserve and the Social Security Administration — rose by $4.4 trillion, to $9.3 trillion.

Of that, China provided about a fifth and other foreign countries provided two-fifths. The remaining 40 percent was purchased by Americans, although for a time in the middle of the decade, Americans were selling Treasuries even though the government was stepping up its borrowing.

No U.S. airline fatalities in 2010

U.S. airlines did not have a single fatality last year. It was the third time in the past four years there were no deaths, continuing a dramatic trend toward safer skies.

Years without deaths have occurred sporadically since the dawn of the jet age, but never have so many occurred in so short a period, according to an analysis of data from the National Transportation Safety Board. The average number of deaths fell from about 86 a year in the 1990s to 46 a year since 2000, a 46% drop.

Last year also marked the first time that there were no passenger fatalities on any airline based in developed nations, says Arnold Barnett, a professor who specializes in accident statistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.

Last year, U.S. carriers flew more than 10 million flights and hauled more than 700 million passengers, but only 14 people suffered serious injuries, according to the NTSB. There also were no major accidents, the most serious category under the NTSB's definitions.

Publix named a “Best Company to Work For” Read more: Publix named a “Best Company to Work For”

Publix Super Markets Inc. has been honored as one of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the 14th consecutive year.

The Lakeland-based grocer ranked No. 20 on Fortune’s best large-sized companies list. Publix also made Fortune’s list of 15 companies to never have had a layoff.

Jacksonville unemployment drops to 11%

Metro Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell to 11 percent in December from 11.6 percent in November.

Florida’s comparable, not seasonally adjusted, rate was 11.6 percent in December, down from 12.2 percent in November, and the national rate was 9.1 percent, down from 9.3 percent.

Fla. Board of Medicine passes pain clinic rules

Regulations on Florida pain-management clinics that will impose an estimated $65 million in costs on the private sector passed the Florida Board of Medicine unanimously on Friday, despite Gov. Rick Scott's edict to ban rule-making this year.

Board members asked their staff to send letters to both the Legislature and the governor's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform, explaining the need for immediate implementation of these rules, given the significant threat to public health and safety that some "pill mills" have created in the state.

The four rules adopted on Friday set out the requirements for standards of care, inspections,accreditation and training in pain-management practices.

Several members, who met by conference call, mentioned that they support Scott's call for a halt to rule-making to make sure that the process doesn't unduly impose a burden on small businesses and the public. In fact, the board voted unanimously to suspend rule-making other than the regulations on pain clinics.

The $65 million in estimated cost derives almost entirely from the requirement that clinics perform periodic urine screens. The estimate came from a study by the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at Florida State University. The Department of Health commissioned the study after the Legislature required them for all pending rules with at least a $200,000 impact on business.

In its report, the Center noted that it was asked only to count the cost of the regulations for private companies and government agencies, not the offsetting savings that might accrue if the rules were imposed.

Corrine Brown keeps railroad oversight

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla, will remain the top ranking Democrat on the railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials subcommittee, according to Cargo Business News.

Shirk releases annual report

Several accomplishments and highlights of 2010 supporting Mr. Shirk’s three-pronged

approach to leadership as Public Defender follow:

1. Efficient, fiscally responsible management

The Office formalized the Resource Recovery Program which complies with Florida Statute 27.52(1). It includes collection of the Indigency Application fee and additional costs related to a case. In 2010, it collected $732,239 a 61.9% increase from the previous year.

Public Defender Jail Video System was developed by PD Information Technology staff to enable secure video conferencing capability for attorneys and detained clients. It costs less than half of the previously used, proprietary system and is being expanded in both Clay and Duval County jail. PDJVS improves efficiency for attorneys and enhances jail security; it will save an estimated $125,000 in the 4th Circuit.

A Digital Deposition system was implemented to replace live, pre-trial court reporters in many cases. Estimates indicate this will save taxpayers nearly $200K per year in per diem and printing costs.

Benefits of the unique, PD Pro Bono Opportunities program include cost savings per case, better attention to clients and local Bar diversification. Private attorneys are trained and take PD cases at no cost. An estimated 30 local attorneys enlisted in the Program, some of whom handled multiple cases.

Se Habla Espanol To cut costs hiring Spanish translators and still serve multi-cultural clientele, the Office increased the number of bi-lingual employees by hiring three new attorneys who are fluent in Spanish. Two new APD’s joined the Felony Court Unit and one joined the Juvenile Unit. Investigations and Support Staff also have bi-lingual personnel.

Due to Legislative cuts to Florida PD’s a 6% cut to Office vendors was imposed in February and remains in place. No interruption of office functions occurred and only handful of the hundreds of vendors chose not to continue their association with the office.

At the end of the State Fiscal Year 2010, the Office carried over $366,452 in surplus funding. The unlikely budget surplus came as unforeseen budget cuts were imposed. In 2009 there had been a 2% cut to the General Revenue (salaries and benefits) fund for state agencies and in 2010 the State swept 11.2% from the Due Process fund allotted to the Public Defender.

The Shirk Administration continued to reduce government waste and in 2010 cut more than $162,000 from discretionary operating costs.

2. Quality, effective client advocacy

In the courtroom...The Office win-percentage at trial has grown from 12% in 2008 to 20% in 2010.

APD’s won acquittals in 51 of the 257 jury trials in 2010.

Florida Fails Smoking Policy Review, Study Reports

Florida got two Fs and a D in the American Lung Association's annual report.

The report gave only five states passing grades. Forty states got an F when it comes to funding tobacco prevention and control programs.

The federal government got a B grade, mostly for giving the FDA power to regulate the tobacco industry.

Rick Scott: Adoption should be by a married couple

Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that he doesn't have any immediate plans to change the state policy on gay adoptions but he remains opposed to it -- as does his new appointee to the agency that handles adoptions of children in state care.

``I believe that adoption should be by a married couple,'' Scott told reporters and editors at the annual Associated Press planning session in Tallahassee.

Florida continues to lag in federal grants

A private budget watchdog group says Florida ranks near the bottom in federal grants and is missing out on billions of dollars.

Florida TaxWatch issued a report Wednesday showing Florida received $22.7 billion in federal funding, or $1,224 per resident, in 2009.

That's more than $500 below the national average. It puts Florida in 48th place in per capita funding.

Coming up to the national average would give Florida another $10.6 billion. That's more than enough to close a looming $3.6 billion budget gap.

Caught on Tape: Phony Falls that Cost You Money

Insurance fraud involving property and casualty claims has become big business - costing American consumers an estimated $30 billion a year.

JEA to buy option on nuclear power plant

The JEA Board today authorized the signing to spend up to $7.5 million to reserve an option to buy one-fifth of a yet-to-be-built nuclear power plant.

JEA will have the option to spend about $2 billion for 400 megawatts of annual capacity from the unspecified plant, which is expected to begin operating in 10 years. The move followed the board’s decision in August to increase the amount of its electric grid powered by nuclear power from 10 percent to 30 percent by 2030.

He added that as the construction of nuclear plants is paid off, nuclear electricity could cost about $60 per megawatt-hour.

Coal generation costs about $60 per megawatt-hour but would go up if a new federal standard for carbon emissions was imposed. Electric generation through natural gas costs between $40 and $50 per megawatt-hour.

Parenting by Gays More Common in the South, Census Shows

But as demographers sift through recent data releases from the Census Bureau, they have found that Jacksonville is home to one of the biggest populations of gay parents in the country.

In addition, the data show, child rearing among same-sex couples is more common in the South than in any other region of the country, according to Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gay couples in Southern states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are more likely to be raising children than their counterparts on the West Coast, in New York and in New England.

In 2009, the Census Bureau estimated that there were 581,000 same-sex couples in the United States, Mr. Gates said; the bureau does not count gay singles.

History of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.

"The Long Demise of Glass Steagall"

"Is the Glass-Steagall Act Justified?"

"Glass Steagall vs. the Volcker Rule"

"New Glass-Steagall is No Solution"

"Bring Back Glass-Steagall"

Overview

More Overview

History of the Emergency Banking Act.

Timeline

Primary Documents

Overview

"Establishment of the FDIC"

Study Finds Family Connections Give Big Advantage in College Admissions

A new study of admissions at 30 highly selective colleges found that legacy applicants get a big advantage over those with no family connections to the institution — but the benefit is far greater for those with a parent who earned an undergraduate degree at the college than for those with other family connections.

According to the study, by Michael Hurwitz, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, applicants to a parent’s alma mater had, on average, seven times the odds of admission of nonlegacy applicants. Those whose parents did graduate work there or who had a grandparent, sibling, uncle or aunt who attended the college were, by comparison, only twice as likely to be admitted.

“We did a paper that found that if you are an athlete, you have 4.2 times the likelihood of admission as a nonathlete,” he said. “The advantages for underrepresented minorities are pretty big, too.”

Mr. Hurwitz said applicants with the highest SATs got the biggest legacy benefits.

Among the 30 colleges, the legacy advantage varied enormously: one college was more than 15 times as likely to accept legacy applicants, while at another, the effect was insignificant.

Reducing drug co-pays might lower health-care costs for companies, new study finds

If companies want to reduce their health-care costs, they should reduce the co-pays employees are charged for drugs, particularly for chronic diseases such as diabetes, according to a new study.

In a study published online Friday in the policy journal Health Affairs, a team of researchers found that when an Orlando employer cut the co-payments for diabetes medications, the program paid for itself in three years — through fewer hospitalizations and lower disability payments.

The benefit of lower co-payments was evident, however, after the first year, with the use of diabetes medication 3.8 percent higher among those with reduced co-pays. After three years, the gap grew to 6.5 percent, according to the study.

New digital divide seen for blacks, Hispanics

Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, Hispanics and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.

But now some see a new "digital divide" emerging — with Hispanics and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology. It's tough to fill out a job application on a cell phone, for example. Researchers have noticed signs of segregation online that perpetuate divisions in the physical world. And blacks and Hispanics may be using their increased Web access more for entertainment than empowerment.

Fifty-one percent of Hispanics and 46 percent of blacks use their phones to access the Internet, compared with 33 percent of whites, according to a July 2010 Pew poll. Forty-seven percent of Hispanics and 41 percent of blacks use their phones for e-mail, compared with 30 percent of whites. The figures for using social media like Facebook via phone were 36 percent for Hispanics, 33 percent for blacks and 19 percent for whites.

A greater percentage of whites than blacks and Latinos still have broadband access at home, but laptop ownership is now about even for all these groups, after black laptop ownership jumped from 34 percent in 2009 to 51 percent in 2010, according to Pew.

Concerned by the wave of requests for customer data from law enforcement agencies, Google last year set up an online tool showing the frequency of these requests in various countries. In the first half of 2010, it counted more than 4,200 in the United States.

Google is not alone among Internet and telecommunications companies in feeling inundated with requests for information. Verizon told Congress in 2007 that it received some 90,000 such requests each year. And Facebook told Newsweek in 2009 that subpoenas and other orders were arriving at the company at a rate of 10 to 20 a day.

Many Internet companies and consumer advocates say the main law governing communication privacy — enacted in 1986, before cellphone and e-mail use was widespread, and before social networking was even conceived — is outdated, affording more protection to letters in a file cabinet than e-mail on a server.

They acknowledge that access to information is important for fighting crime and terrorism, but say they are dealing with a patchwork of confusing standards that have been interpreted inconsistently by the courts, creating uncertainty.

Last year, for example, the Justice Department argued in court that cellphone users had given up the expectation of privacy about their location by voluntarily giving that information to carriers. In April, it argued in a federal court in Colorado that it ought to have access to some e-mails without a search warrant. And federal law enforcement officials, citing technology advances, plan to ask for new regulations that would smooth their ability to perform legal wiretaps of various Internet communications.

Panel: Gov't, industry must do more to stop spills

The oil industry, Congress and the Obama administration need to do more to reduce the changes of another large-scale oil spil, a presidential panel investigating the BP well blowout concluded Tuesday.

The seven-member panel unanimously endorsed 15 separate recommendations in the wake of the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Many of the proposals will require action by Congress.

The panel calls for increasing budgets and training for the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling; increasing the liability cap for damages when companies drill offshore; dedicating 80 percent of fines and penalties from the BP spill to restoration of the Gulf; and lending more weight to scientific opinions by other federal scientists in decisions about drilling.

The panel said Congress should draft legislation to create within the Interior Department an independent safety agency and a separate environmental office to evaluate the risks of oil drilling to natural resources.

The panel also called for an industry-led safety institute, similar to the one created by nuclear power producers after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident.

The oil industry and government have taken numerous steps in an effort to improve safety since the BP blowout.

BP fired its executive responsible for deep-water wells like the one that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico in September. The company also created a new unit to police safety practices in all of BP's technical operations, while the federal government imposed new regulations and a moratorium on deep-water drilling. It later lifted the moratorium.

AFL-CIO disputes 'myths' about Fla. pension funds

Florida AFL-CIO legislative and political director Rich Templin said the union is troubled by such comments although details of proposed legislation are hazy and nothing has yet been filed.

"We can't find any verifiable information to indicate that those claims are true, that those claims are anything other than political rhetoric and ideological posturing," Templin said.

He said pension benefits averaging $16,000 to $23,000 a year cannot be considered extravagant.

Scott has called the $122 billion Florida Retirement System "a ticking fiscal time bomb" because he doesn't think it can sustain its current high rate of return on investment. He's also worried about its unfunded liability.

As of last June 30, the closing date for the plan's last annual report, it had $109 billion in assets and an unfunded liability of about $15 billion, or 12 percent.

That percentage is one of the lowest of any public pension funds in the nation.

Study: Obesity costs $300B a year

The study finds that those who are overweight and obese in the U.S. and Canada cost $300 billion a year, a result of increased need for medical care, as well as loss of economic productivity due to death and disability.

According to the SOA, the $300 billion-a year figure breaks down into the following economic costs:

• Total cost of excess medical care caused by being overweight/obese: $127 billion
• Economic loss of productivity caused by excess mortality: $49 billion
• Economic loss of productivity caused by disability for active workers : $43 billion
• Economic loss of productivity caused by being overweight/obese for totally disabled workers: $72 billion

Fed paid U.S. Treasury record $78.4B last year

The Federal Reserve paid a record $78.4 billion in earnings to the U.S. government last year, reflecting gains from the central bank's unconventional efforts to lift the economy.

The payment to the Treasury Department is the largest since the Fed began operating in 1914. It surpasses the previous record $47.4 billion paid in 2009, the Fed said Monday.

The bigger payment mostly came from more income generated by the Fed's massive portfolio of securities, which includes Treasury debt and mortgage securities.

In early November, the Fed launched a program to bolster the economy by purchasing $600 billion worth of Treasury debt through June. The program aims to boost the economy by lowering rates on mortgages and other loans and by lifting stock prices.

To fight the financial crisis and lift the country out of recession, the Fed bought $1.4 trillion of mortgage-backed securities and mortgage debt as well as up to $300 billion worth of government debt. The Fed completed the mortgage purchases last year.

The Fed's balance sheet now stands at $2.4 trillion, nearly triple its size from before the financial and economic crises.

Florida Highway Patrol: Traffic Fatalities Continue to Decline

Nearly 2,500 people died on Florida's highways in 2010, and the Florida Highway Patrol calls said that is the lowest number in three decades.

In spite of the good news, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate traffic fatalities are the number one killer of people between the ages of 5 and 34. The CDC says seat belt use reduces serious injuries and deaths by half.

Florida ranks 5th in new national report on education quality

Florida, once criticized for its "lackadaisical" attitude toward education, ranks fifth in a new national report on education quality released today.

The annual "Quality Counts" report grades the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their education policies and performance.

The nation earned a C. Top-performing Maryland got a B-plus. Florida earned a B-minus.

The Quality Counts report grades states in six broad categories, although not all the information is updated every year. The categories look at both state policies, such as academic standards and laws governing teachers, and the performance of students on national benchmarks.

Jax home prices fall harder than state

Home prices in Jacksonville declined by 9.2 percent year-over-year in November, higher than the average for Florida, according to data CoreLogic released Tuesday.

Excluding distressed transactions, year-over-year the home price index [HPI] in Jacksonville for November was negative 6.76 percent.

In Florida, the HPI declined by 4.9 percent year-over-year in November. When distressed sales are factored in, HPI declined by 8.2 percent.

Florida No. 3 in 2010 foreclosures

Florida registered the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate in 2010, with 5.51 percent of its housing units (one in 18) getting at least one foreclosure filing during the year, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based online marketplace of foreclosure properties.

Florida was one of five states that accounted for 51 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in 2010. The others were California, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan. In those five states together, nearly 1.5 million properties got a foreclosure filing.

The good news for Florida: The 2010 number was down 6 percent from 2009. However, the rate was 25.95 greater than 2008.

Broad Racial Disparities Seen in Americans’ Ills

Many of the differences are large and striking:

¶Babies born to black women are up to three times as likely to die in infancy as those born to women of other races.

¶American Indians and Alaska Natives are twice as likely to die in car crashes as any other group.

¶More than 80 percent of all suicides are committed by whites, but young American Indian adults have the highest suicide rates by far — 25 per 100,000 population at age 21, compared with 14 for whites, 10 for blacks and 8 for Asians and Hispanics.

¶Overdoses of prescription drugs now kill more Americans than overdoses of illegal drugs, the opposite of the pattern 20 years ago. Overdose death rates are now higher among whites than blacks; that trend switched in 2002, after doctors began prescribing more powerful painkillers, antidepressants and antipsychotics — more easily obtained by people with health insurance.

¶Blacks die of heart disease much more commonly than whites, and die younger, despite the availability of cheap prevention measures like weight loss, exercise, blood-pressure and cholesterol drugs, and aspirin. The same is true for strokes.

¶High blood pressure is twice as common among blacks as whites, but the group with the least success in controlling it is Mexican-Americans.

¶Compared with whites, blacks have double the rate of “preventable hospitalizations,” which cost about $7 billion a year.

¶People in Utah, Connecticut and North Dakota report the most “healthy days” per month — about 22. People in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee report the fewest, about 17.

¶Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians, whether gay or straight, all have higher rates of new infection with the AIDS virus than whites, and the situation is getting worse for blacks and Indians. Asians have the lowest rate.

¶Binge drinking — defined as five drinks at a sitting for men and four for women — is increasing. In a switch from the norm for health problems, it is more common among the better-educated and more affluent, including college students. But poor people, and especially American Indians, drink much more heavily when on binges.

¶Teenage pregnancy is holding steady or falling for all ethnic groups, but is still three times as common among Hispanic girls as among white girls, and more than twice as common among black girls as among whites.

Study: African-Americans in Jacksonville see higher rate of mortgage denial

The differences in mortgage denials among the three races were highlighted as part of the Jacksonville Community Council Inc. 2010 Race Relations Progress Report. In 2009, black middle-income mortgage applicants were denied conventional mortgages at a rate of 32.1 percent, double the 15.5 percent rate for whites and significantly higher than the 19.2 percent rate for Hispanics.

Yamato said under the Community Reinvestment Act, however, lenders get incentives for writing loans in under-served areas.

It's against federal law for a mortgage applicant to be denied on the basis of race, she noted.

But Danford said he doesn't rule out subtle violations of the 1968 Fair Housing Act and vestiges of a system that barred blacks from moving into primarily white neighborhoods.

Jermyn Shannon-El, co-founder of the Blacksonville Community Network, a Jacksonville website, agreed.

Candidates collected $5.8 million in public money

Florida taxpayers spent more than $5.8 million to bolster the campaigns of 10 candidates for statewide office last year, giving public dollars to individuals who arguably didn't need the money but took it anyway.

The money was doled out under Florida's public campaign finance law, enacted in 1986 to try to enable under-funded candidates who agreed to limit their spending to compete with rivals raising millions in special-interest contributions. But because of changes approved in 2005 by the Legislature, the law allows virtually anyone running for office to apply for a public subsidy.

The 25-year-old law provides matching dollars of up to $250 per contribution to statewide candidates who raise enough money on their own to be considered viable, and also agree to spending limits. If an opponent spent more than the limits set by the law, the under-funded candidate was eligible for a dollar-for-dollar match of the excess.

But in 2005, the Legislature more than tripled the spending ceiling – from $6.7 million to $24.9 million for the governor's office; and from $3.35 million to $12.4 million for other statewide races. At the time, that was more that any candidate had ever spent for statewide office – and it made even well-funded candidates eligible for subsidies.

This year, candidates for the three Cabinet offices – attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner – accepted a combined $4 million in taxpayer support, about the same as what was spent on those offices in 2006.

U.S. ends "virtual fence" project on Mexican border

President Barack Obama's administration on Friday canceled the troubled "virtual fence" project meant to better guard stretches of the vast U.S. border with Mexico and will replace it with other security measures.

The project, begun in 2006 and run by Boeing Co, has cost about $1 billion and was designed to pull together video cameras, radar, sensors and other technologies to catch illegal immigrants and smugglers trying to cross the porous border.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said commercially available surveillance systems, unmanned aerial drones, thermal imaging and other equipment would be used instead, suggestions made by critics of the Boeing SBInet program.

An assessment of the Boeing program released by DHS found that $1 billion was spent to cover just 53 miles in Arizona. The new approach should cost less than $750 million to cover the rest of Arizona's border, some 323 miles, DHS said.

E-Verify illegal-worker screening system has holes, report says

Within an hour of becoming Florida's 45th governor, Rick Scott signed an order meant to ensure that anyone working for the state was in the country legally.

But the screening system that Scott is relying on lets unauthorized workers slip through its filter more than half the time because it cannot spot identity theft, according to a federal report.

The E-Verify system, a federal database available to employers, failed to identify those workers as unauthorized 54 percent of the time, according to an audit released last year. Investigators discovered that was the percentage of illegal workers incorrectly deemed eligible for work.

The study done for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services found that overall, the system correctly determined a worker's immigration status 96 percent of the time.

Study: Skinnier Wives Make For Happier Marriages

A University of Tennessee research team just released a study that they say shows a couple is more likely to be happy when the wife is thinner than her husband.

The study, Miller-McCune magazine reports, looked at 169 newlyweds for four years and found that husbands were more satisfied when their wives had a lower body mass index than themselves. The study also showed that wives with lower BMIs than their husbands also stayed more satisfied over time.

The study also claimed that the weight of the partners didn't matter so long as the wife's weight was always lighter than the husband's. In addition, the study took into consideration the couple's financial standing, education and other factors that could affect the final result.

U.S. Bills States $1.3 Billion in Interest Amid Tight Budgets

As if states did not have enough on their plates getting their shaky finances in order, a new bill is coming due — from the federal government, which will charge them $1.3 billion in interest this fall on the billions they have borrowed from Washington to pay unemployment benefits during the downturn.

The interest cost, which has been looming in plain sight without attracting much attention, represents only a sliver of the huge deficits most states will have to grapple with this year But it comes as states are already cutting services, laying off employees and raising taxes. And it heralds a larger reckoning that many states will have to face before long: what to do about the $41 billion they have borrowed from the federal government to help them pay benefits to millions of unemployed people, a debt that federal officials say could rise to $80 billion.

The states, when they borrowed the money, hoped that the economy would have turned around by the time the first interest payments came due, or that future Congresses might loosen the terms. But the economy did not turn around in time and the new Congress, dominated by Republicans determined to shrink the size of government, shows little appetite for deepening the federal deficit by bailing out the states.

Senators seek end to prisoners' bogus tax refunds

Prisoners nationwide have bilked taxpayers out of $123 million in the last five years through phony tax refunds they applied for from their cells, according to four senators.

Sens. Charles Schumer of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Internal Revenue Service have failed to cooperate and comply with a 2008 law aimed at stopping the practice in federal and state prisons nationwide. Prisoners use their own names or the names of friends and associates to submit false claims to receive and cash refund checks.

Mass Shootings and Mental Illness

The events in Tucson left many of us asking - How could this happen? But we've seen this before - an unstable man, a senseless attack.

It's put a spotlight on mental illness. In this country, 45 million adults are mentally ill. 11 million of those cases are considered serious.

The Tucson shooting is the latest tragedy linked to a gunman believed to be mentally ill. In 1993, Colin Ferguson killed six commuters on a New York Train. In 1998, Russell Weston killed two at the U.S. Capitol. In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho murdered 32 people at Virginia Tech.

Mental health funding has been declining for decades. Since 2009, states have cut more than $2 billion for mental health from their budgets.

History of the Election of 1932

Overview

More Overview

Election Results

Even More Overview

"Support for FDR during the 1932 Election"

"African Americans and the Democratic Party"

YouTube Video

Another YouTube Video

History of the Bonus Army

"The Bonus Army War in Washington"

"The Bonus March" - PBS

"The Sad Tale of the Bonus Marchers"

Overview

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"The Bonus Army and the Torchering of Hooverville"

Primary Documents

"Soldier Against Soldier"

More Primary Documents

"The Bonus Army"

"The Bonus Army Scares Mr. Hoover"

Even More Overview

YouTube Video

Another YouTube Video

History of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act (1932).

Hoover on the Act

The Federal Emergency Relief Act

History of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

Overview

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Hoover on the RFC

Even More Overview

History of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Overview

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"The Battle of Smoot-Hawley"

Even More Overview

"Warning for 2008 Meltdown"

GDP Chart

"Goodbye, Free Trade?"

History of the Scottsboro Boys.

Overview

Timeline

"Voices from Scottsboro"

More Overview

Even More Overview

Way More Overview

YouTube Video

History of Elijah Muhammad.

Overview

More Overview

Even More Overview - FBI

Biography

Video - Speech 1959

Video - Interview

History of Cesar Chavez

"The Story of Cesar Chavez"

Biography

Timeline

More Biography

Even More Biography

YouTube Video

Another YouTube Video

History of Deportations of Mexican Americans

Overview

"Mexican Americans"

More Overview

"Mexican Americans and Repatriation"

"Revolution to Depression"

Even More Overview

"Remembering California's Repatriation Program"

"1930s Mexican Deportations"

"U.S. Urged to Apologize for 1930s Deportations"

"Mass Deportations in 1930s Spurs Apology"

YouTube Video

History of the Dust Bowl

Timeline

"The Drought"

"Drought in the Dust Bowl Years"

Overview

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"The Dust Bowl Migration"

Even More Overview

"Surviving the Dust Bowl" - PBS Video

Obama Plan Aims to Ease Mexican Trucking Ban

The Obama administration offered a proposal on Thursday to allow long-haul Mexican trucks to move cargo in the United States.

The proposal, which the Mexican government greeted as a positive step, was the latest sign of a new willingness by the Obama administration to support free-trade measures backed by Republicans and by businesses despite objections from labor unions and other liberal constituencies.

The United States has effectively barred Mexican trucks from operating on American roads since March 2009. Mexico said the ban violated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, and retaliated by imposing $2.4 billion in punitive tariffs on a wide range of American agricultural and other products imported to Mexico.

On Thursday, the United States transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, offered a “concept document” that could help resolve the dispute.

Under the plan, Mexican long-haul trucking operators could seek permits to operate in the United States so long as they agree to safety, insurance and other monitoring requirements. The proposal would not cover the movement of hazardous materials.

Unemployment rate falls to 9.4% as employers add 103,000 jobs

Employers added 103,000 jobs in December, far fewer than expected, as gains by education and health services and leisure and hospitality offset continuing losses in construction and local government, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The nation's unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell sharply, to 9.4% from 9.8%, partly because 260,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force, including many discouraged workers who gave up the job hunt. A total of 14.5 million Americans were out of work last month.

Obama strongly backs US trials for terror suspects

President Barack Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for U.S. civilian trials of Guantanamo detainees, pledging to overturn language in a sweeping defense bill that would effectively block such trials from happening anytime soon.

"The prosecution of terrorists in federal court is a powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation and must be among the options available to us," the president said. "Any attempt to deprive the executive branch of that tool undermines our nation's counterterrorism efforts and has the potential to harm our national security.

Obama made the comments even while signing the legislation, which also allows funding for a wide range of military and national security programs that the president said were too important to dispense with.

The law bans the use of Defense Department dollars to transfer suspected terrorists held at the U.S. Navy prison in Cuba to the United States, where they could be tried in civilian court. That effectively prevents any such transfer from happening during the period covered by the legislation — the 2011 fiscal year that runs through September.

Jacksonville No. 40 for small businesses

Metro Jacksonville ranks 40th in the nation for number of small businesses, according to a Business First breakdown of 2008 federal data, the latest year for which U.S. Census Bureau statistics are available.

Jacksonville had 34,497 small businesses, compared with Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 170,762 (No. 4); Tampa-St. Petersburg, 70,200 (No. 18); and Orlando, 55,653 (No. 24).

Update: Crenshaw off subcommittee that controls military construction; snags another influential seat

U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw has been named to three subcommittees - one he will chair - of the House Appropriations committee. The Jacksonville Republican has sat on that committee, which approves all House spending bills, since 2003.

During the 112th Congress, Crenshaw will sit on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, and chair the Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee.

FHP: 56 Die in Holiday Traffic, 40,000 Citations Issued

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, between Dec. 16 and Jan. 3, 40,667 citations were issued on the state's highways.

Troopers also made 474 DUI arrests.

The breakdown for citations also includes 13,705 for speeding and 3,848 for safety belt violations.

The FHP reports 56 traffic-related fatalities during the heightened enforcement campaign.

Fla. gets 2nd half of $176 M for weatherization

Florida has qualified for the second half of $176 million in federal stimulus funds for home weatherization.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Thursday that Florida will get the remaining $88 million because it had weatherized 6,800 low-income homes through Oct. 31. That's more than 30 percent of the state's 19,100-home goal.

Another 1,075 Florida homes were improved under the federal government regular annual weatherization program.

State reports show the stimulus weatherization program supported more than 230 jobs in Florida during the third quarter of 2010.

Pension Fund Losses Hit States Hard, Data Show

When total state government revenues across the nation plummeted by a record-breaking 30.8 percent in 2009, the steep investment losses of pension funds proved to be an even bigger drain on state coffers than recession-battered tax collections, according to census data released Wednesday.

States reported $1.1 trillion in total revenues in 2009, down from $1.6 trillion a year earlier — the steepest drop the United States Census Bureau has reported since it began collecting data on state government finances in 1951.

Tax collections fell by $66 billion, blowing a hole in the operating budgets of many states. But the biggest losses will be felt only in the future: states reported a $477 billion decline in what the census calls “insurance trust revenue,” mostly from pension funds but also from funds for unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation.

Prescription Drug Abuse Sends More People to the Hospital

The number of emergency room visits resulting from misuse or abuse of prescription drugs has nearly doubled over the last five years, according to new federal data, even as the number of visits because of illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin has barely changed.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found there were about 1.2 million visits to emergency rooms involving pharmaceutical drugs in 2009, compared with 627,000 in 2004. The agency did not include visits due to adverse reactions to drugs taken as prescribed.

Pentagon plans to cut 47,000 ground troops in 2015

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, citing the country's "dire fiscal situation," announced Thursday that U.S. ground forces will be cut by up to 47,000 troops in 2015 as part of Pentagon belt-tightening.

The White House has ordered the Pentagon to budget for relatively small annual increases for the next five years. Its budget next year will be $553 billion, or $13 billion less than expected, but still 3% higher than last year.

In all, Gates announced plans that will allow the military to save $150 billion over five years in part by cutting some programs such as the Marines' $15 billion amphibious-landing craft program.

The money saved by the services will be transferred to other programs, such as buying more drones for the Air Force and to pay for higher-than-expected costs for fuel, health care and other bills.

Journal calls study that linked autism to vaccines a 'fraud'

A 1998 British study that launched an international fear that certain childhood vaccinations can cause autism has been labeled an "elaborate fraud" in a medical journal.

In the BMJ investigation, journalist Brian Deer said the 1998 Wakefield study used "bogus data" to link the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine with the rapid onset of autism in eight of 12 "previously normal" children.

After examining the children's medical records and interviewing their parents, only one of the 12 children was found to have "regressive autism," or late-onset of the syndrome, the core concern of the 1998 study, Mr. Deer wrote.

In other odd findings, Mr. Deer said three children didn't have autism diagnoses; two children had bowel problems and "fits" before they received the MMR vaccine; and one child was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which is not regressive and is distinct from autism.

Mr. Deer wrote that the parents didn't know that Dr. Wakefield, a gastroenterologist, was already seeking to prove that vaccines were linked to a "new syndrome" of enteritis (a bowel disorder) and disintegrative disorder (late-onset autism) in children.

A key goal of Dr. Wakefield's study, published in the Lancet in 1998, was to show a clear "time link" between the MMR vaccinations and the onset of symptoms, wrote Mr. Deer. This would bolster a case against vaccine makers, he wrote, noting that Dr. Wakefield was receiving payments from lawyer Richard Barr, who wanted to pursue such a lawsuit.

Scott orders reviews of 53 rules – but doesn't say how they'll occur

Acting on his anti-regulatory priority, Gov. Rick Scott's first act in office was to sign a sweeping executive order putting a hold on all pending state government regulations.

"No agencies that answer to the governor can adopt new rules without approval from the office," Scott said when he signed the order about an hour after taking the oath of office Tuesday.

The moratorium -- and the lack of details about how rules will win approval or be rejected -- leaves people awaiting the rules nervous about the outcomes. It also comes weeks after the Legislature in November gave itself the right to review all rules deemed to cost more than $200,000 a year.

Duval educators, school leaders complain of mandates from the state

Duval County education leaders want fewer unfunded or underfunded state mandates and more flexibility to decide how best to educate students.

That was a large part of the message the Duval County School Board and Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals gave the Duval Legislative Delegation when they met Thursday to discuss education.

Pratt-Dannals pointed to a new requirement for the district to implement a policy to fight teen dating violence and abuse. The law will require the purchase of a curriculum and the tracking of data. That, along with other health education requirements, is expected to cost the district about $522,000.

While Pratt-Dannals said a policy against teen dating violence is a good thing, it’s not a requirement that came with enough funding to cover it. And it’s an issue that mostly reaches outside of schools.

The district is expecting a $92 million shortfall for the 2011-12 school year, in part because of state mandates, higher costs and a reduction in revenue, Pratt-Dannals said.

Pratt-Dannals also said that the state and federal oversight process, called Differentiated Accountability, which requires a lot of state oversight for low-performing schools, costs about $20 million. And now teachers are getting coaching in math, reading and other subjects from the school, district and state levels.

Fla. individual, sm. group health ins. rates jump

A study shows premiums for most individual and small group health insurance policies increased by 10 percent or more last year.

Fla. may impose $43 million in class size fines

Florida education officials have proposed reducing state funding to school districts and laboratory and charter schools by about $43 million as penalties for violating class size limits.

Figures released Thursday show the Department of Education is seeking approval for such fines against school districts ranging from $1,308 for Walton County to $16.6 million for Palm Beach County.

The total, though, is far less than the $131 million the department had predicted before the school year began.

Health Spending Rose in ’09, but at Low Rate

Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on Wednesday.

Still, health care accounted for a larger share of a smaller economy — a record 17.6 percent of the total economic output in 2009, the report said. The economy contracted while health spending continued to grow.

The nation spent $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009, for an average of $8,086 a person, and the recession had a profound influence.

The number of visits to doctors’ offices apparently declined. Many hospitals reported fewer admissions, as patients put off medical procedures. Spending on dental services declined slightly. Many hospitals and other health care providers reduced their capital investments. Spending on doctors’ services in 2009 increased at the slowest pace since 1996, according to the new federal study, being published in the journal Health Affairs.

Partly offsetting the slowdown in private health spending was a rapid increase in Medicaid spending, driven by the addition of 3.5 million people to the rolls.

“Federal Medicaid spending increased 22 percent in 2009, the highest rate of growth since 1991,” Ms. Martin said, while “state spending decreased 9.8 percent, the largest decline in the program’s history.”

Spending on health care by private insurance companies grew a modest 1.3 percent in 2009, as the number of people with private coverage declined by 3.2 percent, or 6.3 million people. At the same time, out-of-pocket spending by consumers rose just four-tenths of 1 percent, compared with an increase of 3.1 percent in 2008.

Retail purchases of prescription drugs account for $1 of every $10 spent on health care, almost $250 billion of the $2.5 trillion total in 2009.

Medicaid spending accounted for 15 percent of all health spending and totaled $373.9 billion in 2009, the report said.

Out-of-pocket spending by consumers — which includes deductibles, co-payments and the purchase of goods and services not covered by insurance — accounted for 12 percent of all health spending and totaled almost $300 billion in 2009, the report said.

Medicare spending reached $502 billion in 2009, meaning that the program, for older Americans and the disabled, accounts for $1 of every $5 spent on health care. Enrollment in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program declined, as some beneficiaries chose to enroll in private Medicare Advantage plans, federal officials said.

Over all, Medicare spending rose 7.9 percent in 2009, the same rate as in 2008, while enrollment grew about 2 percent, the report said.

Medicare spending increased an average of 2.3 percent for each person in a private Medicare Advantage plan and 6.9 percent for each person in the traditional program.

Key Vote: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act

James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act

- Vote Passed (206-60, 168 Not Voting)

Congress cleared this $4.2 billion measure for the president that will reopen the Victim Compensation Fund and make payments to people exposed to toxic material at Ground Zero. The Senate passed the measure by voice vote earlier in the day. The president is expected to sign the bill into law.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted Not Voting......send e-mail

or see bio

Key Vote: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

- Vote Passed (193-165, 75 Not Voting)

Congress agreed to this short-term spending bill that funds government operations at 2010 levels through March 4, 2011. The president signed the bill into law on December 22, 2010.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted Not Voting......send e-mail

or see bio

Key Vote: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

- Vote Passed (215-144, 74 Not Voting)

The House gave final approval to this bill overhauling the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory authority. The Senate passed the bill by voice vote on December 19, 2010. The president is expected to sign the bill into law.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted Not Voting

Key Vote: START Treaty Ratification

START Treaty Ratification

- Vote Agreed to (71-26, 3 Not Voting)

The Senate ratified this treaty with Russia that would reduce the size of each country’s nuclear arsenal by 30 percent.

Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES......send e-mail

or see bio

Sen. George LeMieux voted NO......send e-mail

or see bio

Key Vote: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

- Vote Agreed to (79-16, 5 Not Voting)

Congress agreed to this short-term spending bill that funds government operations at 2010 levels through March 4, 2011. The president signed the bill into law on December 22, 2010.

Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES
Sen. George LeMieux voted NO

New Orleans Moves to Get Rid of Last FEMA Trailers

Citing the remaining 221 trailers as blight, New Orleans officials have told the last remaining residents to be out by the start of 2011 or face steep fines.

New Orleans once had more than 23,000 FEMA trailers, and for many people still living in them, they are akin to permanent homes. These residents say they will find it hard to make the city's deadline. One resident says the city's notice is "worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge himself."

Holdouts could face fines of up to $500 a day. A city official says the city will be compassionate in considering each resident's case but hope to have most trailers removed within three months.

Florida No. 2 for loan modifications

The number of Americans falling 60 days or more behind in their mortgages fell 6.4 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter, but the percentage of those who fell 30 to 59 days behind rose by 4.3 percent, according to a new report by bank regulators.

At the same time, foreclosures increased 31.2 percent to 382,000 in the most recent quarter and were up 3.7 percent from a year ago, according to the report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million, or 4.5 percent, from the previous quarter, and 10.1 percent more than a year earlier.

It shows that in the third quarter 6,411 loan modifications were implemented under the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification program (HAMP) and 17,355 “other” modifications in Florida.

Florida agriculture loses $273M in December freeze

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, the state lost $273 million from the December freezes alone - including nearly 9,000 acres of crops. The statistics are compiled only through Dec. 20, which means they don't even account for the problems caused by this week's cold.

Gov. Charlie Crist extended the state of emergency for Florida's agricultural community this week. The order eliminates all weight restrictions on trucks carrying agricultural products so farmers can harvest and ship as much produce as possible before more damage is done.

Florida stops online testing for learner's permits

Florida teenagers won't be able to get their learner's permits online anymore.

Since 2004, the state had allowed people to take the learner's permit test online. The permit is needed before getting a driver's license.

The online program is being canceled, effective Saturday. The tests will now only be available at a county tax collector or a Department of Motor Vehicles office.

The online test $20 to $30. In 2009, officials say the fees generated between $1.9 million and $2.9 million in revenue.

But state officials say the online test is unreliable, and that's why it's being canceled. In 2009, the DMV retested about 600 people who passed the test online. Only 41 percent of those people passed the test in person.

There's no charge to take the test in person.

For disabled feds, workers' comp beats retirement

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act of 1916 was never intended to be a retirement plan, but critics say for thousands of government employees, that's just what it's become.

That's because under the federal system, disabled employees unable to return to work get to choose between receiving higher-paying workers' compensation benefits or the lower-paying federal retirement plan.

For most, the choice is clear.

The money is almost always better under the workers' compensation program, which pays up to 75 percent of the employees' salaries tax-free, compared with the 60 percent they would receive under the retirement system.

Across government, more than 7,000 injured employees continue to collect workers' compensation after retirement age, and a few have even gotten payouts lasting decades well into their 90s, government records show.

Dan Adcock, legislative director for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said the organization opposes such a move. He said forcing employees into retirement represents a broken promise to injured workers, who in deciding to take workers' compensation payments have given up their rights to sue the government over their injuries.

A 2005 audit by the Office of Inspector General for the Veterans Administration found that beneficiaries can remain on workers' compensation rolls until they die.

Citing Labor Department figures, the office estimated annual savings across the government of nearly $500 million by moving workers into a retirement system.

According to the Labor Department, there are roughly 50,000 workers across government on the so called "periodic roll" of federal employees who haven't returned to work and who are receiving ongoing wage-loss payments.

Among those 50,000 recipients, about 7,200 workers who have been judged to have no potential to return to work are over the age of 65, according to the department.

Medicaid Bonuses to Reward States for Insuring More Children

The Obama administration plans to announce Monday that it will make $206 million in bonus Medicaid payments to 15 states — with more than a fourth of the total going to Alabama — for signing up children who are eligible for public health insurance but had previously failed to enroll.

The payments, which were established when Congress and President Obama reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2009, are aimed at one of the most persistent frustrations in government health care: the inability to enroll an estimated 4.7 million children who would be eligible for subsidized coverage if their families could be found and alerted. Two of every three uninsured children are thought to meet the income criteria for government insurance programs.

To make enrollment easier, Alabama has eliminated asset tests for children, ended requirements for an in-person interview and allowed children to remain eligible for a year without renewal. It also sends out renewal forms with blanks filled in when data is known, and allows applicants to verify their forms with an electronic signature. The state has adopted “express lane eligibility” so that Medicaid application processors can use income findings from other safety net programs to validate eligibility.

A study published in the journal Health Affairs estimated the national participation rate among children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program at 82 percent in 2008. Thirteen states had rates below 80 percent, with Nevada at only 55 percent. Ms. Sebelius said in an interview that it would be “a huge win for kids” if the rate could be pushed to 90 percent.