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  • BRIEF
    Mar 11, 2010 — Chicago Tribune
    ...a thousand undocumented Chicagoans will face their fears of deportation today and descend on the Federal Plaza to march for comprehensive immigration reform. This morning, several organizers from the Immigrant Youth Justice League were joined by Latino City Council members in calling for support of another immigration reform rally in Washington D.C. on March 21. Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) was among several officials at a news conference who expressed outrage, saying the Obama...
  • Budget would raise some class sizes
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    ...tax levy. Contract negotiations continue with the Kenmore Teachers Association. Mondanaro said there is money in the budget for all union contracts for next year. While the budget-to-budget spending increase is below 1 percent, the tax levy increase is up, from 1.50 to 1.99 percent, because of the gap remaining from state aid losses. As it stands, the proposed budget would increase the property tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation from $38.20 to $38.96 -- a little more than...
  • Collins set to announce surplus of $44 million
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    And not enough surplus shows that you have not been as tight as you need to be with fiscal controls.
  • Dems weigh education proposal
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    And Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) said Thursday, "There was a stronger feeling for including" the education proposal.
  • Driven to Distraction: Distracted Driving in Ambulances and Police Cruisers
    Mar 11, 2010 — New York Times
    Data does not exist about crashes caused by police officers or medics distracted by their devices. Ambulances and police cars are becoming increasingly wired. “My partner was checking baseball scores as he was driving a patient to the hospital.
  • Hope VI progresses another step forward
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    It's simply whether we wish to approve tax-exempt status for their bonds," Sloma said.
  • House Democrats' 'no' votes are piling up on healthcare reform
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Hill
    Most Democrats on The Hill's whip list are definitely going to vote no, but others, such as Reps. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) language on abortion in the "no" category. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) on the House floor Wednesday night.
  • House ends its corporate earmarks
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    It could not be immediately determined yesterday how many of those earmarks went to companies. The House Ethics Committee recently investigated seven congressional members for providing millions of dollars in earmarks to companies that hired lobbyists and donated large sums to their campaigns.
  • Investors Bet on Betaworks, a New York Tech Incubator
    Mar 11, 2010 — New York Times
    Borthwick.Crucial to Betaworks’s strategy as the company begins to scale, Mr. Buckley. “These guys are active leaders in the segment, which is growing and potentially changing the way people interact with the Web.”Mr.
  • It's a bog deal
    Mar 11, 2010 — Newsday
    Meanwhile, the family continued to pay the monthly mortgage -- they said they still owe $70,000 -- and the $4,000 in annual property taxes. After the house was condemned, they said they won a reduction to $400 in taxes. Suffolk Legis. John M. Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset) introduced the resolution to buy the home in 2007.
  • Just can't legislate without you, baby
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    It's the corrosive mistrust between House and Senate Democrats. Democrats are waiting for a procedural ruling from the Senate parliamentarian deciding whether they can pass the package of reconciliation fixes before the president signs the underlying Senate bill into law. But since the House doesn't much trust the Senate, they're worried that the Senate bill will get signed and then Republican obstruction will mix with Democratic diffidence to derail the reconciliation package.
  • Key senators balk at adding student loan overhaul to health-care legislation
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    Administration officials and House leaders have pressed aggressively for the addition in recent days. That has required additional adjustments to the bill to keep its overall cost to around $950 billion over the next decade.
  • Lawmakers put the 'dead' in health-care reform deadline
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    Tom Harkin had predicted that Obama would sign a bill "before Christmas."Now it's nearly St. The deadline also irked a leading Democratic holdout on the bill. "I don't like deadlines," Rep.
  • Lockport unit seeks IDA tax break on Harrison site
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    Owner Richard A. McIntosh said Mac's is booming. "We have what I refer to as a good problem. Christopher Kacalski of Lancaster are joining forces under the name of Courtlyn LLC to buy the vacant property.
  • Mangano hires Patrick Foye as Nassau development chief
    Mar 11, 2010 — Newsday
    Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has quietly hired a former law associate, Patrick Foye of Port Washington, to head the county's economic development efforts. Foye, who since Jan. 1 had been an unpaid adviser on property tax assessment, was hired effective Feb. 16 as a $142,643-a-year deputy county executive for economic development, according to payroll records obtained by Newsday. Mangano's press secretary Michael Martino had denied as recently as March 2 that Foye had...
  • Miller: Reconciliation will include student loan and health bills
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Hill
    Servicing loans through the Direct Loan program will not only preserve most jobs, it will bring jobs back home that can currently be shipped overseas by lenders.
  • Minority births expected to outnumber white births soon
    Mar 11, 2010 — USA Today
    In fact, demographers say this year could be the "tipping point" when the number of babies born to minorities outnumbers that of babies born to whites. Johnson explained there are now more Hispanic women of prime childbearing age who tend to have more children than women of other races. The 2008 census estimates used local records of births and deaths, tax records of people moving within the U.S., and census statistics on immigrants.
  • Obama gets pressed on immigration issue
    Mar 11, 2010 — USA Today
    Tonight, Obama will have dinner with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Given all on Obama's political plate, is immigration doable before the Nov. 2 congressional elections? Some activists remind Obama that immigration change was one of his campaign promises.
  • Questions about research slow efforts to tackle climate change
    Mar 11, 2010 — USA Today
    The violent threats are not what bother Michael Mann the most. He's used to them.Instead, it's the fact that his life's work — the effort to stop global warming — has been under siege since last fall.
  • School scrutinizes costs
    Mar 11, 2010 — Times Union
    To carry all programs forward with no cuts, the budget would rise to $166.7 million, a 3.8 percent increase. That school has been recommended for closing by New York state. "Our state is in crisis in terms of the budget. It is just sad when you have to think the most vulnerable end up suffering," said Board President Maxine Brisport. "No one here wants to see anyone laid off.
  • Senate parliamentarian rules that bill must pass before reconciliation can be used
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    The reconciliation rider fixes unpopular elements of the health-care bill: the Nebraska deal, the Florida deal, the excise tax and so forth. Mike Capuano's list of complaints with the health-care bill.
  • Senate passes $140 billion in tax breaks, aid to unemployed
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). "Why do we keep passing debt on to our children? Creating a conference committee could drag out the process in the Senate for several days, unless Republicans cooperate.House Democrats have been broadly skeptical of their Senate counterparts' approach to jobs legislation. That bill -- which would create a Social Security tax break for companies hiring new employees and reauthorize federal highway spending -- has passed the Senate once with bipartisan support.
  • Sending Money Electronically to a Friend: Why It's Still So Hard
    Mar 11, 2010 — New York Times
    Currently, it said, three banks offer the service -– PNC, FNBO and First Hawaiian Bank. A recipient receiving the transfer via e-mail or phone would then be directed to the service’s Web site (PopMoney) to sign up to receive the transfer. Robertson, of Javelin, said she expected a number of banks to start transfer services this year, while Mr.
  • The cap-and-trade context
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    One such Democrat is Tom Perriello, a freshman lawmaker from Virginia who wrested his seat from his Republican opponent in 2008 by just 727 votes. House members have already passed health-care reform. But they appear to have convinced themselves that the package of tweaks and fixes that'll make up the reconciliation sidecar are either very politically important or very substantively important.
  • The health-care bill is getting more popular
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    Ezra KleinThat graph is from Pollster.com. As you can see, the bill is about as popular now as it was then.
  • The Mouse That Roared: Turning to the Internet to Catch a Favorite TV Show
    Mar 11, 2010 — New York Times
    And they are becoming more voluble, as cable bills rise and technology improves. Fortunately, before any friendships were severed, an Internet search turned up a live, illegal feed of the game from China on Justin.TV, a video streaming site. Cable executives say they are not worried.
  • U.S. genetic researchers win $500K Albany medical prize
    Mar 11, 2010 — USA Today
    The $500,000 Albany Medical Center prize was given to David Botstein, director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, Dr. Lander, a mathematician, worked with Botstein and helped create a more advanced gene mapping technique. In 1987, Lander explained how to develop maps of complex diseases that are related to more than one gene — for example diabetes and heart disease.
  • Unions taking on Dems who do not toe labor line
    Mar 11, 2010 — The Hill
    McEntee, as head of the AFL-CIO’s political committee, has been leading that cause.But some union officials grumble it’s a waste of time and resources. For example, SEIU Colorado has gotten behind Sen. He is coming back strong,” George said.SEIU is expected to weigh in even earlier, according to Eileen Connelly, executive director of the union’s Pennsylvania State Council.
  • Why health-care reform gets harder over time
    Mar 11, 2010 — Washington Post
    Ezra KleinThis is a good Slate explainer looking into whether the health-care reforms of the early-20th century actually had a health-care system to reform. The wealthy, meanwhile, paid for home-based care. One is that political defeat engenders future timidity.
  • Young undocumented immigrants speak out about reform
    Mar 11, 2010 — Chicago Tribune
    They urged people to phone or send texts to Sen.
  • Allergies Acting Up? Dramatizing the Body's Responses to Allergens
    Mar 10, 2010 — New York Times
    What are the symptoms of allergies, from seasonal allergies to pet allergies and food allergies, ranging from mild to severe? What happens when the immune system of someone with allergies is first exposed to allergens? What role does histamine play in causing allergy symptoms?
  • Area doctors to treat patients online
    Mar 10, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    The technology also manages the availability of physicians, freeing them to talk to patients at their convenience. Dr. Critics also argue that a video session is no replacement for a physical exam. But Schoenberg and others said that not all physician-patient encounters require a physical exam. If you have a migraine, the doctor doesn't need to feel your head," said Schoenberg. "This is one tier of health care.
  • Building docks off site could save $80,000 on Alex Bay plans
    Mar 10, 2010 — Watertown Daily Times
    ...dock off-site, thus avoiding a state requirement to pay contract workers higher state wages. Mayor Terry J. Robb said the village's contractor, W.D. Bach Excavation and Consulting LLC, Clayton, came up with an idea to avoid paying state wages and reduce the cost of construction by building 14-by-40-foot sections of the roughly 300-foot dock "down to the cleats" in its Clayton shop, transport them to Alexandria Bay by barge and install the dock on steel pilings. Jean L. Genovese,...
  • Cardinal Health seeks extended property tax breaks
    Mar 10, 2010 — The Buffalo News
    The extension will keep the property, which now is taxed at 50 percent of its current assessment, at that level through 2016, Leone said.
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