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City budget hearing schedule

Each city department must justify its budget request to the Common Council during hearings in April. Then, at the end of the month, the public gets to have its say at a hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. April 30. The…

Political Notebook

Tags: Budget, City, Hearing, Schedule

Daily Border Bulletin – Congressional Hearing on Flawed Border Report, Boycotts on Alabama Law, Just the Facts on Fast & Furious

Friday, the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security is holding a hearing, A Call to Action: Narco-Terrorism’s Threat to the Southern U.S. Border. The subject of the hearing is a flawed report entitled Texas Border Security:A Strategic Military Assesment. NDN-NPI and others have written extensively on the serious problems with this report, below please find some of our work on this, a letter from Congressman Silvestre Reyes to Governor Perry urging him to tone down his rhetoric on the border, as well as your usual clips from your daily border bulletin.

Congressman Silvestre Reyes letter to Governor Rick Perry – In this letter Congressman Reyes urges governor Perry to tone down his rhetoric on drug violence along the southwest border.

San Antonio Examiner – Staples Manufactures Border Fears – Article pushes back on an erroneousreport on border violence noting: “USA Today recently did an analysis of border violence, drawing on ‘more than a decade of detailed crime data reported by more than 1,600 local law enforcement agencies in four states, federal crime statistics and interviews along the border from California to Texas.’

Veracity of Texas Border Report Called Into Question- Jeremy Schwartz, of the Austin American-Statesmen noted: “During a news conference after the report was released, McCaffrey raised eyebrows when he spoke of “hundreds of people murdered on our side of the frontier,” a statistic that far exceeded the 22 killings between January 2010 and May 2011 identified by the Department of Public Safety as being related to drug cartels. When asked about the number, McCaffrey pointed to statements from a Brooks County rancher, who told reporters that hundreds of bodies had been found in the county in recent years.” When asked to substantiate these findings the authors of the report deferred to a veterinarian appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to the Texas Animal Health Commission, Michael Vickers. Vickers, on top of being a veterinarian,  chairs the Texas Border Volunteers, “a group that conducts patrols of private property and reports illegal immigration to the border patrol.”

Focus on Texas Ag Border Report Erroneous Statement: Mexico’s Drug Violence is Spilling Over Into The United States -  Despite incessant claims to the contrary there is little to no evidence of spillover violence from Mexico. NDN and The New Policy Institute has refuted such allegations many times. While the report never cites claims about spillover, it references a study by the Congressional Research Service that addresses spillover violence. Ironically, the COLGEN report blatantly ignored the main conclusion of the report it cites: “Currently, no comprehensive, publicly available data exist that can definitively answer the question of whether there has been a significant spillover of drug trafficking-related violence into the United States. {…] anecdotal reports have been mixed”

The Birmingham News -Boycotts protest Alabama’s immigration law  – Hundreds of Hispanic students were missing from classrooms in the Birmingham area on Wednesday, some Mexican restaurants were closed and workers did not show up at other businesses as Hispanics stayed home to protest the toughest immigration law in the country.

The Huffington Post – Republican Attack on Eric Holder – Let’s Stick to the Facts – “Republican congressional leaders know that this is not the first time this type of ATF gun-tracking program has gone wrong. A similar program with similar problems began under the George W. Bush administration. As CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reported, “Operation Wide Receiver” was implemented in 2007 during the tenure of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A source told Attkisson that during this program, hundreds of guns “walked” across the Mexican border. “

NDN blogs

Tags: ALABAMA, Border, Boycotts, Bulletin, Congressional, Daily, Facts, Fast, Flawed, Furious, Hearing, just, Report

Veterans Small Business Loans; Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Memorial Affairs of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, House of

Veterans Small Business Loans; Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Memorial Affairs of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of

Title: Veterans Small Business Loans : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Memorial Affairs of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session, May 13, 1993 Publisher: Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office Publication date: 1993 Subjects: Small business -- United States Finance Veterans -- Legal status, laws, etc. United States Veterans -- Loans Law and legisla

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Related Veterans Small Business Loan Products

Tags: Affairs, Before, Business, Committee, Hearing, House, Housing, Loans, Memorial, Small, Subcommittee, Veterans

Abuses in Federal Student Grant Programs Proprietary School Abuses; Hearing Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the

Abuses in Federal Student Grant Programs Proprietary School Abuses; Hearing Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the

Title: Abuses in Federal Student Grant Programs Proprietary School Abuses : Hearing Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session, July 12, 1995 Publisher: Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office Publication date: 1996 Subjects: Proprietary schools -- Corrupt practices United States Trade schools -- Corrupt practices Uni

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How to Get Money for College: Financing Your Future Beyond Federal Aid 2011

How to Get Money for College: Financing Your Future Beyond Federal Aid 2011 is a great resource for anyone looking to supplement his or her federal financial aid package with aid from colleges and universities. This comprehensive directory points you to complete and accurate information on need-based and non-need gift aid, loans, work-study, athletic awards, and more. The easy-to-use Colleges-at-a-Glance comparison chart lists the full costs that can be expected, aid packages, and more for each

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Tags: Abuses, Before, Federal, Grant, Hearing, Investigations, Permanent, Programs, Proprietary, School, Student, Subcommittee

House Holds First Hearing On New Chemical Facility Security Regulations

On July 24, 2007 the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection held their first hearings on Chemical Facility Security since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the final interim regulations on Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS, 6 CFR part 27) in April. Robert B. Stephan, Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure Protection, testified about the current state of efforts DHS is taking to protect chemical facilities from terrorist attack.

Stephan updated the Subcommittee on previous voluntary efforts completed by some members of the chemical industry to update their security after the attacks of 9-11-2001. These include the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care Security Code and Cyber Security Program as well as efforts by the National Association of Chemical Distributors, American Petroleum Institute, the Chlorine Institute, the Agribusiness Security Working Group, and the National Paint and Coatings Association.

He also described a wide variety of efforts that DHS is taking in coordination with other groups. Under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) the chemical industry has partnered with DHS and other government agencies to form a Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC). As part of the Chemical Sector Specific Plan, teams will have conducted Comprehensive Reviews of security issues in Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Northern New Jersey and the Lower Delaware River areas by August of this year. Additionally, 394 chemical plants have been made eligible for grants under the Buffer Zone Protection Program. In June the first Chemical Security Summit was held with 350 industry attendees being briefed on DHS and CSCC plans and actions to date.

DHS is also working on training programs for the chemical sector. The Chemical Security Awareness Training Program, an on-line training tool for all chemical facility employees, will come on line this fall. A Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device Training Program is under development for security officers who will be responsible for checking vehicles for explosive devices.

Next Secretary Stephan updated the Subcommittee on actions that DHS has taken to date under the new CFATS regulation. On June 8th the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) went live for the first time and on June 11th DHS sent out notification letters to 50 known high-risk facilities that they were required to complete an initial Top Screen filing. These 50 facilities were aided by DHS inspectors so that a live trouble shoot of the system was effectively conducted.

In coordination with the Chemical SSP and the Oil and Gas SSP, additional facilities were identified for directed Top Screen Completion. To date (July 13th, 2007) 6,096 facilities have registered in the CSAT and are in some phase of Top Screen completion. These first two groups of facility registrations will serve as a learning program for DHS and the industry and provide a chance to work out the inevitable bugs in the system. Security Vulnerability Assessments (SVA) and Site Security Plans (SSP) should be in place for most of these facilities by year end.

The next phase of facility registrations will begin when the final version of Appendix A, DHS Chemicals of Interest, is published. Then, any facility that has (or plans to have) a chemical listed in the appendix at more than the published Screening Threshold Quantity (STQ) will be required to complete a Top Screen in the CSAT system.

Assistant Secretary Robert B. Stephan’s testimony provides valuable insight into the way the CSAT system is operating. The way that the system is operating at individual facility levelsw will be protected information under the Chemical Vulnerability Information (CVI) rules. This type of aggregated information will be all that the general public will ever see. It would be helpful if this subcommittee and their Senate counterparts were to hold periodic review type hearings to allow the public to keep up to date on the progress that is being made in this important area of community security.

Tags: Chemical, Facility, First, Hearing, Holds, House, Regulations, Security

Getting A Hearing Aid For Your Child

When most people think of losing their hearing, they assume that it won’t be a problem until they’re at least in their fifties. However, there are hundreds and thousands of children every year who are diagnosed with hearing loss. Often, the loss is due to common childhood infections and can be helped with surgery, but sometimes, it is irrevocable and irreversible. In these cases, getting a child the right hearing aid is incredibly important.

There are lots of different things that loss of hearing can do to a child. It can make a child seem introverted or even become that way, since he won’t be able to hear what others are saying or communicate effectively. In very young children, loss of hearing can delay the process of learning to speak, since they can’t hear well to mimic the sounds that they hear, which is how children learn to speak in the first place. In older children, hearing problems are likely to cause interpersonal problems as well as issues at school. For all these reasons, it’s important to put some time into choosing the right hearing aid for your child should he or she ever need one.

The first step in the process is, of course, to see an audiologist. You’ll probably be asked questions about your child’s apparent hearing problems, and then your child will go through a series of painless tests. These tests will help the audiologist determine where, exactly, the hearing loss lies and how you can best fix it. If an audiologist recommends that you purchase a hearing aid for your child, he or she should be able to walk you through the steps of getting the right one, but just so you are aware of what those steps are, here’s how it might work.

First, you’ll have to determine the type of hearing assistance that your child needs. It may be amplification, but it may also be frequency modulation. Hearing devices can be used in children as young as four months old, and they will only get more tailored and sophisticated as your child grows and is able to answer more specific questions about his or her hearing problems. Your audiologist will help you decide which type of hearing device your child needs. For most children, a behind-the-ear model is used because it is versatile, large enough to be easily found, and can be manipulated by the child or the caregivers.

Once you’ve chosen the right hearing aid, you’ll have to figure out how to pay for it. Many insurance programs will pay for all or part of the cost of an aid, and Medicare currently pays for the full cost for qualifying children. If you can’t use insurance, you may be able to get a grant from a community organization that specializes in hearing loss awareness. If none of this works, see if you can finance the aid through the company that is selling it to you. Many times the financing is interest free or low interest and will allow you to spread the cost of the aid over the course of several months or years.

Tags: Child, Getting, Hearing

House Holds First Hearing On New Chemical Facility Security Regulations

On July 24, 2007 the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection held their first hearings on Chemical Facility Security since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the final interim regulations on Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS, 6 CFR part 27) in April. Robert B. Stephan, Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure Protection, testified about the current state of efforts DHS is taking to protect chemical facilities from terrorist attack.

Stephan updated the Subcommittee on previous voluntary efforts completed by some members of the chemical industry to update their security after the attacks of 9-11-2001. These include the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care Security Code and Cyber Security Program as well as efforts by the National Association of Chemical Distributors, American Petroleum Institute, the Chlorine Institute, the Agribusiness Security Working Group, and the National Paint and Coatings Association.

He also described a wide variety of efforts that DHS is taking in coordination with other groups. Under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) the chemical industry has partnered with DHS and other government agencies to form a Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC). As part of the Chemical Sector Specific Plan, teams will have conducted Comprehensive Reviews of security issues in Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Northern New Jersey and the Lower Delaware River areas by August of this year. Additionally, 394 chemical plants have been made eligible for grants under the Buffer Zone Protection Program. In June the first Chemical Security Summit was held with 350 industry attendees being briefed on DHS and CSCC plans and actions to date.

DHS is also working on training programs for the chemical sector. The Chemical Security Awareness Training Program, an on-line training tool for all chemical facility employees, will come on line this fall. A Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device Training Program is under development for security officers who will be responsible for checking vehicles for explosive devices.

Next Secretary Stephan updated the Subcommittee on actions that DHS has taken to date under the new CFATS regulation. On June 8th the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) went live for the first time and on June 11th DHS sent out notification letters to 50 known high-risk facilities that they were required to complete an initial Top Screen filing. These 50 facilities were aided by DHS inspectors so that a live trouble shoot of the system was effectively conducted.

In coordination with the Chemical SSP and the Oil and Gas SSP, additional facilities were identified for directed Top Screen Completion. To date (July 13th, 2007) 6,096 facilities have registered in the CSAT and are in some phase of Top Screen completion. These first two groups of facility registrations will serve as a learning program for DHS and the industry and provide a chance to work out the inevitable bugs in the system. Security Vulnerability Assessments (SVA) and Site Security Plans (SSP) should be in place for most of these facilities by year end.

The next phase of facility registrations will begin when the final version of Appendix A, DHS Chemicals of Interest, is published. Then, any facility that has (or plans to have) a chemical listed in the appendix at more than the published Screening Threshold Quantity (STQ) will be required to complete a Top Screen in the CSAT system.

Assistant Secretary Robert B. Stephan’s testimony provides valuable insight into the way the CSAT system is operating. The way that the system is operating at individual facility levelsw will be protected information under the Chemical Vulnerability Information (CVI) rules. This type of aggregated information will be all that the general public will ever see. It would be helpful if this subcommittee and their Senate counterparts were to hold periodic review type hearings to allow the public to keep up to date on the progress that is being made in this important area of community security.

Tags: Chemical, Facility, First, Hearing, Holds, House, Regulations, Security

House Holds First Hearing On New Chemical Facility Security Regulations

On July 24, 2007 the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection held their first hearings on Chemical Facility Security since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the final interim regulations on Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS, 6 CFR part 27) in April. Robert B. Stephan, Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure Protection, testified about the current state of efforts DHS is taking to protect chemical facilities from terrorist attack.

Stephan updated the Subcommittee on previous voluntary efforts completed by some members of the chemical industry to update their security after the attacks of 9-11-2001. These include the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care Security Code and Cyber Security Program as well as efforts by the National Association of Chemical Distributors, American Petroleum Institute, the Chlorine Institute, the Agribusiness Security Working Group, and the National Paint and Coatings Association.

He also described a wide variety of efforts that DHS is taking in coordination with other groups. Under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) the chemical industry has partnered with DHS and other government agencies to form a Chemical Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC). As part of the Chemical Sector Specific Plan, teams will have conducted Comprehensive Reviews of security issues in Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Northern New Jersey and the Lower Delaware River areas by August of this year. Additionally, 394 chemical plants have been made eligible for grants under the Buffer Zone Protection Program. In June the first Chemical Security Summit was held with 350 industry attendees being briefed on DHS and CSCC plans and actions to date.

DHS is also working on training programs for the chemical sector. The Chemical Security Awareness Training Program, an on-line training tool for all chemical facility employees, will come on line this fall. A Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device Training Program is under development for security officers who will be responsible for checking vehicles for explosive devices.

Next Secretary Stephan updated the Subcommittee on actions that DHS has taken to date under the new CFATS regulation. On June 8th the Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) went live for the first time and on June 11th DHS sent out notification letters to 50 known high-risk facilities that they were required to complete an initial Top Screen filing. These 50 facilities were aided by DHS inspectors so that a live trouble shoot of the system was effectively conducted.

In coordination with the Chemical SSP and the Oil and Gas SSP, additional facilities were identified for directed Top Screen Completion. To date (July 13th, 2007) 6,096 facilities have registered in the CSAT and are in some phase of Top Screen completion. These first two groups of facility registrations will serve as a learning program for DHS and the industry and provide a chance to work out the inevitable bugs in the system. Security Vulnerability Assessments (SVA) and Site Security Plans (SSP) should be in place for most of these facilities by year end.

The next phase of facility registrations will begin when the final version of Appendix A, DHS Chemicals of Interest, is published. Then, any facility that has (or plans to have) a chemical listed in the appendix at more than the published Screening Threshold Quantity (STQ) will be required to complete a Top Screen in the CSAT system.

Assistant Secretary Robert B. Stephan’s testimony provides valuable insight into the way the CSAT system is operating. The way that the system is operating at individual facility levelsw will be protected information under the Chemical Vulnerability Information (CVI) rules. This type of aggregated information will be all that the general public will ever see. It would be helpful if this subcommittee and their Senate counterparts were to hold periodic review type hearings to allow the public to keep up to date on the progress that is being made in this important area of community security.

Tags: Chemical, Facility, First, Hearing, Holds, House, Regulations, Security

Selective Hearing Treatments

A person doesn’t put much thought about their sense of hearing believing it will stay with them until the end. The majority of people will lose their sense of hearing albeit slowly, as they age and their body breaksdown. The first step is to look at what causes hearing loss in the first place, what you can do about it and ultimately what treatments can be administered on the person.

Babies are more at risk from hearing loss than anything else. Just because a person is young and is below twenty’s doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to hearing loss. Common causes of hearing loss are genetics, hearing loss, being sick and drinking medication.

A very common cause of hearing loss is when a person is surrounded all the time by very loud environmental noise. Airports, concerts, crowds or anything else for that matter can lead people to lose their sense of hearing. Listening to loud music through headphones or in a car is also a big no no as this can often lead to gradual hearing loss.

Hearing impairment, depending on the form, can often times be treated with the use of hearing aids. There is also no shortage in the kinds of hearing aids available as there are at the least 10 different classifications. The main function of a hearing aid is to collect, funnel and amplify surrounding sound to a person.

The classifications of hearing aids depends on where the tiny device is worn by the user. Behind the ear aids are called BTE and these types are simply made up of a case, tube and ear molds and are placed behind the ear. With the BTE, only the ear mold is placed inside the ear thus there is less risk of moisture and earwax damage to the whole device.

A person can go for what is called a bionic ear which is basically an implant that replaces your cochlea. The only way to install the implant is by surgery as the device is needed to be placed behind the target ear and underneath the scalp. This inner working of this device basically collects, converts and transmits sounds from the surrounding into our brain through electrodes.

A cochlear implant is made up of a microphone, speech processor, transmitter, receiver, stimulator and many tiny electrodes. The whole procedure and the device itself are all very expensive and is out of the reach of ordinary citizens. A person still needs to qualify for the implant and he or she needs to reveal his or her history of hearing problems, the current state it is in and the person’s overall health.

Doctor’s are also excited by a new form of technology called gene therapy. The annoying thing with hearing aids is the need to replace the expensive batteries it has, with gene therapy all these are gone as everything is natural. Gene therapy however, is still in its early and infancy stages as research and testing are still being done.

While prevention is still the best cure to hearing impairment, when hearing loss is unavoidable, these hearing treatments will provide you a glimpse of hope in recovering or managing it. Hearing treatments as you can see are very broad and there are many types of which may not be applicable to certain people, the only way to be sure what should be used is by going to see your doctor. Life just isn?t the same when you can?t hear a thing.

Tags: Hearing, Selective, Treatments