| Factbox: Obama, Huckabee on key issues
He has criticized the Bush administration's foreign policy for an "arrogant bunker mentality". Obama: Wants to begin immediately withdrawing one or two brigades a month and have all troops out within 16 months; would call a UN-led constitutional convention in Iraq that would not adjourn until reconciliation reached; aims to refocus energies on Al-Qaeda threat in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Immigration
Huckabee: Opposes granting amnesty to illegal immigrants or granting driver's licenses to them; says those caught illegally entering the United States must be detained, processed and deported; Obama: backs boosting the number of immigrants allowed in the United States; would permit undocumented workers to pay a fine, go to the end of the line for citizenship and learn English in order to stay in the country; would add personnel and technology to protect the US borders.
In wake of mall shootings, officials mull gun measures
In Lincoln Public Schools, that would translate to about 700 teens.Ashford’s proposal would cover the duty to report missing firearms, safe gun storage and tracing guns. It would create a gun violence commission and establish a hotline to report possession by juveniles.* People would be required to report a lost or stolen gun within 48 hours, even if the gun is not registered or is improperly registered.No punishment would result to the reporting person if it is unregistered, but failing to report a missing gun could result in a $500 fine.* It would be a felony to store a loaded gun, or one with ammunition, and a juvenile gets the gun and uses it to injure or kill someone.It would not apply if the gun was stored in a locked box or a secure location, or with a trigger lock; the gun was obtained by an illegal entry; the injury resulted from target or sport shooting or a hunting accident; or the juvenile obtained the gun from a military or law enforcement person during his or her official duties.* A gun found in the possession of a juvenile would be traced to determine how he or she got the gun.A firearm recovered during a criminal investigation would also require a trace.
New home construction drops by largest amount in almost 30 years
Other metro-east communities, such as Belleville, Mascoutah, Smithton, Maryville and Godfrey, recorded declines of 15 percent to 25 percent. Economists said the current housing slump has already surpassed the 1990 downturn and will likely rival, if not surpass, the prolonged housing downturn in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period when the Federal Reserve was pushing interest rates to the highest levels since the Civil War in a successful effort to halt a decade-long bout of high inflation. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, is forecasting that median sales prices for existing homes will fall by 2.5 percent for all of 2007, which would be the first annual price decline on records that go back four decades. "I think this housing downturn will be unprecedented in terms of its breadth across the country and in its severity," Zandi said.
Contractor loses La. scholarship account data dating back to 1998
BATON ROUGE, La. -- A Boston-based contractor hired to store and safeguard state scholarship and college savings account data lost most of those records _ including bank account numbers and student and parent Social Security numbers _ during a move, officials say. "We certainly don't want to create any panic. But people should be aware and take the necessary steps," said Melanie Amrhein, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. "This is backup data off of a mainframe that contains sensitive personal information." Special equipment and software and "sophisticated computer skills" would be needed to get the compressed records from the TOPS scholarship program, START Saving Program, and Free Application for Federal Student Aid, according to a notice posted on the Internet.
Conference of Municipalities Asks Rell to Push Tax Relief for ...
With tax anxiety threatening many state cities and towns, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) Wednesday asked legislators and Gov. M. Jodi Rell to provide tax relief. Earlier, the governor had proposed a cap on municipal property tax revenues, but CCM [www.ccm-ct.org] has warned her idea is not the magic bullet needed to ease the burden on local taxpayers and asked Rell to pull back on that proposal. "Unless the governor and the General Assembly act this session, property taxpayers in towns and cities across the state face steep property tax hikes, huge reductions in public services or both," said Elizabeth Patterson, president of the CCM and mayor of Mansfield. Westport First Selectman Gordon F. Joseloff, in a brief telephone interview yesterday morning, said there is a need to be concerned about finances and that Westport will be getting "a little bit more money" from the state.
Financing options urged for bridges
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Transportation Secretary Joe Prather said yesterday that the state's road fund can't pay for the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project and other large highway ventures, and he supports finding new ways to finance them. Prather stopped short of endorsing a specific source of additional money, although his remarks came weeks before the state Transportation Cabinet expects to issue a report evaluating whether tolls are feasible for the Ohio River project. .
How to be Generous Without Spoiling the Grandkids
When my children were younger, their grandparents in New York kept a scrapbook of their favorite comic strips to read aloud when the kids came to visit. Meanwhile, their Pittsburgh grandparents sent them copious clippings about the Steelers, the kids' favorite football team. Both sets of grandparents bought traditional presents as well, but it was those gifts of time and thoughtfulness that were most memorable. And that's worth keeping in mind this holiday season, when gift-giving by grandparents, well-intentioned and generous as it may be, can cause tensions on both sides of the generation gap. Spirit of giving. In a recent survey by AARP Financial, 79% of the grandparents said that their grandkids don't understand the value of a dollar. (And they often say the same about their adult children.
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