Friday, May 19, 2006
Friday morning
This morning’s Democrat-Gazette reports that estimates of what Entergy Arkansas’ customers will owe in “system agreement” payments have nearly doubled since last year.
Arkansas' budget surplus will be $34 million more than the record amount state fiscal officers forecasted just two weeks, Richard Wilson, the Legislature's chief economist said Thursday. Wilson said the bureau now projects a surplus of $366 million.
The state Division of Legislative Audit has begun an inquiry into the use of public funds provided to the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus by several state agencies. Several state agencies, including the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, have given money to the Caucus. State Represnetative Booker T. Clemmens of Pine Bluff asked for an audit three months ago, but was told at the time that the Caucus received no public money. He has since produced Caucus records.
The Stephens Media Group reports school districts on the verge of closure could be divided among larger neighboring school districts to reduce student travel time under a plan that a veteran lawmaker proposed Thursday. Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, circulated copies of the proposal at a legislative hearing. The issue of distance and travel times was raised last week when the state board endorsed the Bryant School District's move to close Paron High School.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked a federal district court to dismiss the latest effort by Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe to intervene in Oklahoma's poultry pollution suit. "Our lawsuit is against the poultry companies," Edmondson said. "We did not sue Arkansas. We did not sue one single farmer. My only interests in this case are the health of Oklahoma's people and the quality of Oklahoma's water."
The State Health Department reports 10 cases of mumps. Two of the cases are in White County and there is one case each in Little River, Clark, Pulaski, Drew and Lonoke counties. None of the mumps patients have had any contact with any of those affected by the illness from Iowa and other locations affected by the recent mumps outbreak in the Midwest.
Rainfall during late March, April and early May has loosened the grip of drought on Arkansas, and further improvement was forecast Thursday by the National Weather Service.
Springdale residents may get the chance in July to decide whether to extend a city sales tax to build a baseball stadium. City Council members are expected to review an ordinance Tuesday calling for a special election July 11, extending the road bond sales tax to pay for a minor league baseball stadium.
Researchers will scale back their hunt for the ivory-billed woodpecker after a six-month search failed to yield hard evidence that the bird still lives in Arkansas’ Big Woods. They no longer believe a pair of the birds, long thought to be extinct, are in the Bayou DeView area of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. The search will continue in other parts of the south.
A federal appeals court has denied a request to reconsider the decision by a three-judge panel upholding former Pine Bluff alderman Jack Foster’s 2004 conviction for attempted extortion.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that Shirley Cunningham is not certified as a district superintendent and the Altheimer School Board — because it represents a fiscally-distressed district — may have breached state regulations when it suspended Superintendent Dr. William Thomas and appointed Cunningham interim superintendent. All of this means that the district may be taken over by the state immediately and a negotiated merger with Dollarway may fall through.
A federal jury has rejected a Mena woman’s claim that she was sexually harassed in the workplace and fired for reporting the harassment. Charity Lewis has claimed that, while she was the only female employee in her department at Street and Performance of Mena, male employees displayed photographs of nude and semi-nude women. The company successfully argued that Lewis failed to prove that any of the women were naked.
The 121st annual Old Folks Singing will take place Sunday at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Tull. In keeping with tradition, the event is scheduled for the Sunday after Mother's Day.
Arkansas' budget surplus will be $34 million more than the record amount state fiscal officers forecasted just two weeks, Richard Wilson, the Legislature's chief economist said Thursday. Wilson said the bureau now projects a surplus of $366 million.
The state Division of Legislative Audit has begun an inquiry into the use of public funds provided to the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus by several state agencies. Several state agencies, including the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, have given money to the Caucus. State Represnetative Booker T. Clemmens of Pine Bluff asked for an audit three months ago, but was told at the time that the Caucus received no public money. He has since produced Caucus records.
The Stephens Media Group reports school districts on the verge of closure could be divided among larger neighboring school districts to reduce student travel time under a plan that a veteran lawmaker proposed Thursday. Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado, circulated copies of the proposal at a legislative hearing. The issue of distance and travel times was raised last week when the state board endorsed the Bryant School District's move to close Paron High School.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked a federal district court to dismiss the latest effort by Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe to intervene in Oklahoma's poultry pollution suit. "Our lawsuit is against the poultry companies," Edmondson said. "We did not sue Arkansas. We did not sue one single farmer. My only interests in this case are the health of Oklahoma's people and the quality of Oklahoma's water."
The State Health Department reports 10 cases of mumps. Two of the cases are in White County and there is one case each in Little River, Clark, Pulaski, Drew and Lonoke counties. None of the mumps patients have had any contact with any of those affected by the illness from Iowa and other locations affected by the recent mumps outbreak in the Midwest.
Rainfall during late March, April and early May has loosened the grip of drought on Arkansas, and further improvement was forecast Thursday by the National Weather Service.
Springdale residents may get the chance in July to decide whether to extend a city sales tax to build a baseball stadium. City Council members are expected to review an ordinance Tuesday calling for a special election July 11, extending the road bond sales tax to pay for a minor league baseball stadium.
Researchers will scale back their hunt for the ivory-billed woodpecker after a six-month search failed to yield hard evidence that the bird still lives in Arkansas’ Big Woods. They no longer believe a pair of the birds, long thought to be extinct, are in the Bayou DeView area of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. The search will continue in other parts of the south.
A federal appeals court has denied a request to reconsider the decision by a three-judge panel upholding former Pine Bluff alderman Jack Foster’s 2004 conviction for attempted extortion.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that Shirley Cunningham is not certified as a district superintendent and the Altheimer School Board — because it represents a fiscally-distressed district — may have breached state regulations when it suspended Superintendent Dr. William Thomas and appointed Cunningham interim superintendent. All of this means that the district may be taken over by the state immediately and a negotiated merger with Dollarway may fall through.
A federal jury has rejected a Mena woman’s claim that she was sexually harassed in the workplace and fired for reporting the harassment. Charity Lewis has claimed that, while she was the only female employee in her department at Street and Performance of Mena, male employees displayed photographs of nude and semi-nude women. The company successfully argued that Lewis failed to prove that any of the women were naked.
The 121st annual Old Folks Singing will take place Sunday at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Tull. In keeping with tradition, the event is scheduled for the Sunday after Mother's Day.
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Pat : FYI--The Real Skinny On Obesity; Positive Findings Slim
Report: Scientists Still Seeking Cure For Obesity
July 14, 2004
CHICAGO, IL—In spite of billions of dollars spent and decades of research, scientists at the University of Chicago said Monday that the scientific community is no closer to finding a cure for the potentially fatal disease of obesity.
"The obesity epidemic in this country has public-health authorities panicking, and with good reason," said Dr. Seong-Hun Kim, a research associate at the university's department of neurobiology, pharmacology, and physiology. "According to the latest government statistics, 30.6 percent of the adult population and 16.5 percent of children under 19 are obese. As researchers, we feel the same sort of helplessness that many victims of obesity feel."
"Basically, the clock continues to tick as we search for that golden key that will give every American a chance at a healthy, normal life," Kim added.
Many obesity sufferers have expressed frustration over the medical community's inability to cure them.
"I came down with obesity two years after I got married," 41-year-old Oklahoma City resident Fran Torley said. "I know it was hard for my husband to watch me suffer from this disease. When he caught obesity a year later, he got so depressed, he couldn't do anything but sit on the couch. Some days, we sit and watch television from dawn till dusk, hoping for news of a breakthrough."
Kim said he sees no cure on the horizon.
"Each year that we don't have a cure for this dreaded condition, another 300,000 Americans die of obesity-related health problems—hypertension, stroke, heart attack, diabetes," Kim said. "I wish to God there were something I could give these people that would make the obesity go away, but so far, there is no pill that can do that safely and effectively."
Kim said the prescription drugs currently indicated in the treatment of obesity, as well as a host of over-the-counter products, have been shown to produce limited results.
"Even when individuals find success with a certain drug or plan, it often fails to work in the long term," Kim said. "Sometimes, a treatment plan that works for a handful of people will fail to help anyone else. It's very frustrating. As evinced by the widespread nature of the problem, scientists aren't doing enough for these poor overweight people."
Kim's research group has tried to pinpoint the genetic, environmental, and psychological factors that might indicate a susceptibility to obesity
"For example, we know that obesity tends to run in families," Kim said. "But we have yet to pinpoint exactly what it is that causes, say, the Smith family to splash about their backyard pool blissfully unaffected while, just over the fence, the Jones family languishes 30 percent overweight on their barbecue deck."
Marge Hampton is an obese American who has responded to the epidemic by trying to raise awareness and money for obesity research. In May, Hampton coordinated the Obesity Awareness Five-Mile Fun Ride, which led participants on a motor tour of Chicago's waterfront parks, and she orchestrated an obesity-awareness bake sale last month.
"We used to think obesity was a condition that only affected people with glandular problems, but health officials are now seeing just how widespread the epidemic is," Hampton said. "There's a myth that obese people don't want to change. They do—they just lack the information about how to do it quickly and easily."
Kim's research team has explored preventative measures.
"It would be wonderful if we could find some way to prevent individuals from getting this horrible condition in the first place, perhaps with something akin to a vaccine or a flu shot," Kim said. "We've pursued every avenue—pills, topical creams, nutritional shakes, even holistic cures like vitamin regimens and massage—but nothing has worked."
While others might have been discouraged by failure, Kim has intensified his efforts.
"I'm in the lab day and night," Kim said. "The other researchers will say 'Come have dinner with us,' but I'm so busy that I have to just grab some yogurt from the vending machine. I'm just too busy running over to the research facility on the west side of campus or carrying samples to the lab up on the fourth floor. I've lost 20 pounds since starting this project in January."
Even though he expressed concern about his recent weight loss, Kim said he will continue his work unabated.
"I can't worry about me right now; finding a cure for obesity is far too important," Kim said. "And, honestly, I feel better than I've felt in years. My work, although difficult, is energizing. I can't turn my back on my research while, all around me, Americans are dropping like enormous flies."
Report: Scientists Still Seeking Cure For Obesity
July 14, 2004
CHICAGO, IL—In spite of billions of dollars spent and decades of research, scientists at the University of Chicago said Monday that the scientific community is no closer to finding a cure for the potentially fatal disease of obesity.
"The obesity epidemic in this country has public-health authorities panicking, and with good reason," said Dr. Seong-Hun Kim, a research associate at the university's department of neurobiology, pharmacology, and physiology. "According to the latest government statistics, 30.6 percent of the adult population and 16.5 percent of children under 19 are obese. As researchers, we feel the same sort of helplessness that many victims of obesity feel."
"Basically, the clock continues to tick as we search for that golden key that will give every American a chance at a healthy, normal life," Kim added.
Many obesity sufferers have expressed frustration over the medical community's inability to cure them.
"I came down with obesity two years after I got married," 41-year-old Oklahoma City resident Fran Torley said. "I know it was hard for my husband to watch me suffer from this disease. When he caught obesity a year later, he got so depressed, he couldn't do anything but sit on the couch. Some days, we sit and watch television from dawn till dusk, hoping for news of a breakthrough."
Kim said he sees no cure on the horizon.
"Each year that we don't have a cure for this dreaded condition, another 300,000 Americans die of obesity-related health problems—hypertension, stroke, heart attack, diabetes," Kim said. "I wish to God there were something I could give these people that would make the obesity go away, but so far, there is no pill that can do that safely and effectively."
Kim said the prescription drugs currently indicated in the treatment of obesity, as well as a host of over-the-counter products, have been shown to produce limited results.
"Even when individuals find success with a certain drug or plan, it often fails to work in the long term," Kim said. "Sometimes, a treatment plan that works for a handful of people will fail to help anyone else. It's very frustrating. As evinced by the widespread nature of the problem, scientists aren't doing enough for these poor overweight people."
Kim's research group has tried to pinpoint the genetic, environmental, and psychological factors that might indicate a susceptibility to obesity
"For example, we know that obesity tends to run in families," Kim said. "But we have yet to pinpoint exactly what it is that causes, say, the Smith family to splash about their backyard pool blissfully unaffected while, just over the fence, the Jones family languishes 30 percent overweight on their barbecue deck."
Marge Hampton is an obese American who has responded to the epidemic by trying to raise awareness and money for obesity research. In May, Hampton coordinated the Obesity Awareness Five-Mile Fun Ride, which led participants on a motor tour of Chicago's waterfront parks, and she orchestrated an obesity-awareness bake sale last month.
"We used to think obesity was a condition that only affected people with glandular problems, but health officials are now seeing just how widespread the epidemic is," Hampton said. "There's a myth that obese people don't want to change. They do—they just lack the information about how to do it quickly and easily."
Kim's research team has explored preventative measures.
"It would be wonderful if we could find some way to prevent individuals from getting this horrible condition in the first place, perhaps with something akin to a vaccine or a flu shot," Kim said. "We've pursued every avenue—pills, topical creams, nutritional shakes, even holistic cures like vitamin regimens and massage—but nothing has worked."
While others might have been discouraged by failure, Kim has intensified his efforts.
"I'm in the lab day and night," Kim said. "The other researchers will say 'Come have dinner with us,' but I'm so busy that I have to just grab some yogurt from the vending machine. I'm just too busy running over to the research facility on the west side of campus or carrying samples to the lab up on the fourth floor. I've lost 20 pounds since starting this project in January."
Even though he expressed concern about his recent weight loss, Kim said he will continue his work unabated.
"I can't worry about me right now; finding a cure for obesity is far too important," Kim said. "And, honestly, I feel better than I've felt in years. My work, although difficult, is energizing. I can't turn my back on my research while, all around me, Americans are dropping like enormous flies."
# posted by 
: 7:57 AM
: 7:57 AM
Using the "surplus" for tax rebates is a scam.
In the early 00's, when the economy started hitting the skids, state one-time funds (e.g., solid waste and brownfields remediation) and cutbacks in human services (e.g. TEFRA), prisons, and other state services were raided, with the promise that they would be restored when the economy improved. Many are still waiting for the recovery to pay them back.
Huckabee is betraying that promise with the pandering proposals of rebates and tax cuts for the rich. He is offering a candy bar for today and denying families a meal for tomorrow.
Jim Lendall
jimlendall2006.com
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In the early 00's, when the economy started hitting the skids, state one-time funds (e.g., solid waste and brownfields remediation) and cutbacks in human services (e.g. TEFRA), prisons, and other state services were raided, with the promise that they would be restored when the economy improved. Many are still waiting for the recovery to pay them back.
Huckabee is betraying that promise with the pandering proposals of rebates and tax cuts for the rich. He is offering a candy bar for today and denying families a meal for tomorrow.
Jim Lendall
jimlendall2006.com
# posted by : 1:54 AM
: 1:54 AM<< Home
