I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Two bad pieces of news in the otherwise tepid jobs report.
Though the private sector added 64,000 workers in August, 77,000 census jobs and 76,000 local government jobs were lost.
Thursday, the Labor Department reported (PDF) that the number of available jobs remained mostly unchanged between July and August — holding at about 3.2 million. In August, there were 14.9 million Americans unemployed. The job openings rate (job openings as a percentage of total jobs, 2.4 percent), hires rate (total hires as a percentage of [...]
The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to 11,000 to 445,000 this week, the Labor Department reported this morning. Economists had expected claims to remain around 455,000. But, alas, it is not all sunshine and roses in the labor market.
Arthur Delaney notes that Congress, when it returns from campaigning and the midterm elections, will only have seven working days to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits before they expire. Last time around, it took 50 working days — more than two months, total:
The federal government’s single biggest source of revenue is income tax, but cities and towns are primarily funded by sales and property taxes. That means Washington’s revenue took a huge hit in 2008 and 2009, as payrolls declined. But Springfield and Bethesda and Houston? The bust of housing market is just catching up with them. [...]
On Friday, the government will release the September jobs report, and some economists are bracing for the worst: a decrease in overall private employment and an increase in the unemployment rate, more evidence of a persistent stall-out in the recovery. Two reports released this morning give fuel to those worries. Payroll processing firm ADP said [...]
Northwestern economist Robert Gordon brings the gloom by predicting that the United States will likely face sluggish economic growth not only for the next few years, but for the next few decades:
Lawmakers, bankers and experts say some problems that brought down the financial system have yet to be solved.
Today, following a meeting of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), President Obama is to announce a new jobs program aimed at training workers into growing industries. Skills for America’s Future will help to match community college curricula with the needs of hiring local companies. The New York Times reports:
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