Recession & Recovery News Subcribe to Recession & Recovery News |
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By Michael Cooper, The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The government watchdog overseeing the federal stimulus program testified Thursday that he could not vouch for the Obama administration's recent claims that the money had saved or created 640,000 jobs. He suggested that the administration should have treated the number with more skepticism.
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By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Sun (Baltimore)
BALTIMORE -- The mortgage crisis has worsened to the point that about one in every 10 prime borrowers in Maryland and nationwide -- homeowners judged to be good credit risks -- were behind on payments in September.
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CA: California lawmakers, officials face 18% pay cut
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
California's Legislature went to state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown recently seeking relief from a future pay cut and on Thursday received an unwelcome surprise: An 18% reduction for lawmakers and other elected state officials can begin next month instead of a year from now.
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WA: State's budget hole expands to $2.6 billion
By Curt Woodward, The Associated Press, The Seattle Times
Tax increases probably can't be avoided as the state tries to patch a budget deficit that's ballooned to about $2.6 billion, top Democratic lawmakers said Thursday.
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US: Mayors sound alarm over drop in city revenues
By Conor Dougherty, The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON -- Mayors from four U.S. cities said they are facing a once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis and that federal stimulus funds have, so far, been largely unhelpful in helping them balance budgets hit by steep drops in nearly every source of municipal revenue.
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AZ: Budget agreement fails in Senate
By Mary Jo Pitzl and Matthew Benson, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
Efforts to trim a few hundred million dollars from the state budget fell apart Thursday when the state Senate came up one vote shy of the needed majority.
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AZ: Gould, Verschoor won't support budget plan
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, East Valley Tribune
Efforts to start plugging the $2 billion hole in the state budget came to a screeching halt Thursday when two Republican lawmakers refused to support the plan.
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CA: Utility shut-offs soar for poor PG&E customers
By David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
The number of low-income households cut off by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. after they fell behind on their utility bills jumped 75 percent this year, according to a state report released Thursday.
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CA: California's poverty rate 13.3 percent - maybe
By Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee
California's poverty rate is almost exactly that of the nation as a whole, the Census Bureau says in its latest massive data release, while its median household income of $57,988 is higher than all but a dozen states.
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CA: Regents raise college tuition in California by 32 percent
By Tamar Lewin and Rebecca Cathcart, The New York Times
As the University of California's Board of Regents met Thursday at U.C.L.A. and approved a plan to raise undergraduate fees — the equivalent of tuition — 32 percent next fall, hundreds of students from campuses across the state demonstrated outside, beating drums and chanting slogans against the increase.
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CA: A crown jewel of education struggles with cuts
By Tamar Lewin, The New York Times
BERKELEY, Calif. — As the University of California struggles to absorb its sharpest drop in state financing since the Great Depression, every professor, administrator and clerical worker has been put on furlough amounting to an average pay cut of 8 percent.
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DE: Correction Department alerts Delaware to crowding crisis
By James Merriweather, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
Crowding at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle, the state's only women's prison, could become a crisis even if there's a relatively small spike in crime, Corrections Commissioner Carl C. Danberg told state budget writers Thursday.
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DE: Delaware asked to invest in wind company
By Aaron Nathans, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
A startup company whose management includes former Lt. Gov. John Carney is seeking a state investment of $350,000 to establish an operation in Wilmington to manufacture support towers for wind turbines.
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FL: Need a job? Senate going to pay budget expert up to $170K a year
By Dara Kam, The Palm Beach Post
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander is setting up a new office to help him figure out if the state is spending money wisely.
Alexander and his House counterparts have grappled with the state's plummeting revenues and are facing a $2.7 billion projected spending gap in next year's budget.
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FL: Miami-Dade leaders to fight wage theft
By The Associated Press, Tallahassee Democrat
MIAMI -- Miami-Dade Commissioner Natasha Seijas announced a plan to combat the problem of wage theft -- an effort that could serve as a model for cities nationwide.
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GA: No new patients being admitted to Central State Hospital
By Travis Fain, The Macon Telegraph
Georgia's state-run psychiatric hospitals continue to have serious problems, and a recent Department of Justice visit to the largest facility — Central State Hospital in Milledgeville — led the hospital to stop taking new patients indefinitely.
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HI: School board approves bus fare increase
By Loren Moreno, The Honolulu Advertiser
Public school parents will pay more for their kids to ride the school bus come next year after the state Board of Education voted 8-2 tonight to raise one-way fares from 35 cents to 75 cents.
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IA: 3rd-quarter foreclosure rate nears 10% in Iowa
By Donnelle Eller, The Des Moines Register
The lingering recession pushed Iowa's foreclosure rate for all loans to 2.65 percent and mortgages 30 days or more past due to 6.92 percent, a report from Mortgage Bankers Association showed Thursday.
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IA: Culver -- It's time for school reform
By Staci Hupp, The Des Moines Register
Gov. Chet Culver said today that Iowa will go after up to $175 million in federal money for schools, but there are strings attached: Schools in Iowa must change.
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ID: ITD hires new director
By Ben Botkin, The Times-News (Twin Falls)
The Idaho Transportation Department has a new director, just days after the former director sued the state agency over her firing.
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IN: Indiana wants stimulus cash for schools
By Deanna Martin, Associated Press Writer, South Bend Tribune
Indiana hopes to win $250 million or more in competitive federal stimulus grants for schools — money the state superintendent says it deserves because of recent changes lawmakers made to education policies.
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LA: Strain -- State still waiting for funds
By Sarah Chacko, The Advocate (Baton Rouge)
The state agriculture department should have nearly all of $44.5 million in disaster recovery grants and loans in farmers' hands by Christmas, the head of the agency told legislators Thursday.
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MA: No agreement, no $147m upgrade
By Meghan E. Irons, The Boston Globe
Massachusetts has missed an opportunity to tap into as much as $147 million in grant money available under the federal stimulus package because of a deep disagreement between the Patrick administration and residents of Roxbury and Mattapan.
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MA: Charles Baker cooks up plan to cut pension abuse
By Hillary Chabot, Boston Herald
Job-hopping to inflate state pensions and out-the-door parachutes higher than $90,000 will be banned under a new proposal by Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker, as a Herald review shows the number of retirees raking in that much or more shot up 30 percent this year.
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MD: State slashes budget by $362M
By Liam Farrell, The Capital (Annapolis)
The latest round of state budget cuts imposed yesterday will limit student financial aid, slice Medicaid payments to hospitals and even reduce commuter bus trips for state employees when the legislature is not in session.
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ME: Election money may be scant
By Kevin Miller, Bangor Daily News
The prospect that Maine's clean election fund could run dry before the November 2010 elections is causing some concerns among gubernatorial candidates hoping to tap into the program.
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MI: Bills aim to force pay cuts
By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press
Calling it "another option to consider" in addressing the financial crisis gripping Michigan's public schools, an Oakland County lawmaker wants to empower the state schools superintendent to make unilateral cuts to the pay and benefits for school employees under some circumstances.
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MN: Mortgage crisis hits prime borrowers
By Christopher Snowbeck, St. Paul Pioneer Press
More prime borrowers in Minnesota fell behind on mortgage payments during the third quarter, according to a report released Thursday, as delinquencies and bank foreclosures nationally hit record highs.
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MN: State says it needs more than stimulus
By The Associated Press, St. Paul Pioneer Press
The state Department of Transportation said in its 20-year plan, released this week, that federal economic stimulus money does not solve immediate or long-term funding needs.
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MS: Lawmakers' trips hit amid revenue crunch
By Elizabeth Crisp, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson)
Senate leaders have eliminated all taxpayer-funded out-of-state travel for the rest of the fiscal year. Meanwhile, the House is considering a proposal to limit its members to one out-of-state trip each this fiscal year, said House Management Committee Chair J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis.
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NC: UNC tuition hike too small, some say
By Eric Ferreri, The News & Observer (Raleigh)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Students at UNC-Chapel Hill will continue to pay far less for their educations than peers at most of the campus's competitors under a tuition plan approved Thursday. And that, some say, is a problem.
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NE: Senators will work around Heineman's schedule to wrap up session
By JoAnne Young, Lincoln Journal Star
Gov. Dave Heineman called 49 senators to Lincoln 2 1/2 weeks ago to find a solution to a budget crisis. He met with the Appropriations Committee and other key committee chairs Nov. 2, and held briefings with others, to outline his proposal to cut the two-year budget to fill a gap in revenue. Then, according to a few senators, he more or less disappeared.
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NJ: Dem leader -- Economy trumps gay marriage
By Staff Reports, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
Following a dust-up over gay marriage in which he said he was taken out of context, Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney said it would be irresponsible for Democrats to bring a bill to vote if they are not sure it will pass.
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NJ: Christie lays down his law for state
By Staff Reports, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
In his first major speech since Election Day, Gov.-elect Chris Christie told local officials yesterday they better step up and become part of the solution, or he would become their problem.
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NM: State mulls reducing Medicaid coverage
By Barry Massey, The Associated Press, Santa Fe New Mexican
Gov. Bill Richardson's administration is proposing to overhaul Medicaid and scale back health care services to some lower-income New Mexicans to cope with a projected budget shortfall of $300 million next year in the state's largest health care program.
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NV: State sells $131 million in bonds
By Staff Reports, Nevada Appeal (Carson City)
Nevada Treasurer Kate Marshall has announced the sale of $130.9 million in general obligation bonds at one of the lowest interest rates ever.
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NV: The Strip -- License approved for Aria
By, Las Vegas Review-Journal
There was never any doubt Thursday whether Nevada gaming regulators would approve a casino license for the centerpiece resort inside the $8.5 billion CityCenter development.
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NY: Governor -- 'There is no deal'
By Casey Seiler, Times Union (Albany)
The work goes on, but the legislators are gone. Members of the state Senate and Assembly left the Capitol on Thursday with plans to return on Monday -- if, that is, their leaders manage to hammer out a package to close the state's estimated $3.2 billion budget deficit.
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OR: Tax measures represent next economic crossroads
By Peter Wong, Statesman Journal (Salem)
With Oregon's economy and tax collections apparently stabilizing, the next development affecting state services and aid to public schools will hinge on how Oregon voters decide the Legislature's budget-balancing tax measures Jan. 26.
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OR: OSU faculty face mandatory furloughs
By Cheryl Hatch, Corvallis Gazette-Times
Under the proposal, faculty members will have to take a minimum of three unpaid days and a maximum of 12, depending on their salaries and whether they're on nine-month or 12-month contracts.
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PA: State October jobless rate flat
By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In recent months Pennsylvania has been in step with the nation in terms of unemployment, staying about a point behind the national rate as both rates slowly ticked up.
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PA: Some don't report how stimulus funds spent
By Tom Fontaine, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Stung by criticism over data showing billions in federal stimulus money going to nonexistent congressional districts in Pennsylvania and other states, the government corrected its Web site created to track the money.
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PA: Rendell revises gaming claim
By Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Gov. Ed Rendell on Thursday backed off his claim the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office investigated the state gambling board's award of slot licenses in 2006 and found nothing.
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SC: Role of black colleges in higher education touted
By Wayne Washington, The State (Columbia)
The presidents of six colleges and universities in South Carolina met Thursday morning with the chief executive officer of a private foundation that has given at least $2 million to a pair of historically black colleges and universities in this state.
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SD: DOT -- Highway tax hike unlikely
By Bob Mercer, Capital Journal (Pierre)
The Legislature will be presented a package of proposed tax increases for highway funding in the 2010 session, but state Transportation Secretary Darin Bergquist said Thursday he doesn't foresee lawmakers coming up with any more money for road maintenance and projects.
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TN: TVA price increases fuel higher tax payments
By Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Higher electricity prices may have squeezed recession-weary consumers in the past two years, but the higher TVA rates are helping to funnel more money into state and local government coffers.
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TN: TVA cuts bonuses; no pay raise for top brass
By Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press
For the first time since the Tennessee Valley Authority revamped its top management about three years ago, the federal utility didn't give pay raises or performance bonuses to its top managers this year.
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UT: Utah oil and gas leases should be reinstated, report says
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
A new analysis by an association representing oil and gas producers asserts the Department of the Interior thwarted the public process and "second-guessed" its own land managers when it yanked bids on oil and gas parcels sold at a controversial auction in Salt Lake City last December.
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VA: Hampton Alcoa plant lays off 250
By The Associated Press, The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk)
HAMPTON, Va. -- Alcoa Howmet is laying off 250 workers, or nearly a quarter of its work force, at its Hampton manufacturing plant.
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WA: Ranks of uninsured swell in state
By John Stucke, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane)
Washington state is on pace to reach a dangerous milestone within 14 months, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said Thursday: 1 million uninsured residents.
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WA: State budget gap widens
By Brad Shannon, The Olympian
An additional $760 million in hoped-for state revenue evaporated in the latest economic forecast, and lawmakers began talking up the pros and cons of tax increases to help plug a budget shortfall now estimated at $2.7 billion.
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WI: Troubled mortgages at record level in state
By Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
One of every nine homeowners in Wisconsin was behind on mortgage payments or in foreclosure at the end of September - a record level that industry observers said Thursday is likely to rise.
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WV: WVU Tech athletic department losing money, audit shows
By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette
West Virginia University Institute of Technology's athletic department has a losing record when it comes to finances, running budget deficits of more than $1 million for each of the past two academic years, a legislative audit released Thursday concludes.
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More lottery games on the way
By Stateline.org Staff Reports
TODAY'S TAKE: No state currently offers its lottery players the chance to play both Powerball and Mega Millions, but expect both lottery games to be offered in some states soon.
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Economy to sway 2010 gov races
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
The tax hikes that so many states levied to plug holes in their recession-ravaged budgets this year could endanger a few incumbent governors’ careers in 2010 when 37 gubernatorial contests are at stake.
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Illinois offer reignites Guantanamo debate
By Stateline.org Staff Reports
TODAY'S TAKE: The prospect of creating thousands of jobs in Illinois has led Gov. Pat Quinn (D) and other Democrats to offer up a little-used, maximum-security prison in the state as a potential destination for detainees now housed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As economic development projects go, however, few are as politically explosive.
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Weekly wrap: Reports spell deep trouble
By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer
The recession has cut so deep that state governments will suffer for at least 10 years — or what the National Governors Association bluntly calls "the Lost Decade." That was among the conclusions in a trio of reports this week that should raise eyebrows over just how bad states' finances have become.
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20% cuts being planned in Michigan
By Stateline.org Staff Reports
TODAY'S TAKE: Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) already is talking budget cuts for the 2011 fiscal year, which doesn't begin until next October. Her proposals are prompting worries about what kind of state government will remain.
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