Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Record number of Illinois families on food stamps

More than 780,000 Illinois families got food stamps in June

April elimination of an asset test people used to have to pass before becoming eligible.
"People didn't have to spend down their savings all the way in order to apply

number of Illinois food stamp recipients to increase again when July figures are available

Click on the following for more details:  Record number of Illinois families on food stamps - chicagotribune.com

Blagojevich could lose home if jury convicts him

 

if the jurors at his corruption trial who ended a sixth day of deliberation Wednesday convict him, authorities could end up seizing his home - valued by the county assessor at around $700,000.

property would be in jeopardy only if Blagojevich is convicted of racketeering - one of 24 counts jurors are considering,

Click on the following for more details:  Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press

Jobs bill clears a key hurdle in the Senate

A $26 billion plan to prevent the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers, firefighters and other state and local workers cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday

give states $10 billion for education programs and $16 billion to help cover their Medicaid budgets in the first six months of next year.

Jobs bill clears a key hurdle in the Senate

Legal Outsourcing Pulls Western Talent to India

Many legal outsourcing firms have offices around the world to interact with clients, but keep the majority of their employees in India; some also have a stable of lawyers in the Philippines….basic legal support work can successfully be done offshore very cost effectively with no quality problems

Now, to win new clients and take on more sophisticated work, legal outsourcing firms in India are actively recruiting experienced lawyers from the West.

Employees at legal outsourcing companies in India are not allowed by Indian law to give legal advice to clients in the West, no matter their qualifications. Instead, legal outsourcing companies perform a lot of the functions that a junior lawyer might do in a U.S. law firm

Click on the following for more details:  Legal Outsourcing Pulls Western Talent to India - NYTimes.com

As Finances Tighten, Furloughs Give Way to Pay Cuts

Pay cuts are appearing most frequently among state and local governments, which are under extraordinary budget pressures and have often already tried furloughs,… Warning that they will have to lay off people otherwise, many governors and mayors are pressing public employee unions to accept a reduction in salary of a few percentage points, without getting days off in exchange.

new wage rollbacks feed worries that the economy has weakened and could even be at risk of deflation

Click on  the following to read all of this NY Times story:  As Finances Tighten, Furloughs Give Way to Pay Cuts - NYTimes.com

Oil in Gulf Poses Only Slight Risk, New U.S. Report Say

A government report finds that about 26 percent of the oil released from BP’s runaway well is still in the water or onshore in a form that could, in principle, cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the ocean surface or in a dispersed form below the surface, and federal scientists believe that it is breaking down rapidly in both places.

Click on the following for more details:  Oil in Gulf Poses Only Slight Risk, New U.S. Report Says - NYTimes.com

Update on McHenry County Sportsplex

On August 1, 2010 I posted a  lead to a newspaper story about Lakewood/McHenry County using stimulus bonding power [$18mm] to aid a private developer in building a very large sports complex. See http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2010/08/foreign-funding-and-key-to-165-acre.html  It appears that the blog, First Electric Newspaper, out of Algonquin, Illinois has some very interesting comments regarding the developer.  See http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/2010/08/unapproved-center-disgraced-cfo-linked.html

That blog questions the credentials of  the developer and points out the involvement of  Terry Gaouette in the project.  Mr. Gaouetter was the Chief  Financial Officer and CEO of the Milwaukee Public Museum. He  authorized the misuse of trust funds in a 2006 scandal at the museum.  See http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29189214.html Felony charges were pressed against Mr. Gaouette  however he received only a small fine [$500] and the lost of his CPA license for two years.