Branstad: Power Fund likely will continue

Electrical plant closing results in lost jobs and money
FORT DRUM — A coal-powered electrical plant shut down in the last year, causing local officials to worry about lost jobs and Tax Revenue. Though Fort Drum owns the land where the plant sits on Second Street, which makes it tax-exempt, the facility itself has been charged taxes. Town of LeRay Supervisor Ronald C. Taylor said the plant ran a little over last winter, but just to keep it warm. "I believe they shut down in April," he said. "It's not going to be running this winter, from w...

Green Technology - Biomass
The Recovery Act of 2009 allocated $800 million dollars to the United States Biomass Program. Biomass energy sources are garbage, wood, waste, landfill gases, and Alcohol fuels. Ethanol is the most popular and widely used Biofuel. Currently, a majority of ethanol production comes from corn, but new technologies are being developed to make ethanol from a variety of agricultural and forestry resources, such as animal or wood waste (Department of Energy, 2010). There are two types of Ethanol fuel, ...

Subsidizing stupidity
Ethanol isn't the only heavily subsidized energy source that won a multibillion dollar jackpot in last week's tax deal. The other big winner was the wind industry, which received a one year extension of a $3 billion grant program for Renewable Energy projects. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Despite more than $30 billion in Subsidies for "Clean Energy" in the 2009 stimulus bill, Big Wind still can't make it in the marketplace. Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind...

Empowering the Free Energy Markets
Once again, Congress is poised to play the "winners and losers" game in Energy Policy, by extending various tax advantages to subsidize wind power, solar power, Biofuels, and various "Energy Efficiency" standards. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration has implemented a virtual Moratorium on exploration and production of additional domestic Oil and gas, and the White House is already sowing doubt in capital markets about whether America will be able to exploit the massive reserves of shale-gas an...

T. Boone Pickens: Our Ongoing Energy Crisis
One billion dollars every day. That's how much money we're sending overseas to fund our dangerous and growing Addiction to OPEC oil. This year, I've spent a lot of time talking about Natural Gas, and the need to tap into everything domestic--from nuclear to Natural Gas, from wind to Ethanol, from solar to domestic oil--to address our energy needs. Our dependence on OPEC oil is a national crisis. It threatens our economy, our National Security and our environment. How much of a concern is it?...

Blogosphere weighs in on Iowas lost congressional seat
When placed side-by-side, two new reports on the status of Iowa’s young Children make clear the continued need for programs that address early education needs, especially for those living in Poverty. In the fall, then-GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Terry Branstad proposed a plan that he said would create jobs for Iowans while growing the state’s agricultural production. A key component of the plan is a “systematic review” of all state regulations regarding business, includin...

Iowas children increasingly living in poverty, in need of early education
In the fall, then-GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Terry Branstad proposed a plan that he said would create jobs for Iowans while growing the state’s agricultural production. A key component of the plan is a “systematic review” of all state regulations regarding business, including agricultural businesses, and a promise to toss aside any regulatory policy that hindered a focus of Job Creation in the state. Within hours of the unveiling of the plan, however, a group of local Activist...

Thats fitting
The TCPR’s 2010 Lump of Coal goes to the Roane County Economic Development Foundation: The Roane County Economic Development Foundation receives the sixth annual badge of disgrace for mismanaging millions of dollars in the wake of a 2008 coal ash spill. The spill occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston-area coal plant in December 2008, releasing 5.4 million cubic yards of ash on to 300 acres of nearby land. TVA officials offered $43 million in federal Money to local governm...

Digital Management to Build Enterprise Document Management System (EDMS) for Department of Commerce (DOC) Office of General Coun
BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Management, Inc. (www.digitalmanagement.com), a leading IT solutions and business strategy consulting firm, announced a new contract with the Department of Commerce (DOC) Office of General Counsel (OGC) to build an Enterprise Document Management System (EDMS) to improve the quality, consistency and timeliness of matter, project, and assignment information used and reported across OGC. The OGC provides direction to more than 400 attorneys, loca...

Deeper shale gas deposits may be tapped
The Utica Shale lies under the Marcellus. Its potential is not known, but it may be lucrative. WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The Marcellus Shale may be Pennsylvania's biggest Economic Development story in decades, but it is not the state's only potentially lucrative shale play. "What we are likely to see in some areas of the Marcellus region is that there will be the potential of additional shales being developed," said Thomas Murphy, a Penn State Cooperative Extension educator and co-director ...

Consumer sentiment at highest level since June
NEW YORK | Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:56am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Confidence among consumers rose in December to its highest level since June, on improved job prospects and larger discounts from Retailers, a survey released on Thursday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 74.5, up from 71.6 in November. It was slightly below the median forecast of 74.7 among Economists polled by Reuters. "The overall tenor of news a...

New businesses set for downtown Canton
CANTON — It is not for lack of interest, but financing that has left many downtown storefronts vacant. "With all of the folks I've worked with, the financing has been an issue," Director of Economic Development Linda M. McQuinn said. Empty storefronts include 7 Main St., 80 Main St. and 103 Main St.; 75 Main St. will not have an operating business for several months, and 49 Main St. has a temporary tenant. But there is movement afoot for two new businesses to open by Jan. 1 in the bu...

State officials, business owners to hold summit Jan. 7
PROVIDENCE -- To make sure the state does what it can to respond to the needs of local businesses, top state officials will meet with owners of small businesses Jan. 7 to try to agree on priorities for the new legislative session. The event will mark the fifth year in a row that leaders in the public and Private Sectors are coming together for the Rhode Island Economic Summit, which was seeded by the federal Small Business Administration. Mark S. Hayward, the SBA’s Rhode Island...

Lyme woman hoping to start LDC
CHAUMONT — A Lyme town official wants to start a nonprofit local development corporation to help facilitate Economic Growth in the town. But she can't do it alone. Councilwoman Anne M. "Boo" Harris said the LDC's first goal would be to clean up the old Wilson garage site at Route 12E and Morris Tract Road and market it for public or commercial use. The town government for years has expressed an interest in cleaning up the site, but there hasn't been enough money to do so, Sup...

What Is the Right Federalism for Italy?
On September 17, in his Speech to civil and religious authorities in Westminster, Benedict XVI underlined a peculiar political character very similar to the vision of the Doctrine of the Church's social policy: "the parliamentary tradition; the balance between the legitimate claims of government and the rights of those subject to it; the limits on the exercise of power; the Freedom of Speech; the freedom of political affiliation and respect for the Rule of Law; the equality of all citizens...

Laura Barrett: What Really Happened in 2010
As 2010 winds to a close and Americans reflect on what we've struggled through together over the past year, it's easy to feel discouraged. Just 17% of Americans say they're satisfied with the way things are going in this country. Official Unemployment is still nearly 10 percent -- that's 15 million people unable to find work. If you include workers who are underemployed and those no longer looking for work, the number jumps to 25 million people. When it comes to the fight for transportation ac...

Mayor: cut BDC out of budget
MASSENA — Mayor James F. Hidy says he has found a solution to some of the village's Budget woes: completely cut its $60,000 allocation to the Business Development Corporation for a Greater Massena. Mr. Hidy said the BDC, led by Executive Director Jason A. Clark, has not created enough jobs to merit a contribution from the village. "I'm through spending money for an agency that does absolutely nothing for the community," Mr. Hidy said. Mr. Clark could not be reached for comment...

Pakistan considers defense budget increase
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Pakistan's government is considering a 10-percent boost to defense spending amid a warning that it might slow down Economic Development. The Army wants an extra $521 million on top of the budgeted $5.17 billion for 2010-11 to meet the country's security needs. But the Finance Minister reportedly suggested a much smaller increase, predicting such a large boost to spending would seriously jeopardize the country's Economic Development. In July the government ap...

Development Bill Introduced to Fund Bennett Freeze Area
A bill to deliver much-needed Economic Development funds to Native American communities in Arizona is finally in the works in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) introduced the Former Bennett Freeze Area Development Act (H.R. 6525) that would create a trust fund to bring “housing, infrastructure, health, education, and economic development” to the Bennett Freeze area of northeast Arizona. The Legislation would also involve the Navajo Nation and Hopi tribe i...

Macomb's Hackel names Al Lorenzo as temporary assistant exec
Al Lorenzo, former president of Macomb Community College and an executive in residence at Oakland University, agreed to replace Damian Kassab, who resigned Monday. Lorenzo, 67, of Clinton Township said today that he did not know how long he would hold the position. The new county charter requires Hackel to submit an organization plan for the new county government within his first 180 days in office. He takes over as the county’s first executive Jan. 1....

What Do You Expect to be the Most Significant Economic Developments in 2011?
The Economist asks: What do you expect to be the most significant Economic Developments in 2011? Here's my response. I thought I was late, so I did this a bit hastily, but it turns out there weren't many responses this week (Richard Baldwin, Michael Pettis, all answers). How would you have answered? ...

Consumer sentiment at highest level since June
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Confidence among consumers rose in December to its highest level since June, on improved job prospects and larger discounts from Retailers, a survey released on Thursday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 74.5, up from 71.6 in November. It was slightly below the median forecast of 74.7 among Economists polled by Reuters. "The overall tenor of news about recent Economic Developments was on b...

Election set to replace Iowa state senator
A Special Election will be held Jan. 18 to fill the Iowa Senate seat left by the Resignation of Larry Noble. Gov. Chet Culver on Thursday announced the date of the vote in the 35th Senatorial District, which covers the northern portion of Polk County. Noble, an Ankeny Republican, was elected to the state Senate in 2006 and won a Second Term this year. He stepped down last week after being named the next commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Noble is a retired Iowa State Patrol tr...

Lieberman, Graham want to 'start again' on energy legislation
2011 could bring some quick indications of whether this year's collapse of energy and Climate Legislation in the Senate created lasting wounds.

 Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) chatted Wednesday about reviving their partnership on energy, Lieberman told E2. 

 “It is one of the things we want to work on together next year, start again,” Lieberman said in the Capitol Wednesday. His comments come as President Obama is seeking talks with Republic

Adam Kinzinger is ready to start work
"I am ready for this job," expressed a confident Adam Kinzinger, congressman-elect from the 11th District, during an end-of-the-year media conference Wednesday afternoon at Ottawa City Hall. The 32-year-old Manteno man, the fourth youngest member of Congress, said he was excited to begin work with all political factions — Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal — "to make the right decisions for both the district and the state. “Kinzinger — who snatched the seat f...