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The bridge collapse in Baltimore has ground many businesses to a halt, leaving municipal leaders scrambling to figure out what the next steps should be. But that's not the only thing collapsing in Charm City. After years of planning and adjustments, the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore is also launching some major adjustments. In what is being described as a "retooling of operations," the Catholic Church is preparing to consolidate the number of parishes in the city and the surrounding suburbs from 61 to 21. In other words, there will be barely one-third the number of worship centers for Catholics in...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday it wouldn’t surprise her to see some bank consolidation in the near future. “I see strength in the banking system that has a diverse set of financial institutions capable of satisfying different needs across our economy,” Yellen said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” adding, “We do have a diverse banking system with strong community banks, regional banks, larger banks that are involved in global business, and I wouldn’t want to see that threatened.” However, she continued, “Certainly in this environment, some banks are experiencing pressure on earnings and there is motivation to see some...

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and media mogul, is interested in acquiring either Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones or The Washington Post, a source familiar with his thinking told Axios. Why it matters: Bloomberg wants to expand his media empire and sees Dow Jones as his ideal fit, but he would buy the Post if Jeff Bezos were interested in selling, the source said. The combination of Bloomberg and Dow Jones would create an unparalleled business news behemoth. Details: Bloomberg, the source notes, would be interested in a potential acquisition of either property, but Dow Jones — the...

Consolidation throughout the healthcare industry is increasing costs and driving more care through hospitals, the Physicians Advocacy Institute warned in a letter to Congress. Healthcare organizations have been joining forces to try to get ahead of the industry's shifting landscape. The number of physicians employed by hospitals and health systems grew by nearly 50% from 2012 to 2015, with a corresponding decline in the number of independently practicing physicians, according to the letter—supported with research from consultancy Avalere Health—sent to the House Energy & Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee. The decline of the independent medical practice and lack of...

Distillers are fighting food waste and saving doughWhat’s old is new again. It’s a saying that applies perfectly for an idea by the owners of one of San Diego’s newest distilleries. “When we first came up with the idea, no one thought it was a good one,” said Sam Chereskin, co-owner of Misadventure and Company. His idea was to take old bread products and use them to make vodka. Once a week Chereskin takes a van to the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego food bank and picks up a load of more than a thousand pounds of bread products the...

MADISON, Wis. — Newly elected state Treasurer Matt Adamczyk ran on a campaign pledge of cutting 80 percent from a $545,000 annual budget. A few weeks into his first and supposed only term, he has, through lay-offs, already gotten rid of his two-member staff. Adamczyk also declined to fill an empty deputy treasurer position that was paying close to $107,000 a year in salary and benefits. “I’m a big believer that in government it’s not our job just to give people jobs,” Adamczyk told Wisconsin Reporter. The state has transferred most of the treasurer’s duties to other government agencies over...

These are the American Indian reservations the Department of Interior plans to focus on in the next phase of a $1.9 billion buyback program of fractionated land parcels to turn over to tribal governments. The program is part of a $3.4 billion settlement over mismanaged money held in trust by the U.S. government for individual Indian landowners. …

Roaming fees for voice calls, texts and internet access will effectively be completely scrapped under the proposals, which are part of a broader effort to create a single European telecoms market. The group of 27 European Commissioners voted in Brussels on Tuesday to drive the package through in time for the European elections in May next year, to come into force as soon as 1 July 2014. … They expect the death of roaming charges to typically wipe 2 percent off mobile operators’ revenues … The reforms are designed to encourage radical consolidation of European mobile network operators. A source...

I'm seeking advice from Freepers who have used a debt settlement service. I've just received a financial windfall, and want to settle out over $30,000 in credit card debt (mostly from a family business that failed that ended up on my credit, unfortunately.) I don't want to do it on my own, as I want to make sure that all debt is settled and I don't have anything hanging over me, and it appears part of it went to court without service. Sorry for the vanity, but couldn't find another recent thread on the topic, and I'm sure that there's...

State politicians and media are suddenly abuzz with the concept of consolidating school districts. Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to spend $50 million to "incentivize" districts to merge, and she's getting air support from a new Michigan State University study claiming that $612 million could be saved by consolidating Michigan's 551 school districts into 83 single-county districts. Policymakers should approach this study with extreme caution. For one thing, the study appears to contain a significant amount of material plagiarized from other sources. MSU says it's investigating, but from a public policy perspective the more immediate issue is the study's fatally flawed...

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/February/10-at-182.html NOTE: The following text SNIPPET is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Department of Justice and USDA Workshops to Explore Competition and Regulatory Issues in the Agriculture Industry to Begin March 12 in Iowa Initial Workshop to Be Held in Ankeny, Iowa, at Des Moines Area Community College, FFA Enrichment Center WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today the agenda and panelists for the first joint public workshop, which will be held on March 12, 2010, in Ankeny, Iowa, to explore competition and regulatory issues in the agriculture...

The executive board of the Service Employees International Union will take up a proposal Thursday to consolidate in a single local all long-term-care workers in California, despite the vehement protests of critics who say the change will weaken labor's hand. ... The idea is to move the 65,000 long-term-care workers of the 150,000 members of United Healthcare Workers-West in Oakland, San Jose's Local 521 and Los Angeles-based Local 6463 into a single group. Proponents say the concretion of wealth and globalizing corporate ownership requires unions to organize on a scale to compete with employers. Opponents, and in particular Sal Rosselli,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial firms face a "new world order" after a weekend fire sale of Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve's first emergency weekend meeting since 1979, research firm CreditSights said in a report on Monday. More industry consolidation and acquisitions may follow after JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Sunday said it was buying Bear Stearns (BSC.N) for $236 million, or $2 a share, a deep discount from the $30 price on Friday and record share price of about $172 last year. "Last evening the Bear Stearns situation reached a crescendo, as JPMorgan agreed to acquire the...

She spent her life praising God at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church - but Carmen Gonzalez's funeral will be held on the sidewalk outside the East Harlem building today because the Archdiocese of New York shuttered it last winter. Gonzalez, 72, a nearly life-long Our Lady parishioner who died Monday after a bout with cancer, fought the closure until the end, leading loved ones to say that the unusual memorial would be most fitting. "I have mixed feelings about this, but on the other hand, I think my mom would be very happy and would approve," her son Alfred...

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Ecuador's president toughened his stance against Congress on Saturday, saying that a special assembly elected to write a new constitution for the politically turbulent country should dissolve the lawmaking body. ``I thought the constituent assembly wouldn't have to dissolve Congress ... but with this kind of Congress we're not going to be able to do anything,'' Rafael Correa said in his weekly radio address. The assembly ``will have to dissolve Congress,'' he said. Earlier this year, Correa's insistence that the 130-member assembly, which Ecuadoreans are scheduled to elect on Sept. 30, have the power to dissolve...

Throughout most of history, humans lived in a state of extreme information poverty. News traveled slowly, field to field, village to village. Even with the printing press's advent, information spread at a snail's pace. Few knew how to find printed materials, assuming that they even knew how to read. Today, by contrast, we live in a world of unprecedented media abundance that once would have been the stuff of science-fiction novels. We can increasingly obtain and consume whatever media we want, wherever and whenever we want: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the bewildering variety of material available on the Internet....

New York — NASD today announced that its Board of Governors overwhelmingly approved by-law amendments that would implement governance changes to enable the recently announced consolidation of the member regulation units of NASD and NYSE Regulation into a new, independent self-regulatory organization (SRO). The by-law amendments will be voted on by the full membership of NASD before taking effect. "The vote today by the NASD Board recognizes the importance to the securities industry and investors of creating this single SRO," said Richard Brueckner, NASD's Presiding Governor and CEO of Pershing, LLC. "The greatly increased efficiency and cost savings brought about...

Aleksei Mordashov, the CEO of Russian Steel Co. Severstal says he is befuddled by his proposed $16.5 Billion deal with the steel giant Arcelor. "The deal would create the world's largest steel company with a 6% of global production," Mordashov says. It would also give him a 32% share of the new company his critics say. Arcelor, apparently is a national treasure in the European countries where it operates - Fance and Belgium. Another company, Mittal, wants to buy out Arcelor and the Arcelor board doesn't like that idea either. It sounds to me like they just don't want to...

Amnesty and Betrayal By William Norman Grigg The New American, Febuary 9, 2004 President Bush's proposed immigration reform package is a shocking betrayal of our nation's sovereignty, culture and economy. It must not be allowed to pass. Bill Clinton uttered countless deceptive words during his eight-year occupancy of the White House, but perhaps none captured the essence of his slippery dishonesty better than these:'It depends on what the meaning of the word ëis' is.î In defending his proposed amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, George W. Bush is striving to set a new record for brazen presidential dishonesty. ìThis plan...

A Better Approach to Government Consolidation Print E-mail By The Effort Staff Friday, 03 February 2006 By Jalexson HUTCHINSON, KS -- Current talk about government consolidation in Kansas is basically just a continuation of the ancient attempts of cities to control the surrounding countryside. Cities want to force rural residents to finance the services city residents receive and to obey city laws. There is a better approach to the issue than what city governments are suggesting. County governments are necessary because they are the administrative units of the state. City governments only exist because urban residents want more services or...