LITTLE ROCK, AR—Secretary of State Charlie Daniels is hosting 120 students from nearly 20 schools statewide March 17-18 for the annual spring young voter education program.

Daily sessions include a mock election, a review of the history of voting rights in America, information on high school poll worker programs, and interactive activities focusing on women’s suffrage, civil rights, and the voting process. Eligible students will also be given the opportunity to register to vote before the program concludes with a guided tour of the Arkansas State Capitol.

“Our young voter education programs are structured to engage the next generation of Arkansans in the political process,” said Secretary Daniels. “Civic education is a responsibility we all share as we work to ensure that our youth have the knowledge and tools to be active participants in government at every level.”

The spring young voter education program will be presented at the Association of Arkansas Counties Building at 1415 W. Third Street in Little Rock from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on March 17-18.

The Secretary of State’s office offers an additional young voter education program each fall.

The following secondary schools have registered to participate in the spring program: Arkadelphia High School, Arkansas School for the Deaf, Camden-Fairview High School, County Line High School, Flippin High School, Glen Rose High School, Hall High School, Lafayette County High School, Lamar High School, Morrilton High School, Perryville High School, Poyen High School, Prairie Grove High School, Quitman High School, Taylor High School, Texarkana High School, Van-Cove High School, White Hall High School, and Woodlawn High School.

Breitbart.tv » Nancy Pelosi: We Need to Pass Health Care Bill to Find Out What’s In It.

Congressman Marion Berry on KFFB’s Open mic talks about health care reform, hosted by KFFB’S General Manager and Owner Bob Connell.

News Release

MARION BERRY, United States Representative, First District, Arkansas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2010

On Wednesday, March 10, Congressman Marion Berry introduced his own health care bill to the House. Bill H.R. 4813 has been referred to several house committees for consideration.

The bill includes several pieces of legislation that Congressman Berry has presented to the floor in the past including language for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices of pharmaceuticals for Medicare Part D recipients, eliminating pre-existing conditions, allowing drug importation that CBO has projected will save 50 billion alone over the next 10 years, exempting all pharmacies and pharmacists from DME accreditation, and no taxpayer funding for abortions.

“Health care reform must be deficit-neutral and must be fully paid for by squeezing out more savings from the pharmaceutical manufacturers and private insurance industry instead of cramming down hospitals and other providers and taxing Americans” said Berry.

 

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Congressman Marion Berry says a bill he’s offering would reduce health-care costs so that insurance coverage would be cheaper and thus available to millions more Americans.

Congressman Marion Berry said Thursday his measure would also cut the costs of the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The Democrat who represents the 1st District in east Arkansas said he was offering his measure as an alternative to the bill being promoted by President Obama. He said that the President bill’s anti-abortion provisions are not strong enough, or mandating Americans to have health care insurance. He also comments on the Health Care czar on KFFB’S open mic with KFFB’S Bob Connell, Open Mic will air Monday at 7:40 am and 5:40 pm. and will be available at KFFB.COM.

Berry also said his measure would not require health-insurance coverage to be offered or provided to any more people, but would make that more likely as costs go down.

Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry today announced that the U.S. Senate has approved aid to poultry producers as part of a Lincoln-led disaster package included in the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act. The package makes poultry producers eligible for $75 million in emergency loans.

“I am a former Piligram’s Pride grower. I own five poultry houses and I have been without chickens since August 19, 2008.  This bill will help my fellow producers and I to try and regain our ability to make a living. We appreciate that Senator Lincoln came last spring to hear our concerns and try to help us with this legislation,” said poultry farmer Keith Brents.

Pilgrim’s Pride processing facilities in El Dorado and Clinton, along with the feed mill in Atkins, have all closed, impacting growers and local economies.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mark Pryor today said data he received from 20 federal agencies indicates that a portion of stimulus money is being mishandled, but that Inspectors General are aggressively following more than 730 allegations of potential wrongdoing. The data comes in response to Pryor’s ongoing review of potential waste, fraud and abuse of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“Stimulus money is meant to create jobs and get the economy moving again. There is zero room for fraud,” Pryor said. “That means ensuring our federal watchdogs root-out inefficiency and fraud in stimulus spending. It means wrongdoing will be publicized, and fraudsters will be caught and punished.”

The new data stems from letters Pryor sent to 22 Inspectors General in January to ensure they investigated cases of potential fraud referred to them by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.   The letters sought information about the status of the referred cases, Recovery Act waste they uncovered independently, spending programs that show the greatest risk, and what additional improvements are needed to safeguard the Recovery Act funds.

 Findings from the Inspectors General responses include:

• Of the 122 cases referred to Inspectors General by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, 51 have been closed and 71 are open.

• Federal agencies received or uncovered an additional 739 leads or allegations of waste, fraud or abuse.

• Of those, 386 remain open, including 31 under active investigation; 131 referred for administrative action; 19 referred to US Attorneys; 1 referred for prosecution; 2 referred to the FBI; and 3 referred to the IRS. 220 allegations were closed.

• Examples of concerns uncovered by independent audits include:

• The Department of Defense (DoD) allotted stimulus funds to “several” companies that are already subject to ongoing investigations.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a recipient $1.9 m. when it was not eligible. Adequate controls were not in place to ensure only qualified applicants were selected. 

• The Department of Energy awarded contracts to large businesses that were slotted for small businesses.

• Many of the Inspectors General investigations have come from allegations and leads from citizens.  Citizens who see misuse or waste of Recovery funds should call the Recovery Board Fraud Hotline at 1-877-392-3375 or via the internet at www.recovery.gov.

Pryor said he will hold agencies accountable for handling funds and continue to probe Inspectors General to ensure they fully investigate every allegation or lead. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has found that U.S. organizations lose an estimated 7 percent of their annual revenues to fraud, a problem Pryor wants to avoid with stimulus funds.  If this number were to apply to stimulus funds, it would amount to a staggering $55.1 billion.

“The jury is still out on whether Federal departments charged with spending and managing Recovery Act funds can do better,” Pryor said.  “I will continue to review this data, follow the trail and ensure those who seek to defraud the government are punished to the full extent of the law.”

Social justice advocate Dr. Aaron Johnson has been beaten during lunch store counter sit-ins led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; prayed with death row inmates during his time as North Carolina’s first African-American Secretary of Corrections; stood blindfolded before the Ku Klux Klan; and traveled across the U.S. during racial unrest in an effort to subdue the violence and conflict after King’s death.

Author and Harding alumna Debbie Cleveland joins Johnson in telling his life story as he strove to uphold social justice in a world that could have killed him for his commitment in their new book, “Man From Macedonia: My Life of Service, Struggle, Faith and Hope.”

Both Cleveland and Johnson will visit Harding University next week, and Johnson will give a presentation in Cone Chapel Monday, March 15, at 7 p.m. The event is hosted by the College of Communication, The Roosevelt Institute, HUmanity and Pi Sigma Alpha, and is free and open to the public.

A book signing will be held at the bookstore in the Hammon Student Center  Tuesday, March 16, at 10 a.m.

For more information, contact the College of Communication at 501-279-4445.

Cleveland published her first book in 2000 titled “Hugs From Heaven: Portraits of a Woman’s Faith” and wrote a weekly newspaper column, Footsteps and Heartbeats, for more than 17 years.

Senator Mark Pryor and  Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley introduced legislation Thursday to create jobs by promoting the installation of energy-efficient renovations in commercial and multi-family residential buildings. 

By utilizing rebates and low-interest loans, the “Building Star” program leverages between two and three dollars in private investment for every federal dollar spent.

“Buildings represent 40 percent of the energy used in the United States, and many have old equipment that waste energy and money,” Senator Pryor said.

 “Building Star” is expected to save building owners more than $3 billion on their energy bills annually by reducing enough peak electricity demand to avoid the need for thirty-three 300-megawatt power plants. It will also reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change by 21 million metric tons, or the equivalent of nearly 4 million cars’ emissions each year, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Congressman Vic Snyder on KFFB’s Open Mic hosted by KFFB’S General Manager and Owner Bob Connell this segment they discuss his Retirement and Healthcare.

 

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