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HIGHLIGHTS
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Sheboygan River Cleanup -- Public
Forum
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Income and
Poverty Data
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LIHEAP
Data
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Great Lakes and
St. Lawrence Cities
Initiative
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House Coalition
Legislative Director
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Manufacturing
Extension Partnership --
Letters
Sheboygan
River
Cleanup – Public Forum
The
Northeast-Midwest
Institute
on Thursday, September 20, will host a public forum on the economic
advantages of improving environmental quality in the
Sheboygan
area. The forum will be held at the
Blue
Harbor
Resort
& Conference
Center
(725
Blue Harbor Drive,
Sheboygan,
WI)
from 2:00
pm
to 3:30
pm
and will feature a presentation by Dr.
John Braden, from
the University
of Illinois,
concerning the results of a two-year study on the economic value of
cleaning up the Sheboygan River Area of Concern (AOC). Specifically,
Professor Braden will detail how many homeowners may realize gains
in house prices as a result of cleanup activities in the river.
Other speakers include Sheboygan Mayor Juan Perez, Wisconsin State
Senator Joe Leibham, Marc Tuchman with EPA’s Great Lakes National
Program Office, James McNelly with the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources, and Jon Gumtow with the Sheboygan River Basin
Partnership. David Ullrich, director of the
Great
Lakes
and St.
Lawrence
Cities Initiative, will moderate the event. Contact: Nicole
Mays
at the Northeast-Midwest Institute (202/584-3378).
Income and Poverty
Data
The
Northeast-Midwest Institute’s web site now includes updated
state-level data through 2005 for poverty rates (http://www.nemw.org/poverty.htm) and median household
income (http://www.nemw.org/income.htm). The tables show
data for three-year averages, which are the best numbers for
comparing state levels and for assessing state changes over
time. The Institute does not rank states according to
their levels for poverty and median household income because the
standard error ranges for these data make rankings difficult.
For more information about statistically significant comparisons
among states, see the notes at the bottom of the
tables.
LIHEAP
Data
The Northeast-Midwest
Institute has posted updated information about the Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in anticipation of appropriations
action by Congress this fall. One chart (http://www.nemw.org/LIHEAPchart_PurchasePowerCurrent82.pdf) shows how energy
inflation has eroded the purchasing power of LIHEAP
appropriations. A second chart (http://www.nemw.org/LIHEAPchart_AppropsCurrent82.pdf) shows that a fiscal
2006 appropriation of $3.25 billion would have been needed in order
to account for inflation in the energy sector and keep LIHEAP even
with its 1982 amount for regular LIHEAP formula funds. A data
table (http://www.nemw.org/liheap_history.htm) lists authorization
levels, funding requests from the White House, and appropriations
for the regular and emergency LIHEAP grants for fiscal 1982 through
2006. Click here (http://www.nemw.org/energy_coalition.htm#LIHEAP) for links to all three
new web postings.
As of July, the House
Appropriations Committee had approved fiscal 2007 spending of $1.93
billion in regular LIHEAP formula funds, and the Senate
Appropriations Committee had approved $1.98 billion. Both the
House and the Senate committees also approved $181.17 million in
LIHEAP contingency/emergency funds. Last year, Congress
initially appropriated $1.98 billion in regular LIHEAP formula funds
and $181.17 million in LIHEAP contingency/emergency funds for fiscal
2006, but it then added $500 million to both the regular formula
funds (for a total of $2.48 billion) and the contingency/emergency
funds (for a total of $681.17 million).
Responding to requests
from the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions, the
Department of Health and Human Services last week released $79.9
million of LIHEAP fiscal-2006 contingency funds. LIHEAP, which provides
federal funds to help pay for household heating and cooling costs,
is an important program for northeastern and midwestern
states.
Great
Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities
Initiative
The
Great
Lakes and
St.
Lawrence Cities Initiative,
founded by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and now chaired by Toronto
Mayor David Miller, has become an independent organization. Launched several years ago
by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, the Cities Initiative helps
mayors and other local officials develop and advocate programs to
improve the resource.
Information on the group can be found at
www.glslcities.org.
House Coalition Legislative
Director
Katie Waszkiewicz is the
Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition’s new legislative
director.
Katie previously served as legislative assistant to
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), where she focused on agriculture,
education, veterans affairs, budget, and financial services.
She is a graduate of Colgate
University. She can be reach
at 202/226-5181 or Katie.waszkiewicz@mail.house.gov
Manufacturing Extension Partnership –
Letters
House members are
circulating two letters supporting the Manufacturing Extension
Partnership (MEP), a program within the Department of Commerce that
assists small and medium-sized firms. One letter requests support
from the Office of Management and Budget regarding the president's fiscal 2008 budget
proposal. The other
encourages congressional conferees to support the Senate’s $106
million appropriation for fiscal 2007. Contact: Katie Waszkiewicz
with the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and Manufacturing
Task Force (202/226-5181.
Calendar | Media
Links |
Reports/Periodicals
Northeast-Midwest
Institute
218 D St,
SE
Washington
DC
20003
Ph. 202 544
5200
Email
dickmunson@nemw.org
with
comments or to unsubscribe from this mailing list.
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