Portland audit: Hard to say how many jobs created, saved under stimulus spending

Stimulus-related construction spending is up in the city of Portland -- but it's not clear how many jobs have been created from that uptick, according to a city audit released Monday. City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade said a key reason is the city did not require contractors to track the number of people hired for projects. In 2009, state lawmakers borrowed $172 million for "Go Oregon" public works projects, and required contractors to submit forms detailing the number of people hired and for how long. As a result, state officials boasted that more than 7,500 jobs were "created or retained" with...

continue reading

Canada: A hard look at the cost of health care (lifeblood sucking, aging population in crosshairs)

A hard look at the cost of health carePosted By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD Posted 9 hours ago When economists start dishing out advice about health care -- at the request of the government -- get worried. Very worried. I'm alarmed by a report released Thursday, "Charting A Path To Sustainable Health Care in Ontario," by TD Bank economists Don Drummond and Derek Burleton. It's a warning shot across the bow, especially to baby boomers, seniors and doctors. You cost the health system money? Watch out. You're in the government's crosshairs. The government knows it has to make unpopular decisions. It will...

continue reading

Obama hit hard as Bayh bows out

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama suffered another setback Monday as a fifth Democratic senator, centrist heavyweight Evan Bayh, decided not to run for re-election in dismay at the bitter political climate. Obama, who reportedly tried to talk Bayh out of retiring, faces a looming Republican resurgence and risks watching strong majorities in Congress crumble in November mid-term elections, and with them his ambitious reform agenda. With his tearful wife and two sons at his side, Bayh, 54, expressed disenchantment with excessive partisanship in the Congress as he announced his decision at a press conference in the state capital...

continue reading

'Change is hard': Obama one year on from election

The tale of the turbulent year since Barack Obama's historic election win is told by his evolving political theme: once he promised "Change We Can Believe In" and now he warns that "change is hard". On November 4, 2008, Obama bathed in the adoration of a crowd of tens of thousands in a Chicago park, after beating Republican John McCain to the presidency in an election that promised to reshape his nation. They chanted "Yes we can" on that clear hope-filled night in Obama's hometown, and tears streamed down thousands of cheeks as the president-elect proclaimed America was still a...

continue reading

Swine flu hits hard, early — claims 11 more kids (More detailed than most articles)

Swine flu is causing unprecedented illness for so early in the fall — including a worrisome count of child deaths — and the government warned Friday that vaccine supplies will be even more scarce than expected through this month.

continue reading

Caroline Kennedy: Kennedys Work Twice as Hard

In an interview with NY1, aspiring New York Senator Caroline Kennedy states her case. "I think that I have relationships in Washington that I would like to put to work," Kennedy told NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter. "I helped run the vice presidential search for Barack Obama. I have a good working relationship with him. I want to be able to be a part of the team that uses all my relationships." Of reports that she had missed voting in several elections, Kennedy said she was “dismayed” to learn that. "There isn’t a good excuse," she said. The oldest daughter...

continue reading

Florida Woman Survives Gunshot Right Between the Eyes

Doctors say it's amazing that a 41-year-old Tampa-area woman survived after someone shot her right between the eyes while she was riding in her boyfriend's pickup truck. Doctors think she was hit with a .44-caliber bullet that broke in two pieces, each traveling under her skin and exiting behind her ears last weekend. She was released from the hospital hours later with just stitches. The woman says two cars started following their truck Saturday night and the occupants began yelling at them. At a traffic light, someone in one of the cars stood up in the sunroof and started shooting...

continue reading

CA: Governor's working hard ... so are his flacks (PIOs and PR releases, oodles of 'em)

AS the fires roared across the region this week, so did California's governor. Arnold Schwarzenegger zipped from Malibu to Orange County to San Diego to Santa Clarita to Lake Arrowhead, and then back again. He visited fire-command and evacuation centers. He got briefings on firefighting efforts from local officials. He personally thanks fire crews. On Thursday, he played guide to President George W. Bush, who toured the devastation. And if the governor was working hard during this time, so was his image-making machine - making sure each and every one of his good deeds were duly noted by the media....

continue reading

Chairman Asks Straight Questions, Gets Hard Answers

DENVER, Oct. 24, 2007 – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen yesterday heard some hard truths when he asked hundreds of soldiers about their service. “All I want to do is start a family, buy a house and have some stability,” an Army captain ready to leave the service to better meet the needs of his family said in Fort Sill, Okla. “We need something better. That’s just not good enough,” another captain said of the 12-month home-station time between deployments. Still another young officer said he was planning to end his military service,...

continue reading

Clearing operations in Samarra strike hard at insurgency

SAMARRA — Paratroopers from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, have been patrolling and operating in Samarra for more than one year and recently supported the Iraqi security forces in a clearing operation to rid the city of the al-Qaida presence terrorizing Samarra and its citizens. The operation was dubbed “Operation Jalil” in honor of Col. Jalil Nahi Hasoun, Samarra’s former police chief, who was killed May 6, 2007, during a suicide car bomb attack. The operation led Maj. Gen. Rashid al-Helfy, commander of Iraqi security forces in Samarra, his men, and paratroopers of Company C to the...

continue reading

Iraqi Lawmakers Must Make Hard Political Decisions, U.S. Officials Say

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2007 – Legislators serving in the Iraqi Council of Representatives have accomplished much in the body’s first year of existence, but additional important and difficult decisions still need to be made, according to a Multinational Force Iraq statement. “The council’s most important work lies ahead of it,” officials said in a statement the command released yesterday. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who took command of the Baghdad-based command on Feb. 10, is the architect of the current surge of U.S. and Iraq forces into Baghdad and parts of western Iraq to tamp down insurgent violence and...

continue reading