text:
$2 billion tax rate increase in TN, new report says
- Bill Haslam, Gas taxes, Gov Regulations, Gov Transparency, Taxes
- June 16, 2017
Wilson County commissioners raised property taxes dramatically this week for the sake of building new schools. Tennessee Watchdog, however, exclusively revealed that various county department heads will use the tax increase to to boost their salaries as much as 62 percent. Contact Christopher Butler at email@example.com Follow Tennessee Watchdog and receive regular updates through Facebook and TwitterREAD MORE
Higher property taxes in Wilson County won't prompt residents to vote with their feet and move out, county commissioners say. But one resident says taxes could give outsiders pause before they decide to move in. As reported, county commissioners may vote Monday to raise property taxes an additional 44 cents for new schools, among otherREAD MORE
While Wilson County officials plot to raise property taxes, one commissioner complains the county hasn't produced a balanced budget in at least a decade, and it's high time to rein in expenses. As reported, county commissioners may vote Monday to raise property taxes an additional 44 cents for new schools, among other things. Several commissionersREAD MORE
Bill Haupt says Wilson County officials appraised his home at 40 percent over market value. He showed up at the county courthouse to complain, but officials told him to get lost. Haupt got the brush off after he and his wife, a certified accountant, spent 60 hours researching their case. The pair came to theREAD MORE


text:
For some reason I'm having a terrible craving for Sansei. Basically incredible sushi but with interesting appetizers like their Asian Shrimp Cake...I'm not the biggest sushi fan, so I haven't been around the block as much as some other folks on the board.
Does this exist anywhere in LA, preferably towards Silver Lake/Hollywood, etc.?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This is a sponsored post all about Cardstore.com
I think the best thing about these personalized cards is that it becomes more than just a card. It is a picture. It is something that will be cherished for years to come and it didn't come from the store shelf.
The cards were so easy to create and the choices made it super hard to decide which ones were perfect for Grandma.
Cardstore.com makes it easy. You can decide to have the cards shipped to you, the creator, OR you can even have it shipped directly to the home of your loved one. Hello easy!! I decided to have these shipped to our home just so we could have Jude "sign" them.
I was really surprised that we receieved these cards just 2 days after I created them. So for even those last minute shoppers this option will work for you!!
The quality of the prints were great. The pictures turned out perfect and the card design was exactly as shown on the website. These cards are printed on high quality card stock as well. Something that you would expect at a store. Not online!!
I cannot wait to make the Grandpas a couple of cards for Father's Day too!! I think I found my newest treat for holidays!
Guess what? The lovely people at Cardstore.com are giving you the opportunity to treat the Father, Grandfather, Uncle, Brother, or what ever Father you have in your life with the gift of a personalized card for Father's Day!All you have to do is follow these simple entry rules and you too can get to create some original and special!
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this review. I was given 2 codes for 2 free cards. These are my opinions and they are not swayed by any gifts.
Giveaway Form:


text:
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Fighting between pro- and anti-government factions jumped to Lebanon's north Monday, but a grim calm hung over the nearly empty streets of Beirut -- a capital crippled by roadblocks, suspicion and fear.
As black-clad Shiite militants of Hezbollah carried their latest dead to burial, so did the families and friends of civilians caught in the middle of combat that has routed Sunni factions supporting the Western-allied government from Muslim west Beirut.
More than 50 people were confirmed dead since fighting erupted Wednesday -- first in Beirut, then in the mountains overlooking the city and on Monday in the northern city of Tripoli. It is the worst sectarian violence to wrack Lebanon since a 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
That war killed 150,000 people and laid waste to many parts of Beirut, leaving the city divided into ethnic and religious districts deeply suspicious of one another, and the new fighting has torn open old wounds.
"They abandoned their cause against Israel and have come to kill us," Wadad Abdel Nasser Shamaa, a 27-year-old Sunni, said of Hezbollah's militiamen. Her brother, Mohammed, was killed Thursday night when Hezbollah and its allies swept through the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Tarik Jadideh.
Their father, Abdel-Nasser Shamaa, 47, a vegetable vendor, said he once sympathized with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and even pasted a picture of the Shiite cleric to his bedroom mirror.
He wants to know why his son was killed in what he called indiscriminate shooting by Hezbollah.
More army troops took up positions in Beirut seeking to keep rival groups apart, and supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition kept their guns out of sight. But the Shiite fighters still stood watch, making clear who was in charge.
Beirut remained quiet, and fighting between Druse factions in the mountains outside the city also subsided.
The Sunnis, followers of Hariri, moved from one building to another through holes knocked in the walls to avoid snipers.
"We shall force them out of here. We won't allow them to stay here," said one fighter, who said he was fighting because Alawites killed his family in the 1980s.
Another spoke of the broader national fight. "If the opposition think that they can do here as they did in Beirut they are wrong," he said.
The unrest exploded out of a 17-month struggle between the pro-U.S. government and the Hezbollah-led opposition over control of the government. The trigger was the Cabinet's order a week ago that an airport security chief with links to Hezbollah be fired and that the Shiite movement's private telecommunications network be dismantled as a threat to the state.
Within days, Hezbollah and its allies swept through Beirut's Muslim sector displacing pro-government gunmen. The national army stood by, with its commanders fearing the military could be torn apart along ethnic and religious lines as it was during the 1975-90 civil war.
President Bush issued a statement condemning "Hezbollah's recent efforts, and those of their foreign sponsors in Tehran and Damascus, to use violence and intimidation to bend the government and people of Lebanon to their will."
He said the U.S. would stand behind the Western-backed government in Lebanon. "The international community will not allow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, via their proxies, to return Lebanon to foreign domination and control."
And in an interview with al-Arabiya television, Bush acknowledged that a planned meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in Egypt as part of his Middle East trip might have to be scrapped, with Siniora under siege.
Rafiq Toughan, a 60-year-old in Beirut's Sunni neighborhood of Qas Qas, said Sunni groups fighting against Hezbollah never had a chance in Beirut. He said they had only pistols and rifles, while Hezbollah fighters fielded heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
"They are so well armed, they could fight off the Israelis. So it doesn't matter how brave you are, we just couldn't fight them," Toughan said.
Ghada Jamal, 29, struggled to talk about Hezbollah's attack on the Tarik Jadideh district. "Even as I'm talking to you, I'm shaking again," she said.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us


text:
How to create a rollover button with icon images
This lesson shows you how to skin a button with an image
Find the button you want to skin.
Import the images you want to use.
Select as many images as you want to import.
Open the property inspector for the button
The 'Icons & Border' pane
You can see that this pane lets you specify a range of images for a button. We are only interested in the 'icon' which is the main images, and the 'hovericon' which will be displayed when a mouse hovers over the button.
1) The buttons on the right load a image chooser dialog which can be used to select the images we have just imported


text:
A new study has suggested yet another reason why a good night's sleep is important: it makes you more attractive.
Researchers in Sweden found that those who lacked proper sleep looked more unhealthy, were paler, had red eyes and suffered more wrinkles.
The study saw researchers photograph 10 participants on two occasions, the first time after a good night's sleep and the second when participants had been awake for 31 hours.
Forty people were asked to rate the pictures on a number of criteria, including how sad, tired and attractive the subjects looked.
More from GlobalPost: Use of sleeping pills highest among older Americans: CDC
The findings were obvious: the more tired someone was, the less attractive they appeared.
The puffiness around the eyes and redness were enough to make someone unattractive, or at least less attractive, but a droopier mouth, fine lines and hanging eyelids also negatively contributed.
"Since faces contain a lot of information on which humans base their interactions with each other, how fatigued a person appears may affect how others behave toward them," study author Tina Sundelin said in a press release.
"This is relevant not only for private social interactions, but also official ones such as with health care professionals and in public safety."
The study was published in the aptly named journal Sleep.


text:
I just had a long discussion about Ranch House Grille and Texaz Grill with a co-worker and now am desperately craving some Chicken Fried Steak but work in Chandler so it's way too far of a drive for lunch.
Any good suggestions for comfort food other than Cracker Barrel? Looking for suggestions in Chandler, Tempe, even Ahwatukee. I don't need CFS, I would be fine with anything smothered in gravy at this point!
Texaz Grill
6003 N 16th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Ranch House Grille
5618 E Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85018


text:
For youth, having a job is not only an important step toward adulthood, it is a key component of a successful future.
Partner4Work is proud to partner with Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh in the Learn and Earn Summer Youth Employment initiative.
"When you open the door to opportunity, the possibilities are endless. That's what we're doing here (through Learn & Earn), opening the doors to possibility."
In the video below, Jerome Bettis, former interns, and partner organizations discuss how Learn & Earn and summer jobs help young people become career and college ready.


text:
Puedes seleccionar más de uno.
Puedes seleccionar más de una opción.
Gracias por tu opinión.
Suscríbete al newsletter de gob.mx
"With the labor reform of 2012, together we have increased labor market flexibility, encouraged productivity, and strengthened transparency and trade union democracy. Now we must also modernize labor justice together," he declared.
• The proposal to undertake a sweeping change of labor justice in our country, contained in the Everyday Justice Reform, is a paradigm shift that will allow us to bring our justice system into line with the times, he said.
It is not only economic growth that is driving the evolution of our labor market. These advances are also undoubtedly the result of dialogue and joint efforts between production factors, he said.
• He led the celebration of International Labor Day.
President Enrique Peña Nieto today led the commemoration of International Labor Day, in which he thanked, "Mexico's workers, because, through their daily efforts and work in small, medium-sized or large companies, they make it possible for our country to achieve higher levels of development, progress and welfare for Mexican families."
He also thanked, "All the workers in the country, their union organizations and their leaders, with whom the government maintains a frank, open and constructive relationship."
During the event, held at the official residence of Los Pinos, the President stressed that through the labor reform of 2012, "Together we have increased labor market flexibility, encouraged productivity, and strengthened transparency and trade union democracy." Now, we must also modernize labor justice together.
He recalled that on April 28, he submitted a package of reform bills in the field of Everyday Justice, including a proposal to make sweeping changes to labor justice in our country.
"This is a paradigm shift that will allow us to bring our justice system into line with the times," he said. He mentioned some of the major changes included in this bill:
• Labor Justice is to be administered by the Federal Judiciary Branch or the Local Judiciary Branches.
•Conciliation processes must be more agile and effective. To this end, the creation of specialized, impartial Conciliation Centers has been proposed.
• It is proposed that the federal conciliation agency be a decentralized body familiar with the registration of all the collective bargaining agreements and those of trade union organizations.
• Through the respective law, the procedures for the signature, deposit and registration of collective agreements will be reviewed, ensuring full respect for trade union autonomy and the right of association.
President Peña Nieto declared that If this reform is approved, we will achieve the most significant change for the protection and defense of workers' rights since the creation of Article 123 in the 1917 Constitution."
"In short, we are constructing 21st Century labor justice for our country's globalized, 21st century economy," he said.
The president declared that, "Mexico is a democracy where dialogue and agreements are a fundamental part of our institutional development," exemplified by, "The positive relationship between labor leaders, business representatives and government authorities."
He noted that, "The tripartite system has been valuable and allowed us to achieve results." Beyond the formal participation of the three sectors in various Mexican government institutions, workers, employers and authorities are combining efforts to promote national development, he said.
He declared that the results are positive and encouraging and shared some of them:
"Today, more Mexicans have formal employment than three years ago. From December 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016, the number of workers affiliated to the Mexican Social Security Institute grew by 1,850,970 and I'm sure that with the figures for April, we will be breaking records: more than two million jobs created in our country. This is the highest job creation for this period in any federal administration," he declared.
The president explained that this is not only a consequence of the efforts the government has made to create facilities and advance on the basis of structural changes that will enable Mexico to continue to have greater economic dynamism. "It is the result of the continuous, permanent dialogue between employers and workers in our country," he explained.
• Consistent with this, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported that, "In March, the national unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent of the Economically Active Population. This unemployment rate is not only lower than that of the previous month, but is the lowest for March in the past eight years.
Equally important is, "The formalization of the labor market. Between November 2012 and March 2016, the Labor Informality Rate fell by 3.2 percentage points, reaching its lowest level in the past decade. This means that there are now more workers in the formal economy, who are now entitled to social security, rather than in the informal sector. We are reversing the growing trend of recent years we had observed as a nation: more workers in the informal sector, without the right to constant, ongoing training, or social security."
He said that the efforts undertaken by productivity committees at both the national and state levels have managed to increase this fundamental variable of the formalization of employment.
• From December 2012 to December 2015, according to data from INEGI, the Global Index of Labor Productivity of the Economy has experienced growth, albeit modest, of 1.4 percent; it is worth noting that this reverses the decreasing trend of previous years and decades."
• As for wages, there are also figures indicating improvement. For example, he said, from December 2012 to December 2015, the Average General Minimum Wage accumulated a 5 per cent recovery of purchasing power, and at the end of this year, the minimum wage will have an expected and projected cumulative recovery of at least 6 per cent." While this appears modest, he continued, "I must say that it is the largest recovery for a similar period in the past 36 years; we had not seen or had had a real recovery in workers' purchasing power."
The president confirmed the government's commitment, through a constant dialogue with workers and employers, "To arrive at the best conditions and, above all, to raise and further recover the purchasing power of workers' wages. This is the government's permanent, constant and accredited commitment."
President Peña Nieto said that, "These indicators of higher employment, formality, productivity and wages and lower unemployment reflect the positive evolution of our economy. They reflect a strong, stable economy, an economy that is growing and is doing so on the basis of the strength of its domestic market."
He also recalled that on April 29, INEGI presented its GDP estimate for the first quarter of 2016. According to this calculation, with seasonally adjusted figures, the Mexican economy grew 2.9% annually," he said.
"However, it is not only economic growth that is driving the evolution of our labor market. These developments as also undoubtedly the result of dialogue and joint efforts between production factors, and the best example is that we have spent almost 31 consecutive months without any federal strikes," he said.
He explained that although our Constitution, "Acknowledges the right to strike, Mexico is the United Nations and ILO (International Labour Organization) country that has recorded the longest period without a federal labor strike. This is the result of this constructive dialogue, this level of understanding and agreement between workers and employers," he said.
"This labor peace and the achievements we have referred to consolidate our position as a more competitive, formal and productive country," he said.
Alfonso Navarrete Prida, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, said that during President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration, the tripartite system has been a decisive factor for labor peace, factor, expressed in almost 31 months without a single federal strike, a continuous drop in labor informality and an increase in productivity, in which Mexico moved up seven slots in the World Economic Forum ratings.
He said that, "There has been so much dialogue that we have spent 31 months without a single strike, not only by the unions and large companies represented here, but by small and very small businesses with eight, 10 or 15 employees, which have not gone on strike for 31 months either."
He said that, "Today the atmosphere of industrial peace prevailing in the country allows us to confirm that in Mexico there is a great capacity for dialogue between factors of production and that our tripartite system has matured and is ready to encourage conciliation stays to reach arrangements."
He confirmed that, "Under our tripartite system, Mexico has undergone its three transitions in peace: the demographic transition, which has made us more of an urban than a rural country; the epidemiological transition, which has made us a nation of longer life expectancy, in which our children do not die early, and the democratic transition, which allows us to see power switching as part of our life and social fabric."
He considered that the tripartite system has been a key mechanism for addressing issues in the best interests of workers and employers, as reflected in the unprecedented agreements that this Federal Government has achieved in order to advance the responsible, gradual recovery of the minimum wage, which has recorded a five percent recovery in real terms in the first three years of this administration. This is its greatest recovery for a similar period in more than four presidential terms."
Therefore, he said, "Under our tripartite system, we can say that Mexico is alive every day, and enables us to sit here today; face to face and, above all, dialogue for the benefit of Mexico."
Citing the good results of the work undertaken in INFONAVIT, IMSS, INFONACOT and Consar. Secretary General of Confederation of Mexico's Workers (CTM) Carlos Aceves del Olmo said that the tripartite system is here to stay; we must not turn away from it because it has yielded splendid results.
The CTM leader said that in labor issues, both government, businesses and unions are involved in various issues, which has led to many months of labor peace in the country.
"That's the result of this great alliance: capital, labor and government arbitration; the facilities for us to get on, the compliance of social agencies that serve workers and the dialogue that exists permanently, but also to express workers' point of view," he said.
Aceves del Olmo welcomed the fact that Structural Reforms are a historic pact that has already begun to yield results and move under its own steam. "It's a good thing it is like this; we see the struggle we engage in every day to bring order to public education, and all the media touched by these reforms."
Juan Pablo Castañón Castañón, President of the Business Coordinating Council hailed the fact that, "We have reached another Labor Day in a context of stability and understanding between production factors, under signs that have left a positive mark on labor relations in Mexico in recent decades:
Conciliation, the tripartite principle that brings together workers, companies and government in the social dialogue for negotiation, forging agreements and the country's development."
EOn behalf of the business sector, he thanked the men and women whose talent and daily effort, he said, "Are the driving force and the most important asset of the country's companies and public and social institutions."
He also thanked the labor leaders and the Minister of Labor, "Because they are always engaged in tripartite dialogue, positive construction and the search for solutions that overcome differences."
He declared that much remains to be done to achieve a more efficient, expeditious, modern justice system in keeping with the times, under the principles of legality, impartiality, transparency, efficiency and legal certainty for the benefit of all Mexicans.
"This modernization is essential to strengthening and boosting the country's economic and social development. We will do so, as we have done with all these challenges, according to the same tripartite scheme of social dialogue and forging agreements, and seeking the inclusion of the proposals and concerns of all parties," he explained.
La legalidad, veracidad y la calidad de la información es estricta responsabilidad de la dependencia, entidad o empresa productiva del Estado que la proporcionó en virtud de sus atribuciones y/o facultades normativas.


text:
The World is our Classroom. Jennings is a great place to open your mind and let it expand. It's a place to smooth out your rough edges. Let your life and your experiences teach you. Make the most of this space, this school that supports you and helps shape you into what you want to be.
Useful Links
Jennings Main Website
MN Career Information System
School Calendar
Khan Academy (Math and more...)
Star Tribune
Jennings Travel Website
Powered by


text:
The McNair Scholars group at West Virginia University is doing what it can to help the victims of the typhoon that recently devastated the Philippines.
Monday, November 18 was the first day students collected money for the American Red Cross Dollars for Disaster Project.
The McNair Scholars Program is for disadvantaged students who want to get their masters degree.
"McNair is very service oriented so we're all about helping those in need. And Project Philippines is a very important disaster. It was a huge, huge storm so we just want to do anything we can to help," said Jasmine Koech, a WVU McNair Scholar.
The booth will be set up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 19 and Wednesday, Nov. 20 in the Mountainlair.
If you want to learn more ways to donate to the American Red Cross Dollars for Disaster, click here.