Home  News Local News Local News
|
Monday, 17 November 2008 |
Miami-Dade
Miami-Dade plans to ease housing crisis
Miami-Dade County received $62.2 million in grants from the federal
government as part of the government’s housing stimulus measure that
was passed by Congress earlier this year. The county has announced
plans to utilize the funds to buy, rehabilitate and resell foreclosed
properties that are currently owned by banks, to low income residents.
Under the government program a total of $541 million was allocated to
the state, as part of a $4 billion allocation to stabilize
neighborhoods affected by the widespread foreclosures. As foreclosures
increased in the region, a result of the fall-out from sub prime loans,
neighborhoods like several in South Florida risked the depression on
property of homes in proximity to those foreclosed. Broward County
received a grant of $17.7 million, but Miami-Dade’s grant was
significantly larger, because the concentration of foreclosed homes was
higher in that county.
Miami
Better late than never
Miami Woman’s Club apologies for racism
The Miami Woman’s Club has issued an apology for past racism during its
108-year history. The apology was offered on Monday, nearly four
decades after the club’s membership was opened to women of color.
Before the ban was lifted, Blacks were not allowed as members nor were
they allowed to rent the facility for their own functions.
Club president, Noreen Timoney, speaking before a mixed audience of
Black and White women said the apology was part of a larger
non-partisan initiative to address cultural, economic and environmental
issues in the community. In this regards the club has planned a Miami
Action Policy Institute to focus on multiculturalism. The institute’s
first forum will be held on November 19. However, the first step,
Timoney said, was confronting a troubled past.
|
|
|
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
No more Flori-duh!
Florida finally got it right and in what was an historic election,
figured prominently in Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday. Obama won the
traditional Republican state, 51 to 48 percent over John McCain. For
Democrats this was, at last, redemption for what they perceived as the
dubious recounting process that resulted in the US Supreme ruling that
the Republicans won the state, thus electing George W. Bush president
over Al Gore in 2000.
Local Races
Obama’s victory in Florida did not help his Democratic colleagues who
ran for congressional seats in Miami-Dade. The three Republican
incumbents, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart all
defeated their challengers, Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia and Raul
Martinez, respectively.
|
|
|
Technology: the power behind the movement |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
The Obama Campaign had to do two things: Raise Money and Reach People.
That, they did in a record breaking effort. Either of which would not
have happened without the power of technology.
It is very clear that the now President-Elect's goal was to skillfully
use his experience as a community organizer on the streets of Chicago
to mobilize an even broader community – the people of the United States
of America. Over 3 million people donated to the Obama Campaign which
raked in an estimated $659 million, of which a large percentage was
donated via the web in an average $100 per donation.
Starting out with not much money and support, Obama built an intricate
technical architecture that provided a simple, easy to use system to
everyone who was interested in this notion of Change.
The BarackObama.com website launched on the day Sen. Obama announced
his candidacy for the Presidency. Jascha Franklin-Hodge, the Chief
Technology Officer of Blue State Digital the developers behind the
campaign website, described the results as a "coordination and
integration between technology and organization"
(Technologyreview.com).
|
|
|
Youth turning out the vote |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 02 November 2008 |
Judging from the turn out of young voters, under age 25, at polling
places during early voting, it is apparent that the youth is definitely
responding to this general elections.
When the National Weekly visited early voting sites last weekend,
significant numbers of young voters were seen patiently and
enthusiastically waiting in the long lines.
At the West Kendal Regional Library on Saturday, where the wait to vote
was three hours, the line of over 200 voters included some 50 young
people, most of them high school students voting for the first time. A
group of five students from Killian High School passed the time
exchanging notes for an upcoming test said they didn’t mind the long
wait.
|
|
|
Tri-Rail to use bio-diesel fuel |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 02 November 2008 |
One of South Florida’s public transportation giants, Tri-Rail, is going
green! At a West Palm Beach press conference on Wednesday morning, the
South Florida Transportation Authority announced that the commuter
train that plies between Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties is
to soon begin operating on a much more environmentally friendly blend
of bio-diesel.
The word from Tri-Rail officials is that the railway is to run eight of
10 Tri-Rail locomotives on a 99-percent blend of either palm or soy
oil, depending on the availability. This will result in significant
savings compared to using diesel oil. Although the locomotives will use
7 percent more fuel when operating on bio-diesel, this fuel costs
approximately 30 cents per gallon less than diesel fuel.
Besides the cost-saving factor, bio-diesel is kinder to the
environment, as it produces less carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon
emissions which usually pollute the atmosphere and are also less likely
to the soil should there be a significant fuel spill.
|
|
| << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
| | Results 6 - 10 of 262 |
|
|
|
