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<p>A plan that would lift Pacific Gas and Electric Co. out of 2 1/2 years of bankruptcy and require consumers to bear most of the utility's $12 billion-plus debt load won approval Friday from a bankruptcy judge, leaving its fate to state utility regulators.</p>

The repeal of the Bush tax cuts has been a common mantra from the Democratic Party, especially from the nine liberals running for president. Some are calling for a full repeal of all tax relief, while others are hoping to see large portions of the relief reversed, particularly that which benefits higher income earners. Just this week, Sen. Joe Lieberman proposed to hike taxes on the wealthy to levels even higher than before the passage of the tax cuts. The truth is they opposed the tax relief from the beginning – well-before it was ever passed. If the hopes of...

THEY represented hope for separatist movements across the world, but the stunning defeat of the Parti Quebecois in elections this week appears to have finished off its campaign for independence. After nearly a decade in power in the largely French-speaking Canadian province, voters dramatically dumped the party in favour of the Jean Charest’s federalist Liberal party and his promise of tax-cuts. The Liberals won 76 seats in the provincial legislature, compared with just 45 for the centre-left Parti Quebecois (PQ). The extent of the victory was underlined by a major shift in voting patterns, with large numbers of French-speaking voters...

More than 50 years ago, the United States hosted a great internal debate about our responsibilities to deter world aggression. The issue was NATO, which pledged all member nations to come to the aid of one who was attacked. Republican Sen. Robert Taft said it would be an incitement to future wars. He was wrong. We joined NATO and became the point of its spear to ward off aggression. It proved a solid bulwark against the possibility of Red tanks pushing through Germany on the way to France. NATO proved indispensable for warding off aggression. But that was then. Now...

"AN ACT Relating to creating the tax-me-more account; adding a new section to chapter 82.32 RCW; and creating a new section. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: NEW SECTION. Sec. Recognizing there are individuals who believe they are undertaxed and that advocate a greater tax burden for Washingtonians, it is hereby the declared policy of this state to provide such individuals with the opportunity to contribute more of their income to state government and to this end there is hereby created in the state treasury the "tax-me-more account." Any person who believes they are undertaxed...

<p>LEWISTON, Maine (AP) Since last fall, when Mayor Larry Raymond made waves by discouraging further Somali migration to the city, a key development has been obscured in the ensuing racially charged maelstrom of protest, counter-protest and international attention.</p> <p>The mayor got his wish: large numbers of Somalis have stopped coming to Lewiston.</p>

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Business Jan. 28, 2003, 8:51AM Loan debt, burden hit worse now Student liabilities triple over decade By GREG WINTER New York Times Every so often, when the phones grow quiet and the copiers still, Margot E. Miles glances at the lawyers devouring cases around her and thinks: "I could do that. I would love to do that." A smile overtakes her as she envisions life as a lawyer -- fighting injustice, changing the world -- until the prickly reminder of having $25,000 in undergraduate loans wipes it away. Dreams can wait. As for the need to...

In each of the last six years, Maine has earned a distinction that will not make state residents proud: the highest state and local tax burden of any state in the United States. According to the Tax Foundation (a widely respected nonpartisan educational organization founded in 1937),the amount of state and local taxes collected as a percentage of income is higher in Maine than any other state in the nation. In fact, for the past 30 years, Maine has consistently had a higher state and local tax burden than the United States average. Furthermore, since 1995, Maine’s disparity from...