| Archives for: February 2008
Eric Turkington (D-Cape and Islands) recently wrote state Attorney General Martha Coakley urging her to join other states' attorneys general in supporting a class action lawsuit protesting tax discrimination against out-of-state property owners in Florida.The lawsuit, Lanning et al v. Pilcher et al., questions the constitutionality of a "Save Our Homes Amendment" (SOHA) to the Florida constitution passed by voters in 1992, according to a recent press release from Mr. Turkington's office. The SOHA caps the annual assessment on a property owned by a Florida resident at either 3 percent of the assessment for the prior year or the percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). As the law stands, someone who buys a second home in Florida has to pay property taxes as much as three times higher than a Florida resident who qualifies for the tax cap, according to a Jan.
Tax swaps, dumb fixes, drought
One area where Republicans under the Gold Dome promise to make important strides is education. The majority should most assuredly pass State Sen. Eric Johnson's SB 458, which would give vouchers to parents of students in chronically failed schools and in a system that loses accreditation. The latter may include Clayton County. The Senate should pass, too, Rep. Jan Jones' House Bill 881, which would give charter school organizers a state-level way around foot-dragging, kill-the-competition local school boards and would make it clear that the money follows the child. Local control means parents, not another level of government. State Rep. John Lunsford (R-McDonough) has a fine idea, too. His House Bill 854, filed last year to deal with financial information that unions would be required to file, has been amended.
I've caused a stir
If you ladle it out, you've got to take it, as the old saying goes. My post yesterday has provoked 52 MPs (and counting) to sign the following Early Day Motion tabled by Peter Kilfoyle: "THE REPORTING OF MR NICK ROBINSON That this House deplores the innuendo of the blog of Nick Robinson, the BBC's lobby correspondent; calls upon him to substantiate the imputations he makes in his blog concerning the Speaker and hon. Members; and also calls upon the BBC to publish a full, itemised account of the expenses of Mr Robinson, in the name of transparency and accountability of public funds." Mr Kilfoyle posted his comments below yesterday's blog in which he describes as "outrageous" the suggestion that some MPs are too afraid to condemn the Speaker because he'd abuse his position in the chair to punish those that did.
GLOCK, Inc. Announces Dexter Bean Will Drive #37 GLOCK Chevrolet and ...
SMYRNA, Ga., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- GLOCK, Inc. announced today that they have renewed their 2008 Team GLOCK Racing contract with veteran NASCAR driver and team owner Jeff Spraker of Spraker Racing Enterprises. Dexter Bean of Westby, WI will join the team as the #37 GLOCK Chevrolet driver in the ARCA RE/MAX 2008 Series. The 20 year old finished 3rd in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship point standings in 2007 with his family-owned BlackJack Racing team. Dexter completed three top five finishes including 5th in the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, 2nd at the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 by Federated Auto Parts at Salem Speedway and 2nd at the Pocono 200 at Pocono Raceway in June in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Spraker Racing Enterprises celebrated their 25th year of service to the racing community in 2004 with their full service racing operation, which includes fabrication, repair, chassis set-up, body work, chassis dyno, gear rental and consulting services to NASCAR, ARCA and USAR Pro Cup Series customers as well as their expertise in racing competition.
Outrageous fortune for a novice sailor in Wisconsin's Apostle Islands
The boat is called Outrageous, and to my landlubber's eye it lives up to the name. It's like a 37-foot floating knife blade of metal and fiberglass. ''This is a boy's boat,'' my friend Bob Deeg says proudly. ``Built for speed. Women don't think it's comfortable enough.'' We're standing on the dock at Port Superior Marina in Bayfield, looking over the vessel that will be our home for the next three days as we sail the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. My companions Bob, a Sprint employee from Kansas City, and Chris Powell, an acupuncturist from Lake Tapawingo, Mo., have rented this boat before. They enlivened the drive up from Kansas City rhapsodizing about her speed and handling. ''What do you call two sailboats heading in the same direction?'' Chris asks.
MATT HELMS
Weve been ranting and raving about how horrible they can be, but we neednt explain that to Sue Matteson of Bloomfield Hills. She was headed to her boyfriends home for dinner the other night in her brand-new 2008 Pontiac G6, driving in the left eastbound lane of South Boulevard between Opdyke and Martin Luther King in Pontiac. You guessed it. A tire-killer was a bit hungry Thursday night.
I couldnt avoid it. I hit that thing and thought, Holy smokes!' Matteson told me. I went flying on my car. I had to pull into a party store parking lot in Pontiac and waited for AAA for two hours.
She just bought the car two months ago.
The repair bill: $580. Matteson needed a new right wheel and tire, a suspension part or two and a front-end alignment.
Curt Cavin: IRL & Formula One Q&A
It's one of the few web sites I check every day. Well done, indeed! Thanks! (Alan, Raleigh, N.C.)
Answer: Simple advice: Rent a motor home for the weekend. Its a long event (no kidding, right?) and its usually cold at night. Get there early enough to get a spot with any kind of a view, then sit the lawn chairs on top of the motor home and enjoy. Have a cookout and bring friends. And make sure to watch the action from 8 p.m. to midnight. It is incredible at night. .
Scotland's prison population has reached an all-time high, according ...
I am determined to turn around high reoffending rates and, although some progress has been made in dealing with the specific needs of female offenders, more can be done. "The mandatory use of supervised attendance orders for fine defaulters is designed to remove up to 3000 receptions per year of fine defaulters to our prisons, including those who might otherwise have been sent to Cornton Vale." He added: "There is clearly something perverse if less people are offending and more people are going to jail." In one government-backed approach, a pilot scheme which uses former prisoners as mentors to inmates being released from jail has claimed success in placing people in work or training. The Wise Group, the charity which runs the Routes Out of Prison pilot, has achieved twice as many work or training placements as is usual, according to data seen by The Herald.
Salmond’s bold new era of progressive nationalism
LOOKING BACK on 2007, it seems amazing that no-one seriously expected the SNP to win the May Scottish elections." Or so I wrote in this column 12 months ago in a piece imagining how Scotland would look in a year's time. Truth is, I genuinely didn't believe that the SNP would win Holyrood, even as I was forecasting it. The thinking among the Scottish political classes was that, whatever the polls said, the voters would turn back to Labour on the election eve. Many did, of course, but not enough. And the history of Scotland, and the UK, has been rewritten as a result. May 3, 2007, was an extraordinary night, and no-one who cares about Scottish politics will ever forget it. As Labour and the Nationalists fought it out, hour by hour, seat by seat, the election nearly descended into chaos.
Holiday-sized crowds, delays at airport
Getting to the Valley, it turns out, was only half the battle for Super Bowl and FBR Open fans. Thick clouds and rain have created delays of an hour or longer at Phoenix area airports. Private planes face even longer delays. Plus, several New York area airports - home to many New York Giants fans who are flying today - are also experiencing weather delays. .
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