County legislation ties up loose ends – journal-news.net | News, sports, jobs, community information for Martinsburg – The Journal

During their special session last week, West Virginia‘s lawmakers extended authority to counties so they can suballocate bond money available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to municipalities and other agencies as well as appease some state leaders whose home counties were left out of the original allocation of bond funds.

“If the state doesn’t specifically designate that counties have the authority to do something, then counties can’t do it,” explained state Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, who chaired the Senate Finance Subcommittee that handled the bill enabling counties to suballocate Recovery Zone bonds money to municipalities or public service districts and other quasi-governmental agencies.

Counties needed authority to apply the bonds to road and transportation projects, also, Unger said.

“Counties must be given authorization to spend any money on roads,” he said in a recent telephone interview.

As part of the federal stimulus package passed earlier this year, two kinds of bond programs were established, the Recovery Zone Economic Development Bond program for the public sector and the Recovery Zone Facility Bond program for the private sector.

GOP preparing to challenge Mollohan for seat  – State News – Charleston Daily Mail – West Virginia News and Sports -

Congressman Alan Mollohan, who had no opposition from the GOP in eight of his 14 election bids, could have more than a half dozen Republicans vying to unseat him in 2010.

So far, at least seven Republicans have expressed interest in Mollohan’s seat in the first congressional district. That’s as many as have opposed Mollohan in all his elections since he won the seat in 1982, according to records from the Secretary of State‘s office.

Four Republicans have filed pre-candidacy forms. They include Cindy Hall, Randy Smith, Thomas Stark and Daniel Scott Swisher.

State Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, announced earlier this fall he plans to enter the race.

County approves land use regulation changes – NewsandSentinel.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Community Information – Parkersburg News and Sentinel

Several proposed changes in Wood County‘s land use regulations were approved Monday by the county commission.

No one attended the public hearing Monday on the proposed amendments to the subdivision regulations.

“These are actually very minor changes. They have already been adopted by the planning commission which then recommended they be sent on to the county commission for approval,” said Marty Seufer, county administrator and planning commission coordinator.

One of the changes requires notification of adjoining property owners by certified mail instead of regular mail. Adjoining landowners are notified of any public hearings relating to development of new subdivisions coming before the planning commission.

“Another change relates to the performance bond posted by developers. If a bond is required it will now be for a period of one year irrevocable by the developer and to be renewed on an annual basis until reduced or released,” Seufer told the commissioners.

“Previously it was incumbent on the developer to ask to have the bond released,” Seufer said.

Big Government » Blog Archive » SEIU Leader Resigns After Threatening Legal Action Against Boy Scout

A union leader in Pennsylvania has resigned after being criticized for threatening legal action over an aspiring Eagle Scout’s volunteer project.

Nick Balzano, president of the Service Employees International Union’s Allentown chapter, submitted an unexpected resignation letter Thursday, along with a few other employees, SEIU spokesman Matt Nerzig told Foxnews.com.

The resignations came one day after FoxNews.com reported that Balzano had come under fire for saying earlier in the month that the SEIU might file a grievance against the city of Allentown for allowing 17-year-old Kevin Anderson to voluntarily clear a walking trail in a local park, instead of paying union members to do the work.

The Clean Energy Act of 2009: A Missed Opportunity for Real Nuclear Energy Policy Reform

Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jim Webb (D-VA) recently introduced their bipartisan Clean Energy Act of 2009 (CEA 2009), which aims to create a business and regulatory environment to double nuclear power production in just two decades. While their reform efforts are laudable and necessary, most of their recommendations will not bring about their desired results.

The CEA 2009 effectively doubles the federal clean energy loan guarantee program to $100 billion by authorizing $10 billion to cover the subsidy costs, which are calculated based on the likelihood of default. Assuming a 10 percent default risk, which the bill does, $10 billion is adequate to cover $100 billion in loans. While minimal loan guarantee programs are beneficial in some limited circumstances, they should not be the foundation on which entire industries depend. Yet that is what the CEA 2009 potentially creates. It is a massive direct government intervention into capital markets that artificially and broadly discounts the cost of capital for an entire industry. Because it is not coupled with adequate reforms to address underlying issues like waste management and inefficient regulation, the program essentially promotes bad business and bad public policy. It allows the recipient to be competitive as a result of government support rather than through innovation or greater efficiency and it allows the federal government to avoid making tough policy decisions while claiming to help the nuclear industry.

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