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Eric Snyder, from the camp’s staff, will present a program about Hog Island on Tuesday, February 12th at the Wayne County Public Library in Honesdale from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Eric will tell us all about the island, about how they help puffins and other shore birds on nesting islands, and what it is like going to camp there. Families are welcome to come learn more about the scholarship opportunity. A children’s activity and some very special treats will be available.
The scholarship application can be found at Northeast Pa. Audubon’s website: www.nepaaudubon.org and information about Hog Island camps can be found at http://hogisland.audubon.org Northeast Pa. Audubon can also be reached by calling 570-253-9250 or emailing audubonworks@gmail.com.
flock of Eastern Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) in Leon County, Florida. The turkey on the far right is a jake. One can tell this by the middle tail feather sticking up high than the rest of the feathers.
Four new monthly magazines advising business owners on how to use social media tools will go on sale on Monday. Each publication focuses on one of the major platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn.
The magazines, published by GSG World Media, will cost $7.95 each at Office Depot stores. They will also be free in various digital formats to five million people who will receive an e-mail from Office Depot this week. The magazines are called: Tweeting & Business; LI & Business; fb & Business and The Big G & Business. A related Web site called socialmediamags.com will open on Monday.
Despite the huge volume of information about social media tips and tools online and in print, Eric Yaverbaum, associate publisher of the magazines, says he and his partners see an opportunity to use the print magazine format to reach some business owners trying to learn more about the digital world. He said that they were printing a total of 250,000 copies of the magazines at their introduction.
Another magazine, The Social Media Monthly, published by the Cool Blue Company, made its national debut in August. The cover article in its October issue asks what impact Google Plus will have on Facebook.
The scammers demand immediate payment on the phone via a prepaid debit card.
Xcel Energy is warning customers about a phone scam targeting Hobbs and Carlsbad.
"The details vary, but in almost all attempts, the scammer is impersonating an Xcel Energy agent and is telling customers that a serviceman is on his way to disconnect their electrical service for nonpayment," a news release from the company read.
Xcel Energy said its customers always receive a printed disconnect notice through the mail.
Xcel said customers can verify the status of their account by calling 1-800-895-4999 if they receive a suspicious phone call. Business customers should call 1-800-481-4700.
Status of accounts can also be verified via the company's app available through Apple Store and Google Play.
For more information on active scams in New Mexico and how to prevent becoming a victim visit the New Mexico Attorney General's website.
Slow wage growth catches the attention of politicians in an election year, but Iowans are living it paycheck to paycheck.
FORT MADISON, Ia. — After being laid off from her factory job in 2008, Becky Haage took a job at Dollar General.
She started out making $8.50 an hour and moved up to $11 an hour as an assistant manager, but says she knew that was as much as she could make at the retail job.
The anemic rise in wages over the past five decades is one factor stirring unease among voters as the Nov. 8 election nears.
In Iowa, wages for low- and middle-income workers have not increased as much as for high-income earners.
And Iowa workers have seen even slower wage growth than their counterparts across the country. In the past 35 years, their wages dropped to 81 percent of the U.S. average, while the cost for Iowans to purchase all goods and services is roughly 90 percent of the U.S. average, said economist Dave Swenson of Iowa State University.
In other words, it’s cheaper to live in Iowa, but average wages of about $42,000, which have increased only $2,300 in seven years, don't necessarily cover living costs.
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have both supported spending on infrastructure to create jobs and a boost in the minimum wage — Clinton to $15 an hour and Trump to $10 — but they differ on other strategies to boost wages. Trump, the Republican nominee, supports cutting taxes and reducing costly regulations, while Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has promoted plans to grow the economy through investment in manufacturing and clean energy.
Some economists see recent signs of improvement, including last month’s Census Bureau national data that showed a 3.8 percent gain in real median household income in 2015.
That's little comfort to employees like Haage, who has struggled to find better-paying work since her layoff eight years ago, amid the Great Recession, and now makes $11.50-an-hour at a Fort Madison factory.
Both Haage, 41, and her husband, Dan Haage, 47, were laid off from factories in Missouri during the recession. They moved to Fort Madison four years ago with their three children.
She eventually left Dollar General for a temporary job at Silgan Containers, slipping plastic sleeves over can lids in the canning factory, for $11.50 an hour. Her husband found a job at a nearby factory starting at $20 an hour, and with union backing has been able to move up to $25 in the last four years.
“It’s not like we are starving, but we could be better off,” Becky Haage said.
They have student loans from when her husband returned to college after his layoff and are trying to buy a house on contract. The house needs a new roof, windows and a bathroom remodel.
Haage was a Bernie Sanders supporter but said she is now supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein because her ideas are the most similar to Sanders'. Haage said Trump and Clinton have "too much corruption" in their background.
The average Iowa wage earner made an inflation-adjusted $41,896 in 2014, roughly $10,000 less than the U.S. average.
Not good. But it doesn’t tell all the story. The problem with average wages is that the average is pulled up by a small number of high-wage earners, said Peter Fisher, research director of the Iowa Policy Project in Iowa City.
Breaking down wage growth by income group, Fisher found that Iowans’ average wages in the bottom 20th percentile have risen 6.9 percent from 1979 to 2015 to $10.64 per hour. Meanwhile, the top 20 percent of wage earners increased their earnings 11.8 percent to $27.14 an hour.
The better off are getting better off, faster.
A significant factor, he said, is the decline in the number of workers represented by union contracts.
And manufacturing moved from workers putting together goods to more emphasis on jobs like meatpacking.
Iowans in the 1990s rallied after the farm crisis by simply taking more jobs per household, ISU’s Swenson said.
“We are more likely to work more in this state,” he said.
At the same time, Swenson said, Iowa has fewer college-educated, high-earning workers than other states because the economy doesn't support enough of the jobs they seek.
Are lost factory jobs going to Trump?
Another ISU economist noted some bright spots.
Since the 2008 recession, “Iowa’s economy has done as well or better than the national economy,” said Peter Orazem.
But that's in part because, with fewer good options elsewhere, more well-educated young people stayed in Iowa.
Low wages in non-metro areas are driving down the averages, and Orazem doesn’t see that changing without an unlikely surge in population. But the fact that 90 percent of the population lives within a 45-minute commute of a town of 10,000 people gives Iowa's rural areas a bit of an edge that other states don’t have.
Nik Hackaday makes $8.50 an hour as a manager at Domino’s Pizza in Keokuk. The only way the 27-year-old can afford to give a third of that wage to the mother of his two children for child support is to live with two other bachelors in the same situation, one who moved into the home of a recently deceased relative and gives them a break on rent.
Hackaday said he accepts his situation. Two years of community college didn’t lead to a job, and he switched jobs several times, from retail to taxi driving to a job at Pizza Hut, where the hours didn’t work to see his children.
He’s been in his job at Domino's for three months, but the wage is a tough one to spread out, especially since he runs a shift of employees and handles the store’s deposits and inventory, among other duties.
“I feel like a lot is expected for the wage," he said. "I definitely give my all to every organization. So I expect the respect or a pay raise."
Asked if he’s bitter about corporate executive salaries in light of what he earns to make their pizzas, he said no.
But he's disgruntled enough with the two major-party candidates for president that he refuses to vote for either Trump or Clinton and expects to vote for a third-party candidate.
One thing that could help, he said: Give a bit of a raise to the lower end of the scale. By raising the minimum wage, he figures, it would bring up the wages of those making a bit more than that.
Lee County union factory worker Robert Cale agrees that one solution to stagnant wages is raising the minimum wage in the county, as officials have in Iowa's Johnson, Linn and Wapello counties. Polk County also recently approved a plan to raise the wage over time.
Cale and others created a group to urge action by the county board of supervisors, which recently formed a task force to study the issue.
Cale said the Iowa Fertilizer Co. plant that is expected to open later this year and employ more than 200 workers has been a temporary boon for some construction workers and businesses that service them, but it hasn’t trickled down to the average worker in Lee County. He said the county should consider a raise to at least $10 an hour.
But Ron Fedler, chairman of the board of supervisors, said he doesn’t want to rush into things and hurt small businesses in town.
It’s just one of the factors in a county that has done relatively well. Its average annual wage of $42,524 is higher than in most Iowa counties, and more recent figures show an upsurge in average weekly wages. But those are led by the $1,494-a-week construction jobs, an early hint of the temporary boost from the plant construction, while service jobs still made an average of only $574 a week.
Think tanks also have their opinions, depending on how they lean politically.
The union think tank Economy Policy Institute says that policies to improve collective bargaining, raise the minimum wage, maintain low interest rates, reform immigration and tighten regulation on the financial industry are a few ways to solve widening income inequality in the U.S. But the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation says that lowering taxes and decreasing government regulations on private industry will help increase wages.
Heritage Foundation economist James Sherk has even said that while the eight years following the recession were tough, the entire idea of wage stagnation has been exaggerated.
He said the formula used to calculate inflation, the Consumer Price Index, is inaccurate and inflates the actual inflation that over decades can make wage growth appear much slower. He said more emphasis should also be paid to worker compensation, rather than just wages. The costs of other compensation, such as employee health care benefits, have sharply risen.
But to Darla Meierotto of West Point, Ia., that may sound academic.
Meierotto, 63, had worked at the Sheaffer Pen plant in Fort Madison since she was just out of high school. She enjoyed her job for 35 years until the plant closed in 2008 and production moved overseas.
She helped a neighbor raise dogs, worked as an aide in a nursing home, and tried to pick up the slack when her husband had a stroke in 2010 and had to quit his job. When she took a job as a teacher’s aide for children with disabilities at the local school seven years ago, she started at $7.25 an hour.
“We have a lot of kids that need help,” she said.
Her wage in seven years has increased to just over $9 an hour.
She and her husband don’t go anywhere for vacation or entertainment or buy anything but necessities. They clip coupons for groceries. Her two children are raised and on their own, but making half of her salary at the factory was an eye-opener.
The daughter of factory workers who made enough to comfortably raise a family is now looking to an uncertain few years before retirement.
Compare the presidential candidates' stands on more than 25 issues, from jobs to taxes to immigration to foreign relations. You can look at a single candidate's answers on every issue or compare all candidates' answers on particular topics. You also can click "agree" or "disagree" next to a candidate's answer and compile a scoreboard showing which candidate matches your views best.
Here is where Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump stand on this question: What's the best way for the federal government to encourage job creation?
Clinton: Clinton says she will work with Democrats and Republicans to pass the biggest investment in new good-paying jobs since World War II. Her first economic priority will be to make sure that every American can find a good-paying job by making investments in infrastructure, research and technology, manufacturing, clean energy, including wind energy, and small business growth. Her "Make It in America" plan will invest $10 billion to strengthen U.S. manufacturing, create jobs at home and revitalize hard-hit communities by focusing on regional strengths.
Trump: Trump says the first priority for his administration will be fundamental tax reform to spur the economy to grow. This will increase overall revenues to the government. Trump's tax plan will incentivize the return of capital from overseas, to bring trillions of dollars and millions of jobs back to the U.S. He says we must hold the line on wasteful, unwise government spending and gain budget discipline. Trump also favors a balanced budget amendment. The Trump administration will impose a 1 percent cut in non-defense, non-entitlement spending every year until the budget is in balance.
A policewomen searching for evidence in Molenbeek, a heavily immigrant district in Brussels, Belgium. Feb. 2011.
In the days following the terror attacks that left 129 people dead in Paris, the investigation turned toward a small suburb of Brussels, Belgium, in Molenbeek – a town with a history of Islamic extremism.
In addition to recent police raids in the town targeting suspects linked to the Paris attacks, one participant in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191, was tied to the suburb, and the alleged terrorist behind a 2014 shooting at the Jewish Museum in Belgium also spent time in Molenbeek. The French train attacker, stopped by three Americans and one Brtish passenger earlier this year, had stayed in Molenbeek before his assault.
Seeking ideological and regional balance, a chastened Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) expanded his leadership team Thursday, including the addition of liberal icon Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), to beat back internal critics…..Expanding the leadership table — Warren’s position was created specifically for her — is a way to answer the critics who think that Reid’s team became insulated in recent years, according to senior Democratic aides.
I’m curious: Am I the only person who thinks this is probably not a great move for Warren? She’s now officially part of the Democratic leadership, which makes her implicitly responsible for party policy and implicitly loyal to the existing leadership. And what is she getting in return? Unless I’m missing something, a made-up leadership position with no actual authority.
Is this a good trade? I’m not so sure.
Zimbabwean finance minister Mthuli Ncube looks on before the swearing in of new cabinet ministers at State House in Harare, Zimbabwe, on September 10 2018.
Zimbabwe's newly sworn-in finance minister said on Monday he planned to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar and accelerate plans to repay the country's debt in a bid to revive the battered economy.
The country abandoned its currency after it spiralled out of control between 2008 and 2009 during the rule of Robert Mugabe.
The country adopted the US greenback and other foreign currencies, including the rand. But a few years later, with the economy in tatters, US bank notes started to run short.
In 2016, Mugabe's government tried to tackle the chronic shortage of US banknotes by introducing a parallel token currency called "bond notes", theoretically worth the same as a US dollar. But the bond notes are in reality worth far less.
"Ultimately, I want to be very clear, I want to see the Zimbabwe dollar come back, the sovereign currency," the new finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, said shortly after he was sworn in.
"But currency reform alone is not adequate, it needs a second leg. It works with fiscal policy."
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was sworn in after his victory in the landmark July election, vowed to make fixing the economy his priority. Ncube also vowed to resolve Harare's debt with international institutions.
"We have plans that we want to make sure that the international financial institutions such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank are fully on board to work with us to resolve the arrears," he said.
Natalie Brown '18 speaks at an info session on a Mental Health Task Force in Rockefeller Hall, Feb. 6, 2018.
As many at Cornell begin to question the University’s ability to provide adequate mental health services, two students have decided to take matters into their own hands.
Matt Jirsa ’19 and Natalie Brown ’18 announced their intent to put together an independent, student-led task force to investigate the University’s mental health policies, programs and practices.
Approximately 90 people expressed interest in the Facebook event, which resulted in about 10 students showing up at Tuesday’s information session for the task force, which is expected to comprise of 10-15 students.
Jirsa told The Sun that they haven’t approached university administration with their plan yet, so it technically hasn’t been approved or disapproved. However, he said that he hopes for full cooperation and transparency between the task force and the administration in working toward mutually beneficial long-term results.
The two students said that they think this task force will be different from existing mental health organizations because of its focus on analyzing policies, making recommendations and going beyond discussion.
“We’re not just going to do things because we think they are right, we want to find the evidence and go based on what we’ve seen either empirically or outside the university before we make suggestions that we don’t necessarily have back up for,” Brown said.
Although Jirsa and Brown had been discussing the creation of this task force for almost a year, its announcement comes at a time when mental health issues have been at the forefront of campus discussions.
Last month, President Pollack denied a request for an external, independent, mental health task force requested by the parents of Sophie Hack MacLeod ’14, a student who died by suicide while on a mental health leave of absence. Pollack addressed the University’s efforts to address mental health challenges at a recent GPSA meeting, and Greg Eels, director of Cornell Health’s Counseling & Psychological Services, revealed at a recent S.A. meeting that the CAPS program was having trouble meeting student demand for services.
Jirsa hopes that task force would play an important role in terms of collecting different perspectives and facilitating interaction between students and the administration.
Although Jirsa, who is vice president of Cornell Minds Matter, and Brown are both involved with mental health organizations on campus, the task force will be independent and not part of any existing organization.
The current plan is for the task force to go through four phases over the next year. The initial research phase will begin later this month once the group is assembled, and the final policy/recommendations phase is scheduled to occur by middle to late fall 2018.
There will be another information session held on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Stimpson G01. Applications are due Sunday at midnight.
Continued American leadership in Artificial Intelligence is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States.
ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY: President Trump is directing the Federal Government to prioritize research and development of America’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.