Commission to investigate whether there’s a better form of government for the county.

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

Six years after county voters soundly said thanks but no thanks to changing county government, they’ve given the idea a second chance.

In unofficial results with all 189 precincts reporting, Luzerne County voters cast 48,405 ballots, or 77.46 percent, in favor of creating a home rule study commission to investigate whether there’s a better form of government for the county. There were 14,083 people, or 22.54 percent of those casting votes, who said no to the formation of the commission.

“This is an irrefutable public mandate for change,” said P.J. Best, head of a grassroots organization that campaigned for the study. “People of Luzerne County are looking for credibility, accountability and transparency.”

Since it was approved, the top 11 vote-getters of the 20 running to serve on the volunteer board have earned seats on the study commission. They will have nine months to decide whether a home rule charter is the right option for the county. If they answer yes, they’ll have up to another nine months to create a proposed charter to present to the public for a vote.

Frank E.P. Conyngham, who was among the top 11 vote-getters, said the message he’s taking from the vote is that “there’s no better time to take a look at all the options and hit the refresh button on county government.” He said the “general malaise” in the county helped him decide to run.

Though voters overwhelmingly chose to have the commission study the idea, it’s no guarantee they’ll vote to approve any charter put forth by the commission.

“To say we’ll be a home rule county in two years is premature, but the vote sends the message we’re ready for change,” Best said.

The home rule charter was posed to voters previously. In 2001, voters approved a study commission by a 2-to-1 margin. But two years later, after reviewing the proposal that the commission created with the help of a consultant, voters rejected the charter by a 54 to 46 percent margin.

After scandals involving two county judges, debit card spending and several other incidents of impropriety at the courthouse, the issue seemed to gain traction and Tuesday’s primary results proved voters want to at least reconsider reform.

A charter can vary greatly in the ways it seeks to change county government. Tuesday’s vote allows the commission to explore those options.

A group of home rule study supporters gathered at Rodano’s on Public Square on Tuesday night to watch election returns roll in on a laptop computer and a television. Among them were study commission candidates, their families and members of luzernehomerule.org. Among the candidates in attendance, two, Edward Transue and Ray Gustave, did not get elected to the study commission. Christopher Kersey, Walter Griffith, Conyngham and Veronica Ciaruffoli were among those at Rodano’s who the voters charged with researching the home rule charter’s benefits and need.

Some of those watching results on their laptop screen said those scandals certainly helped the voters who went for for the commission this time around.

Mike Szustak, who along with Best drove the Web site effort touting the initiative, said that without the scandals and the headlines, he doubts there would have been enough support for a second go at the charter. Neither Best nor Szustak ran for the commission.

“If things were all hunky-dory at the courthouse, I don’t think we would even have had the question on the ballot,” Szustak said.

Szustak said if a charter is put up for a vote once again and fails to gain public endorsement, he doubts it will resurface anytime soon.

“Not this generation,” he said.

Jennifer Ablan and Daniel Burns
Reuters
Apr 6, 2009 6:31pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE53537D20090406

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is in for a “lasting slowdown”
and could face a Japanese-style period of relatively low growth with
the added problem of high inflation, billionaire investor George Soros
said on Monday.

Soros told Reuters Financial Television that rescuing U.S. banks could
turn them into “zombies” that suck the lifeblood of the economy,
prolonging the economic slowdown.

“I don’t expect the U.S. economy to recover in the third or fourth
quarter so I think we are in for a pretty lasting slowdown,” Soros
said, adding that in 2010 there might be “something” in terms of U.S.
growth.

Most economists expect the U.S. economy to stop contracting in the
third quarter and resume growing in the fourth quarter, according to a
latest monthly poll of forecasts by Reuters.

The recovery will look like “an inverted square root sign,” Soros
said: “You hit bottom and you automatically rebound some, but then you
don’t come out of it in a V-shape recovery or anything like that. You
settle down — step down.”

Continue reading Soros says U.S. faces “lasting slowdown”

Ashley Seager and Julia Kollewe
The Guardian (UK)
31 March 2009 17.14 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/31/economy-oecd-recession-g20

World leaders gathering for Thursday’s G20 summit in London were
warned today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development that the world economy was shrinking much faster than
previously thought and that global trade was in freefall.

The Paris-based thinktank also told the British prime minister, Gordon
Brown, there was no room for the type of fiscal stimulus that the
prime minister had been touting around the world.

“The world economy is in the midst of its deepest and most
synchronised recession in our lifetime caused by a global financial
crisis and deepened by a collapse in world trade,” the OECD said in
its latest twice-yearly economic forecasts.

It predicted that in spite of big cuts in interest rates around the
world, fiscal stimuli and banking system bailouts, recovery would not
come until 2010 at the earliest.

The organisation had warned on Monday that unemployment among its 30
rich nation members was likely to rise by 25m in the current crisis.

Japan and Germany announced big rises in joblessness today: in Germany
it rose to 3.5m, its highest since February 2008 and giving a jobless
rate of 8.1%, while Japan’s rate reached a three-year high of 4.4%.
Japan announced a new fiscal stimulus package as it seeks to pull its
economy - a big exporter punished by the slump in world trade - out of
a deep recession.

Brown said G20 leaders should aim to save or create 20m jobs and must
act together to increase the potential impact of their actions.

“Leaders meeting in London must supply the oxygen of confidence to
today’s global economy and give people in all of our countries renewed
hope for the future,” he said .

The OECD expects global trade volumes to slump by 13% this year.
“International trade is in freefall,” it said.

It expects its member economies to shrink by an average 4.3% this
year, with the United States contracting by 4%, the eurozone by 4.1%
and Japan by 6.6%. It forecasts Britain’s economy will shrink by 3.7%
- the worst performance since the second world war.

Continue reading G20 leaders get OECD warning that global trade is in freefall

Reuters
April 2, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090402/us_nm/us_hunger_usa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A record 32.2 million people — one in every 10
Americans — received food stamps at the latest count, the government
said on Thursday, a reflection of the recession now in its 16th month.

Food stamps, the major U.S. anti-hunger program, help poor people buy
groceries. The average benefit was $112.82 per person in January.

The January figure marks the third time in five months that enrollment
set a record.

“A weakened economy means that many more individuals are turning to
SNAP/Food Stamps,” said the Food Research and Action Center, an
anti-hunger group, using the acronym for the renamed food stamp
program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in February, the highest in
25 years. Weekly claims for jobless benefits totaled 669,000 last
week, the highest in 26 years, the government said on Thursday.

Food stamp enrollment rose in 46 of the 50 states during January as
the national total rose by 580,000 people, or 1.3 percent, from
December, when the previous record was set, said Agriculture
Department figures.

Vermont, Alaska and South Dakota had increases of more than 5 percent.
Texas had the largest enrollment, 2.984 million, down 65,000, followed
by California at 2.545 million, up 43,000, and New York with 2.211
million, up 37,000.

“It is a very difficult time for low-income families and individuals
and also a difficult time for the groups that serve them,” said
Valentine Breitbarth of Bread for the City, a group that works with
poor families in Washington.

Food stamp benefits get a temporary 13 percent increase, beginning
with this month, under the economic stimulus law signed by President
Barack Obama. The increase equals $80 a month for a household of four.

Recent food stamp data:

Month Enrollment

September 2008 31.587 million

October 2008 31.050 million

November 2008 31.097 million

December 2008 31.784 million

January 2009 32.205 million

(Reporting by Charles Abbott and Russ Blinch; editing by Jim Marshall)

from the Hollywood Reporter comes a story about the day that “entertainment” crossed the line:

“You’re fired” — but for real.

Fox has ordered a one-hour unscripted series that turns real-life company layoffs into a reality contest.

The show’s working title is “Someone’s Gotta Go.” Employees are called to a meeting and informed there will be layoffs, but with a reality show twist: The staff will be allowed to determine who is fired.

The employees will have access to the company’s internal information — budgets, HR files, salaries, etc. — to help make their decision.

It’s the anti-”Apprentice”: Instead of contestants vying for a dream job, they’re fighting to keep the lousy one they already have.

Each episode will focus on one small company (less than 20 employees). The host is a business expert, not yet named, who also serves as a consultant to the companies featured on the show. There’s no word yet when “Someone’s” will air.

The show’s concept (produced by Endemol) goes against the instincts of most broadcaster programmers, who are picking up shows that remind viewers of anything but the economy. “Escapism” and “comfort food” have been mandates as networks try to find programs that help viewers forget the recession.

(thanks to the Times Leader)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region ties with Williamsport for highest jobless figures in the entire state as the recession keeps taking toll on businesses

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer

Customers are not the only ones coming into Carol Whiting’s dog grooming and pet supplies store.

click image to enlarge

Customers bring their dogs for a grooming at the Rub-A-Dub-Doggie in Plains Township and owner Carol Whiting says job seekers also walk in. But she’s trying to stay afloat with the staff she has as around her businesses in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region continue to shed workers. The unemployment rate increased to 8.6 percent in February, matching a level last seen 15 years ago.