U.S. study backs shelter, drink for homeless alcoholics

"A program that gives shelter to homeless alcoholics but allows them to keep drinking and not be forced into treatment could save taxpayers millions in public costs, according to a study published on Tuesday. The study also found that daily alcohol consumption fell by 2 percent per month for those in the shelter."

"The results were based on a look at 95 people admitted to a program in Seattle called Housing First from 2005 to 2007. They were compared with others who were still on the street and on waiting lists to get into the shelter."

"After 12 months in the shelter the total public costs relating to the care of the 95 individuals was cut by more than $4 million compared to the year before, the researchers said.

"In the year before entering the shelter, those who got in had run up more than $4,000 each per month in costs for jail, detox center use, hospital-based medical services, publicly funded alcohol and drug programs, emergency medical services and the like, the study team said."

"But after they entered the housing arrangement, their individual monthly costs for using such services fell to $1,492 after six months and to $958 after a year -- a reduction in total costs of more than $4 million, the researchers said."

"Each of them had cost state and local governments an average of $86,062 per year before being housed, compared to an average of $13,440 it costs per person per year to administer the housing program," Larimer said."

House Energy Bill Seeks to Cap Greenhouse Gases

"The economy may be in the tank, but that hasn't stopped Washington from taking aim at global warming. First, President Barack Obama lived up to his campaign promises by including caps on emissions of greenhouse gases in his proposed budget, and telling his Environmental Protection Agency to start moving on regulations under existing laws. Now, House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) has fulfilled his promise to move aggressively on climate legislation. On Mar. 31 he and Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the energy and environment subcommittee, released a draft of a massive 648-page bill that tackles both climate and energy. "This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution," Waxman claims."

"On the energy front, the proposal takes the controversial step of requiring 25% of all electricity to come from renewable sources (or energy efficiency steps) by 2025. It promotes a "smart" transmission grid, more energy-efficient buildings, higher-mileage cars, and training programs for green jobs. But the climate provisions are getting the most attention, prompting a flood of responses from environmentalists and business groups."

Few Floridians sign up for low-cost health care

"Gov. Charlie Crist and the state legislature thought they had found a solution to these problems when they created Cover Florida, a low-cost, unsubsidized health insurance for adults. When Cover Florida took effect in January, Crist said it could extend coverage to nearly 4 million of the state's uninsured."

"Yet three months into the program, less than 1,500 people have enrolled statewide."

"It's disappointing to me," Crist said Monday during a press conference at a medical clinic in Hialeah."

"It's certainly easy to qualify for the insurance - you need to be between the ages of 19 and 64, have been laid off from your job or have not had health insurance for six months. Those with pre-existing health conditions will not be denied enrollment to Cover Florida, but plans can exclude payment for treatment of certain pre-existing conditions for one year."

"The average monthly premium for the program is $155. Some policies cover only the basics such as office visits, screenings, emergency room care and prescription drugs. Others will offer hospitalization and catastrophic coverage, but they cost more; children and seniors are not covered because there are other state plans available to them. Premiums vary according to age, gender, geography and options, such as deductibles, that consumers can choose."

Free Medical Care for Some Who've Lost Their Jobs

"Free Medical Care is being offered for certain people who've lost their jobs. It's all part of a program called "Take Care Recovery." And, it's being offered at certain Walgreens all across the country."

"The clinics at these Walgreens will offer free "sick" visits. For instance, if you feel like you have the flu, you can stop by to get checked out for free."

"The "free" part only applies to those who are already members of Walgreens Take Care medical service and those who have lost their jobs starting today."

D.O.T. Wants New Toll Road

"The Florida Department of Transportation hopes to make a beltway connecting I-10 in Duval County and I-95 in St. Johns County a toll road. "

"The 46.5 mile beltway would use part of Chaffee road on the westside, go down through Clay County and create a new Shands Bridge."

"The entire project would cost two billion dollars. The D.O.T. is hoping to hire a company to build the beltway, then maintain the road by charging a toll."

"It says by using tolls, the project could be done in five to seven years. By comparison, the D.O.T says the entire State Road 9A project took 20 years to complete under more conventional funding methods."

Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

"The federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable, Congressional auditors have found."

"In a report scheduled to be released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the agency, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, had mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers."

"In one case, the division failed to investigate a complaint that under-age children in Modesto, Calif., were working during school hours at a meatpacking plant with dangerous machinery, the G.A.O., the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, found. "

Public university students could pay 'green' fee

"College students in Florida could pay a new "green" fee that would help pay for solar energy and other types of renewable energy."

"The Senate Higher Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that allows the state's 11 public universities to charge the fee if students approve it in a referendum. The fee could be up to $5 per credit hour or $150 a year for a full-time student. The money would be used to reduce the greenhouse gases or energy needs of university campuses."

Public university students could pay 'green' fee

"College students in Florida could pay a new "green" fee that would help pay for solar energy and other types of renewable energy."

"The Senate Higher Education Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that allows the state's 11 public universities to charge the fee if students approve it in a referendum. The fee could be up to $5 per credit hour or $150 a year for a full-time student. The money would be used to reduce the greenhouse gases or energy needs of university campuses."

Freddie Mac portfolio reaches record $822B

"The Obama administration is counting on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to revive the mortgage market, and McLean-based Freddie Mac did its part last month by increasing its retained portfolio of mortgages by $23.1 billion to an all-time high of $822 billion."

"The total of those guarantee commitments eased 1.4 percent in February to $1.82 trillion. Adding that to Freddie’s retained portfolio, the company’s total of loans owned or guaranteed increased 3 percent during the month to $2.2 trillion."

Unemployment hits harder among Latinos, blacks

"Since the recession began in December 2007, Latino unemployment has risen 4.7 percentage points, to 10.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Black unemployment has risen 4.5 points, to 13.5 percent. White unemployment has risen 2.9 points, to 7.3 percent."

Election 08 Results by District

District 4 - Presidential Results for 2008:

Obama: 37%
McCain: 62%

District 4 - House Election Results for 2008:

Jay McGovern: 34.74%
Ander Crenshaw: 65.25%

Only 1% voted third party. That is very depressing.

House passes bill taxing AIG, other bonuses

"The Democratic-led House overwhelmingly approved a bill on Thursday to slap punishing taxes on big employee bonuses from AIG and other firms bailed out by taxpayers."

"The vote was 328-93."

"We want our money back and we want our money back now for the taxpayers," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif."

"The bonuses, totaling $165 million, were paid to employees of troubled insurer American International Group, including to traders in the unit that nearly brought about the company's collapse."

"In all, 243 Democrats and 85 Republicans voted "yes" on the bill. It was opposed by six Democrats and 87 Republicans."

"The bill levies a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money."

Study: Fla. No. 3 for business

"Florida moved up in the ranks to become the third-best state in which to conduct business, according to Chief Executive magazine."

"The magazine evaluated states on natural resources, regulation, tax policies, quality of living, education and infrastructure, among others. Florida ranked No. 10 in 2008."

"However, Florida didn't rank as high in some of the categories. For example, the Sunshine State ranked No. 42 when it comes to the cost of business, No. 18 for transportation, No. 39 for education and No. 23 for quality of life."

Fannie Is Handing Out Its Own Sizable Retention Payouts

"Fannie Mae is due to pay retention bonuses of between $470,000 and $611,000 this year to some executives, despite enormous losses at the government-backed mortgage company. Fannie's main rival, Freddie Mac, also plans to pay such bonuses but hasn't yet provided details."

"But the Fannie bonuses are still considerable and come at a time when Fannie and Freddie are receiving increasing amounts of funding from the Treasury. For 2008, Fannie and Freddie reported combined losses of about $108 billion, largely stemming from a surge in home-mortgage defaults. The Treasury has agreed to provide as much as $200 billion of capital apiece to Fannie and Freddie in exchange for preferred stock. The two companies have said they will need a combined $60 billion of that money to cover their losses so far."

"A recent Fannie securities filing, providing details on a bonus plan announced last year, says that Michael Williams, the company's chief operating officer, is due to receive cash retention awards of $611,000 this year, atop a similar award of $260,000 in 2008. His base salary is $676,000 a year."

"The company also disclosed plans to pay retention awards this year of $517,000 to David Hisey and $470,000 each to Thomas Lund and Kenneth Bacon. All three are executive vice presidents."

HUD AND DOT ANNOUNCE INTERAGENCY PARTNERSHIP TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

"One of my highest priorities is to help promote more livable communities through sustainable surface transportation programs," said Secretary LaHood."

"This partnership will help expand every American family's choices for affordable housing and transportation," said Secretary Donovan. "HUD's central mission - ensuring that every American has access to decent, affordable housing - can be achieved only in context of the housing, transportation, and energy costs and choices that American families experience each day."

"DOT and HUD have created a high-level interagency task force to better coordinate federal transportation and housing investments and identify strategies to give American families:

• More choices for affordable housing near employment opportunities;
• More transportation options, to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, and improve the environment; and
• Safe, livable, healthy communities."

Fed pumps $1.2tn into US economy

"The biggest surprise was the announcement that the Fed would buy up to $300bn worth of government debt, known as US Treasuries, over the next six months."

"It also said it would buy an additional $750bn of mortgage-backed securities to boost mortgage lending, bringing total purchases of this type to $1.25 trillion."

"It added that it would buy a further $100bn in debt issued by government-sponsored agencies like Freddie Mac, which supports the mortgage market."

Some librarians dispute law on lead in children's books

"But a new federal law banning more than minute levels of lead in most products intended for children 12 or younger — and a federal agency's interpretation of the law — prompted at least two libraries last month to pull children's books printed before 1986 from their shelves."

"We're talking about tens of millions of copies of children's books that are perfectly safe. I wish a reasonable, rational person would just say, 'This is stupid. What are we doing?"' said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association's Washington office."

"A CPSC spokesman told The Associated Press in a recent interview that until more testing is done, the nation's more than 116,000 public and school libraries should take steps to ensure that children are kept away from books printed before 1986."

U.S. births break record; 40% out-of-wedlock

"More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history — and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter. The 4,317,119 births, reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set in 1957 at the height of the baby boom."

"Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend, the teen birth rate was up for a second year in a row."

"The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40%, continuing a trend that started years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older."

"Cesarean section deliveries continue to rise, now accounting for almost a third of all births. Health officials say that rate is much higher than is medically necessary. About 34% of births to black women were by C-section, more than any other racial group. But geographically, the percentages were highest in Puerto Rico, at 49%, and New Jersey, at 38%."

Fake Outrage? AIG Bonuses Known Months Ago

"For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back. "

"Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama's team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company? So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Mr. Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so."

"While administration officials insisted Tuesday that neither Mr. Obama nor Geithner learned of the impending bonus payments until last week, the problem wasn't new. AIG's plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars were publicized last fall, when Congress started asking questions about expensive junkets the company had sponsored. A November SEC filing by the company details more than $469 million in "retention payments" to keep prized employees. "

"Around the same time, Congress and Mr. Obama's team were passing up an opportunity to put in place strict laws to revoke bonuses from recipients of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. In February, the Senate voted to add such a proposal to the economic recovery bill that cleared Congress, but in final closed-door talks on the measure, that provision was dropped in favor of limits that affect only future payments. "

Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results from the 2007-08 Private School Universe Survey

Read page 18 of the PDF file.

Graduation Rate for 12th Graders of Private Schools: 99%

Graduation Rate for 12 Graders of Duval County Public Schools: 65.9%