Wednesday, May 22, 2013
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t think so. What do you think?
There has been many a report of college grads taking menial jobs during the recent economic downturn. Yet others have moved back in with parents, unable to support themselves or pay off college loans. According to a story in The Daily Mail, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, famous for his nanny tactics with constituents by making laws restricting what he considers bad habits, is now suggesting that not everybody go to college. But does he have a point? The Daily Mail reported that Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio show on May 17, suggested that students who aren’t necessarily top of their class should rather go to trade school than take on an expensive college degree. His example, the Daily Mail reports, is the career of a plumber. "…
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Although last week was a tough one for the Obama administration, the president's popularity doesn’t seem to have been affected.
After scandals plagued the White House last week, this week began with yet another one. However, according to the Huffington Post, President Barack Obama appears to have weathered the storms relatively unscathed – at least according to a recent poll. The Huffington Post reported that the poll, from CNN and ORC International, found that 53 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing while 45 percent disapprove. This is the same as he was doing in the polls before the scandals hit. This recent poll was taken on May 17 and 18, and has a 3 percent margin of error, the Huffington Post reports. The scandals began when the White House faced continued scrutiny on Benghazi then expanded to news of the IRS unfairly targeting …
Monday, May 20, 2013
The federal government is proposing a drop to a .05 percent blood-alcohol level.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants to reduce deaths caused by drunken drivers, and one of its ideas is to change how states measure drunkenness. The board has proposed reducing the blood-alochol limit to .05 percent, down from the .08 percent states enforce now, according to Fox News. That limit could mean one drink for a lot of women, and two drinks for a lot of men. "Our goal is to get to zero deaths because each alcohol-impaired death is preventable," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said in the Fox story. Among those who oppose the idea: Groups that sell alcohol. "Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior," American Beverage Institute Managing Director Sarah Longwell said in a statement quoted …
Friday, May 17, 2013
It was for a man recently arrested in a Loganville Walmart.
You're out shopping -- wearing some new jeans you bought at another store and forgot to remove the tag from. A store employee gets suspicious, and police ask you to step into the loss-prevention office so they can check out your pants to make sure you're not shoplifting them. You're not shoplifting, so you say no, you can't check out my pants. And out come the handcuffs. The charge for not cooperating, you're warned, is disorderly conduct. What do you do? A Loganville man recently opted for the disorderly conduct charge rather than agree to take his tag-on jeans to the loss-prevention office. A review of security tapes showed he hadn't been shoplifting the pants, but the disorderly conduct charge stuck. Did he commit a crime? Share your …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Some legislators acknowledge the freebies can look bad, but they say the state's new ethics law will make it harder to mingle with constituents.
Georgia legislators who want to sit in the president's suite above the hedges at Sanford Stadium next year will have to pay their own way, thanks to ethics legislation signed by Gov. Nathan Deal last week. The law forbids elected officials from receiving gifts or event tickets exceeding $75. University System of Georgia lobbyists gave state and local lawmakers more than $14,000 in football tickets in 2012, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. The paper quotes state Sen. Bill Cowsert, whose district includes Athens, saying the football games have been a good way for him to mingle with his constitutents. “I think it’s really going to change things," Cowsert is quoted saying of the new ethics law. "I think it’s going to make it tougher for the …
'Star Trek Into Darkness' proves that J.J. Abrams' success with 2009's 'Trek' reboot was no fluke.
With "Star Trek Into Darkness", director J.J. Abrams proves his first "Trek" outing in 2009 was no fluke, completing the resuscitation of Paramount's once-ailing flagship franchise and setting the scene for what one can only hope will be many more adventures with this winning cast. As he did with 2009's "Star Trek", Abrams has crafted a film that will appeal to casual popcorn-flick fans while still respecting hard-core Trekkies. "Into Darkness" begins at mid-gallop and only rarely slows through its 132-minute running time. The movie opens with the Enterprise crew working frantically to save an alien world from certain doom, in the form of an impending volcanic eruption. A monkey wrench gets thrown into the works when first officer Spock (…
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The agency apologized last week for automatically sending Tea Party and similar groups through multiple hoops before the 2012 election.
President Obama this week said efforts by IRS employees to target new conservative groups for extra scrutiny were "outrageous," echoing many administration critics who charged that the measures were politically motivated. "I have got no patience with it, I will not tolerate it, and we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this," Obama said in a news conference Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported that an Inspector General's report concludes there was widespread targeting of conservative-linked groups for aggressive questioning, but that no one outside the IRS was involved in establishing the practice. (The report was released Tuesday.) Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, an appointee of President George W. Bush…
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Politicians, Republicans especially, are scrambling for position to replace Saxby Chambliss.
Republican 10th District U.S. Rep. Paul Broun is running for Senate in 2014. So is Republican 1st District U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston. And Republican 11th District U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey. But Republican Tom Price, who represents the 6th District, announced Friday that he's not. Which might open the door for former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, a pal of Price's, who said in a statement last week that she'd end the suspense "in the very near future." Meanwhile, John Barrow, the only white Democrat from the Deep South in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced recently that he won't seek the seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Which might mean tough 2014 sledding for Democrats, who have yet to put forth a …
Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposes a bill that addresses what she considers a gross inequity.
What do big banks and college students have in common? They both borrow money. But don’t ask the rates. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts noticed the discrepancy and unveiled a bill (her first) Wednesday that addresses what she considers a gross inequity. Student loan interest rates under her proposal would be the same as what the Federal Reserve offers big banks. As The Huffington Post reported: “With some student loan rates set to double on July 1—from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent—Warren’s bill would reduce student loan interest rates to 0.75 percent, opening the Fed's discount window to students.” Warren, a Democrat, was quoted as saying: “Every single day, this country invests in big banks by lending them money at near-zero rates. …
Monday, May 13, 2013
A database released by the federal government shows shocking price discrepancies.
How can a medical procedure that costs $7,000 at one hospital cost nearly $100,000 at the hospital down the street? Because patients don't know what anyone charges for anything. That might change soon. The federal government has released a database laying out charges for common medical procedures at hospitals across the country, The Huffington Post reports. Officials said they released the data to make hospitals more intelligent competitors and patients better informed consumers. The results are vexing: What's your reaction to the variation in health care prices? Will this information change how you seek health care? What should be done to improve medical pricing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Sharon Swanepoel
1:08 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
I have three plumbers in my family - two who went to college and one who did it through an apprenticeship - all three graduated from Loganville High School about 10 or 11 years ago. The one who did it through an apprenticeship is further up the chain, makes more money and certainly has no college loans to pay off - in fact he was paid while he learned and is still learning in an effort to move … more ›