Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

President Obama urged Americans last night to call their lawmakers demand compromise on the debt talks. They did so en masse, apparently. Websites of top lawmakers were flooded and Congressional phones are overloaded this morning. Below, what viewers to Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio's site saw at 10:33 p.m. There are reports of the New York delegation websites crashing as well as top House members like John Boehner and Michele Bachmann. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's office said their site did not go down, though loading it this morning took a while. Read more: St. Petersburg Times
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

Escalating an avoidable economic crisis, House Republicans are intent on driving the nation to the financial brink at the behest of their most extreme members. The deadline for raising the debt ceiling or risking financial calamity in a shaky economy is a week from today, yet compromise is a dirty word in Washington. President Barack Obama spoke to the nation Monday night and embraced a proposal by Senate Democrats to break the impasse. As disappointing as that scaled-down plan is, the House Republicans' two-step proposal is worse. Read more: St. Petersburg Times
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

The effects of the Congressional stalemate that led to a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration took hold Monday, as about 336 employees in the metro Atlanta area were furloughed. Air traffic controllers and safety inspectors continue working, but some other FAA operations have been shut down. Although the partial shutdown means the FAA has stopped collecting about $200 million per week in airline taxes, many large carriers including Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines took the opportunity to hike fares and boost revenue, rather than granting travelers a tax holiday. Read more: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

Efforts to make Atlanta and Georgia an international destination are paying off, both in visits to the metro area and the state. In 2010, the number of international travelers to Georgia increased 19 percent while foreigners coming to Atlanta grew a whopping 25 percent, according to figures recently released from the U.S. Commerce Department's Office of Travel & Tourism Industries. Totals on domestic visitors to the state in 2010 won't be available until later in the year. Read more: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

The state Board of Education agreed Tuesday to give the Atlanta Public Schools board until November to regain full accreditation, essentially giving the local board a reprieve as to whether its members would lose their jobs. As a critical hearing got underway at 9 a.m., lawyers for both the state education department and the district announced they had come to agreement on conditions that would become legally binding if approved. The main condition of the agreement suspends the hearing until Nov. 4. That date follows a Sept. 30 deadline set by the district's accrediting agency. Read more: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

For a man who hasn’t formally decided whether to run for president, Texas Gov. Rick Perry sure sounds a lot like a candidate. “I’m not ready to tell you that I’m ready to announce that I’m in,” Perry told the Des Moines Register, the biggest newspaper in Iowa, site of the first big test in the Republican nomination race. “But I’m getting more and more comfortable every day that this is what I’ve been called to do. This is what America needs.” And Perry isn’t just being called; he says he’s being actively pushed to run by his wife, Anita, a former nurse. Read more: The State
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

Federal courts and the military — the largest federal presence in South Carolina — likely would not be affected by a partial federal shutdown if Congress and the president can’t reach a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by Aug. 2. But it is unclear whether Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, veterans benefits or other federal spending would be affected. “We’ve heard nothing at this point,” said Elliott Cooper, district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. “We’ve absolutely heard nothing.” Read more: The State
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

Employment in Texas' oil and gas industry rebounded to its pre-recession highs while oil production solidified its return to the top of the fossil fuel ladder for the first time in more than a decade, according to an index of state energy activity. The Lone Star State employed 224,200 workers in exploration and production in June, according to the Texas Petro Index — more than the 223,200 at the height of the last energy boom in October 2008 and nearly 15 percent more than in June 2010, said Karr Ingham, the Midland economist who created and maintains the index. Read more: Houston Chronicle
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago

RALEIGH -- The House overrode three of Gov. Bev Perdue's vetoes on Monday to approve laws limiting medical malpractice lawsuits, state regulations and the state health agency's power over providers. The House had six other override votes on its Monday schedule which it did not take up, including a law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls and one requiring 24-hour waiting periods, ultrasounds and state-mandated counseling for women seeking abortions. Read more: News & Observer
Submitted 1 years 329 days ago