Archive for December 17th, 2008
December 17th, 2008
School District 100 and Rock Valley College have joined forces to announce plans for a new partnership program, Running Start.
Running Start is a program for qualified students from Belvidere High School and Belvidere North High School to attend Rock Valley College (RVC) for their junior and senior years of high school. Courses taken will be for Dual Credit, meeting the requirements for both a high school diploma and an Associate Degree simultaneously.
The Running Start program will be administered out of the High School Connections office at RVC, in conjunction with both Belvidere high schools, and is slated to begin August, 2009.
Students who are on track for high school graduation by the end of their sophomore year, who have at least 12 high school credits, have taken Consumer Ed, have a 3.0 GPA, and test at college-level on ACCUPLACER are eligible for the program. Students will not pay for tuition, fees, or transportation.
To learn more about Running Start, please click here or contact Todd Martens at Belvidere High School (815) 547-6345.
Information provided by Belvidere School District 100.
December 17th, 2008
I’ll bet you thought ALL men’s and women’s shoes were made in China! Well guess what, there are some made in San Antonio, TX by the SAS Shoe company! AND…you can buy them right here in Rockford at the Edgebrook Mall. The independent shoe store, Akerman’s, carries a full line of these shoes and Saturday, I bought a nice pair. Leather tops, hand sewn, the way shoes used to be made. Sure they’re a bit more expensive than the imported ones, but at least I’m supporting American made products.
Check their web site and watch how they make them here….http://www.sasshoes.com/
December 17th, 2008
In case you missed this positive post, well, frankly, I’m getting tired of the other negative things I’m seeing….
As President-Elect Obama readies his new economic team to stimulate the economy, Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Stateline Area, Inc. remains committed to a broad-based effort to support the economy through job creation, workforce development and training for discouraged and dislocated workers. One of North America’s leading providers of employment and training services, Goodwill knows that it will take comprehensive workforce strategies to revive the U.S. economy.
“Goodwill Industries is in a unique position to quickly implement new strategies to provide training opportunities and create transitional employment until job losses and the unemployment rate show a sustained trend in a positive direction,” says Sam Schmitz, President of Goodwill Industries. “We can provide career assessments, training and support necessary to move their careers toward permanent work that will help stabilize their families’ financial situations.”
“When people are having a hard time finding work, Goodwill is there to help,” says Schmitz. “We do that by selling donations in Goodwill stores and using the revenues to fund job training programs and other support services so that all workers can become productive, taxpaying citizens.”
Goodwill is also supporting the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Although the WIA expired in 2003, Congress has continued to appropriate funding for most of its programs, albeit at steadily declining levels. As the nation works to stimulate the economy, it is more important than ever to invest in the American worker and reauthorize the WIA to ensure the public workforce system is responsive to the diverse needs of workers and employers.
Goodwill Industries stands ready to support the nation’s economy and continue its more than 106-year tradition of helping people who are having a hard time to find meaningful work.
Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois and Wisconsin Stateline Area is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides education, training and job placement for persons in need. Goodwill stores in northern Illinois (Rockford, Machesney Park, Freeport, Sterling) and Beloit, Wisconsin employ more than 170 people.
For more information, please contact Sam Schmitz at (815) 965-3795
December 17th, 2008
China increased its holdings of US treasury securities by $65.9 billion in October, consolidating its place as the No 1 holder of American debt, according to the Treasury’s latest report on international capital flows.
It was China’s largest monthly increase this year, pushing the country’s total holdings to $652.9 billion, compared with $587 billion at the end of September, when it replaced Japan to become the top holder of US debt.
The continual increases in US debt holdings in recent months have triggered fierce domestic debate, as the country has channeled almost a third of its $2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves into US treasury securities.
Wei Weixian, economist with the University of International Business and Economics, believes it “is a fairly acceptable option”.
With US treasuries recently gaining investor favor, their yields have been on the decline; but in the long term, they are still a relatively safe investment for China, Wei said.
“Despite the financial crisis, the US economy remains the strongest, providing back-up for the treasury securities,” he added.
He also pointed out that China does not have many options to deploy its massive amounts of foreign exchange reserves.
For example, China pulled $200 billion out of its foreign exchange reserves to set up China Investment Corporation (CIC) to diversify investment, but CIC has incurred heavy losses in its investment in the US private equity firm Blackstone due to the tumbling international financial markets. CIC has since said it would be more cautious in investment abroad.
Guo Tianyong, economist with the Central University of Finance and Economics, also believes the US treasury debt has relatively low risks and good liquidity.
Moreover, it is not out of the realm of belief that Beijing and Washington may have reached a tacit consensus that China helps stabilize the American markets by increasing the purchases of US securities, Guo said.
Opponents of the rising purchases of US securities cite the possibility that Washington may be financially unable to pay back the money in the future, as it has to issue a lot more debt to finance its ailing financial markets.
As China piles up more US debt, it would also be a problem to sell it later as sales would affect returns on its existing dollar assets, analysts said.
Japan remained the second largest holder with a total of $585.5 billion, up by $12.3 billion in October. The UK is third with $360 billion.
US Treasury data show that net foreign purchases of long-term US securities in October decreased by $34.8 billion while foreign holdings of dollar-denominated US securities, including treasury bills and other custody liabilities, increased $92.4 billion.
International investors have opted to cut holdings of long-term debt while increasing short-term holdings, the data shows, which analysts ascribe to long-term economic uncertainties in the US.
Source: China Daily
