WASHINGTON – Savoring his first big victory in Congress, President Barack Obama on Saturday celebrated the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill as a “major milestone on our road to recovery. “
Officials said he would sign the measure on Tuesday in Denver.
Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, “I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we’ll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done.”
At the same time, he cautioned, “This historic step won’t be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning. The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task.”
The bill passed Congress on Friday on votes split mostly along party lines, allowing Democratic leaders to deliver on their promise of clearing the legislation by mid-February. The decision to sign it Tuesday in Denver, where Democrats held their national convention last summer, was disclosed by officials on condition of anonymity. They said they were not authorized to discuss the plans.
“It will take time, and it will take effort, but working together, we will turn this crisis into opportunity and emerge from our painful present into a brighter future,” the president said.
Obama “now has a bill to sign that will create millions of good-paying jobs and help families and businesses stay afloat financially,” said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who was a leading architect of the measure.
“It will shore up our schools and roads and bridges, and infuse cash into new sectors like green energy and technology that will sustain our economy for the long term,” he added in a statement.
Hours earlier, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell offered a different prediction for a bill he said was loaded with wasteful spending.
“A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted and temporary is none of the above,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor. “And this means Congress is about to approve a stimulus that’s unlikely to have much stimulative effect.”
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in the GOP radio address Saturday, contended Democrats settled “on a random dollar amount in the neighborhood of $1 trillion and then set out to fill the bucket.”
Obama, who was spending the weekend in Chicago, planned to fly back to Washington on Monday. His schedule for the week ahead includes trips to Denver on Tuesday to talk about his economic agenda and a visit to Phoenix on Wednesday to present a plan to fight foreclosures.
In a struggle lasting several weeks, lawmakers in the two political parties both emphasized they wanted to pass legislation to revitalize the economy and ease frozen credit markets. But the plan that the administration and its allies eventually came up drew the support of only three Republicans in Congress – moderate Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Their support was critical, though, in helping the bill squeak through the Senate on a vote of 60-38, precisely the number needed for passage. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown cast the 60th vote in favor in a nearly deserted Senate, hours after the roll call began. He arrived after a flight aboard a government plane from Ohio, where he was mourning the death of his mother earlier in the week.
The House vote was 246-183.
The legislation, among the costliest ever considered in Congress, provides billions of dollars to aid victims of the recession through unemployment benefits, food stamps, medical care, job retraining and more. Tens of billions are ticketed for the states to offset cuts they might otherwise have to make in aid to schools and local governments, and there is more than $48 billion for transportation projects such as road and bridge construction, mass transit and high-speed rail.
Democrats said the bill’s tax cuts would help 95 percent of all Americans, much of the relief in the form of a break of $400 for individuals and $800 for couples. At the insistence of the White House, people who do not earn enough money to owe income taxes are eligible, an attempt to offset the payroll taxes they pay.
In a bow to political reality, lawmakers included $70 billion to shelter upper middle-class and wealthier taxpayers from an income tax increase that would otherwise hit them, a provision that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said would do relatively little to create jobs.
Also included were funds for two of Obama’s initiatives, the expansion of computerized information technology in the health care industry and billions to create green jobs the administration says will begin reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Friday’s events capped an early period of accomplishment for the Democrats, who won control of the White House and expanded their majorities in Congress in last fall’s elections.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, the president has signed legislation extending government-financed health care to millions of lower-income children who lack it, a bill that President George W. Bush twice vetoed. Obama also has placed his signature on a measure making it easier for workers to sue their employers for alleged job discrimination, effectively overturning a ruling by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Raising fresh questions about his appointment to Congress, Sen. Roland Burris admitted in a document released Saturday that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother asked him for campaign fundraising help before the governor named Burris as Illinois’ junior senator.
The disclosure reflects a major omission from Burris’ testimony in January when an Illinois House impeachment committee specifically asked if he had ever spoken to Robert Blagojevich or other aides to the now-deposed governor about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
State Rep. Jim Durkin, the impeachment committee’s ranking Republican, told The Associated Press that he and House Republican Leader Tom Cross will ask Sunday for an outside investigation into whether Burris perjured himself.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada also said he was reviewing the disclosure, the latest twist for Senate Democrats in Washington who only consented to seat Burris on the condition that there were no “pay to play” promises exchanged in the appointment.
Burris said he voluntarily gave the committee a Feb. 4 affidavit disclosing the contact with Robert Blagojevich because “there were several facts that I was not given the opportunity to make during my testimony to the impeachment committee.”
The affidavit, released by Burris’ office after it was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, said Robert Blagojevich called him three times – once in October and twice after the November election – to seek his fundraising assistance.
Robert Blagojevich’s attorney said his client believes one of the conversations was recorded by the FBI.
Burris, a Democrat like the former governor, said he told Robert Blagojevich he would not raise money because it would look like he was trying to win favor from the governor for his appointment. But he said he did ask the governor’s brother “what was going on with the selection of a successor” to Obama in the Senate and “he said he had heard my name mentioned in the discussions.”
It’s the second time Burris has changed his story. In an unsolicited affidavit to the impeachment committee on Jan. 6, Burris said he had only one limited conversation with the governor before accepting the Senate appointment.
Then, appearing before the committee Jan. 8, he said he told former Blagojevich aide-turned-lobbyist Lon Monk last summer that he was interested in the post.
The governor appointed Burris, a former state attorney general, to the Senate seat on Dec. 30, three weeks after federal agents arrested Blagojevich on a complaint alleging he had tried to trade the appointment for campaign cash or a high-paying job. The state House impeached Blagojevich and the state Senate removed him from office on Jan. 29.
Reid and Dick Durbin of Illinois, among other Senate Democrats, initially said they would not seat anyone appointed by Blagojevich but eventually relented after accepting Burris’ impeachment committee testimony under oath that there were no promises exchanged for his appointment.
A spokesman for Durbin said the senator was overseas and had not seen the affidavit or compared it to the testimony. The White House had no comment.
State House impeachment committee chairwoman Barbara Flynn Currie, a Democrat, said she saw the affidavit earlier this week but did not have time to share it with all committee members until now. She said she was planning committee action but that seeking an outside investigation was premature at this point.
The affidavit discloses for the first time that Burris believes he likely told former Blagojevich advisers Doug Scofield and John Wyma of his interest in the post at a fundraiser in June and later asked about it when he spoke to Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris, who was arrested with Blagojevich on Dec. 9.
Scofield, Wyma and Harris were among the Blagojevich associates Burris was asked about in his Jan. 8 testimony by Durkin.
In response, Burris said he had spoken only to Monk.
“This wasn’t a couple of questions that I can understand someone may forget, it goes way beyond that,” Durkin said Saturday. “To say that he wasn’t given the opportunity to explain himself is a load of B.S.”
Durkin said he doesn’t trust majority Democrats in the General Assembly to conduct a fair investigation into whether Burris perjured himself. But he said he doesn’t know yet who should conduct the inquiry.
A log of Harris’ calls released to the AP by the governor’s office indicates Burris called Harris four times in November – the last time on Nov. 26, when the log indicates the two spoke. Burris’ affidavit says he had called Harris to recommend his nephew for a state job and during the conversation asked about the Senate seat.
A spokeswoman for Burris said he would not make himself available for interviews Saturday.
Robert Blagojevich’s lawyer, Michael Ettinger, said his client contacted Burris in October to ask him to host a fundraiser for his brother because Burris had contributed in the past, but Burris said he didn’t want to commit before the election. Ettinger said the subject of the Senate seat wasn’t raised.
Ettinger said Robert Blagojevich remembers only one other conversation in November from the governor’s campaign office, which the FBI had wiretapped at the time. He said his client confirmed Burris’ account that he declined the fundraiser because of the potential conflict.
But he also told Ettinger no one on his brother’s staff had ever mentioned Burris as being interested in the seat.
A publicist for the former governor released a statement saying Blagojevich “acted ethically and honestly and believes Sen. Burris did too.”
In explaining his incomplete testimony, Burris said in the affidavit he recalled mentioning Monk “but was then asked another question and did not mention anyone else.”
His lawyer, Timothy Wright III, said in a cover letter Burris answered “truthfully and to the best of his recollection,” but that the “fluid nature” of the questioning and a review of the transcript showed Burris that he “was unable to fully respond to several matters.”
CLARENCE, N.Y. – A commuter plane that smashed into a house apparently plunged flat to the ground rather than nose-diving, ending up pointed away from the airport it was trying to reach, investigators said Saturday.
Investigators did not offer an explanation as to why the plane was pointed away from the Buffalo airport, but it does raise the possibility the pilot was fighting an icy airplane: Air safety guidelines says a pilot can try a 180-degree turn to rid a plane of ice.
Other possible explanations are that the aircraft was spinning or flipped upon impact.
Flight data showed the plane’s safety systems warned the pilot that the aircraft was perilously close to losing lift and plummeting from the sky. The ensuing crash killed 49 people on the plane and one in the house.
Continental Connection Flight 3407 was cleared to land on a runway pointing to the southwest, but it crashed with its nose pointed northeast, said Steve Chealander, a National Transportation Safety Board member.
The Newark, N.J.-to-Buffalo flight didn’t nose-dive into the house, as initially reported by some witnesses, Chealander said.
It will take as many as four days to remove human remains from the site, which he called an “excavation.”
“Keep in mind, there’s an airplane that fell on top of a house, and they’re now intermingled,” he said.
The plane – on its descent to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in a light snow and mist – plunged suddenly about six miles shy of the runway and exploded.
A “stick shaker” and “stick pusher” mechanism had activated to warn Capt. Marvin Renslow that the plane was about to lose aerodynamic lift, a condition called a stall. When the “stick pusher” engaged, it would have pointed the nose of the plane toward the ground to try to increase lift.
Crash investigators picked through incinerated wreckage Saturday, gathering evidence to determine what brought down the plane. Icing on the aircraft is suspected to have played a role, but officials have stopped short of calling that the cause.
Chealander said indicator lights showed that deicing equipment on the tail, wings and propeller appeared to be working and that investigators who examined both engines said it appears they were working normally at the time of the crash.
Experts were analyzing data from the black boxes, including statements by crew members about a buildup of ice on the wings and windshield of the plane, Chealander said.
If ice is a problem in flight, guidelines from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation say pilots can take a number of steps, including changing speed, pulling the nose up or down, or trying a 180-degree turn.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had told him he believes the aircraft made a 180-degree turn at 5,000 feet.
But there could be other explanations for why the plane was facing the wrong way.
Chealander said the NTSB would use data on the black boxes to determine whether the plane was in a flat spin before it crashed. Flight data indicated “severe” pitching and rolling before impact, so the violent nature of the crash also could have turned the aircraft around.
Other aircraft in the area Thursday night told air traffic controllers they also experienced icing around the time that the plane went down.
Icing is one of several elements being examined by investigators, Chealander said, adding that a full report will probably take a year.
DNA and dental records will be used to identify the bodies, he said.
One aspect of the investigation will focus on the crew, how they were trained and whether they had enough time to rest between flights. Other investigators focused on the weather, the mechanics of the plane and whether the engine, wings and various mechanics of the plane operated as they were designed to.
ISLAMABAD – Dozens of followers of Pakistan’s top Taliban commander were in a compound when a suspected U.S. missile attack hit Saturday, killing 27 militants in an al-Qaida stronghold near the Afghan border, officials said.
The strike appeared to be the deadliest yet by the American drone aircraft that prowl the frontier, and defied Pakistani warnings that the tactic is fueling extremism in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.
In an interview unrelated to the attack, President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban had expanded their presence to a “huge amount” of Pakistan and were even eyeing a takeover of the state.
“We’re fighting for the survival of Pakistan. We’re not fighting for the survival of anybody else,” Zardari said, according to a transcript of his remarks that CBS television said it would air Sunday.
Many Pakistanis believe the country is fighting Islamist militants, who have enjoyed state support in the past, only at Washington’s behest.
Remotely piloted U.S. aircraft are believed to have launched more than 30 attacks over the past year, and American officials say al-Qaida’s leadership and ability to support the insurgency in Afghanistan has been significantly weakened. But Pakistani officials say the vast majority of the victims are civilians.
After Saturday’s strike, Taliban fighters surrounded the flattened compound in the village of Shrawangai Nazarkhel and carried away the dead and wounded in several vehicles. The village is in South Waziristan, part of the tribally governed area along the Afghan frontier considered the likely redoubt of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
The victims included about 15 ethnic Uzbek militants and several Afghans, said Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The seniority of the militants was unclear.
Two of the officials said dozens of followers of Pakistan’s top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, were staying in the housing compound when it was hit. There was no indication that Mehsud was present.
Pakistan’s former government and the CIA have named Mehsud as the prime suspect behind the December 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistani officials accuse him of harboring foreign fighters, including Central Asians linked to al-Qaida, and of training suicide bombers.
The accounts of Saturday’s strike could not be verified independently. The tribally governed region is unsafe for reporters. The U.S. Embassy had no comment, while Pakistan’s army spokesman was unavailable.
The new U.S. administration has brushed off Pakistani criticism that the missile strikes fuel extremist and anti-American sentiment and undercuts the government’s own counterinsurgency strategy.
“The government is doing everything possible to stop it and I hope that America listens to the voice of the people of Pakistan,” Pakistan’s Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said Saturday.
Yet many analysts suspect Pakistan has quietly agreed to the attacks in order not to endanger billions of dollars in American and Western support for its powerful military and its ailing economy.
The pro-Western government in Islamabad, led by Bhutto widower Zardari, has signed peace deals with tribal leaders in the northwest while launching a series of military operations against hard-liners.
However, government forces are bogged down on several fronts in the northwest, and Taliban militants have sustained a campaign that has included a string of abductions and other attacks on foreigners.
On Friday, the kidnappers of an American employee of the United Nations threatened to kill him within 72 hours and issued a grainy 20-second video of the blindfolded John Solecki saying he was “sick and in trouble.”
Gunmen seized Solecki on Feb. 2 after shooting his driver to death as they drove to work in Quetta, a southwestern city near the Afghan border.
The kidnappers identified themselves as the previously unknown Baluchistan Liberation United Front, indicating a link to local separatists rather than to Islamist militants.
Fears for Solecki’s safety are intense after Taliban militants apparently beheaded an abducted Polish geologist in early February. A U.N. statement said it was aware of the kidnappers’ demand for the release of 141 women allegedly held in Pakistan and was seeking “urgent contact to discuss ways of securing his safe release.”
Malik said the international community should know that the demands were “highly unrealistic.”
“I have shared that list of 141 women with authorities and all intelligence agencies. It does not have any reality,” he told reporters in Quetta.
Malik said authorities trying to free Solecki were following strong leads and he was hopeful they would succeed.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke Saturday with Zardari about the kidnapping, and “they agreed on the need to secure the safe and immediate release of John Solecki,” Ban’s office said in a statement.
WHITTLESEA, Australia – Australians mourned the victims of deadly wildfires at Sunday church services across the country, as news emerged of a class action lawsuit against a power company over the cause of one of the blazes.
More than 180 people were killed and 1,800 homes destroyed when some 400 blazes tore across Victoria state on Feb. 7 in Australia’s worst-ever wildfire disaster. Police have arrested one man on arson charges connected to one fire and suspect foul play in at least one other.
A law firm lodged a suit in Victoria’s Supreme Court against power supplier SP Ausnet alleging negligence for allowing an overhead power line to fall, starting a wildfire, The Age newspaper reported.
SP Ausnet was not immediately available to comment on the report.
Residents of towns in the 1,500-square mile (3,900-square kilometer) fire zone gathered at church services Sunday to pray for the dead and seek comfort from each other. The scene was repeated at churches across the country, which has been deeply shocked by the tragedy.
At Whittlesea, a town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the state capital of Melbourne, about 200 people attended the Whittlesea Christ Church for services led by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, and Governor General Quentin Bryce.
Whittlesea has become a center for relief efforts for neighboring towns such as Kinglake, where scores of people died and which was almost completely destroyed.
An outpouring of charity has raised more than 90 million Australian dollars ($60 million) in donations to official relief funds.
Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin announced Sunday that families whose homes were destroyed would get a $AU10,000 cash payment to start the rebuilding process. The federal and Victoria government have promised millions of dollars more, and say a comprehensive rebuilding strategy would be released later this week.
Wildfires are common each Australian summer, when tinder-dry forests ignite in hot and windy conditions and can burn for weeks on end. Government researchers say the causes of up to half the 60,000 fires in Australia each year are suspicious, with non-suspect causes being lightning strikes, power line mishaps and human activity such as sparks from power tools.
Victoria Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said Sunday that police were aware of the reported class action suit involving the Kinglake fire. She declined to answer directly when asked if police had removed a section of power line and a power pole as evidence.
“At this stage we are not able to confirm how it started,” Nixon told Nine Network television. “I understand there is some legal action that people are taking, but at this stage we’re still investigating its cause.”
The firm reportedly behind the action, Slidders Lawyers, said on its Web site it was helping landowners and leaseholders get compensation for wildfires that occurred in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009. It invited people affected by the recent disaster to register details with the firm.
It offered no other details, and no one at the firm was immediately available to comment.
Firefighters, including specialists flown in from the United States, continued to battle about a dozen blazes in Victoria, and a pall of dark smoke hung over a huge area, including Melbourne.
Cooler, even wet conditions were allowing firefighters to make good progress in containing the fire, the Country Fire Association said.
Source:yahoo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The financial collapse has hit the city known as Wall Street South.
For years, Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. helped turn Charlotte into a financial powerhouse. Now, the big banks have thrust it into the same predicament as the real Wall Street – the city is losing thousands of jobs and an unquantifiable amount of prestige. Residents who invested heavily in the banks have seen their wealth dissipate and lifestyles change radically.
“It’s kind of sad, disheartening because the banks have been the backbone of Charlotte for so long,” said Carl Clayton, a 55-year-old retired school teacher.
The loss of so many bank jobs is causing upheaval in other industries. Consumers who have been laid off or fear being out of work are curtailing their spending, forcing restaurants and retailers to close – among them Morton’s, a high-end steakhouse, and a 15-month-old Home Depot Design Center. Even some of the Charlotte’s lively night clubs have shuttered their doors.
“There’s a bit of a state of disbelief,” said Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. “We are seeing things happen that no one else has contemplated before.”
Charlotte remains the nation’s second-biggest bank town by assets – second to New York, and in front of San Francisco. But, Morgan said, “we don’t know what the city is going to look like once we emerge.”
“We do know that tremendous wealth has already been lost.”
A big reason why is the amount of banking shares owned by people who have worked for Wachovia, now owned by Wells Fargo & Co., and Bank of America. Both have used their stock to compensate employees.
Bank of America’s shares have been among the hardest hit among financial companies. The company has lost more than 56 percent of its value since it closed on its acquisition of investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. at the beginning of the year. The stock is down nearly 85 percent from a year ago.
Last year, before Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo, its shares had slid 85 percent.
Clayton estimates he has lost about $60,000 because of stock holdings in the two banks, along with other North Carolina banks, including BB&T Corp.
“I had a lot of bank stock, but now it’s gone,” Clayton said. “What wealth I had, is gone.”
Residents and employees never expected such a downfall. Wachovia, once headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., joined the Top 5 ranks of national banks after it was acquired by Charlotte-based First Union Corp. in 2001. The combined company took Wachovia’s name.
Banker Hugh McColl Jr. led NationsBank Corp. through some 70 acquisitions starting in the early 1980s. His biggest coup was San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp., a financial institution bigger than NationsBank. He adopted the name and also moved the headquarters to Charlotte.
Some say Charlotte’s troubles began in 2006, when Wachovia acquired mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. for roughly $25 billion at the height of the housing boom. With that purchase, Wachovia inherited a $122 billion portfolio of deteriorating mortgages, leaving the company with huge losses. Charlotte residents were unnerved as they watched Wachovia falter and then be taken over by Wells Fargo in what amounted to a fire sale late last year.
Down the street, at Bank of America, things were looking just as bleak. A series of bad bets in the investment banking unit over the past year sank companywide profits, and as Bank of America completed its acquisition of struggling investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co., shareholders watched its stock price slide to historic lows.
Both Wells Fargo and Bank of America have said they remain “committed” to Charlotte.
Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, has said Charlotte will be its eastern headquarters, though it remains unclear exactly what that means. The fear is that Wells Fargo, as it completes its integration of Wachovia, will keep shedding Charlotte positions. Wachovia has about 20,000 employees in the city.
Bank of America, meanwhile, with about 15,000 employees in Charlotte, is eliminating some 35,000 jobs companywide.
North Carolina already has nearly 400,000 unemployed workers. The jobless rate was 8.7 percent in December, the highest since 1983, according to the most recent available data.
Charlotte, with a population of nearly 700,000, is the 20th-largest city in the country. About 45 percent of the residents of its home county, Mecklenburg, make more than $50,000 a year, according to data supplied by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
Outside the downtown offices buildings filled with bank employees, there’s a sense of disbelief as people huddle together drinking coffee or smoking cigarettes and then shuffle off to their jobs. When a reporter approached employees for interviews, they declined to speak, or said they didn’t want to give their names, worried about keeping their jobs.
Charlotte relies on the banks for more than employment – its lifestyle, even its skyline has depended on Wachovia and Bank of America.
Wachovia sponsors the city’s annual PGA tournament, among the most popular on tour, while Bank of America’s name is on the football stadium and the bank is a sponsor of one of NASCAR’s top auto races. Both fill towering downtown office buildings – Wells Fargo, now by way of Wachovia, is building a 48-story headquarters and adjoining city arts campus. The bankers and traders who work for both helped create the demand – and now vacancies – for the high-rise condos near by.
“I have received more calls over the past month from people wanting to list their homes, with a majority of them having financial problems,” said Rich Ferretti, a broker at Jamison Reality in Matthews, a suburb of Charlotte.
Stores in the city’s affluent SouthPark area are less crowded on the weekends. And a recent happy hour at Capital Grille, located just across from Bank of America’s headquarters, was sparsely attended.
Charlotte also faces civic and philanthropic repercussions. Unlike Wachovia, Wells Fargo’s executives have few North Carolina ties. Bank of America typically offers up the lead gift on projects.
“We will honor our existing commitments and we are still in the process of determining any future commitments,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Mary Eshet said.
Now, the city is waiting for major changes.
“A lot of our friends work for the banks,” said Leslie Hunter, a 38-year-old mother of two. “People are not stopping everything, but their awareness has increased.”
After being laid off from his bank consulting job 11 months ago, Jim Edwards’ daily routine of networking, applying for jobs and going to the gym keeps his spirits up.
“I’ve been out of work and living on my retirement income,” said the 62-year-old, who added it’s been a struggle finding employment because no one is hiring.
While many unknowns remain, Mayor Pat McCrory is optimistic.
“Charlotte does have very strong resilience and I anticipate that a lot of the talent that’s moving out of the banks will stay,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Some job relief may be moving in. GMAC Financial Services and Morgan Stanley are rumored to be looking to move at least parts of their companies to the Charlotte area.
GMAC Financial Service’s chief executive, Al G. de Molina, used to be Bank of America’s chief financial officer. Morgan Stanley has already hired at least four former Wachovia executives to help the New York-based firm’s retail banking expansion effort.
McCrory wouldn’t talk about the two firms, but said the large amount of talent in Charlotte will “attract others in the financial services industry to set up here.”
“We’re going through a major adjustment, but when the economy rebounds, I think Charlotte will rebound the quickest,” he said.
Source:yahoo
Children born in areas heavy traffic areas could be at greater risk of developing asthma due to genetic changes brought on by pollution and acquired in the womb, a new study suggests.
In a study of umbilical cord blood from New York City children, researchers found a change in a gene called ACSL3 that is associated with prenatal exposure to chemical pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are byproducts of incomplete combustion from carbon-containing fuels, resulting in high levels in heavy-traffic areas.
Exposure to PAHs has previously been linked to diseases such as cancer and childhood asthma.
Researchers say this finding provides a potential clue for predicting environmentally related asthma in children – particularly those born to mothers who live in high-traffic areas like Northern Manhattan and South Bronx when pregnant.
The genetic alterations are called epigenetic changes, which may disrupt the normal functioning of genes by affecting their expression but do not cause structural changes or mutations in the genes.
“Our data support the concept that environmental exposures can interact with genes during key developmental periods to trigger disease onset later in life, and that tissues are being reprogrammed to become abnormal later,” said Shuk-mei Ho, University of Cincinnati researcher and lead author of a paper on the results published in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal PLoS ONE.
The researchers analyzed umbilical cord white blood cell samples from 56 children for epigenetic alterations related to prenatal PAH exposure in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. The mothers’ exposure to PAHs was monitored during pregnancy using backpack air monitors.
The researchers found a significant association between changes in ACSL3 methylation – a gene expressed in the lung – and maternal PAH exposure. ACSL3 also was associated with a parental report of asthma symptoms in the children prior to age 5.
“This research is aimed at detecting early signs of asthma risk so that we can better prevent this chronic disease that affects as many as 25 percent of children in Northern Manhattan and elsewhere,” said Frederica Perera, co-author on the paper from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
More research is needed to confirm the findings, the scientists said. If the study is confirmed, changes in the ACSL3 gene could serve as a novel biomarker for early diagnosis of pollution-related asthma.
“Understanding early predictors of asthma is an important area of investigation,” said study team member Rachel Miller of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. “because they represent potential clinical targets for intervention.”
The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and private foundations.
NEW YORK – The bar was crowded with well-dressed professionals enjoying drinks and conversation, a typical evening – except that many of them had no job.
The event was a Wall Street Pink Slip Party, where the unemployed mix with recruiters and curious bystanders to network, look for work, and share their stories.
With employers shedding 600,000 more jobs in January, the undercurrent at this party in a Manhattan bar was decidedly glum.
“Wall Street, directly or indirectly, has ruined the best 10 years of my life,” said Susan Lange, speaking of colleagues and friends she lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and the sense now, after being laid off from her job as an AIG training manager, that her world has again turned on its head.
“I’m devastated,” the 39-year-old woman said.
Figures released Friday showed that the unemployment rate hit 7.6 in January, a month with more layoffs than at any other time since 1974.
Jobseekers are gathering in bars, delving into the business networking Web site LinkedIn, waiting in lines at city help centers, and even starting up hopeful conversations with prosperous-looking strangers on commuter trains – all in the hope of landing jobs in what seems to be a shrinking pool of opportunity.
“Places have hiring freezes. And they have cutbacks. And they have layoffs. There are a lot more people in the job market,” said 32-year-old Ana Arrendell, who has been searching for work since August.
At first, she was looking only for a job in her field, graphic design. But as the months have gone by, Arrendell has lowered her expectations. “Right now, I’ll take anything,” she said Friday as she left a New York City-run office that offers resume-writing assistance and interview training.
Already having given up hope for a Wall Street job making $80,000 per year right out of college, recent graduate David Gunther is getting creative as he tries to expand his business network.
The 23-year-old has begun hanging around commuter ferries and suburban trains, chatting up professional-looking types traveling to areas where executives live. Recently, at an electronica concert – a wildly different atmosphere than at the career services office at his university – he talked to some fans who introduced him to an entertainment-industry manager. Now he’s preparing for a job interview with the man.
Gunther isn’t the only one looking for new ways to meet people. Among the groups using the networking service Meetup, the NYC Job Seekers & Career Strategy group has more than doubled in size to 454 people since September, with more than 95 joining since the first of the year. Worldwide, Meetup has seen a boom in career-related groups; more than 2,000 were started in January, compared to about 500 a month over the summer, said spokesman Andres Glusman.
Chandlee Bryan, a resume writer and career coach who acts as facilitator for the New York group, says she has seen it transform. Initially, people attending the meetings were pondering a career switch out of a desire for something new. Now, participants in talks on online networking and interviewing techniques are more often being forced into the hunt, either because they’ve been laid off or because they believe they might be.
Bryan says the meetings help people fight off the solitude that comes with being jobless.
“There’s a great deal of isolation,” she said. “That complicates the process and makes it harder, given that the majority of people find their jobs through networking.”
That’s the point of the Wall Street Pink Slip Party – modeled after similar events held following the dot-com bust. Since the reincarnation was launched in November, the intensity at the parties is increasing, says organizer Rachel Pine.
The first event drew a mix of people, only a quarter of them laid off. By the Feb. 4 event, 85 to 90 percent of the 400 people were looking for work.
The scene at the bustling Public House bar on Wednesday night was varied, as men and women in a mix of suits and corporate casual wear – and pink glow-in-the-dark wristbands that marked them as jobseekers – homed in on recruiters wearing green wristbands.
Some were approaching their job search with equanimity, figuring they could rely on savings socked away during the flush years. Others seemed more desperate, counting their change after paying for the coat check. Some, drink in hand, sounded almost bitter about their personal economic downturn.
Andrea Bouwman recounted watching the Super Bowl with a growing sense of ire, as she saw the millions of dollars that her former employer PepsiCo had spent on advertising instead of salaries.
“They kind of compromised people for the actual advertising,” said the former marketing manager, adding that since she got her pink slip she’s been drinking only Coca-Cola.
Options are more limited back at the city employment center in Brooklyn, where 43-year-old Desmond Moulton, who held jobs as a retail salesman, recounts months of dashed hopes.
Most recently he returned to the job placement center, only to see a once-enthusiastic counselor turn somber as she studied his prospects.
“She clearly wanted to help me. She clearly wanted to have some good news to give me,” he said. “But she had none.”
Scott Speed (82), Casey Mears (07), Jeff Gordon (24), David Ragan (6) …
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick used a thrilling last-lap pass to steal a Daytona 500 victory. He’s apparently got the move mastered. Harvick powered past Jamie McMurray on the outside of the last lap Saturday night to grab a come-from-nowhere victory in the exhibition Budweiser Shootout.
“That was some wild racing,” he said from Victory Lane. “What a race. That was wild as heck there at the end.”
Wild indeed.
It was Harvick’s first victory in 71 races, dating to the All-Star race in May 2007. The only other event he won that year was the season-opening 500, when he nipped Mark Martin in a photo finish. Harvick was winless in 2008.
Now he’s got the momentum heading into next weekend’s Daytona 500, and NASCAR has the start to the season it desperately needed after an offseason filled with layoffs, sponsorship troubles and constant concern about the economic crisis.
“With the economy the way it is and the amount of layoffs – it’s almost depressing right now to turn the news on,” second-place finisher McMurray said. “I get up at 6 a.m., I turn the news on and headline is how many people are getting laid off from major corporations. I think it will be a tough year for us to sell tickets.”
Harvick started 23rd in the Shootout, spent most of the race in the back dodging wrecks, then slowly worked his way up toward the front. McMurray seemed headed for the win until a late wreck between Greg Biffle and David Stremme set up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.
Harvick was in fourth on the restart, and didn’t seem to have anything for McMurray.
But as they closed in on the finish line, he used a huge push from Denny Hamlin to slide past McMurray on the outside.
“It will be a long night,” McMurray said. “I’ll think about what maybe I should have done different.”
Harvick coasted to the win as Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch all crashed behind him.
McMurray knew holding on for the win would be difficult when he restarted in the lead for the final two laps.
“It’s just honestly the leader is kind of a sitting duck,” McMurray said. “It’s cool because you can pass him.”
Tony Stewart was third in his first race as owner of his race team. He left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of last year to take over Stewart Haas Racing.
“Yeah, I’ll take that for a debut night,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t the prettiest third-place spot, but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
Jeff Gordon was fourth and was followed by AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards. Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
The race used to be for the previous year pole winners and past champions of the event, but NASCAR overhauled the format and opened Saturday night’s exhibition to the top six teams from each manufacturer. Then last month, NASCAR passed “The Tony Stewart Rule” and allowed each manufacturer one wild-car entry.
The joke around the garage was the caveat was added so Stewart, a three-time Shootout winner, could get his new team into the race despite switching from Toyota to Chevrolet this season.
In all, a record 28 cars competed in the race, which also was expanded five laps to 75.
Some of the participants were eliminated early: A six-car wreck just four laps into the race knocked out rookies Scott Speed and Joey Logano. For Speed, it was his second wreck in as many days.
“The guys in front of me wrecked and the rest is just history. Kind of a thing that happens around here,” said Speed, a former Formula One driver who wrecked with Paul Menard during Friday’s practice.
Logano finished second in Saturday afternoon’s ARCA race, then sprinted to NASCAR’s driver meeting – only to get there as it was wrapping up. His punishment was being sent to the back of the starting field – right where the accident occurred.
“You start in the back and that’s kind of what happens,” Logano said.
Gordon proved why he’s a four-time series champion during that first accident, deftly weaving through the wrecking cars to escape unscathed.
Defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. contended at times for the victory until his night ended 11 laps from the end in a four-car accident.
Wondering what to do with your stash of old batteries or the cans of unneeded paint taking up space in your garage? You know you shouldn’t throw them out, but it really is time to get rid of them.
Resist the temptation to toss them in the trash anyway. The reason: They (and everything on the list below) contain toxic chemicals capable of contaminating the environment if not disposed of properly.
Unlike items that are picked up at the curb, you’ll have to make a special effort to unload these ones responsibly. But, with a little advance planning and some good info, you’ll see that it’s really quite simple to dispose of these seemingly mysterious items. Here’s how:
* Batteries. Recycling rechargeable batteries is fairly easy. Home Depot, Staples, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and other retailers take them back free of charge. There are fewer options for single-use batteries, but look for bins at your local Whole Foods Market, Ikea, or library. Otherwise, your best bet is the local household hazardous waste drop-off site. Where is it and what are your closest drop-off options? Search here for answers.
* CFLs. These energy-efficient bulbs are becoming easier to get rid of. Just drop old bulbs off at any Home Depot or Ikea for free recycling. Or ask about CFL recycling at your local Ace Hardware or home improvement store. You can search for other nearby solutions.
* Electronics. Every retailer that takes back rechargeable batteries also accepts mobile phones, as do most wireless providers. For computers, cameras, televisions, and others it’s worthwhile do a little homework because some stores charge fees depending on item and brand. Check out Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot to see what’s the best fit. Some places, like Radio Shack, have trade-in programs where you can receive store credit for your old gadgets.
* Motor Oil. In case you need some motivation, consider this factoid from Earth911: Every gallon of used motor oil that’s improperly disposed of can contaminate one million gallons of drinking water. Bring it to Wal-Mart, Autozone, Jiffy Lube, or search online for more convenient choices.
* Paint. It’s among the harder items in this group to dispose of, but it’s worth it and totally doable. If the paint is still in good shape, consider donating it. As of now, there aren’t any retailers that accept used paint so you’ll need to make a special trip. Search Earth911 for a comprehensive list of options.
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