Letters to The Editor: Can anyone prove Glenn Beck wrong?
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A reader waits for anyone who mocks Beck to dispute what he says with facts. |
Month: April 2011
Massachusetts House votes to limit public employee unions’ bargaining rights on health insurance plans
Massachusetts House votes to limit public employee unions’ bargaining rights on health insurance plans . Union officials vowed to fight “to the bitter end.”
BOSTON — The Massachusetts House voted Tuesday to dramatically strengthen the power of city and town leaders to change health insurance plans for municipal employees over the objections of unions.
The 111-42 vote late Tuesday came after House leaders agreed to modify their original plan in the hopes of heading off labor opposition.
The modified plan would add a 30-day negotiating window between city and town leaders and unions to work out disagreements.
If no agreement is reached, municipalities would be allowed to impose changes in co-payments, deductibles and other aspects of health care plans.
In that case, however, municipalities would have to return 20 percent of savings to employees in the first year, instead of the 10 percent in the original plan.
Union officials vowed to continue to fight the plan, which was included in the House version of the state budget. The Senate has yet to release its budget plan. Read Story>>
Other Stories:
Mass. House votes to limit bargaining on health care
House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care. (Globe)
APR 23 2011 Hamilton Moving 300 Jobs Off Shore, working against U.S. Tax Payer
Hamilton Sunstrand is Moving 300 Jobs Off Shore:
The Off Shore People’s Tax should be used to buy the Hamilton Sunstrand products!
The U.S Taxpayer is the only real customer of Hamilton Sunstrand.
Yet they, in their infinite wisdom, and under the guidance of their New World Order Elitist bankster military industrial complex controllers, have decided to use the gargantuan amounts of U.S. taxpayer money they command to generate commerce in a foreign country.
At a time of critical need for U.S. economic recovery this is an unwise appropriation of the United States Taxpayers Dollars. It is a direct attack to the heart of the U.S. economy and against the United States of America. It is ECONOMIC WARFARE!
It is a very unwise use of United States citizens money to benefit other countries while destroying more U.S. Commerce and further eroding any chance of a United States economic recovery. The congress who are representatives of the U.S. taxpayer should not allow this to happen. Congress should revoke all Hamilton contracts under some U.S. Economic Security Clause.
Any member of Congress who is complacent with this and allows taxpayer money to fund offshore job transfer should be removed from office. No Excuses.
Hamilton Sundstrand, the aerospace company, announced that they will be eliminating 300 union machinist jobs at its Windsor Locks plant.
The work is being moved to more cost-efficient production plants in Poland, Singapore and Arizona. The job cuts will take place over the next few months and according to a spokesman, any forced layoffs will occur later on during this year.
APR 23 2011,Western Massachusetts energy prices
Noble Hospital to Layoff 25 Hospital Employees
Westfield’s Noble Hospital announces layoffs, cuts in hours
By Sandra Constantine, The Republican
April 22, 2011, 6:00PM
Noble Hospital has made a reduction in forces that will affect 25 full-time employees. Full story »
Boston set to launch bike-share program 4/21/2009
Boston set to launch
bike-share program
The system will open in July with 600 bicycles and 61 stations. Officials envision it growing to as many as 5,000 bikes at more than 300 kiosks. (Boston Globe)
Nuclear plant sues Vt. to stay open
Nuclear plant sues Vt. to stay open
Federal court case may echo across US
Owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant filed a federal lawsuit yesterday to prevent state lawmakers from shutting the plant down when its 40-year license expires next year.
The Entergy Corp. lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Burlington, Vt., is expected to force a legal showdown over whether state governments can claim a role in the oversight of nuclear power plants, which are regulated by the federal government. What the courts ultimately decide is likely to have significance for some of the nation’s 103 other operating reactors, especially those in states that have similar concerns about their safety.
MA Headlines April 20 2011
Red Sox 5, A’s 3
One away: Sox get season’s 1st road win
(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)Jed Lowrie was congratulated after he hit a two-run homer as the Red Sox managed to split their two-game series in Oakland with a win today. (AP, 7:01 p.m.)
Mass. boaters warned to avoid whales
A record number of North Atlantic right whales have been spotted off the state’s coast. (Boston Globe)
Boston doctor pleads guilty in sex case
John Mark Felton, 47, avoided a trial by admitting today that he went to Alaska in 2008 with the intention of having sex with a 6-year-old boy. (AP)
Springfield unemployment drops, Pioneer Valley gains jobs
Springfield unemployment drops, Pioneer Valley gains jobs
Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 7:55 PM
SPRINGFIELD – Springfield’s unemployment fell in March to 12.9 percent, down from 13.7 percent in February and 14.4 percent in January.
Springfield had the 16th-highest unemployment rate in Massachusetts behind a number of seaside towns that typically have very high unemployment rates in the winter months, according to statistics released Tuesday by the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates were down in 21 labor markets across the state and up only in Fall River, which had an unemployment rate of 18.2 percent, up from 18 percent in February.
After Springfield, Holyoke had the next highest unemployment of any Pioneer Valley community at 36th in the state with 11.3 percent unemployment. Holyoke’s rate was also 11.3 percent in February, but down from 11.8 percent a year ago.
In Greenfield, unemployment fell to 7.6 percent from 8.1 percent in February and 9.4 percent a year ago. Amherst’s unemployment fell to 3.4 percent, down from 4.3 percent in February and virtually unchanged from the 3.3 percent recorded in March 2010.
Local unemployment numbers are not adjusted for seasonal changes in the economy and might reflect the spike of hiring headed into summer.
Statewide, the March seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, a decrease of 0.4 of a percentage point from the revised February rate of 8.6 percent. The unadjusted rate was 8.2 percent statewide, down from 8.6 in February and 9.1 percent a year ago.
The state unadjusted unemployment rate was down 0.9 of a percentage point from the 9.1 percent rate in March 2010. Read More>>>>
AMHERST – The 20th annual Extravaganja on the Town Common
Enlarge Justin Saglio A group of participants at Extravaganja.
Extravaganja in Amherstgallery (13 photos)
)
AMHERST – Organizers of the 20th annual Extravaganja on the Town Common admitted Tuesday that they were wrong when they told the public police had agreed not to cite anyone caught smoking marijuana.
Emily Butler, a spokesperson for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Cannabis Reform Coalition, said there had been “a simple miscommunication with the police” and “we didn’t mean to mislead anybody.”
“We should not have led them to believe that smoking would be tolerated,” Butler said in an email. “The current (coalition) officers will make sure that this miscommunication does not occur in future years.”
In the days leading up to the event, area publications reported statements from coalition officers saying participants could smoke without consequences, as long as they stayed on the common. The group’s Facebook page, website and newsletter reported the same.
Police Chief Scott P. Livingstone said that was not true.
“We never made any kind of agreement that said police weren’t going to enforce the laws,” Livingstone said Tuesday.
When asked why the police hadn’t corrected the group’s statements before the event, he said, “I don’t know.”
Livingstone said he believed the number of attendees over the weekend was 7,000. Sgt. Jesus Arrocho said a total of 17 citations had been issued and no arrests had been made. Read More >>>
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