Free Republic

**SNIP** Although applications cannot be submitted until Monday morning, the city put the site up Friday so people can prepare to file, said Tom Alexander, a spokesman for the mayor. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. Jan. 25. In addition to the power and influence, the job comes with a $115,000 annual salary, a $73,280 expense account to set up a ward office and control over $176,484 in staff salaries. Jackson told supporters this week she would like her chief of staff, Keiana Barrett, or local Pastor Scott Onque, to be appointed to replace her. But sources said the...

Stepping aboard a school bus will soon be the same as taking a seat in class for some students in the North Kansas City schools. In January, the district will begin wiring four school buses that are used for longer trips with Wi-Fi access. It’s believed to be the first such effort locally. The innovative move is just one more example of how local districts are adapting to keep up with technology and use it for the benefit of students. “We are living in a digital age,” said Eric Sipes, information technology executive director for the district. “We are at...

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.(Genesis 4:16-17)The story of Cain; his rejected worship, the murder of his brother, consequently ,his sentence to be a vagabond on earth, and the city he built, is one of the primary lessons of the entire Bible. The God of the Bible wants us to consider the deeper...

City attorney of San Bernardino Jim Penman had the audacity to tell the truth to the residents of bankrupt San Bernardino at a recent city council meeting. Taking stock of the fact that San Bernardino’s murder rate has jumped 50 percent over the last year, that the city has been cutting its police force by about 80 officers, and that there is no good news in sight, Penman stated, “lock your doors and load your guns.” He stands by the statement today, explaining, “you should say what you mean and mean what you say.” Penman continued, “Let’s be honest, we...

A team of 15 is caring for him around the clock. His favorite toy is a plastic bucket. He has taken swimmingly to a large pool. And on Friday, he had his first taste of solid food — surf clams. “He’s hitting every milestone we’re hoping to see,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, director of the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, Brooklyn, part of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “He still has some issues with his bladder, but they are trending in the right direction. Behaviorally, he’s doing great and we’re feeling good about his progress.” He was describing Mitik, or...

For eight consecutive years, the city of Pontiac broke the law by spending more for police services than it budgeted. According to the city records, Pontiac violated the State Budget Act from 2002 to 2009 and was part of the reason why an emergency financial manager was appointed in 2009. In August 2011, Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel worked out an arrangement where the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office took over as provider of police services for Pontiac. The sheriff’s office brought in the existing 50 Pontiac police officers and re-hired 13 other former Pontiac police officers who had been laid off,...

Pontiac taxpayers have been paying $10,000 a month to keep the lights on at what is basically a huge, nearly vacant garage. As the product of a 1970s urban renewal project, the Phoenix Center has been draining money from the city of Pontiac for years. It was running a half million dollar deficit when it was operational as a parking garage and occassional concert venue with events being held on the top floor of the structure. According to available records, the last event held at the center was in 2008. "With the Phoenix Center not in use, just to keep...

Talk about bureaucratic red tape. Try dealing with 87 different government union health insurance plans. That was one of the headaches Lou Schimmel faced when he became emergency manager for the city of Pontiac. The city now has one plan and will save millions by consolidating, which would have been nearly impossible without the state's emergency manager law. "Every union had their own negotiated health plan with either no or low deductibles and co-pays,” said John Naglick, Pontiac's finance director. "These plans had been negotiated over the years. An employee who retired under a certain health plan expected to be...

Promises to unionized government workers and debt payments due on a failed movie studio have prompted a state review team to recommend an emergency manager for the city of Allen Park. The six-member panel noted that those items, along with budgeted expenditures for police and fire service account for 82 percent of the city's entire budget. The report also made note of minimum staffing requirements in the police and firefighter contracts, suggesting those alone "will render the financial situation in Allen Park difficult to resolve." Gov. Rick Snyder has 30 days to review the report and decide whether to appoint...

In 2006, the city of Flint operated at a $5.9 million surplus. Four years later, the city was $48.1 million in the red. Examining how Flint ended up with an emergency manager in 2011 reveals a laundry list of issues that hit municipal finances at the same time. “It’s hard to tie it to one thing,” said Michael Brown, the city’s current emergency manager. At a time when the city’s revenue was evaporating, its expenses were rapidly escalating. For example, the city’s revenue from property tax, income tax and state-shared revenue dropped a combined $19.2 million from 2006 to 2011....

The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company's president spoke out publicly against gay marriage. Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he doesn't want a business in the city "that discriminates against a population." Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family. The fast-food chicken sandwich chain later said that it strives to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect --...

Both the Pontiac School District and the city of Pontiac are operating with deficits, but the city is climbing out of the hole while the school district suffers. Why? Because the schools are operating with the same officials at the helm trying to implement a deficit elimination plan while the city recovers thanks to a strong emergency manager. In spite of its own plan to get out of the red, the Pontiac School District faces a $24.5 million deficit. That's 32.4 percent of its annual revenue. Of the 48 Michigan public school districts with deficits, only two of comparable size...

Allen Park is well known for the fiasco surrounding a failed $30 million movie studio the city government got involved in, but that's only part of the problem. Allen Park also is being held hostage by a pension and a retiree health insurance program that is only a dream to people who work in the private sector. Typically, Allen Park's government union workers retire in their 50s, earn close to full salary with mid-career overtime loading, and get lifetime health, dental and vision care for themselves and their dependents for no more than $1,100 a year, according to city documents....

Oklahoma City, OK, United States (4E) – Oklahoma City has been dubbed “America’s Manliest City” in the fourth annual Combo’s “America’s Manliest Cities” list. Conducted by New Jersey-based Mars Chocolate, in conjunction with research expert Bert Sperling, the list ranks the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas using a scale that takes into account the number of home improvement stores, steak houses and “manly” occupations per capita. Cities stood to lose points if they had too many “girly” or feminine factors, such as a high number of nail salons or high-end retail boutiques. Topping the list as America’s Manliest City is...

by John HillStand With Arizona A pro-illegal alien activist group announced what they promised to be a "massive" protest to "demand" that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's famous Tent City be "shut down", but then chickened out when Arpaio invited them to his office to discuss it. "Puente", a left-wing, Soros-funded  group which advocates for illegal alien amnesty and against Arizona immigration law S.B. 1070, declared their intention to "take on" the "racist Sheriff Joe" and show they are "unafraid". But that all changed after this Sheriff Joe Facebook post: Evidently Puente does not like my 19 year old successful tent...

When Joyce Parker took over as emergency manager for the city of Ecorse in 2009, she was faced with a police union whose five-year contract had been expired for two years. Faced with $8 million in debt, Parker wasn’t going to be able to save any money in police overtime with more efficient scheduling. That was because the contract wouldn’t allow it. The provision of the Police Officers Association of Michigan contract read: “The City will not change the work schedule resulting in the loss of overtime.” “I’ve never seen that in a contract,” Parker said this month. “There is...

For the second time in two years, the city of Oak Park is asking for a tax increase via a public safety millage, saying it has made signficant cuts in its workforce but that those efforts didn't save enough money. The city's budgets online, however, appear to dispute the claims of how deep those cuts were. Voters will be asked May 8 to approve a 1.14 mills Public Safety Millage for 10 years. Voters approved a 1-mill Public Safety Millage last year, but the city now says that wasn’t enough because of a drop in residential property values. The city...

Allen Park went "all in" on Michigan's film subsidy program. When the deal collapsed, the mid-sized city got stuck with the bill. Adding in skyrocketing public employee legacy costs leaves a recipe for fiscal disaster.

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have become sadly accustomed to California - America's Sanctuary State - sinking lower and lower into utter lawlessness for the sake of naked racial politics. But whatever they do in Sacramento doesn't even come close to the utter madness that is Los Angeles - which makes the rest of the state look conservative by comparison. This week saw the Los Angeles Police Department announcing that it will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days - because it is "unfair" to illegal aliens!That's right....

<p>Chicago - City Clerk Susana Mendoza is investigating whether gang signs are in the artwork of the new Chicago city sticker just days before the sticker is set to be printed.</p> <p>The sticker was picked as the winner in a city-wide contest and was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.</p>