| Embarking down the home stretch
As we embark into the final half of the 2008 legislative session here at the Capitol, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the fine upstanding students who have served as honorary Senate and House pages this year. I have had the pleasure of meeting approximately twenty students from the 6th Senatorial District thus far during the session, and look forward to meeting others who are scheduled to visit with us in the future.The West Virginia Legislative Page Program has become a successful and important activity that takes place during the regular legislative session, not only serving legislators but also providing a gateway for the public to experience their government at work.This program gives students who are 12 years of age and above who attend both public and private schools within our state an opportunity to serve as legislative pages.
Lee reappointed to teacher fund; is he the next chairman?
Gov. Rick Perry said today he has reappointed James Lee to the Teacher Retirement System board of trustees. Lee's new term runs until Aug. 31, 2013. For the better part of a year, Lee has been an active and successful fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. But his profile hit new heights in September, when Giuliani fired his top fundraiser and named Lee to the job. At the teacher pension fund, it's widely expected that Perry will name Lee as the next chairman of the board of trustees. That position is currently held by Jarvis Hollingsworth, a lawyer in the Houston office of Bracewell & (Rudy) Giuliani. But Hollingsworth's term is up, clearing the way for a new chair. (Although Perry can name a new chairman anytime he wants, regardless of whether the current chair's term has expired.) The Giuliani connections run deeper, of course: Perry has endorsed the former New York mayor for the Republican presidential nomination.
Dreaming of a 'green' Christmas: Real or fake, potted or cut - in ...
Take your family out to cut a tree at a local tree farm," advises Woodrow Nelson of the Arbor Day Foundation, an organization dedicated to celebrating trees. "Those folks do a good job of replanting their crop every year. You get native trees that are local - find the nearest one, and make it a family outing."
Of course, greenest of all would be an outdoor tree: a newly planted Colorado blue spruce, say, just outside the biggest north-facing window of your home (to block winds and help lower heating bills), Nelson says. He did that at home, and instead of papier-mache bird ornaments, the tree attracts real feathered friends, as well as neighbors' compliments.
But, Nelson acknowledges, it might not be the towering holiday symbol most people are looking for.
For indoor trees, there are "green" arguments for both real and fake.
Many foresee buyouts at GM
Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. also could be expected to offer buyouts to maximize the value of the two-tier wage agreement. The newly ratified contract allows GM to pay new hires into so-called noncore jobs about half the hourly wage of assembly workers and offer a lesser benefits package and less-expensive retirement benefits. The contract says those workers can advance to the assembly-worker wage rate, but will never earn the benefits package current workers have. "We suspect that GM will be back before too long with an announcement of an attrition program geared to induce current noncore workers to retire so they can be replaced with new Tier Two workers at about one-third the cost," Credit Suisse auto analyst Chris Ceraso wrote in a note to investors. "This could add up to north of $1 billion of savings." Jonathan Steinmetz, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said, "GM will have the ability to migrate a substantial amount of its workforce to a second-tier wage and second-tier benefit structure.
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