Metro Nashville Public Schools expect to cut more than 100 special education paraprofessional jobs funded by 2009 federal stimulus funds, but they say the reduction won�t come at a cost to students.A Metro mom whose daughter is a rising fourth-grader with autism at Eakin Elementary believes that�s impossible.�For Metro to say that will not impact the services that they�re getting doesn�t make any sense to me,� said Omegbhai Uriri, a member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Committee Advisory Council for Disabilities.�In a special ed classroom typically � the teachers cannot get to all of them, so the parapro works with the kids, so the teacher can rotate between each child to make sure each child is working at the level that child needs.�Uriri said a ... Continue reading →

By Jacob Fenton Friday, March 23rd, 2012 Between 2008 and 2010, broadband subscribership increased in the West and throughout rural areas in much of the central part of the nation, but the South has continued to lag behind. To put this map on your site see our guide to embedding it. Also see a sortable chart of the 100 largest cities or states. For more details read the story or download the data. Sources: Demographic data come from the U.S. Census' 2005-9 American Community Survey; Broadband adoption is based on the 768Kbps download / 200Kbps upload standard used by the Federal Communications Commission's Form 477 data. The national percentage was estimated by the Investigative Reporting Workshop; for more details, methodology Continue reading →

Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT9017577777879Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY6776474737576Honolulu, HI9086869727274Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL5366866707273San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA30547172717172San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA18406869707072Colorado Springs, CO6266369687172Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH45896871707272Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT11966869697171Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA8036568686971San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA43186971696871Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV54766770697171Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL5876159686771Syracuse, NY6467365676870New Haven-Milford, CT8486568696970Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC16746265666869Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL20826666676869Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL27476263666869Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA34085966656369Worcester, MA8046265666869Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, ME5177163636368Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI32706164656668Ogden-Clearfield, UT5426263656668Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO25526265646668Rochester, NY10367362666668Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA5375863646668Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY8588164656667New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA190706266656767Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA22426165635867Pittsburgh, PA23555761636567Salt Lake City, UT11306060646567Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA128755962636566Raleigh-Cary, NC11267065646666Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA16016264656766Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD59686265646566Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ8165859616366Madison, WI5706162636065Springfield, MA6995558606565Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL5835357626365Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA8506162636365Baltimore-Towson, MD26915862636465Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI15606463626365Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX17056764646364Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA5635761626464Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC6596462636364Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ43645958606064Columbus, OH18026662616164Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN21726361616263Akron, OH7006560616263Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI95816062616163Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA21275860596163Indianapolis-Carmel, IN17445760606062Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI44035760616162Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH20915857595962Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC17466059596061Lancaster, PA5085155515361Jacksonville, FL13285558596161Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY11245757596061Tucson, AZ10205757565761Provo-Orem, UT5565458595861Albuquerque, NM8585357575960Oklahoma City, OK12275657575860Baton Rouge, LA7875759616160Wichita, KS6135858595960Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL55475556565960Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA41435154575860Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA54755659585760Boise City-Nampa, ID6065455575959Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX64485759585859Las Vegas-Paradise, NV19035858585859St. Louis, MO-IL28295556585759Richmond, VA12385154565859Kansas City, MO-KS20685858575859New ... Continue reading →

Tower climber Jay Guilford poses atop a cell tower. He was one of 11 climbers to die while working on AT&T jobs during a wave of cell service expansion from 2006 to 2008. Photo courtesy of Bridget Pierce. Jay Guilford was a tiny but vital cog in the carrier’s plans. On a clear evening in May, Guilford was dangling, 150 feet in the air, from a cell tower in southwest Indiana. He had been sent aloft to take pictures of AT&T antennas soon to be replaced by 3G equipment. Work complete, Guilford sped his descent by rappelling on a rope. Safety standards required him to step down the metal pole, peg by peg, using a special line that would catch automatically if he fell. But ... Continue reading →

RED BLUFF — After years of litigation, planning and construction, the pumps for the Fish Passage Improvement Project on the Sacramento River are expected to be fully operating Tuesday. "It's certainly a moment to stop and reflect and celebrate," said Jeff Sutton, general manager of project partner Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority. Test pumping began May 10, which means "we're delivering water to our growers as we speak," he said Thursday. "It's literally right in the nick of time." A groundbreaking in March 2010 drew then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, whose office touted it as "part of the largest Department of Interior economic stimulus project in the nation." Overseeing the project is the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which put its cost at ... Continue reading →

Study: Safety inspections don't hurt profits By SAM HANANEL WASHINGTON While businesses bemoan the cost of regulations, a new study suggests that government enforcement of workplace health and safety rules can save lives without sapping a company's bottom line. The findings come from a decade-long look at hundreds of California work sites subject to random safety inspections. Researchers found that 9.4 percent of those companies reduced their injury claims with no discernible impact on profits. Better yet, the same companies saved an average of 26 percent on workers' compensation costs in the four years following an inspection when compared with similar firms that were not randomly inspected. The study, published online Thursday in the journal Science, challenges business groups' complaints about "job-killing regulations." Critics of ... Continue reading →

Owner of giant strawberry hopes fight isn't fruitless Graphic/Photo Slug:SH12E130BIGSTRAWBERRY JOSH SHAFFER Raleigh News and Observer 05-17-12 ELLERBE N.C. With wooden beams, Sheetrock and foam, Lee Berry built the world's largest strawberry here, about 90 miles southwest of Raleigh-- a 20-foot monument to his homemade ice cream business, a red-and-yellow beacon so garish and eye-catching that the beach traffic couldn't help but stop for a lick. Then state government shut him down, took his land by eminent domain, wrote him a check for his life's work -- and evicted his 16,000-pound, fruit-shaped building for the sake of a new highway bypass. So this is the story of a berry farmer named Berry and how he persisted, jabbing a finger in the eye of The Man. ... Continue reading →

Facebook Raises $16 Billion in I.P.O. By EVELYN M. RUSLI and PETER EAVISJoel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFacebook pulled it off.As investors raced to get shares, the sprawling social network raised $16 billion on Thursday, in an initial public offering that values Facebook at $104 billion.The I.P.O. signals a rapid evolution for the company. In just eight years, Facebook has gone from a scrappy college service founded in a Harvard dormitory to the third-largest public offering in the history of the United States, behind General Motors and Visa.Investors, who are paying $38 a share for the offering, now consider Facebook more stalwart than a start-up. At $104 billion, the social network’s market value is higher than McDonald’s, Citigroup, Amazon.com and all but a handful of ... Continue reading →

WEEKI WACHEE — Hands-on experience is already a fundamental part of Weeki Wachee High School's sequence of courses on power and energy technology.In Steve Stora's second-floor classroom, students learn about electricity, pneumatics and hydraulics by building projects like steam-powered catapults and magnetic levitation model trains. Next fall, the learning lab will extend to the school's back yard when the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative sets up power poles, wires, transformers and other equipment their linemen work with every day. The school district is embarking on a partnership with the power cooperative to give students a firsthand look at the electric power industry. The power company has offered to build a training yard similar to the one behind its office on State Road 50, near Weeki Wachee.Employees ... Continue reading →

Indicators for Basic Geography Manufacturing jobs reflect 2010 estimates. Estimates are gathered by place of work and reflect the number of jobs, not workers. Manufacturing share of total employment reflects the share of total payroll employment, which does not include the self-employed. Very high-tech and moderately high-tech manufacturing industries are designated as such because they have large shares of science and engineering occupations. To qualify as very high-tech, the share of science and engineering occupations within an industry must be at least five times the economy-wide national average. The threshold for moderately high tech industries is two times the national average. Source: Brookings analysis of data supplied by Moody's Analytics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics survey (to determine industry technology level) ... Continue reading →