Scholarships Grants

Two women in Modesto, California, were arrested for using a fake baby funeral to scam people out of money.

View full post on All Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – First time jobless claims dropped by 6,000 during the week ending May 28, but still remained above 400,000 mark, signaling continued weakness in the employment sector of the economy.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment compensation insurance claims was 422,000, down from the previous week’s revised figure of 428,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Economists say that initial unemployment claims must drop below the 400,000 mark and stay there for the labor market to recover from the massive job losses of the recent recession.

However, bringing the unemployment rate down might not happen anytime soon, since first time claims for unemployment compensation have stubbornly remained above the 400,000 mark for the past eight weeks.

News was no better for the less volatile 4-week moving average, which was 425,500, down by 14,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 439,500.

In addition, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate at 3.0 percent for the week ending May 21 was unchanged from the previous week.

However, the total number of people claiming jobless benefits in all programs for the week ending May 14, the latest week for which such data is available, did drop. That number was 7,682,830, down by 56,742 from the prior week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 21 were:

• California (+7,053)
• Massachusetts (+1,948)
• South Carolina (+1,066)
• Wisconsin (+1,019)
• Pennsylvania (+959)

View full post on Labor Stories

Hayward, CA, United States (AHN) – The search for a nursing student who went missing last week in California continued on Tuesday.

Michelle Le, 26, was at Kaiser Medical Center in Hayward on Friday when she went out to the parking garage and did not return. She left the hospital during a break in class, at about 7 p.m.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Le was planning a trip to Reno during the Memorial weekend. Her abandoned car was found a few blocks from the hospital.

Police told KGO television that there are no signs of foul play.

Le is enrolled in her final year at Samuel Merritt University in San Mateo. Her disappearance remains a missing persons case.

The university said it was “deeply concerned” about Le and that it was in regular contact with police and the student’s family. “We continue to hope for the best in this difficult situation,” it added.

View full post on Education Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce as soon as next week whether it will hear an appeal involving California’s controversial law that grants illegal immigrants in-state tuition at public universities.

The immigrants say they could not afford college if they paid the higher out-of-state tuition rates.

Opponents of the law say taxpayers should not have to subsidize lawbreakers like illegal immigrants.

The controversy extends beyond California to 10 other states that grant reduced tuition to illegal immigrants. Out-of-state tuition can be triple in-state rates.

Courts took up the case of Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California in 2005 when students who paid out-of-state tuition sued the Board of Regents.

They accused the university of violating a 1996 federal law that prohibits public institutions from giving benefits to illegal immigrants.

The University of California’s attorneys argued the state law, AB540, was narrowly written to avoid conflicts with the federal law.

Illegal immigrants can get in-state tuition only if they attend a California high school for three years and graduate.

The same benefit is granted to any graduates of the state’s high schools, thereby eliminating legal U.S. residency as the issue in getting in-state college tuition, attorneys for the University of California argued.

The trial court agreed with the university and dismissed the lawsuit.

However, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District reversed the trial court, saying the state law is preempted by federal law. In other words, illegal immigrants cannot receive in-state tuition.

On appeal in November, the California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal.

Now, it’s the U.S. Supreme Court’s turn to decide the dispute, this time with a likelihood of influencing debate in Congress over how to reform immigration laws.

The Supreme Court justices this week discussed whether to grant the case a hearing or let the California Supreme Court decision stand.

Just before the California Supreme Court accepted the case, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote a letter to the state’s highest court saying the dispute reaches “into the heart of the national debate about illegal immigration.”

Utah, along with New York and Texas, is among the states that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

Other states, such as Arizona, are strongly opposed to granting any benefits to illegal immigrants.

They have been joined by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law group, which filed an amicus brief that supports cutting off in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

If the state law granting in-state tuition is upheld, “overburdened state taxpayers, who are suffering under California’s devastated economy, will be forced to continue subsidizing the college education of adult illegal immigrants,” the Pacific Legal Foundation said in a statement.

The foundation says in-state tuition gives the equivalent of a taxpayer-subsidized scholarship worth between $43,884 to $80,872 at a four year college.

However, LatinoJustice, a civil rights organization that filed an amicus brief in the case, said in a statement that the lawsuit against AB540 “threatens to erect an insurmountable barrier for high-achieving high school graduates from pursuing higher education in hopes of bettering themselves and benefiting their communities as a whole.”

View full post on Education Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims declined by 29,000 to 409,000 for the week ending May 14 compared to the previous week’s tally of 438,000 claims.

That is still above the 400,000 mark. Analysts say first time unemployment compensation insurcance claims must drop below 400,000 and stay below that mark to signal the economy has turned around.

However, the less volatile four-week moving average was up by 1,250 from the previous figure, increasing to 439,000 claims.

The number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 30, the most recent week such data is available fell below the 8 million mark to 7,936,548, a decrease of 47,124 from the previous week.

Here is a look at which states had the largest increase in new claims for the week ending May 7.

• Alabama (+5,767)
• California (+4,015)
• Michigan (+3,122)
• Mississippi (+1,666)

View full post on Labor Stories

Riverside, CA, United States (AHN) – A 10-year-old boy arrested for the murder of his father, a neo-Nazi leader, says he was abused.

According to court documents, Jeff Hall, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was abusing his family and his son feared his parents would divorce and he would have to choose which parent to live with.

Paramedics were unable to revive the man and the boy and his siblings were taken into protective custody after being questioned by police.

The fourth-grader, like his 9-year-old sister, knew where his parents stored the guns. The boy took a Rossi .357 revolver from the closet and fired as his father slept on the couch in the downstairs living room on May 1, according to police.

The boy told police he was tired of his dad hitting him and his stepmom. He also revealed he thought his dad was cheating on his stepmom and thought he might have to choose which person he would live with.

The boy’s stepmother, Krista McCary, is being charged with child endangerment and failure to properly store a firearm.

Investigators confirmed that not only did Hall and McCary keep numerous weapons in the home but that “three out of the four children” knew the easy-to-reach location of the .357 revolver.

Juvenile court Judge Charles Koosed agreed on Wednesday to delay taking the plea from the 10-year-old boy.

Koosed and the boy’s defense attorney believe the youngster should first have a psychological evaluation. Among his possible pleas are not guilty by reason of insanity. The next hearing date is scheduled on July 22.

If found guilty of the charges, the boy could remain in juvenile hall until he is 18 or be placed in another youth detention facility until he is 25.

Hall gained media attention in 2010 during his campaign for a seat on the Western Municipal Water District in Riverside. During his run for the seat, Hall was open about his white supremacist beliefs when asked.

During his tenure at the National Socialist Movement, Hall led demonstrations in Riverside and Los Angeles where supporters yelled “white power” and waved swastika flags while giving Nazi salutes.

View full post on Education Stories

Sacramento, CA, United States (AHN) – The impasse over extending taxes continues in California despite a revised budget plan from Gov. Jerry Brown that relies on an unanticipated rise in revenue. Republicans have insisted on an alternative plan that would cut compensation for state workers by 10 percent.

The updated budget takes into account a current-year tax revenue increase of $2.8 billion and a budget year earnings boost of $3.5 billion, for a total adjusted revenue of $6.6 billion.

The windfall, combined with steps already implemented by Brown since taking office, has reduced the state’s deficit from $26.6 billion to $9.6 billion, which consists of a current shortfall of $4.8 billion and another $4.8 billion in the fiscal year starting this July.

Brown’s previous budget plan reduced spending by $12.5 billion and relied on revenue of $12 billion from extending taxes. His new budget cuts spending by $11.2 billion because of an increase in funds for public schools by $3 billion.

Additional cost-cutting measures such as the elimination of 43 boards and commissions, as well as more than 5,000 state jobs, compensates for a revenue package that has failed to attract support from Republicans.

Brown, who assumed office in January having served two terms as governor three decades ago, has dropped his plan to raise the personal income tax. Under his revised plan, Californians will pay $2 billion less in income taxes compared to his initial proposal. However, he is still seeking to extend the sales tax and vehicle license fee for five years through a ballot.

The tax package represents 42 percent of the revised plan, while spending cuts account for 48 percent. Cuts include previously announced measures such as the closure of 70 parks to save $11 million in the first year, a hiring freeze and the halving of the number of state cars and cell phones.

The ballot for the tax extensions must first be approved by two Republicans from the Assembly and two Republicans from the state Senate.

Republicans rejected the governor’s revised plan and accused him of “fund[ing] bigger government.”

“Assembly Republicans showed that we can protect funding for the classroom and law enforcement without raising taxes,” Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway said in a statement. ” We call upon the governor to stop trying to raise people’s taxes and start working across party lines on a no-tax increase budget compromise.”

State GOP Chair Tom Del Beccaro added, “The bottom line is that Brown’s demand to increase spending while we have a deficit means that he still doesn’t understand that we can no longer spend beyond our means.”

The statemate with Republicans occurred in March when the governor suspended negotiations over what he said were “an ever changing list of collateral demands” in return for support for a special election, such as giving a $1 billion tax break to out-of-state corporations so the companies would bring jobs to California.

The alternative GOP budget plan relies on the higher April revenue to prevent cuts to education and law enforcement. It does not raise taxes and calls on state workers to “do their part” with a 10 percent reduction in pay, benefits and other employee costs, which Republicans say would provide the government with $1.1 billion in savings.

View full post on Education Stories

Sacramento, CA, United States (AHN) – California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday was set to unveil an updated budget plan to close a record $26.6 billion deficit while taking into account better-than-expected April tax receipts and Republican opposition to a June ballot on tax extensions.

The announcement will come as the end of the fiscal year looms, and teachers and students in the state, which has the nation’s largest university system and the world’s eighth-largest economy, protest further cuts.

Brown early this year proposed a plan reducing spending by $12.5 billion, including $1.4 billion in cuts to higher education, and generating $12 billion from an extension of taxes that are due to expire this summer.

The tax extensions require a June ballot that in turn, must first be approved by two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the state Senate. The deadline for including the extensions in the ballot has passed, and unions have asked lawmakers to instead pass a bill allowing the ballot.

The governor’s revised budget plan is expected to seek at least some of his revenue-generating tax hikes even as Republicans point out the state’s more than $2 billion in unanticipated April tax revenue.

Last week, Brown announced drastic measures such as eliminating the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and shuttering 70 of 278 state parks, including the governor’s mansion.

Eliminating the appeals board, which is composed of appointees who preside over appeals on disputes about jobless and disability claims, would save the state $1.2 million.

The closure of parks would reduced spending by $11 million in the fiscal year starting in July, and another $22 million the following year. Parks with the least attendance and cultural and environmental significance were chosen for the closure, which will not affect 92 percent of public attendance in parks.

Brown, who served as governor for two terms nearly three decades ago, also plans to merge the state’s two personnel agencies into a single human resources department to save at least $5.8 million.

Previously, he ordered a hiring freeze and slashed the number of state cars and cell phones by 50 percent.

Republicans, who released an alternative budget plan last week, have railed against the latest proposals as “posturing” and ” misguided threats.”

State GOP spokesman Mark Standriff called the planned closure of parks “a ‘Washington Monument Strategy’ that is both cynical and manipulative, and shows little respect for the taxpayers.”

The Republican plan relies on the higher April revenue to prevent cuts to education and law enforcement. It does not raise taxes and calls on state workers to “do their part” with a 10 percent reduction in pay, benefits and other employee costs, which the GOP says would provide the government with $1.1 billion in savings.

The California Teachers Association, which held statewide protests last week, said the GOP’s alternative proposal would leave a $14.7 billion budget gap and fails to provide “real solutions.”

The San Francisco Chronicle said in its editorial on Monday that the GOP plan “should be dismissed as a nonstarter,” because it “included a heavy dose of borrowing and reliance on ‘savings.’ ” The newspaper also blasted Republicans for pushing “a ridiculously long wish list that strayed far from the subject of the budget.”

In March, Brown ended negotiations with Republicans after what he said was “an ever changing list of collateral demands” in return for support for a special election, such as giving a $1 billion tax break to out-of-state corporations so the companies would bring jobs to California.

View full post on Labor Stories

San Francisco, CA, United States (AHN) – A British beautician has sparked the ire of parents on both sides of the Atlantic after revealing she injects Botox into her 8-year-old daughter’s face every three months. The reason– so the child can be a “star.”

In a report in the Sun of London she said, “I wish that I’d had the same advantages when I was younger.”

“I know one day she will be a model, actress, or singer, and having these treatments will ensure she stays looking baby-faced for longer,” added Campbell, who now resides in San Francisco.

Campbell admitted she purchases Botox and Restalyne over the Internet and first tests them on herself before injecting them into her daughter.

Kerry also gives her daughter regular full-body waxes. “She also has her virgin wax monthly, which gets rid of her fluffy leg hair and makes sure she won’t develop pubic hair in the future,” said Kerry. “It will save her a fortune in waxing when she’s older.”

Despite experts warning that Botox is only considered safe for adults there currently aren’t any laws stating that it is illegal to inject it into children.

Britney Campbell who frequently competes in beauty pageants said that she no longer “cries that much” during the injections. She also hopes to get a “boob and nose job soon, so that I can be a star.”

View full post on Education Stories

San Jose, CA, United States (AHN) – Three people, including the alleged gunman, died Tuesday night in a shooting at San Jose State University.

According to KTVU, two people were killed when a man opened fire inside the university parking garage. The man was injured and brought to a hospital. School officials believe the attack was not random and involved only the three people.

The California Beat reported that the suspected shooter later died of a gunshot wound. Police have not released information on whether the victims or the gunman were students.

A spokesman for the university, the state’s oldest public institution of higher learning, told CNN that identities of three people would be released after autopsies are conducted.

The fifth floor of the parking garage was closed after the incident. The garage was scheduled to open for regular operations Wednesday morning.

The university has encouraged students affected by the shooting to consider in-campus counseling services. A number of students said in response on a Facebook page that the university’s alert system failed to inform them of the situation.

View full post on Education Stories