Wednesday, March 2, 2016
The price of a US stamp is set to fall in April for the first time in 97 years
By Bob Bryan12 hours ago
For the first time since Woodrow Wilson was president, the price of a US postage stamp is set to decrease in April.
According to the US Postal Service, the price of a US-bound first class stamp will decrease 2 cents — to 47 from 49 cents — starting April 1o.
Stamp prices last declined in 1919 when the price of a first class stamp fell to 2 cents from 3 cents.
This expected decrease stems from an act of Congress passed in 2013 that allowed the USPS to add a 4.3% surcharge in order to stem the massive losses for the Service because of the Great Recession.
In a release from the USPS, the group said the act expires when the surcharges had accounted for $4.6 billion in revenue, which will happen April 10.
At that time, stamps will revert back to their inflation-pegged pricing, dropping the price to 47 cents for a first class stamp and sticking the USPS with an additional $2 billion in annual losses.
Postmaster General and CEO Megan Brennan says this will be a disaster for the postal service.
"The exigent surcharge granted to the Postal Service last year only partially alleviated our extreme multi-year revenue declines resulting from the Great Recession, which exceeded $7 billion in 2009 alone,” said Brennan in a release. “Removing the surcharge and reducing our prices is an irrational outcome considering the Postal Service’s precarious financial condition.”
The problem is that stamp prices, absent the surcharge, are pegged to inflation by Congress. Inflation, as we've noted, has barely moved in the past few years so it has not caught up to where the USPS was charging for the past few years.
So even with inflation perking up recently, prices aren't rising fast enough to save the postal service from massive losses. The release also said that while the USPS has seen an increase in package flows since 2009, it has not been enough to offset the decline in letter service and the sudden drop in prices.
Brennan said in the release that the USPS should be allowed more flexibility in setting its own prices based on its financial conditions, though right now the only way to reverse the change would be an act of Congress or the courts.
Here's a breakdown of all the price changes from the USPS:
View gallery
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(USPS)
Justice Department gives immunity to State Department staffer who set up Clinton email server
News Alert
Wed., Mar. 02, 2016 8:37 p.m.
Justice Department gives immunity to State Department staffer who set up Clinton email server
The Justice Department has granted immunity to the former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.
The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009.
As the FBI looks to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, agents will likely want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, how it was set up, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails, current and former officials said. and former officials said.
The inquiry comes against a sensitive political backdrop in which Clinton is the favorite to secure the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
So far, there is no indication that prosecutors have convened a grand jury in the email investigation to subpoena testimony or documents, which would require the participation of a U.S. attorney’s office.
Confused about the investigations around Hillary Clinton? Here are the basics.
There are at least three ongoing investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State. Here's an explanation of who is investigating, and why. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
[Spokesmen at the FBI and Justice Department would not discuss the investigation. Pagliano’s lawyer also declined to comment.
In a statement, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said: “As we have said since last summer, Secretary Clinton has been cooperating with the Department of Justice’s security inquiry, including offering in August to meet with them to assist their efforts if needed.”
He also said that the campaign is “pleased” that Pagliano, who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights before Congress, is now cooperating with prosecutors. The campaign had encouraged Pagliano to testify before Congress.
As part of the inquiry, law enforcement officials will look at the potential damage had the classified information in the emails been exposed. The Clinton campaign has described the probe as a security review. But current and former officials in the FBI and at the Justice Department have said investigators are trying to determine whether a crime was committed.
Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, declined to comment.
Kendall, who also has represented President Bill Clinton and Petraeus, has navigated similar issues in other cases. During the investigation of President Clinton by independent counsel Ken Starr, for instance, Kendall rebuffed several requests for interviews.
The president was then subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. In a deal brokered by Kendall, the subpoena was withdrawn and Clinton testified voluntarily in 1998.
Former prosecutors said investigators were probably feeling the pressure of time because of the election. Take action before the election, they said, and you risk being perceived as trying to influence the result. Take action after and face criticism for not letting voters know there was an issue with their preferred candidate.
“The timing is terrible whether you do it before or after,” Kopp said.
The issue of Clinton’s use of a private email server was referred to the FBI in July after the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community officials determined that some of the emails that traversed Clinton’s server contained classified material.
Emails that contain material now deemed classified were authored by Clinton but also by many of her top aides, including Jacob Sullivan, who was her director of policy planning and her deputy chief of staff. He is now advising Clinton’s campaign on foreign policy and is thought to be a likely candidate for national security adviser if she is elected.
The State Department has said that, at the request of intelligence agencies, it has classified 22 Clinton emails as “top secret” and will not release those emails, even in redacted form. “Top secret” is the highest level of classification, reserved for material whose release could cause “exceptionally grave damage to the national security.”
I. Charles McCullough III, the inspector general of the intelligence community, has indicated that some of the material intelligence officials have reviewed contained information that was classified at the time it was sent; the State Department has indicated it has not analyzed whether the material should have been marked classified when it was sent, only whether it requires classification before being released now.
Rosalind S. Helderman, Julie Tate and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Fiat Chrysler CEO couldn't merge with GM — so now he wants to build the Apple Car
By Matthew DeBord 1 hour ago
(Thomson Reuters)
We can build it!
There is no more entertaining chief executive in the auto industry that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Sergio Marchionne.
He is the opposite of boring, and he knows no fear. Acquiring Chrysler out of bankruptcy was just the beginning.
Last year, he spun off Ferrari in an IPO and conducted a very public courtship with General Motors, seeking a merger. But he was rebuffed.
Now he's after a different dance partner: Apple.
According to Bloomberg's Tommaso Ebhardt:
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne, who describes himself as an “Apple freak,” is keen to partner with the technology giant on building a car.
Given the complexity of auto manufacturing, Apple Inc. would be better served working with an established manufacturer than trying to build a car on its own, and the Italian-American company would be well-suited, according to Marchionne, who says he owns every kind of product Apple makes.
This one is a doozy, even from Marchionne. Perhaps the appeal for Apple would be in Fiat style, and believe it or not, Apple's top-secret car undertaking, "Project Titan," is rumored to have imported a 1957 Fiat to some mysterious end. Although a Multipla 600, a rudimentary postwar people mover, is hardly an icon of European chic.
It certainly isn't quality. FCA has seen booming sales over the past two years, but its vehicles are routinely cited by Consumer Reports for iffy reliability.
Despite that, one of the auto industry hires that Apple has made was Doug Betts — a former Chrysler quality czar.
Before you start thinking that there might be some kind of connection, note that Betts left Chrysler in 2014 after Chrysler and Fiat were clobbered by Consumer Reports.
You can't blame Marchionne for trying. It's clear that no traditional automaker wants to join with FCA, so Marchionne has shifted focus to Silicon Valley and Apple's massive cash pile.
But if Apple actually wanted to pair up with an old-school car company, Marchionne hasn't necessarily laid very good groundwork. If Apple builds a car, it will almost certainly be propelled by electricity — and Marchionne is no big fan of EVs.
""I will sell the (minimum) of what I need to sell and not one more," Marchionne said in 2014, speaking of the Fiat 500e, a car that at the time he claimed to lose $14,000 on for every sale
ABOVE IS FROM: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fiat-chrysler-ceo-couldnt-merge-224631384.html
Koch brothers-backed ad trumpets Joe Heck for Senate
Koch brothers-backed ad trumpets Joe Heck for Senate
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Heck responds to a question during an editorial board meeting at the Las Vegas Sun offices Monday, Aug. 11, 2014.
By Megan Messerly (contact)
Tuesday, March 1, 2016 | 12:54 p.m.
A new ad paid for by a Koch brothers-backed group hits Nevada’s airwaves today, lauding Republican Rep. Joe Heck in his Senate run.
The $700,000 television and digital ad buy focuses on Heck’s record on veterans issues as a congressman. It comes as the battle heats up between Heck and the Democratic candidate, former Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who is retiring.
The ad features a handful of veterans crediting Heck for leading the charge to fix the VA, expanding access to health care for veterans and, generally, going after “the culture of Washington.”
Veterans issues are key in Nevada, a state that is home to more than 224,000 veterans, according to 2015 U.S. Census Bureau figures.
The ad is paid for by Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative-leaning organization that advocates for reforms for veterans across the country and is part of the network of organizations affiliated with conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
This is the first major broadcast buy of 2016 for the group.
“CVA has long championed the reforms supported by Rep. Heck — they are critical to fixing the VA and ensuring that our veterans get the care and benefits they earned in the timely manner they deserve,” Dan Caldwell, the organization’s vice president for legislative and political action, said in a statement. “The VA is a glaring example of what happens when government bureaucrats create unnecessary obstacles to accessing quality health care.”
In response, a spokeswoman from the state Democratic party fired back, criticizing the Koch brothers’ support for Heck.
“After all, whether it’s supporting the privatization of Social Security, voting to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies, or opposing an increase in the minimum wage, Congressman Heck has spent his half a decade in Washington voting with the Koch brothers and special interests at every turn,” Sarah Zukowski, the party’s press secretary, said in a statement.
Above is from: http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/mar/01/koch-brothers-backed-ad-trumpets-joe-heck-for-sena/
Koch-Linked Group Releases Ad Backing G.O.P. Candidate for Harry Reid’s Seat
6:00 am ET6:00 am ET
Nick Corasaniti
Updated, 2:04 p.m. | The Koch network is unleashing its first political ad of 2016, right in Senator Harry Reid’s backyard.
As early as Wednesday, television viewers across Nevada will start to see an ad showing military veterans voicing their support for Representative Joe Heck, the Republican challenger for Mr. Reid’s seat when he retires at the end of his term.
The ad is part of a $700,000 broadcast and digital buy from the Concerned Veterans for America, an organization dedicated to overhauling the Veterans Affairs Department from a conservative viewpoint and part of the vast political network affiliated with the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch.
Featuring veterans praising Mr. Heck for his efforts as a congressman to change the Veterans Affairs Department, the ad stays solely in the realm of policy. At the end, they all thank Mr. Heck, an Iraq war veteran, for his “service to our veterans.”
“We don’t generally look at it through a political lens,” Daniel Caldwell, the vice president for political and legislative action at the Concerned Veterans for America, said of the ad. But he said: “We hope it does send a message to Harry Reid and to others in the race that these are issues that are important to veterans. We would hope that Harry Reid and others are paying attention to these ads.”
Changing the Veterans Affairs Department is an important issue in Nevada, one the group has been working toward for some time. And it is of concern to voters, with both Reno and Las Vegas having ranked among the top 15 places in the country in terms of how long veterans have had to wait for care, according to a June 2014 report in USA Today.
The race to replace Mr. Reid is poised to be a tight contest between Mr. Heck and Catherine Cortez Masto, the senator’s handpicked successor, and the group claims that the representative’s record, both toward changing the department and as a veteran, will be important to voters.
Although this is the first major broadcast buy of 2016 for the group, it was active last year. According to Mr. Caldwell, it ran a digital ad attacking Hillary Clinton for comments she had made about changing the department.
And it has not gone after only Democrats. In November, it sent out a press release critical of the plan of Donald J. Trump to reform the V.A., calling it “heavy on rhetoric, light on specifics.”
Sarah Zukowski, a spokeswoman for the Nevada State Democratic Party, said in a statement on Tuesday that it wasn’t surprising that the Koch brothers “would spend over half a million dollars propping up” Mr. Heck’s Senate campaign.
She added: “After all, whether it’s supporting the privatization of Social Security, voting to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies, or opposing an increase in the minimum wage, Congressman Heck has spent his half a decade in Washington voting with the Koch brothers and special interests at every turn.”
Above is from: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/01/koch-linked-group-releases-ad-backing-g-o-p-candidate-for-harry-reids-seat/
McHenry County Board members speak out about IMRF pension allegation
By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@shawmedia.com
McHenry County Board members defended their work records, and had some choice words, after once again finding themselves in the crosshairs of Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks.
Franks, of Marengo, announced Monday that he planned to ask for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that board members are not working the 1,000 hours a year required of them to be eligible to receive pensions under the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Fund Director Louis Kosiba, joined by Franks, told the Northwest Herald on Monday that his office is questioning whether board members are meeting the requirement.
Board member John Jung, R-Woodstock, said that Franks should mind the state’s business rather than the county’s, and pointed out the fact that he is one election away from being fully vested in the state pension system for Springfield lawmakers.
“I would think he’s got better things to do than to bring the guy from IMRF up here when the state is pretty much insolvent,” Jung said.
Under state law, McHenry County government employees must work at least 1,000 hours a year – or about 20 hours a week for 50 weeks – to qualify for IMRF benefits. The County Board in 1997 set a higher standard for its employees – the law otherwise sets a 600-hour annual minimum.
McHenry County received a letter last July from IMRF stating that it had received information calling the workloads into question, spokesman John Krupa said. The letter requested that board members fill out the disclosure form affirming that they were meeting the threshold. An audit of the county’s participation in IMRF was conducted last fall, and aside from some minor issues, no red flags were raised – the five-page audit makes no mention of board members.
But a passage from IMRF’s own policy manual, which Kosiba himself pointed out, raises questions. The manual states that, “barring highly unusual circumstances,” people elected to county and township boards and municipal governments will not qualify for IMRF pensions.
Board member Andrew Gasser, R-Fox River Grove, is one of two members who turned down an IMRF pension. While he questioned Franks’ motives and his timing – the announcement came two weeks before the primary – he said board members are going to have to prove they’re working the 1,000 hours required. Two other board members are collecting IMRF through previous government jobs and are not signed up through the county.
Above is from: http://www.nwherald.com/2016/03/01/mchenry-county-board-members-speak-out-about-imrf-pension-allegation/a47h7dg/
Ben Carson, Seeing No ‘Path Forward,’ Signals End to Bid
By TRIP GABRIELMARCH 2, 2016
Ben Carson, the only Republican to have once threatened the lead of Donald J. Trump in national polls, said on Wednesday he saw no path forward and would skip a debate on Thursday in his hometown of Detroit, signaling an end to his candidacy after paltry performances in the nominating contests.
Stopping short of suspending his campaign, Mr. Carson said he would provide more details in a speech on Friday, but after his dismal showing in the Super Tuesday states, his campaign is effectively over.
A retired pediatric brain surgeon of world renown, Mr. Carson long held Republicans’ favor with an uplifting biography and a quiet manner that belied his strafing critiques of President Obama and liberalism, which delighted grass-roots conservatives.
In the end, Mr. Carson withered under mocking insults hurled at him by Mr. Trump, especially in Iowa, and he suffered from voters’ desire for a candidate projecting strength at a time of anxiety over terrorism.
“Dr. Carson’s favorability ratings have never changed,” Armstrong Williams, a close adviser, said just before the Iowa caucuses last month, when Mr. Carson finished a disappointing fourth. “But after Paris and San Bernardino, his supporters made a different decision. They wanted a war president. Dr. Carson did not have the rhetoric or the competitiveness on the debate stage to say the explosive things, to say, ‘Let’s keep all the Muslims out.”’
Here’s the latest news and analysis of the candidates and issues shaping the presidential race.
Even in a year of fierce anti-establishment leanings, Mr. Carson’s months-long popularity, coupled with the prodigious support of small donors — his $20 million collected last summer led all other candidates – stunned political professionals.
- Born into poverty and raised by a single mother with a third-grade education, Mr. Carson remade himself from a wayward teenager into a scholar, winning admission to Yale and medical school. By 33, he was the chief of a major department at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He burst on the political scene in 2013 when he criticized President Obama’s health care plan at the National Prayer Breakfast, a video watched over and over by delighted conservatives.
After his disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Carson never seemed to regain his political footing. In the round of Super Tuesday contests Tuesday, his hopes for a strong performance in the South faltered, as he ran a distant fourth or fifth in every state.
“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” Mr. Carson said in a statement. “However, this grassroots movement on behalf of ‘We the People’ will continue.”
“I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America,” Mr. Carson said. “Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.”
Above is from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/ben-carson.html?emc=edit_na_20160302&nlid=53444314&ref=cta&_r=0
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