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Banks seek swifter process as foreclosures climb

DAYTONA BEACH -- The new year started with no relief from the high number of foreclosure filings across Volusia and Flagler counties and the state.

ICBA - Community Bank Locator
www.icba.org/consumer/BankLocator.cfm?sn.ItemNumber=51757
Community banks are the safest, soundest and most secure financial institutions in our nation. Community banks are common sense lenders that follow responsible business practices; are risk averse; and work every day to support their customers, communities and local markets

IRABankRatings.com - Move Your Money Project
Banks in Your Neighborhood
FDIC Depository Institutions with Branches close to your ZIP code 32952.
Source: FDIC Branch Data/IRA Bank Monitor

Mall Riots: Why Are Some Americans Becoming Violent Shoppers? | | AlterNet
Americans used to protest in the streets; now some have resorted to fighting each other in shopping malls. What happened?

'No Labor Market Recession For America's Affluent,' Low-Wage Workers Hit Hardest: STUDY
Though the national unemployment rate dipped slightly in January to 9.7 percent, a new study suggests that not only have low-income workers been the hardest hit by the jobs crisis -- but, shockingly, there has been "no labor market recession for America's affluent."
The study from Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada and Sheila Palma at Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies suggests that the unemployment problem is largely a problem for low-wage workers (hat tip to the Curious Capitalist).

Think Progress » Kristol Calls GOP’s Preconditions On Health Care Meeting ‘Silly’
On Sunday, President Obama announced his intention to host a televised bipartisan meeting on health care reform “to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward.” Yesterday, congressional GOP leaders responded with a list of preconditions for simply sitting down with the President and Democrats

World: Obama better than Bush: The Swamp
That billboard in Mnnesota picturing former President George W. Bush asks the world: "Miss me yet?''
Well, now we have the world's answer: Not so much.
President Barack Obama has had a tough first year dealing with domestic issues, but according to the latest polls, he has chalked up a success in how the rest of the world sees the United States.

Your home is your (dangerous) castle « The Pump Handle it’s not the safest place to be, at least in terms of being injured (here injury includes not only trauma but poisoning, but if we restrict it to trauma probably little is changed). Here’s one of CDC’s “Quickstat” looks at the percentage distribution of injuries by place of occurrence, as reported in a cluster sample of the US population (the National Health Interview Survey). The years covered are 2004 to 2007

Florida 2010: Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio, Alex Sink and the Law of Unintended Consequences -- Politics Daily
Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio sought to curry favor with conservatives last week by suggesting that not all immigrants should be counted in the 2010 Census. Rubio is the son of immigrants. A day later, Gov. Charlie Crist – Rubio's opponent in the GOP senatorial race and a man dubbed "Gov. Sunshine" -- let it slip that some of his supporters told him he ought to shun President Obama when the chief executive visited Florida.

Return Of the Repressed? Birtherism, Homophobia, Racial Paranoia Rise To Surface At Tea Party Confab
The National Tea Party Convention, which wrapped up Saturday night with a televised speech by Sarah Palin, offered an outlet for some of the fouler strands of modern conservatism that had long been bubbling beneath the surface of the Tea Party movement.

FOR THE RECORD: Kosmas, Posey blast Obama space budget, job losses in statements Among those disappointed by President Obama's pivotal space budget were Brevard County's two U.S. Representatives. Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, the Democrat whose district includes Kennedy Space Center, and Congressman Bill Posey, whose district includes space worker and contractors, had fought to extend the life of the shuttle fleet or boost development of the Orion -Ares spacecraft system for trips to the moon and Mars. We got neither and expect a net loss of about 6,000 space jobs.

Brevard Commission boss Bolin: Jobs Brevard's biggest issue | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY QUESTION: When you campaigned for office in 2006, you told FLORIDA TODAY: "In walking door to door, the conversation was about roads . . . and what was I going to do about the growth pattern?" What are voters telling you today?

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Poll: Public Supports Stimulus Provisions As Congress considers new jobs legislation, a new poll shows a large majority of the public supports the basic provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Obama budget's military increase should reach Brevard | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY Obama's 2 percent proposed increase in the military budget could help high-tech industries in Brevard County

GOP's Key Anti-Union Witness Underpaid Workers, Violated Wage Laws | TPMMuckraker House Republicans held a forum last month to slam the Obama administration's alliance with organized labor, charging, among other things, that government favoritism toward the labor movement was unfairly preventing non-union companies from getting contracts.

Policymakers warn on recovery, stimulus exit | Reuters DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Top policymakers warned on Thursday the world economy is not out of the woods and a global recovery is still far from secure, urging caution as central banks work on withdrawing critical support.


Obama to recast agenda to focus on jobs, deficit | Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will recast his agenda in a high-stakes address to the American people on Wednesday, focusing on jobs and deficits as he seeks to weather his worst political storm since taking office.

Our views: Step back, fast (Jan. 27) | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY Did we hear this right? Economic development isn’t that important to Brevard County?

Brevard’s unemployment rate inches upward | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY
Unemployment on the Space Coast jumped to 12.1 percent in December as the area’s job woes continue to darken.The rate was the same as November, which state labor officials recalibrated from its earlier estimate of 11.9 percent

Shocker: Tea Party Convention Opening Speaker Suggests a Return to Jim Crow Voting Laws GOPer Tom Tancredo suggests "literacy test" to protect America from presidents like Obama -- a segregation-era method employed by southern US states to keep blacks from voting.

FOR THE RECORD: Kosmas, Posey blast Obama space budget, job losses in statements Among those disappointed by President Obama's pivotal space budget were Brevard County's two U.S. Representatives. Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, the Democrat whose district includes Kennedy Space Center, and Congressman Bill Posey, whose district includes space worker and contractors, had fought to extend the life of the shuttle fleet or boost development of the Orion -Ares spacecraft system for trips to the moon and Mars. We got neither and expect a net loss of about 6,000 space jobs.

Slash and Privatize: How House GOP's Shadow Budget Eliminates Deficit ... In About 50 Years Slash and Privatize: How House GOP's Shadow Budget Eliminates Deficit ... In About 50 Years

Brevard property appraiser spotlights paper’s request online | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY The petition was one of 2,741 filed in the county for the 2009 tax year. It is the only one the property appraiser issued a press release about.

Brevard Commission boss Bolin: Jobs Brevard's biggest issue | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY QUESTION: When you campaigned for office in 2006, you told FLORIDA TODAY: "In walking door to door, the conversation was about roads . . . and what was I going to do about the growth pattern?" What are voters telling you today?

The Democrats' Politics Problem: It's Not Just The Economy, Stupid! As hard as you might try, you'll probably never forget the words "I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it." That awkward phrase was supposed to explain why he'd voted against funding the Iraq war (Kerry wanted to pay for the effort by raising taxes on the wealthy--but Republicans didn't want to pay for it at all). But instead it haunted Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for months until the day he lost the 2004 election.

Feds drop sex charge against candidate | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY A federal judge ordered Brevard County House District 31 Democratic candidate Joseph F. Crowley released this morning in light of an announcement by prosecutors that a child sex charge against him was being dismissed, court records show.

Florida ballot proposal targets class size limits - Education - BradentonHerald.com TALLAHASSEE — A newly filed ballot proposal to weaken Florida’s class size limits drew immediate opposition Tuesday from the statewide teachers union and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who led a 2002 campaign that put the requirements in the state constitution.

03 FEB 10 Florida ballot proposal targets class size limits - Education - BradentonHerald.com TALLAHASSEE — A newly filed ballot proposal to weaken Florida’s class size limits drew immediate opposition Tuesday from the statewide teachers union and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who led a 2002 campaign that put the requirements in the state constitution.

Pushing kids and teachers to the bottom | SocialistWorker.org PEOPLE2 Adrienne Johnstone, a member of United Educators of San Francisco and the Educators for a Democratic Union caucus in her union, looks at the destructive impact of the latest education “reform” proposals from the Obama administration.

AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Poll: Public Supports Stimulus Provisions As Congress considers new jobs legislation, a new poll shows a large majority of the public supports the basic provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Americans Can Buy American Just when you thought the turmoil with unsafe toys from China was terminated and you thought your children could safely play with any toy imported from anywhere, we learn that Chinese producers have replaced lead with hazardous levels of cadmium

Dancing around the pain - OrlandoSentinel.com Hardly anyone in Florida hasn't felt the sting of the state's economy, from its hemorrhaging housing market to its dangerously high unemployment.

Six measures make 2010 ballot - St. Petersburg Times TALLAHASSEE — Voters will decide on six proposed constitutional amendments this fall with Monday's end to the window for proposals to qualify for the ballot.

Rasmussen poll: Rubio 49%, Crist 37%; Obama disapproval at 58% | Post on Politics The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows Marco Rubio opening up a 12-point lead on Gov. Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary race. Rubio’s lead is beyond the poll’s 5 percent margin of error.
Rasmussen had Rubio and Crist tied at 43 percent in a poll last month. A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed Rubio with a small lead.

Florida GOP aims to weaken class-size amendment as final caps take effect this year TALLAHASSEE — More than $16 billion and eight years later after voters put class-size limits into the state constitution, GOP lawmakers are once again trying to weaken the caps while teachers and Democrats are lining up to fight it.

More federal dollars could come to Brevard schools | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY President Obama's budget plan would judge schools based on academic growth and progress from one year to the next.Brevard Public Schools could benefit from that and receive more federal dollars.

Obama budget's military increase should reach Brevard | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY Obama's 2 percent proposed increase in the military budget could help high-tech industries in Brevard County