Posted on August - 26 - 2011
Marilyn Hart places her food on her side of the refrigerator in her Richmond, Calif. home, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011. Hart, who has lived in her home for 13 years, recently was forced by economic conditions to get a roommate to help defray the costs of home ownership. Among the adjustments she’s had to make is sharing her bathroom and her kitchen with the roomie. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)
When Marilyn Hart lost her job at a local church in 2009, she knew it would be hard finding another one. So she capitalized on her biggest asset, her modest two-bedroom Richmond bungalow, and rented out a room, cutting her housing expenses almost in half.
“I thought, ‘How do I make this house work for me?’ ” Hart said. Full Article…
Posted on August - 26 - 2011
Legislation commonly referred to as the “ComEd bill” that would help roll out a sophisticated smart grid program but alter the way electricity rates are decided is on its way to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
The controversial legislation, backed by Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison Co., has been staunchly opposed by consumer advocates and others who call it is a “Trojan horse” meant to pad the utility’s bottom line by removing regulatory obstacles in place for 100 years.
Quinn has repeatedly vowed to veto the legislation, and a maneuver by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) stalled the bill’s delivery to Quinn. Full Article…
Posted on July - 29 - 2011
HENDERSON, Ky. — Helped by climbing sales of commercial trucks, Accuride Corp. saw a 26.9 percent jump in sales in the second quarter of this year compared with a year ago.
Sales of large truck wheels — which Accuride produces at its plant in Henderson and at other locations — jumped 47 percent as production of new trucks continues to rebound from recent lows.
But the truck-components maker’s profits tumbled because of higher costs for steel and aluminum used to manufacture wheels and other products.
From April through June, Accuride’s sales totaled $248.2 million, up from $195.6 million in the same period last year.
But net income amounted to just $1.3 million, down from $6.5 million in the same period last year.
The company indicated that it expected that it expects to recover the higher raw material costs through increased prices to truck makers in the last half of this year.
While profits are down, the Evansville-based company reported a continued recovery in its industry, which suffered during the recession when fewer products were being shipped, reducing demand for new semi-trailer-trucks and other commercial vehicles in North America.
Production of Class 8 vehicles, the largest trucks, surged 72 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, and orders in April were the highest since March 2006. It sa
Full Article…
Posted on July - 28 - 2011
Heavy construction increased 0.8% in February with gains in every sector except water and sewer. Ebbing stimulus funding is depressing these markets but this will be brief since private site development is expected to rise quickly later this year. The large public portion of the heavy market will stall later this year as public funding is cut and then likely dip later in 2012. But this will be largely offset by rising investment in private facilities and innovative private investment in public facilities.
Month to month changes will continue to be volatile about an underlying trend of sluggish growth. Little, if any, inflation adjusted growth is expected in the next two years. The drying up of public funding is the key restraint on this market.
Full Article…
Posted on July - 28 - 2011
WASHINGTON – There is a chasm between the Sixth Amendment “right to counsel” and a right to quality representation in judicial proceedings, according to the Justice Policy Institute.
The Rhode Island Public Defender’s approach, however, is a model to follow, it said in its July report “System Overload: The costs of under-resourcing public defense.”
The public defense system in the United States serves millions of people every year, it said, but many systems across the country have been in a state of “chronic crisis” for decades.
“The defender systems that people must rely on are too often completely overwhelmed; many defenders simply have too many cases, too little time and too few resources to provide quality or even adequate legal representation,” the institute said.
Under-resou
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