Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Republicans Warn Against Overspending on Stimulus

WASHINGTON -- Top Republican lawmakers are positioning themselves for battle over President-elect Barack Obama's economic recovery plan, signaling Monday that they will cast themselves as guardians against excessive spending rather than outright opponents of the Democrats' stimulus package. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) in a statement Monday supported the idea of using federal spending to boost the economy. But he warned that the price tag, which could approach $800 billion over two years, shouldn't become an excuse for funding undeserving projects. As Senate minority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will have influence over President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan. "We should have a simple test: Will the yet-unwritten, reportedly trillion-dollar spending bill really create jobs and grow the economy -- or will it simply create more government spending, more bureaucrats and deeper deficits?" Mr. McConnell said. Mr. McConnell's role will be critical. The Democrats will need to attract at least some support from Senate Republicans, given that they won't have a filibuster-proof majority.

Sorry, but the word hypocrisy comes to mind. BOTH parties have been gorging themselves on the federal credit card for years, and now one side is preaching fiscal restraint. Holy Cow! I predict there will be a fair share of "bridges to nowhere" in this and any stimulus bill...

Struggling Charter takes more hits in customer experience

DECEMBER 30 - Struggling Charter Communications scored the lowest among 114 companies across a dozen industries in an annual customer experience survey of more than 4,500 consumers by Forrester Research. The global research giant said in a paper detailing the results of the study conducted online during the fourth quarter that it asked the consumers about usefulness, ease of use, and enjoyability of their experiences with the companies. Based on the responses, Forrester calculated a "Customer Experience Index" on a 1-100 scale for each company. Barnes & Noble (92) and USAA (91) topped the rankings, while Charter, which was in the bottom 10 last year, placed 111th for its TV service with a score of 40 and 114th for its Internet service at 32. In between were Blue Shield of California at 39 and Medicaid at 38.
Charter's Internet service had the second largest drop in score, falling from 48 last year. Charter performed the worst in "enjoyability," scoring at the bottom two spots with 20 for TV and 16 for Internet. Just 11 percent of the companies received "excellent" ratings, with 38 percent "poor" or "very poor."

The industries covered in the study were airlines, banks, cell phone service providers, credit card providers, hotels, insurance firms, Internet service providers, investment firms, medical insurance companies, computer manufacturers, retailers and TV service providers. Retailers took seven of the top 10 spots, down from nine out of 10 last year, while the bottom 10 came from healthcare, TV service, Internet service and wireless service. Retailers had an average score of 81 and hotels 79, while TV service providers averaged 52 and health insurance plans 51. Banks, many of which have been decimated by the global credit crisis and economic turmoil, improved the most from last year, while Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Blue Shield of California had the largest decline. St. Louis-based Charter, which is the dominant subscription TV provider in the Madison area, issued a statement in response to the Forrester study.

"For us, making the customer's experience with us a quality one is a goal that is articulated every day to our agents and technicians and something that we work at and train for relentlessly," Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont said in an e-mail to The Capital Times. "We continue to take steps that, according to our own surveys, show that customers are benefiting from actions taken, including a significant improvements in our Care operation over the past couple of years. "We recognize that it takes time for improvements to resonate with customers and are committed to continuously refining and bettering the process. We believe that that by doing what it takes to care of our customers, Charter will positively affect our customers' experience with us and over time, the change will be reflected in their perception of us. We're not where we strive to be and our goal is to earn the respect and confidence of our customers through our actions."

Charter is fighting to stave off bankruptcy in the face of a massive debt load of more than $20 billion. On Monday, the St. Louis Business Journal reported that Citigroup analyst David Hamburger put out a note saying the likelihood of financial distress at Charter in the next year has increased from 20 percent to 75 percent. Hamburger also downgraded Charter from buy to sell and reduced his price target for the company's stock from $1 to 5 cents. Charter's stock fell 3 cents per share to close at 9 cents Monday. "In the current credit environment, planned negotiations with a diffuse set of bondholders with varied interests might not be successful given the company's significant liquidity needs and need to refinance 2010 maturities," Hamburger wrote, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. Charter's stock has traded below $1 a share for more than a month, which normally would have it facing delisting by NASDAQ, but the stock exchange has temporarily waived its rules because of current volatility in the markets.

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/429885

TEACHER SALARIES IN WISCONSIN

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL - December 30

Read the NEA's full report at www.nea.org/edstats/ images/rankings08.pdf

The average salary for Wisconsin public school teachers rose 2.4% last school year, capping a decade in which teachers in only seven other states saw their pay increase by less, according to a new survey by the National Education Association. With an average salary of $49,051 in the 2007-'08 academic year, the state's teachers ranked 21st in pay nationally. That was a slip from the year before, when they averaged $47,901 in pay but ranked 20th in the nation, according to the NEA annual survey. Surveys by the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers, the country's largest unions for teachers, are considered to be among the best gauges of salary trends in the industry.

But while teachers in Wisconsin may not have seen their salaries increase as much as their counterparts elsewhere, that hasn't been true of their benefit packages. Reports from the U.S. Census show that Wisconsin has some of the highest per-pupil costs for benefits paid to teachers, ranking third in the nation for 2006, the most recent year for which information was available. "We owe a lot of that to the cost of health care," said Dustin Beilke, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union and an NEA affiliate. "Health care is eating up a lot of what would be salary increases just because the cost of health care is so high in Wisconsin."

Some state legislators and school board members, however, have blamed the high health-care costs on teachers, saying they could receive more pay if they accepted less costly insurance plans. Under the state's qualified economic offer law that allows school districts to limit teacher compensation to annual increases of roughly 3.8%, more spent on benefits often translates to less for teacher salaries. Chris Kliesmet, president of the Citizens for Responsible Government Foundation, which has studied school spending in Milwaukee, pointed out that living expenses in Wisconsin are lower than in some of the higher-paying states. He said that combined with generous benefit packages and other advantageous working conditions, Wisconsin's teachers are doing well. "We're still in the upper half," he said. "We still have, despite it all, a pretty good compensation system for teachers." But information from the NEA shows that teacher pay has taken some hits over the years in Wisconsin.

Since the 1997-'98 school year, average teacher salaries in Wisconsin rose 24.6%, the 44th highest increase among the states and the District of Columbia over that time period. Taking inflation into account, the teachers union estimates average salaries have decreased 5.7% in Wisconsin over the last decade, as compared with a 1.5% decline nationwide. It also projected the average salary for classroom teachers would rise to $50,424 for the current school year, for about a 2.8% pay increase.

OBSERVATIONS
* Considering that the per capita income in Wisconsin is $34,405, teachers seem to be doing well in Wisconsin.
* In Ripon, teacher fringe benefits that total an average of $26,159 per teacher. Average wages are $51,833. Total compensation for 2008-09 averages $77,992. This comes from the district's website, so it appears that teachers in Ripon are doing well compared to the state average.
* Like most of us, the loss of relative income due to inflation is a disturbing trend. Real wage growth in this country has been a problem for a number of years
* This comment - "Some state legislators and school board members, however, have blamed the high health-care costs on teachers, saying they could receive more pay if they accepted less costly insurance plans" - is something I have been in agreement with for some time. I wish, at the very minimum, that we could comparison-shop the insurance packages for the teachers, and all public employees, not with the intent of forcing them into anything, but, at the very least, be able to see what options are out there.

NEW RULES ON POSTINGS

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY : I will be closing threads which have become too long, in my opinion. Also, I would like posters to sign in, and not continue to be "Anonymous". If your opinion is important, and I listen to all of them, than you should be willing to sign in. Thanks in advance.

ESPN: GRADING THE PACKERS

It was reasonable to expect some drop-off following the departure of quarterback Brett Favre, but few could have predicted a second-half collapse that would leave the Packers with a 6-10 record. The defense fell into an injury-induced tailspin, and while quarterback Aaron Rodgers produced solid statistics, he didn't take over in the fourth quarter of close games as Favre often did. This team had far too much talent to finish with a losing record. Grade: D

Biggest surprise: Tramon Williams stepped from obscurity into a substantial role as a part-time starting cornerback. He ranked third on the team with five interceptions while displaying solid coverage skills and undeniable big-play ability. Williams excited enough people that it seems possible the Packers will move veteran cornerback Al Harris during the offseason and install Williams as a full-time starter alongside Charles Woodson.

Biggest disappointment: Safety Atari Bigby seemed on the verge of big things at the end of last season, but he was never healthy in 2008. He managed only 21 tackles and one interception in seven games before being placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury. The ripple effect of his injuries were notable throughout the defense. Backup Aaron Rouse struggled, and eventually the Packers were forced to use Woodson at safety for three games. Bigby is a tremendous athlete with big-time hitting ability but, like the Packers, had a very unlucky year.

Biggest need: It's a toss-up between offensive tackle and defensive line, but the need for defensive help seems more immediate. The Packers played most of the year with three healthy defensive tackles and they would be taking a huge risk if they count on former first-round pick Justin Harrell for anything next season. The Packers need to improve not only their interior run defense but also on the edge in passing situations. The losses of Cullen Jenkins (injury) and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (ineffectiveness) left Aaron Kampman all alone in disrupting opponents' passing attacks.

Second guessing: The decision to part ways with Favre was defensible. Allowing the divorce to extend well into training camp was not. Because they didn't believe Favre really wanted to play for another team, the Packers decided to hold tight and assumed he would eventually go away. When Favre refused, the Packers were left with a monstrous distraction at a crucial time of team-building. No matter what anyone said at the time, the drama disrupted the team and played a role in the general confusion and miscommunication that has plagued the team all season.

Monday, December 29, 2008

WHAT SCARES ME ABOUT EDUCATION

I am truly scared when I read the WEAC 2009-2010 legislative agenda:

* Repeal the Qualified Economic Offer law
* Repeal revenue caps
* Make preparation time for educators a mandatory subject of collective bargaining
* Increase funding for SAGE to provide $2,500 per low income pupil beginning in the 2009-2010 fiscal year
* Implement voucher accountability
* Make attendance of 5-year-old kindergarten mandatory and a prerequisite to admission to first grade
* Treat education support professionals the same as teachers under the Wisconsin Retirement System in terms of qualifying for coverage and for early retirement calculations
* Establish WTCS pay equity by requiring that the salary and fringe benefits of part-time technical college instructors be prorated based on the salary and fringe benefits of full-time staff
* Create a loan forgiveness program for teaching math, science, special education and ELL in high-poverty districts
* Repeal residency requirements
* Provide a tax deduction for non-reimbursed classroom purchases
* Adopt the 'Wisconsin Indoor Environmental Quality in Schools Act' for public school buildings
* Require school boards to adopt anti-bullying policies
* Allow parents to take leave time from work to attend school conferences and activities

And realize that every item is either an additional cost or revenue-neutral. We can barely afford the programs we currently have in place, and they want more.

Their agenda comes at the same time that the future of the Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) law in Wisconsin is in doubt. The Governor, and the Democrats now in control in Madison, have all said they will work to end the QEO in 2009. Considering that, since the law took effect in 1993, the average increase in teachers’ salary-and-benefit packages has hovered around 4 percent a year, compared to more than 7 percent in the years immediately preceeding the change, according to WEAC, I think the QEO has worked.

I can support the elimination of the QEO IF the state legislature also gets rid of binding arbitration. Binding arbitration creates a spiraling, crippling ripple effect, where, if one district agrees to one policy change or one benefit increase, it sucks in other districts into the same vortex.

I am fearful that the cost of education in Wisconsin will become unbearable in the next decade, and I predict we will see more "virtual" schools, consolidated districts and fewer co-curricular programs UNLESS all parties involved drop their partisan issues and really do what is best for the children, and not pay lip service to the concept. End of soapbox...now back to the regular programming.

MY NFL PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

FIRST ROUND
Baltimore 14, Miami 3 - Offense wins games, defense wins championships, and that is why I like Baltimore in this game
Indianapolis 35, San Diego 31 - Something is wrong with the NFL playoff structure when an 12-4 team has to travel to an 8-8 team. Expect a shootout in Southern California
Philadelphia 21, Minnesota 20 - The Eagles' defense should be able to shutdown Adrian Peterson, and I just want to see the Vikings lose :)
Atlanta 35, Arizona 14 - The Cardinals have played some of the worst football down the stretch of any NFL team to make the playoffs. The Falcons could be this year's Cinderella
DIVISIONAL ROUND
Tennessee 14, Baltimore 13 - The Titans and Ravens bring two top-notch defenses, but I give the nod to the home team
Indianapolis 31, Pittsburgh 21 - Big Ben's concussion could come into play, as could the weather, but I see the Colts winning again on the road
NY Giants 17, Philadelphia 14 - The defending champs have struggled down the stretch, but should hold serve at home in the cold
Atlanta 20, Carolina 19 - I am just not impressed by the Panthers, but, then again, I wasn't impressed the year they went to the Super Bowl. That said, I still like the Cinderella story from Georgia
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Indianapolis 29, Tennessee 27 - The Colts make it three straight on the road to win the AFC. I did pick them to win it all before the season
NY Giants 24, Atlanta 23 - The Cinderella story comes to an end in the cold. The Giants rush their way to another Super Bowl
SUPER BOWL XLIII (Tampa, FL)
Indianapolis 35, NY Giants 32 - Another possible Super Bowl classic for the Giants, but they find themselves on the short end of the score, as the Colts win their second title of the Manning-Dungy era, and Dungy retires after the game

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Cornerstone Project announces board of directors, officers

GREEN LAKE —The board of directors and officers for the The Cornerstone Project, a health and wellness center that will serve the communities of Berlin, Green Lake, Markesan, Princeton, Ripon and surrounding areas, have been announced. Members of the board of directors represent the five communities involved in the project and the major health-care providers.

The board members are: Ron Ernst, Ripon College, Ripon; Kristin Galatowitsch, Galatowitsch Law Office, Princeton; Lynn Grout, Special Properties, Green Lake; Doug Guy, Community Health Network, Berlin; Tom Huber, First National Bank, Berlin; Mark Judas, US Bank, Princeton; Jeff Kiener, deputy sheriff, Green Lake County; Russ Kuehn, First National Bank, Berlin; Patricia Lenius, The Cornerstone Project; John Porter, CEO, Tracy Porter, Ripon; Barbara Reif, Barrett House, Markesan; Brad Rost, Flash Trucking, Green Lake; Jeff Shadick, Special Properties, Green Lake; P. Michael Shattuck, M.D., CHN Medical Center-Wautoma, Berlin; Karla Spinks, community volunteer, Green Lake; Jim Tavary, Ripon Medical Center, Ripon; Dr. Tom Willett, Green Lake Medical Center; and Brigid Yeomans, Yeomans Edinger Chiropractic Center, Green Lake.

The newly-elected officers and executive committee members are Lynn Grout, Tom Huber, Patricia Lenius, Barbara Reif, Dr. Tom Willett and Brigid Yeomans.

"The goal of The Cornerstone Project is to provide a centralized facility for wellness, fitness, recreational and educational programs for our area's young children, adults and seniors," said Lynn Grout, board chairman, in a press release. "Today, many of our residents travel to the Fox Valley or even Madison for these services. Local access to health and well-being resources will greatly improve the quality of life in our communities." Willett and Ward Kinas donated 3½ acres of land to the planned Cornerstone Project facility, located on Highway 23 in Green Lake in the heart of the five communities.

"I believe very strongly that this project is critical to the medical community in our region," Willett said. "The health and wellness services envisioned for The Cornerstone Project will be a valuable resource for our local hospitals and physicians. When we have health-care and recreational services and programs available within an easy driving distance of our communities, it will be a real asset to the area."

Monday, December 22, 2008

School Board Schedules Referendum Listening Sessions

The Ripon Board of Education has scheduled four community Listening Sessions to gather feedback on three referendum suggestions that have been made for the April 7 election. Board members and administrators will provide information, answer questions, and collect feedback during these listening sessions. A decision about any referendum questions will be made by the Board at its January 19 meeting. The listening sessions are scheduled for the following dates and places:
* Tuesday, January 6, at 6:30 p.m. in RHS room 167
* Thursday, January 8, at 10:00 a.m. at the Ripon Public Library
* Wednesday, January 14, at 1:30 p.m. at the Ripon Public Library
* Thursday, January 15, at 6:30 p.m. in RHS room 167

Three referendum questions have been suggested for the April 7 election and are now being discussed.
Question 1: $500,000 bond for replacing the RHS boiler and roof maintenance at various schools;
Question 2: $500,000 annual revenue limit override to be used for purchasing textbooks, computers & technology, maintenance repairs and vehicle replacements that have been eliminated from the budget;
Question 3: $500,000 annual revenue limit override for five years to maintain current staffing and class size levels.
By taking advantage of lower interest rates to refinance current District debt, the cost to taxpayers of the suggested referendum questions is considerably less. If approved by the voters, Question 1 and 2 would likely add 8 cents to the school mill rate, or $8.00 for a home with an equalized value of $100,000. If all three referendum questions were approved, it would likely add 83 cents to the mill rate the first year and 55.5 cents in the second year and thereafter. For a $100,000 home, the passage of all three referendum questions would translate to $83.00 for 2009 and $55.50 in 2010 and succeeding years.
“These referendum questions deal with critical maintenance for our schools and critical instructional components for our students,” said Superintendent Richard Zimman. “The state’s revenue limits law has forced us to cut items like textbooks from our budget, and is now threatening to increase our class sizes with staff reductions. This referendum is just trying to preserve what we have now and regain some of the previously cut items.”

Right now, I can see myself voting for Questions 1 and 2, but #3 may be a hard sell in light of the recent economic news locally and nationally. Either way, I hope the turnout for these meetings is HUGE.

WEAC LEADS THE WAY IN ELECTION SPENDING

Madison -- Special interest groups spent a record $7.1 million on legislative races this fall, with the state's largest teachers union spending $2.1 million to help secure Democratic control of the state Assembly, according to a report by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Money poured into legislative races this year because of the thin margin in the Assembly, which had been controlled by Republicans for 14 years. Last month's election gave Democrats complete control of state government. The biggest spenders:
* The Wisconsin Education Association Council, the teachers union that spent $2.1 million to help Democrats in five races
* The Coalition for America's Families, which supported Republicans ($1.4 million)
* The Greater Wisconsin Committee, which supported Democrats ($1.3 million)
* All Children Matter, which backed Republicans ($900,000)

What interests me is if there is any reaction from Republican members of WEAC who would like to see some of the $2.1 million spent differently?

Saturday, December 20, 2008

REMEMBER WHEN MTV PLAYED VIDEOS?

In trying to keep its hold on young and fickle audiences, MTV over the decades has undergone some fundamental programming shifts, but never before on this scale. The cabler's recent ratings declines include a 23% fourth-quarter drop in its core demo of 12- to 34-year-olds. So MTV is embarking on a major programming overhaul, with 16 new unscripted series over the next 4½ months. The series come from high-profile producers including Sean Combs, Matt Stone & Trey Parker, Donald Trump and Nick Lachey. And they represent a major thematic shift for the channel -- more toward the meta-scripted reality of MTV's "The Hills," one of the cabler's few success stories these days.

THE FIRST TEN VIDEOS ON MTV...
"Video Killed the Radio Star" by Buggles - MTV Video
"You Better Run" by Pat Benatar - MTV Video
"She Won't Dance" by Rod Stewart - MTV Video
"You Better You Bet" by The Who - MTV Video
"Little Suzi's on the Up" by Ph.D. - MTV Video
"We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard - MTV Video
"Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders - MTV Video
"Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren - MTV Video
"Take It On the Run" by REO Speedwagon - MTV Video
"Rockin' the Paradise" by Styx - MTV Video

Friday, December 19, 2008

DETAILS ON THE BLOSSOM STREET VACATION

Here is the timetable and resolution for the Blossom Street vacation:

January 13th - The Council introduces and approves the attached resolution, starting the process, and referring the matter to the Plan Commission
January 21st - Plan Commission reviews it and make a recommendation. This is not a public hearing.
February 23rd - Council holds a public hearing and votes on the vacation, which is at least 40 days after the resolution is introduced by Council, as required by state law.
NOTE: The area to be considered for vacation is roughly covered by the "W Blossom St" on the map to the right. It is between the American House and the former Mapes Hotel in downtown Ripon.


A RESOLUTION INITIATING THE PROPOSED DISCONTINUANCE OF PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY

WHEREAS, the Common Council of the City of Ripon declares that the public interest may require the vacation and discontinuance of that part of Blossom Street lying east of the east right-of-way line of Ransom Street; and west of the west right-of-way line of Watson Street.

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that a hearing on passage of a Resolution vacating and discontinuing this right-of-way shall be set by the Common Council on a date which shall not be less than forty (40) days from the date of this Resolution.

THAT the owners of all the frontage of the lots and lands abutting upon this right-of-way shall be served with notice of the hearing at least thirty (30) days prior to the hearing.

THAT notice stating when and where the Resolution will be acted upon and stating that the Resolution concerns the vacation and discontinuance of this right-of-way shall be published as a Class 3 Notice under Chapter 985.

THAT a Lis Pendens shall be filed pursuant to Section 840.11 of the Wisconsin Statutes.

THAT a copy of this Resolution shall be delivered to the Secretary of Transportation if the right-of-way is located within one-quarter mile of a state trunk highway or connecting highway.

THAT the matter concerning the vacation and discontinuance of this right-of-way be referred to the Plan Commission for recommendation.

THAT after a public hearing, the Council shall decide whether to vacate and discontinue this right-of-way.


__________________________
Aaron Kramer, Mayor
_____________________________
Steve Barg, City Administrator

AYES ____ NAYES _____
PASSED THIS ____ DAY OF __________, 2007

Approved as to form:

_____________________________
Ludwig Wurtz, City Attorney

Barrett asks Obama for $599 million in stimulus plan

This is getting mind-boggling....the money is BORROWED...all we are doing is sentencing our children to an economic disaster worse than the one we are currently in...

Dec. 18, 2008 - Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Thursday asked President-elect Barack Obama to consider funding $599 million in city infrastructure projects, from fixing streets and public buildings to erecting a new streetcar system and eight new libraries. Obama has asked the nation's governors for shovel-ready projects that could start quickly to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Gov. Jim Doyle responded last week with a list of $3.7 billion in highway, education, environment and energy-saving projects that could start by spring, and $10 billion in longer-term projects. The Milwaukee Common Council called last month for some of the federal stimulus money to come directly to the city. Barrett's list doesn't distinguish between short-term and long-term projects, but Patrick Curley, the mayor's chief of staff, said "the vast majority of them could go to contract fairly quickly." Some of the projects are in the city's 2009 capital budget, some are in its six-year plan and some - including the streetcar line and most of the new libraries - have been discussed but not planned in detail, budget chief Mark Nicolini said.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

WHAT YOUR FAVORITE TEAM WAS NEARLY CALLED...

I found this interesting story on the Web today:
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21090.html

If you’re a sports fan, you know the nicknames and mascots of every team in the leagues you follow. If you’re a die-hard fan, you probably even know what the teams used to be called. (“Washington Wizards? Please. They’ll always be the Bullets to me.”) But do you know what your favorite teams were almost called? When an expansion team enters a league or an existing team relocates, it picks a new moniker, ideally one that will look good on a t-shirt. The process of selecting a new name can be a protracted one, though, and the winning nickname often only gets the nod at the expense of several other less-inspired finalists. Let’s have a look at some team names that fans almost got to cheer for:
1. The Toronto Tarantulas - Few team names seem quite as dated as the Toronto Raptors’. The team started play in 1995 with a mascot that was obviously a nod to Jurassic Park, which had destroyed box-office records a couple of years earlier. However, looking at the list of names the Toronto franchise could have chosen, the Raptors seems like a terrific choice. The other nine finalists were the Tarantulas, Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Scorpions, T-Rex, and Terriers. “The Hogs” makes sense since Toronto’s historic nickname is Hogtown, but it lacks a certain menace and would have been catastrophic when the team picked Oliver Miller in the expansion draft. The rest of the finalists, however, look largely like they were culled from a list of things 13-year-old boys think are awesome, so kudos on picking the Raptors name. (This decision might mark the last time a franchise under Isiah Thomas’ direction made a wise choice.)
2. The Vancouver Mounties - When Vancouver got an NBA team for the 1995 season, the franchise wanted to call itself the Vancouver Mounties. The name seemed like a fitting tribute to the bravery of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The plan hit a snag, though, when the Mounties, no doubt skeptical of any cultural crossovers after Dudley Do-Right, made it clear that they didn’t want their name slapped on the expansion franchise. The team quickly regrouped and picked the name the Grizzlies as a tribute to the bravery of Canada’s many bears. You have to commend the Mounties on their foresight for avoiding this train wreck; the team fled to Memphis in 2001 and had an abysmal .329 winning percentage entering this season.
3. The Baltimore Marauders - When the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season, they couldn’t bring their name with them. According to the settlement the team reached with the city of Cleveland for swiping the beloved franchise, the Browns’ nickname, color scheme, and history stayed put when the team bolted for Baltimore. The now-nameless squad had a series of phone polls and fan surveys to whittle its list of 17 possible names down to three: the Americans, the Marauders, and the Ravens. Over 30,000 fans then voted for the name they liked best, and “the Ravens” won thanks to the city’s connection to Edgar Allen Poe. It’s probably good that the fans wisely passed on “The Americans,” which would have made Kyle Boller’s tumultuous stint as starter a national shame rather than a regional problem.
4. The New York Borros - The New York Jets began their life as the New York Titans in the American Football League. When Hollywood honcho Sonny Werblin and oil tycoon Leon Hess bought the team in 1963, though, they decided the team needed a new name. According to a contemporary New York Times story, they considered the Dodgers, but nixed the idea after Major League Baseball didn’t like it. “The Gothams” also got some consideration, but the team didn’t like the idea of having it shortened to the Goths because “you know they weren’t such nice people.” (Yeah, but couldn’t you just see Vinny Testaverde winning a playoff game, then sacking Byzantium?) The last finalist to fall was “the New York Borros,” a pun on the city’s boroughs; the team worried that opposing fans would make the Borros-burros connection and derisively call the squad the jackasses. (Little did the Jets’ forefathers know that their home fans would provide all of the booing and heckling a franchise could ever need.) Eventually the team became the Jets since it was going to play in Shea Stadium, which is close to LaGuardia Airport.
5. The Washington Sea Dogs - In 1995 Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin decided that he didn’t want to keep fielding a team with such a violent name and decided to rechristen his franchise. A fan contest came up with five finalists: the Express, the Wizards, the Stallions, the Dragons, and the Sea Dogs. The Wizards wasn’t a perfect choice since some fans thought it tied in to Ku Klux Klan mythology, but it was obviously a better choice than the Sea Dogs. One can only assume that this seafaring name got the ax when someone in the team’s office realized that the District of Columbia doesn’t actually sit next to a sea. Then again, they drafted Kwame Brown first overall, so maybe I’m giving the team too much credit here.
6. The San Antonio Gunslingers - When the ABA’s Texas Chaparrals moved to San Antonio in 1973, the team was renamed the San Antonio Gunslingers. The team dropped this name before ever playing a game, presumably because the image was violent even by firearm-related mascot standards. Instead, the owners picked a tamer name that still tapped into the region’s cowboy past: the San Antonio Spurs. (Ironically, this name was revived when the USFL placed an expansion franchise in San Antonio in 1984)
7. The Florida Flamingos - Florida Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga told the New York Times in 1993 that he had considered naming the team the Florida Flamingos.
8. The Orlando Juice - Before the NBA’s Orlando Magic had a name, the other finalists were “the Heat,” “the Juice,” and “the Tropics.”
9. The Charlotte Spirit - The Charlotte Hornets originally had this name before switching to their insect moniker as a tribute to the city’s angry resistance of British forces during the Revolutionary War.
10. The Minnesota Blue Ox - The NHL’s Minnesota Wild were almost the Blue Ox, the Freeze, the Voyageurs, the Northern Lights, or the White Bears.
11. The New York Skyliners - Before the New York Mets started play in 1962, they considered a list of names that included the Skyliners, the Skyscrapers, the Bees, the Burros, the Continentals, and the Jets.

SOME THAT I CAME ACROSS
Minnesota Polars - This was the second choice for the NBA Timberwolves in their name-the-team contest. For the 1,200-plus others, click here.
Memphis Hound Dogs - Before the NFL expanded into Jacksonville and Carolina, Memphis was a finalist for a new franchise. Their proposal was the Hound Dogs.
Milwaukee Badgers/Skunks - These were some of the finalists for the NBA Bucks. May 22, 1968 was the day when Milwaukee's second professional basketball team finally got a name - the Milwaukee Bucks. More than 14,000 fans participated in a contest to name the team. Records show that R.D. Trebilcox of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, was one of 45 persons who suggested the name 'Bucks'. He saw bucks as being spirited, good jumpers, fast and agile. For his efforts in helping Milwaukee's entry into the professional sports world gain an enduring nickname, Mr. Trebilcox won a new car.
Oakland Senors - Believe it or not, the original name of the Oakland Raiders was to be the Senors.

How do messages get posted on here?

I was asked recently how messages are posted on this blog. SO I will try to give it a shot and explain it...

First of all, anytime a person posts a message, I receive an e-mail notification. This is to prevent someone from posting something that would be slanderous. You may think that is a form of censorship, but this is considered a personal web blog, not an "official" city website. As I stated from the beginning, this is my personal website, so you may see post items which are not "city-related".

Second, once I receive the e-mail notification, I have to click on the message to "publish" it to the website. Therefore, you may post a response and not see it on the blog for a day or two, depending on when I check my email and when I get around to reading all my email.

Third, no messages are edited once they are posted. ONE message on here says it was deleted...by me. I accidentally hit the delete button earlier this week posting a response. I am not sure if I can actually delete a response, without deleting the entire initial posting.

I hope this clears up the "rules" about responding, and I hope no one feels any less inclined to do so....

FOUR REALLY, REALLY BAD SCENARIOS

I came across this article on Politico.com. Prayers, prayers, and more prayers are needed..

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=425C3419-18FE-70B2-A8D1D7936DD5DB31


What’s the worst that could happen?
That’s a question that James Rickards spends a lot of time pondering these days, as he sifts through the national security implications of the financial crisis facing the United States. Rickards will lay out his worst case scenarios in a lecture sponsored by the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy tonight. And his forecasts aren’t for the faint of heart. Rickards calls it the “A to Z” problem: What are the threats that could make the U.S. economy look less like America and more like Zimbabwe? He sees them everywhere – in the Chinese ownership of vast amounts of American debt, in Russia’s increased centralization of its economy, in Al Qaeda’s long-established fascination with damaging the U.S. economy. In many ways, Rickards is the ultimate bear. He’s not just thinking about whether the stock market will decline, but whether or not the stock market will survive. All that puts Rickards decidedly outside mainstream economic and political thinking in America. But he does have an influential audience: the United States intelligence and defense communities. Rickards is a regular adviser on financial issues to the director of national intelligence's office, and he lends his financial advice to the national security community. His lecture comes as part of an annual “Rethinking Seminar” produced by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Rickards argues that government is not doing nearly enough to prepare for the worst. “Here’s the policy problem for the United States,” he said in an interview. “We have experts in defense and intelligence, and huge depth in capital markets experience at the Fed and at Treasury. But they’re separated by the Potomac River. And they’re not talking to each other.” Rickards came by his economic experience the hard way. He was the general counsel at Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund that collapsed in spectacular fashion in the late 1990s and nearly took the global economy along with it. That near-economic death experience gave him a healthy appreciation for risk. Today, he’s the senior managing director for research at Omnis, an applied research firm. Four of the scenarios keep him up at night:
The Bait Effect
Terrorists, and al Qaeda in particular, are fascinated with the idea of destroying the U.S. economy. Rickards worries that the economic meltdown in the United States could serve as bait of sorts for a terrorist attack, as plotters calculate that a strike now could have a “force multiplier” effect because of the already skittish U.S. stock market.
The China Syndrome
The Chinese own more than $500 billion worth of U.S. Treasury bonds, and billons more in the debt of other U.S. entities such as those held by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And a general sense of mutually assured financial destruction keeps them from wielding that debt like a weapon: if the Chinese dumped U.S. debt on the global market, their own holdings of U.S. debt would decline in value, the U.S. economy would be damaged, ultimately harming the Chinese economy by reducing American ability to buy more Chinese goods. They’d have to be crazy to try it. But Rickards points out that governments don’t always do the rational thing. And in the meantime, their holdings give the Chinese incredible power over American decision making.“It gives the Chinese de facto veto power over certain U.S. interest rate and exchange rate decisions,” Rickards explained. “For example, there’s a limit to how much dollar depreciation the Chinese would tolerate.” That potentially closes off one American economic strategy: allowing the dollar to decline in value in order to help boost U.S. exporters. And China’s leverage is only growing as each federal bailout adds to the U.S. deficit.
The Existential Crash
A pessimist by nature, Rickards believes that many economic forecasters are wrong, and the recession will get far worse than predicted. He sees an epic disaster scenario in which the U.S. gross domestic product declines by a staggering 35 percent over the next six to seven years. Crippling deflation could take hold. Unemployment, he says, could approach 15 percent. That’s a calamitous rate, but it would not be an all-time high: unemployment hit 25 percent during the Great Depression. “The national security community needs to be conversant with this,” Rickards said. “In defense, intelligence, and national security, you earn your money by preparing for things that may be remote, but pose an existential threat if they come to pass.” In this scenario, the possibilities for global unrest increase dramatically as a staggering United States retreats from foreign aid and global diplomacy and the list of dangerous failed states grows sharply.
The Alternate-Dollar Nightmare
“The Number One vulnerability is the dollar itself,” Rickards concluded. “We’re printing them and shoving them out the door, and the Fed is basically out of bullets. So why hasn’t the dollar collapsed? The short answer is, global investors don’t have any other choice.” That is, there simply aren’t enough Euro- or Yen-backed securities for investors to shift their money out of dollars and into some other currency. But what if some kind of global coalition – say a trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund allied with several countries around the world – banded together to create a gold-backed alternative to the dollar? Rickards says investors – many of whom already resent that they have no alternative to the dollar – would sell American currency in huge numbers to take advantage of the new opportunity. “If that happens, that’s the end of the dollar,” Rickards said. “You’d have high unemployment, deflation, and interest rates would go up. It would take what already looks like a strong recession and make it a Great Depression or worse.” Still, even Rickards sees a silver lining to all this. He looks around the world to the problems facing other countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and those in the Middle East. “There are vulnerabilities for the United States, but also opportunities,” he said. “I’d rather be the United States than any of these other countries.”

SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS AND NOTES

Calendars Approved for Summer School and 2009-10 Year
The 2009 Summer School program will begin on June 22 and run for five weeks through July 24. July 3 will be a vacation day for the calendar that is similar to previous years. The Ripon Board of Education and the Ripon Education Association also agreed on the 2009-10 school year calendar with classes beginning on September 1. The complete 2009-10 school calendar can be viewed and printed from the District website at: www.ripon.k12.wi.us.
Referendum Options Discussed
Three referendum questions have been suggested for the April 7 election and are now being discussed:
Question 1: $500,000 bond for replacing the RHS boiler and roof maintenance at various schools
Question 2: $500,000 annual revenue limit override to be used for purchasing textbooks, computers & technology, maintenance repairs and vehicle replacements that have been eliminated from the budget
Question 3: $500,000 annual revenue limit override for five years to maintain current staffing and class size levels.
The Board of Education will make a decision on any upcoming referendum at its January 19 meeting.

Board Sets Listening Session for Referendum Community Feedback
Four community Listening Sessions have been set for early January to gather feedback on the referendum options now being discussed. Board members and administrators will provide information, answer questions, and collect feedback during these listening sessions. The sessions are scheduled for: January 6 and January 15 at 6:30 p.m. in RHS room 167; January 8 at 10:00 a.m. at the Ripon Public Library; and January 14 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ripon Public Library. A decision about any referendum questions will be made by the Board at its January 19 meeting.

Board Honors Hanke for WSPRA Awards
The Ripon Board of Education honored Karin Hanke at its December meeting for her award-winning work at providing the community with information about its schools. The Wisconsin School Public Relations Association (WSPRA) recently presented Ripon with three awards in its annual judging competition. Hanke, district office receptionist, provides layout design and coordination of various publications. The awards were received for the Ripon School News community newsletter, the Spanish language news summaries, and advertisements.

Congratulations to Karin on this well-deserved award. I think the district has done a very good job of keeping the voters, and stakeholders, informed and up-to-date. As for the referendum issue, that really tears me up right now. If I were a betting man, I would say the odds are against the questions passing, but I look forward to the informational meetings in January, and will trying to make it to at least one of them.

Some Texas high school fields may be toxic

PLEASE NOTE that this turf is ASTROPLAY, not the Fieldturf that is currently in Ripon...

Odessa stadium among those with high levels of lead in artificial turf - Thursday, December 18, 2008
DALLAS — Some of the most hallowed ground in Texas — the artificial turf on its high school football fields — may also be toxic. Fields in two of the state's best-known high school stadiums, including the one made famous by the book and movie "Friday Night Lights," have lead levels far exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency's standard for soil, according to independent tests within the last month. The results, obtained by The Associated Press, are the first public indication that Texas' prized high school stadiums have become part of the national controversy over whether artificial turf contains unsafe levels of lead. Testing commissioned by the Ector County school district on the turf at Odessa's Ratliff Stadium found lead at roughly 14 times the EPA standard. Similar testing by the Birdville school district in North Richland Hills discovered a lead level nearly 10 times the EPA standard at its Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.

Ratliff Stadium, which has a capacity of 19,500, has become part of Texas football lore and national popular culture as the home of the Permian Panthers, winners of six state championships and the team profiled in "Friday Night Lights." Thestadiums have the same brand of turf, AstroPlay. The high lead levels were found in a secondary layer of nylon fiber at the base of the fields called the "root zone." Neither test found significant lead levels in the uppermost fibers. However, testing at the Birdville stadium found about twice the EPA limit for lead in drinking water in runoff from the field, an indication that the lead is being released. The lead in artificial turf comes from lead chromate, which until recently was widely used in the pigment that colors the nylon or polyethylene fibers.

Artificial turf manufacturers say the danger is overblown because the lead is largely contained in the fibers. But critics contend that the fields present a risk as they degrade due to use and sunlight. AstroPlay was the major "infill" product manufactured by Southwest Recreational Industries Inc., a Leander company that went out of business in 2004. More than 200 of Texas' 1,154 high school stadiums have artificial turf, according to Bob McSpadden, who has a Web site devoted to the state's stadiums. The Ector County and Birdville school districts were the only districts among more than a dozen in Texas contacted by the AP that had tested their fields. "We're not burying our head in the sand," said Joe Loerwald, athletic director for the Round Rock school district, which has an AstroPlay field. "But, at the same time, we don't see it as a prevalent problem."

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

PLAN COMMISSION TONIGHT

I do not have an agenda handy, and I see we do not have one on the city website for tonight's meeting, so I am doing this from memory:

TONIGHT
* Jahn's Lawn and Landscaping - They are looking to purchase a nearby property and construct a greenhouse
* Work on the Smart Growth plan - The city continues to work with the town of Ripon on a Smart Growth plan for the next 20-30 years. Tonight's discussions will revolve around land use in the future.
FUTURE TOPICS
* Vacation of Blossom Street - The Commission will likely discuss the possible vacation of Blossom Street between Ransom and Watson Streets in downtown Ripon at its January meeting
* Ordinances dealing with alternative energy - The Smart Growth work has slowed down this initiative, but we are continuing to look at ordinances dealing with windmills, geo-thermal systems, solar energy and other alternative energy sources in a PRO-active approach
* Covenants in our business parks - There has been some discussions on the relative weaknesses in our covenants governing what can be built and how it can look in our Industrial and Business Parks. The Citizens' Beautification Committee, which I appointed earlier this year (and has been doing a great job), has also brought this issue forward as a discussion item, and I think we will see some movement in this area in the first half of 2009.

Any question, ask away

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

WHAT WAS THE TOP STORY OF 2008 IN RIPON?

Since the newspaper will likely be coming out with their list in the next few weeks, I am giving the readers of this blog a chance to pick their most influential story of 2008 in Ripon?

The flooding of June 12
The snow totals of the winter of 2007-2008
The expansion of the business park
The announcement of a new Ripon Medical Center
The installation of FieldTurf on Ingalls Field
The closing of the streets through the Ripon College campus
Obama carrying the presidential vote in Ripon
Boca Grande's purchases in downtown Ripon


If there is a story I missed, feel free to add. I wanted to do a poll on here, but I have had some HTML issues with that, so this is the best I can do. Feel free to post your choice, with an explanation if you wish.

Adam Walsh Murder Case Officially Closed

Somewhere, I hope the soul of Adam Walsh can find peace in knowing that his death led to positive legislation and a renewed interest and awareness of missing children. As for Otis Toole, hell has plenty of openings...

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Local 10 News learned Monday night that John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," will make the announcement that the kidnapping and murder case of his son, Adam Walsh, is officially closed. It was the middle of summer 1981, when 6-year-old Adam was shopping with his mother at the Hollywood Mall. Adam went to play video games while she shopped. But she lost sight of him and despite a frantic search, the boy would never be seen alive again.The Adam Walsh kidnapping case would soon become a murder case. On Aug 10, 1981, nearly two weeks after he went missing, his remains were found.A serial killer named Otis Toole confessed but was never tried. The case had remained open and unsolved since.The murder had a huge impact on public policy. It sparked the creation of Code Adam, an internationally-recognized missing child program, and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which was signed into law in July 2008.

FYOI - On September 15, 1996, at the age of 49, Ottis Toole died in his prison cell from liver failure.He was buried in a prison cemetery, as nobody claimed his body.

Here comes the next wave...


'Pay option' loans could swell defaults - New wave of defaults likely as risky loans reset to sharply higher payments

By John W. Schoen, Senior

(MSNBC) - Some time after Sharren McGarry went to work as a mortgage consultant at Wachovia’s Stuart, Fla., branch in July 2007, she and her colleagues were directed to market a mortgage called the “Pick A Pay” loan. Sales commissions on the product were double the rates for conventional mortgages, and she was required to make sure nearly half the loans she sold were "Pick A Pay," she said. These “pay option” adjustable-rate mortgages gave borrowers a choice of payments each month. They also carried a feature that came as a nasty surprise to some borrowers, called "negative amortization." If the homeowner opted to pay less than the full monthly amount, the difference was tacked onto the principal. When the loan automatically “recasted” in five or 10 years, the owner would be locked into a new, much higher, set monthly payment.While McGarry balked at selling these pay-option ARMs, other lenders and mortgage brokers were happy to sell the loans and pocket the higher commissions. Now, as the housing recession deepens, a coming wave of payment shocks threatens to bring another surge in defaults and foreclosures as these mortgages “recast” to higher monthly payments over the next two years. “The next wave (of foreclosures) is coming next year and in 2010, and that is primarily due to these pay-option ARMS and the five-year, adjustable-rate hybrid ARMS that are coming up for reset,” said William Longbrake, retired vice chairman of Washington Mutual. The giant Seattle-based bank, which collapsed this year under the weight of its bad mortgage loans, was one of the biggest originators of pay-option ARMs during the lending boom. The next wave may be even more difficult to handle than the last one. “It’s going to get tougher to modify loans as these option ARMs come into their resets," Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair told msnbc.com this week. "Those are more difficult than the subprime and traditional adjustable rates to modify because there is such a huge payment differential when they reset." Monthly quota: 45 percentWith 16 years of experience in the mortgage business, McGarry didn’t believe the “pay option” loan was a good deal for most of her customers, so she didn’t promote it. “I looked at it and I thought: I’m 60 years old. If I were in these peoples’ situation 10 years from now, where would I be?” she said. “Do I want to be in a position that 10 years from now I can’t make this higher payment and I’m forced to make this payment and be forced out of my home? So I wouldn’t do it.” Her job description included a requirement that she meet a monthly quota of Pick A Pay mortgages, something she said wasn’t spelled out when she was hired. Still, she said, she continued to steer her customers to conventional loans, even though her manager “frequently reminded me that my job requirement was that I do 45 percent of my volume in the Pick A Pay loan.”In June 2008, her manager wrote a “Corrective Action and Counseling” warning, saying she wasn’t meeting the bank’s “expectation of production.” McGarry soon left Wachovia after finding a job with another mortgage company. On June 30, the bank stopped selling mortgages with negative amortization. In October Wachovia, suffering from heavy mortgage-related losses, agreed to be acquired by Wells Fargo.A spokesman for Wachovia said that generally the bank doesn't comment on internal marketing policies. But he said commissions on Pick A Pay mortgages were higher because the loans were more complicated and required more work to originate. He also noted that when Wachovia's Pick A Pay loans recast, the payment increase is capped for any given year, which helps ease borrowers' burden of meeting a higher payment. The first wave of home foreclosures that hit in late 2006 and early 2007 followed the resetting of subprime adjustable mortgages with two- and three-year "teaser rates" written during the height of the lending boom earlier in the decade. But pay-option ARMs — which often don't "recast" for five years — have a longer fuse. Unless defused by aggressive public and private foreclosure prevention programs, the bulk of these loans will explode to higher payments in 2009 and 2010.The scope of the problem was highlighted in September in a study by Fitch Ratings, one of the bond rating agencies that assesses the risk of defaults on mortgage-backed investments. Of the $200 billion in option ARMs outstanding, Fitch estimates that some $29 billion will recast in 2009 and another $67 billion in 2010. That could cause delinquencies on these loans to more than double, Fitch said. To make matters worse, only 17 percent of option ARMs written from 2004 to 2007 required full documentation. Many of the borrowers who took out these loans also took out a second mortgage, which means they likely have little or no equity in their home, according to the report. That means many could owe more than their house is worth when the loan recasts to unaffordable payments.Heavy losses from investments backed by pay option ARMs were a major cause of the demise of Wachovia and Washington Mutual, one of the largest originators of option ARMs during the height of the lending bubble. (Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC in September, which arranged for the sale of its assets to JPMorgan Chase. Wachovia was acquired in October by Wells Fargo, which outbid Citibank after it arranged a deal with the FDIC to acquire Wachovia.)Since the housing bubble began to deflate in 2006, roughly 3 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. Over the next two years, another 3.6 million are expected to lose their homes, according to Moody’s Economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi. Many of the most problematic loans — those sold with a two- or three-year low “teaser” rates — have already reset to higher levels. Those resets have been a major force in the first wave of foreclosures, which rose from 953,000 in 2006 to nearly 1.8 million last year and are on track to hit 3.1 million this year, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks real estate data.And the pace of foreclosures is still climbing. More than 259,000 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in November, up 28 percent from the same month last year, according to RealtyTrac. Though the pace dropped slightly from the previous month, there are indications "that this lower activity is simply a temporary lull before another foreclosure storm hits in the coming months," said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. Mortgage delinquencies — homeowners who have fallen behind but not yet been hit with foreclosure — are also on the rise, according to the latest quarterly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. A record one in 10 American households with mortgages was overdue on payments or in foreclosure as of the end of September.The impact is being felt unevenly across the country. Foreclosures are clustered in states that saw the biggest expansion in lending and home building. In Nevada, one in every 74 homes was hit with a foreclosure filing last month. Arizona saw one in every 149 housing units receive a foreclosure filing, and in Florida it was one in every 157 homes. California, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio have also been hard hit.“In the neighborhoods that have concentrations of subprime loans you already have concerns about crashing neighborhoods with too many vacant houses and crime rises,” said Longbrake. “The same thing will be true for these option ARMs. They are concentrated in particular neighborhoods and particular locales around the country."Developed in the late 1980s, pay-option ARMs were written at first only for borrowers who showed they could afford the full monthly payment. But during the height of the lending boom, underwriting standards were lowered to qualify borrowers who could only afford the minimum payment, according to Longbrake. College savings made easyMcGarry says she was encouraged to promote the idea that with a Pick A Pay loan the borrower could pay less than the full monthly payment and set aside the difference for savings or investment. The pitch included sales literature comparing two brothers. One took the Pick A Pay loan, made the minimum payment and put money in the bank. The second brother got a conforming loan. Five years later, both brothers needed to pay their children’s college tuition.“(The brother with the conforming loan) didn’t have the money in the bank,” said McGarry. “And the brother that had the pay-option ARM could go to the bank and withdraw the money and didn’t have to refinance his mortgage. That’s how they sold it.”McGarry said the sales pitch downplayed the impact of negative amortization. When the loan principal swells to a set threshold — typically between 110 and 125 percent of the original loan amount — the mortgage automatically “recasts” to a higher, set monthly payment that many borrowers would have a hard time keeping up with. Fitch estimates that the average potential payment increase would be 63 percent, or about $1,053 a month — on top of the current average payment of $1,672. The impact on the millions of American families losing their homes is devastating. But the foreclosure fallout is being felt around the world. As the U.S. slides deeper into recession, foreclosures are the root cause of a downward spiral that threatens to prolong and widen the economic impact:As the pace of foreclosures rises, the glut of homes on the market pushes home prices lower. That erodes home equity for all homeowners, draining consumer spending power and further weakening the economy.The overhang of unsold homes also depresses the home building industry, one of the major engines of growth in a healthy economy.As home values decline, investors and lenders holding bonds backed by mortgages book steeper losses. Banks holding mortgage-backed investments hoard cash, creating a credit squeeze that acts as a bigger drag on the economy.The resulting pullback in consumer and business spending brings more layoffs. Those layoffs put additional homeowners at risk of defaulting on their mortgages, and the cycle repeats. "Foreclosures are going to mount and the negative self-reinforcing cycle will accelerate," said Zandi. "It's already happening, but it will accelerate in a lot more parts of the country." As pay-option ARMs put more homeowners under pressure, other forces are combining to increase the risk of mortgage defaults. As of the end of September, the drop in home prices had left roughly one in five borrowers stuck with a mortgage bigger than their house is worth, according to First American CoreLogic. In a normal market, homeowners who suffer a financial setback can tap some of the equity in their home or sell their home and move on. “That’s a big issue,” said Mark Fleming, First American CoreLogic’s chief economist. “As equity is being destroyed in the housing markets, more and more people are being pushed into a negative equity position. That means that they’re not going to have the option for sale or refinance if they hit hard times."“Negative equity” is also a major roadblock in negotiations between lenders and homeowners trying to modify their loan terms. After over a year of debate in Congress, and private efforts by lenders, no one has come up with the solution to the thorniest part of the problem: Who should take the hit for the trillions of dollars of home equity lost since the credit bubble burst?“(Customers) keep calling and saying ‘With this bailout, this isn’t helping me at all,’” said McGarry, who is now working with clients trying modify or refinance their loans. “It really and truly is not helping them. If their lender will not agree to settle for less than they owe — even though those lenders are on the list of lenders that will work with you — they still are not working with (the borrower).” It’s a monumental undertaking that was never anticipated when servicers took on the task of managing these mortgage portfolios. These companies are already struggling to keep up with the volume of calls, and defaults are projected to keep rising. They’re also swamped with calls from desperate homeowners who are falling behind on their monthly payments. “We have never seen anything this large before; we make 5 million phone calls a month to reach out to borrowers,” said Tom Morano, CEO of Residential Capital, the loan servicing unit of GMAC. “The volume of calls that’s coming in is much higher than it has ever been, and everybody is struggling with that.” Now, as the spiral of falling home prices is exacerbated by rising unemployment, millions of homeowners who were on a solid financial footing when they signed their loan face the prospect of a job loss that would put them at risk of foreclosure. Some servicers say that’s the biggest wild card in projecting how many more Americans will lose their homes. “The concern I have is if we have an economy where unemployment gets to 8 or 9 percent,” said Morano. “If that happens the amount of delinquencies is going to be staggering.” With the latest monthly data showing more than half a million jobs were lost in November, some economists now believe the jobless rate could rise from the current 6.7 percent to top 10 percent by the end of next year.

New CEO at Ripon Medical Center

This is an article in the Oshkosh Northwestern. I have met Mr. Tavary, and will be having lunch with him this Friday. I like his optimism and energy toward building a new facility:

New CEO at Ripon Medical CenterBy Patricia Wolffof The Northwestern
RIPON – Jim Tavary, the new chief executive officer at Ripon Medical Center, is taking the reins of the health care organization at a challenging time. The country may be in a state of financial turmoil, but Tavary sees no reason for Ripon Medical Center to be hesitant about its plans to build a new $30 million hospital. RMC has a terrific future and lots of opportunities, he said. "(The current economy) does not change the need," Tavary said. "What is happening across the country will resolve."
Hospital officials announced earlier this year plans to build a hospital on 10 acres in the city's expanded industrial park near the corner of State Highway 44 and Douglas Street. Fundraising has begun. Construction will start in 2009 and the new hospital will open in 2011.
Tavary, 57, started his new job about a week ago, nine months after former CEO Tommy Hobbs left after working at the Ripon hospital for five years. Jean Surguy, vice president of patient services, filled in as interim CEO after Hobbs left. She was in charge when the hospital purchased the land for the new hospital. Tavary comes to Ripon from Prosser, Wash., where he was CEO of Prosser Public Hospital District.
Joan Karsten, president of the hospital's board of directors, praised Tavary's background and experience in a news release from RMC. Tavary comes from a similar sized hospital and has a history of strong community involvement, the release said. RMC serves 25,000 people in Ripon and the surrounding communities, providing a broad range of surgical, rehabilitation and emergency services.
In Washington, Prosser was in charge of a similar sized health care organization. He held the position for 10 years. While he sees similarities between the two health care organization, he also has noted differences. "Ripon has a more robust level of competition," he said Tavary, a long time Green Bay Packers fan, had no previous connections to the Ripon area or Wisconsin but was intrigued with the job opportunity at RMC. "We're adventuresome and like the idea of trail blazing," he said of himself and his wife Karen, a registered nurse. Their first impression of Wisconsin was favorable. Driving from the airport in Madison, Tavary described the landscape as a picture postcard. The proximity to Green Bay for Packers games and Green Lake for recreation merely sweetened the deal. "I think my son and I will become avid fishermen," he said.

Monday, December 15, 2008

NEW YORK - THE SOFT DRINK TAX STATE?

I figure some legislator in Wisconsin will be proposing this 6-12 months...



A can of Coke could soon cost New Yorkers more than just calories. Gov. Paterson, as part of a $121 billion budget to be unveiled Tuesday, will propose an "obesity tax" of about 15% on nondiet drinks.This means a Diet Coke might sell for a $1 - even as the same size bottle of its calorie-rich alter ego would go for $1.15.Paterson's budget also calls for a 3% cut in education spending, a $620-a-year tuition hike at SUNY and a $600 increase at CUNY - and about $3.5 billion in health care cuts, a source said. The Democratic governor will not call for a broad-based income tax boost, but he will push to restore the sales tax on clothing and footwear.The drastic belt-tightening comes as lawmakers struggle to close a $15 billion deficit this year and next."It's painful to make these decisions," Paterson said Sunday. State employees again will be asked to forgo their 3% raises next year and defer five days' pay until they leave their jobs, the source said. In all, Paterson will propose about $9 billion in cuts, $4 billion in new taxes and fees, and $1.5 billion in nonrecurring revenue, a second source said.The so-called obesity tax would generate an estimated $404 million a year. Milk, juice, diet soda and bottled water would be exempt from the tax."I'll just buy less," said Victor Lopez, 55, of Manhattan, as he drank a Coke at a midtown Subway store."I don't like to buy Diet Coke," said Amaury Garcia, 16, who works at a flower shop in Penn Station. "I'll just not buy any sodas if it goes up."Public health advocates welcomed news of the tax, saying it would help the fight against childhood obesity."Raising the price of this liquid candy will put children and teens on a path to a healthier diet," said Elie Ward of the American Academy of Pediatrics of New York State.The Paterson administration also announced steps yesterday to expand the state's social services net, including a 30% increase in welfare payments over three years starting January 2010, increased money for food banks and expanded access to the state's Family Health Plus program.Paterson also hopes to make it easier for people to enroll in Medicaid by eliminating face-to-face interviews and fingerprinting requirements.

THE ECONOMY TAKES DOWN THE AFL

NEW YORK - The Arena Football League Board of Directors will suspend the 2009 season subject to agreement and cooperation with the Arena Football League Players Association while the League works on developing a long-term plan to improve its economic model. "Every owner in the AFL is strongly committed to the League, the game, and, most importantly, the fans," said Acting Commissioner ED POLICY. "Owners, however, recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport." The Board of Directors conducted a meeting via conference call Sunday night and voted in favor of a motion to suspend the 2009 season. Columbus Destroyers co-owner and vice chairman of the AFL Executive Committee JIM RENACCI was asked by the Board of Directors to spearhead the restructuring process.


My wife could never understand why I like watching the Arena League, but I did, and I hope it comes back in 2010. We still have several teams in the state:

Milwaukee Iron (AF2)

Green Bay Blizzard (AF2)

Milwaukee Bonecrushers (Continental Indoor Football League)

Wisconsin (Madison) Wolfpack (CIFL)

FIELDTURF IN RIPON....CALIFORNIA

Now that FieldTurf in Ripon has been in place for one season, I found this interesting tidbit on the Internet. Ripon, California has formed a citizen's group, similar to the one we have had in Ripon, to bring FieldTurf to their field and modernize their athletic facilities. Here is their website.


From the Ripon Community Athletic Foundation - "We are a group of caring citizens like you.Our mission is to help athletes, students and Ripon's community to realize theirfull potential through athletics and physical activity.The initial way we plan to fulfill our mission is to replace, as soon as possible,Ripon High School's track and football field with an all-weather track andsynthetic athletic field which would accommodate both soccer and football. We will support replacement and expansion of existing non-ADA compliant bleachers to accommodate a growing population. New ADA compliant bathrooms and sidewalks will also be part of the plans.Unchanged for many years, R.H.S.'s track and field is in need of replacement. Itis our goal to bring Ripon Athletic programs into the 21st century. This facilitywill encourage students along with the community to build healthy lifestyles and prepare them for lifelong physical fitness.We can only do this with your help."
FieldTurf Installations in Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Stadium (09/18/2008) - Used for football
School District of Shorewood (09/03/2008) - Used for Football & Soccer & Lacrosse
University of Wisconsin Whitewater-Perkins Stadium (08/21/2008) - Used for football
Carthage College-Art Keller Field (06/22/2008) - Used for football
Ripon Area School District-Ingalls Field (06/19/2008) - Used for football and soccer
Middleton High School-Memorial Field Breitenbach Stadium (08/14/2007)
Whitefish Bay High School - Whitefish Bay (06/29/2007)
Bellin Westside Clinic - Green Bay (07/24/2006)
D.C. Everest Area School District-Stiehm Stadium (08/26/2005)
Wisconsin Lutheran College - Milwaukee (10/29/2004)
City of Eau Claire-Carson Park (09/16/2004)
Green Bay Packers- Nitschke Field (09/02/2004)
Arrowhead High School Stadium - Hartland,WI (08/26/2004)
University of Wisconsin - Dave McCLain Athletic Facilty (08/22/2003)
University of Wisconsin - Camp Randall Stadium (08/17/2003)
Green Bay Packers - Don Hutson Center (03/25/2001)

SCHOOL BOARD TO MEET TONIGHT

This is one of those nights where the City Council and School Board will hold meetings on the same night. I wish I could attend the Board meeting, but my time is required elsewhere, obviously. There are a couple of interesting "nuggets" on tonight's School Board agenda I am keeping tabs on...

Special Presentations
Carol Wirth (Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals) - Carol with present information on refinancing the District’s debt and projectionsfor new referendum debt as the Board considers referendum options.
New business
Consider approval of Wellness Policy revision—first reading (#09-35) - The current Wellness policy prohibits the sale of soda at any events. This prohibition includes selling to the public at Ripon College games at Ingalls Field, WIAA tournaments at Ingalls Field and the RHS gym, all community events held on school premises, and events for which school facilities have been rented. The Board is being asked to reconsider the current soda ban that extends to events not associated with Ripon schools.
Business-Related Services
Teacher Benefit Package summary 2008-09 (R-09-70) - Attached is the breakdown of teacher fringe benefits that total an average of $26,159 per teacher. Average wages are $51,833. Total compensation for 2008-09 averages $77,992. If you would like to compare this to Fond du Lac County's averages, click here.
Referendum options for April 2009 - At last month’s meeting the Board directed the administration to research options for a possible referendum to be held in April 2009. The
administration will report on options.

A number of people have told me this could be an interesting meeting...

Legislator arrested for OWI, pot possession

Dec. 15, 2008 9:48 a.m. Madison - A Wisconsin lawmaker has been released from jail after an arrest on drunken driving and marijuana charges. Rep. Jeffrey Wood, an independent from Bloomer, was arrested early Friday by the Wisconsin State Patrol. A deputy at the Columbia County Jail says Wood was booked on charges of operating while intoxicated-first offense and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The deputy says Wood was booked at about 3 a.m. and released by about 9 a.m., when he posted $200 bond. Formal charges have not yet been filed by the district attorney. Wood became the first independent elected to the Wisconsin Legislature in decades in November after he quit the Republican Party. Democrats who took control of the chamber recently made him a committee chairman.




Sunday, December 14, 2008

CELL PHONE BANS WORK...

It is hard to argue with this evidence so far from California...

The California Highway Patrol says the state's hands-free cell phone law is saving lives.Since the law took effect on July 1, CHP officers in Santa Barbara County have issued 755 cell phone citations.Meanwhile, the number of fatal collisions has dropped 72 percent and the total number of collisions in the county is down 11 percent.

Moody's downgrades Charter, says bankruptcy likely in 2009

Moody's Investors Service lowered its credit rating on Charter Communications Inc. by two notches Friday after the company said it will hold discussions with bondholders in order to shore up its finances. The ratings agency said it believes a default is imminent and bankruptcy is likely for Charter in 2009. Any bankruptcy almost certainly would be reorganizational, rather than a liquidation, which means customers wouldn't necessarily see an immediate change in service. St. Louis-based Charter, which is the dominant subscription TV provider in the Madison area, is struggling with a debt load of more than $20 billion. It warned earlier this year it may need to file for bankruptcy protection if it failed to raise additional funds to finance its cash needs by 2010. "We believe engaging in discussions with our bondholders, aimed at improving our capital structure and enhancing our financial flexibility, is in the company's and our customers' best interests," Charter CEO Neil Smit said in a news release. Moody's cut its rating on Charter to "Ca" from "Caa2." Both are non-investment grade ratings. "Charter's ratings have long reflected a high probability of default and a fundamental mismatch between the company's liability structure and its business model," Russell Solomon, Moody's senior vice president, said in a statement. Charter, which is controlled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, reported interest costs of $478 million for the third quarter compared with operating income of $208 million. It is the fourth largest cable company in the U.S. after Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications. Charter's shares closed down 2 cents on Friday to 13 cents.

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING


Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her failed campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee. Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele. He said the blaze was being investigated as an arson but didn't know of any recent threats to the church. Authorities didn't know whether Palin's connection to the church was relevant to the fire, Steele said. "It's hard to say at this point. Everything is just speculation," he said. "We have no information on intent or motive." Steele would not comment on the means used to set the fire. Pastor Larry Kroon declined to say whether the church had received any recent threats. "There are so many variables," he said. "I don't want to comment in that direction." Palin, who was not at the church at the time of the fire, stopped by Saturday. Her spokesman, Bill McAllister, said in a statement that Palin told an assistant pastor she was sorry if the fire was connected to the "undeserved negative attention" the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate Aug. 29. "Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good," McAllister said. The 1,000-member evangelical church was the subject of intense scrutiny after Palin was named John McCain's running mate. Early in Palin's campaign, the church was criticized for promoting in a Sunday bulletin a Focus on the Family "Love Won Out Conference" in Anchorage. The conference promised to "help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome." The fire was set at the entrance of the church and moved inward as a small group of women were working on crafts, Steele said. The group was alerted to the blaze by a fire alarm. Outside temperatures were minus 20 as firefighters battled the blaze. Steele said a multi-agency task force was being assembled to investigate the fire. Wasilla, the governor's hometown, is 40 miles north of Anchorage.

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

COUNCIL PREVIEW - December 15

CITY OF RIPON COMMON COUNCIL MEETING
Conference room, City Hall - Monday, December 15, 2008
CLOSED SESSION - 6:30 p.m.
RE: Request for financial assistance under TIF District #8 - This would the new downtown TIF district
RE: Proposed new developer’s agreement for assistance in TIF District #7 - This would be the Sandmar Subdivision

CITY OF RIPON COMMON COUNCIL MEETING
Council chambers, City Hall

REGULAR SESSION - 7:30 p.m.
I. Call to order/roll call
II. Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation
III. Public communications and comment
IV. Consent calendar (Unless the Mayor, Council or staff asks that one or more of the items listed below be pulled, this list may be approved with a single vote.)
1.Reports from standing committees and staff
V. Other business
1. Ordinance – request for annexation from Steve & Jenny Machkovich (Staff note: Steve and Jenny Machkovich are requesting annexation of roughly 150 acres south and east of Douglas and East Fond du Lac Streets. We are expected to receive the State’s letter of review shortly; however, they have not expressed any significant concerns to date.)
2. Review standards for Phase 2 of Newbury Street and future projects (Staff note: Residents raised concerns during the Newbury project, like sidewalk width, tree preservation, driveway aprons, etc. Staff wants to have a discussion with Council on these issues before the second half of Newbury and other projects, to determine if changes are desired.)
3. Loan Review Board minutes – December 10th
a. Request to modify loan terms – Ripon Hotel Group, LLC (Staff note: In 2005, the Loan Review Board and City Council approved a $150,000 loan to Ripon Hotel Group, LLC. for 15 years, at 4% for the first 3 years, with a balloon payment at the end. The balloon payment of $128,000 is due on January 1, 2009. They want to continue the loan for 5 years at 4% with a balloon payment at the end, and the chance to renegotiate in 2013. They have been prompt with payments for the first 3 years of this loan. The Board unanimously recommended approving this request.)
4. Updates
· Status of stormwater issues – Public Works Director (Staff note: Last month, the Council asked staff to develop a plan with timelines for stormwater improvements on and along various City-owned lands. Please review the attached report from the Public Works Director, and let us know if you have questions or concerns with his approach.)
· Status of “Open Gym” program – City Administrator (Staff note: Staff arranged with last year’s PT staff to work another year at the high school and Murray Park, and the City Administrator is providing oversight. Attendance was light the first week, but staff is advertising, and attendance is expected to increase in the coming weeks.)
VI. Mayor’s communications and appointments
VII. Agenda items for future Council meetings
VIII. Adjourn

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE KRAMER FAMILY

Photo courtesy of Dennis Cotton



Thursday, December 11, 2008

NEWSPAPER LETTERS BECOMING A MIND-NUMBING BLIZZARD

Have you been feeling overwhelmed lately by the letters to the editor in the Ripon Commonwealth-Press? I have just become used to the new format, which I have come to like, despite some early misgivings. Now, it seems the op-ed page needs an overhaul, and we saw the first steps this week. The paper has adopted a policy of one letter per month, and a size limitation on the letters. Recently, it seems the same three or four people are writing letters, and they seem to be getting longer and longer. When I first got into broadcasting, one of my mentors told me, "If you can say it in 60 second, you can do it in 30, and, if you are good, 15." He was referring to commercials, of course, but the point was that sometimes being succint is the best approach.

I know we have freedom of press, and freedom of speech. That is one of the reasons I allow anonymous comments on this blog. The recent blizzard of letters regarding the Ripon Area School District's finances have cast a shadow of confusion on the district. We are facing some difficult decisions in the next few months, with a referedum looming. I hope we can weave our way through the chafe and find the kernels of facts in all of the discourse and debate. I respect those who have the passion to explain their points and views, but I hope we don't let that passion blind our reasoning as we likely head to the ballot boxes in April.

That is all..I will keep this short, so somewhere my old mentor in radio can smile.