Journal Co. laying off 74 to cut expenses

By Neil Downing
Journal Staff Writer
The Providence Journal Co. is laying off 74 workers — about 12 percent of its total work force — as part of a corporate-wide cost-cutting effort by its parent company, A.H. Belo Corp. of Dallas.
Overall, 48 full-time workers and 26 part-time workers at The [...]

Media around the nation are struggling and not just newspapers, but radio and TV as well. Ad revenue is down, employees are being laid off every day en masse and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. The Providence Journal is the oldest continuously printed newspaper in the country, but what is its future? Below [...]

By STEVE PEOPLES
Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE –– They knew the money was coming.
And as the massive stimulus bill moved through Congress in recent weeks, a power struggle was born among state officials to control what would become a rescue package worth an estimated $1.1 billion for Rhode Island’s infrastructure, school districts, and state budget deficits.
The [...]

Does the period 2000-2009 really deserve the title “The Lost Decade” as it is now being called?
What is the major problem/issue/storyline over the past 9 years that has led to the opening decade of the 21st century being labeled: ”The Lost Decade”?:

The Bush presidency?
The meltdown in the economy?
Failing banks?
The terror attacks?
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Greed on Wall Street?

You tell me.
-Tim [...]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the recession should end this year and 2010 “will be a year of recovery,” if actions taken by the government lead to some stabilization in financial markets.
But that’s a mighty “if” given recent severe declines in equity markets to levels not seen in more [...]

More examples of Rhode Island laws that don’t see much coverage in the media these days…
Cap guns are illegal.
Full text of the law.
Ropes may not be strung across a highway.
Full text of the law.
No one may bite off another’s leg.
Full text of the law.
Rhode Island recently applied to the US Government to make all the [...]

Ah yes, the world of Facebook social networking. I have yet to join it, but I’m sure I will at some point personally. I’m missing out according to the latest stats from CNN. Facebook is growing faster than our national deficit. Who needs to attend high school reunions anymore when every day is “share your [...]

Federal workers owe billions in unpaid taxes
Source: WTOP Radio
WASHINGTON - From the U.S. Postal Service to the Executive Office of the President, thousands of federal workers have not paid their 2007 federal income taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service is trying to collect billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from nearly half a million federal employees. According [...]

From the Attleboro Sun Chronicle
Attleboro area communities may wish to consider the lead on governmental transparency established by Rhode Island (yes, honestly), a state all too renowned for back-alley dirty dealings.
A new initiative - the state’s first online, real-time checkbook of spending, the fruition of a campaign pledge by General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio to [...]

Here’s some news from California courtesy of USA Today:
A judge in California brushed aside union complaints and cleared the way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to furlough 238,000 state workers two days each month, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The ruling means state employees will be taking unpaid leave on the first and third Fridays of [...]