College students taking out new loans for the fall term will see interest rates twice what they were in the spring – unless Congress fulfills its pledge to restore lower rates when it returns after the July 4 holiday.
Subsidized Stafford loans, which account for roughly a quarter of all direct federal borrowing, went from 3.4 percent interest to 6.8 percent interest on Monday. Congress’ Joint Economic Committee estimated the cost passed to students would be about $2,600.
Associated Press photographer Chris Carlson is no stranger to heat. He grew up just outside Palm Springs, Calif. On Friday, he returned to his desert roots, leaving his home near Los Angeles and driving to the hottest place on earth on one of the hottest days of the year. Below, he describes what it is like to be in triple digit heat in Death Valley:
By 9 a.m., the two bags of ice I loaded in the cooler are gone and the floor of my rental car looks like a storage bin at a recycling plant. Hydration is essential.
I know what to expect in Death Valley: Unrelenting heat so bad it makes my eyes hurt, as if someone is blowing a hair dryer in my face. I don’t leave CDs or electronics in the car because they could melt or warp.
California’s state attorneys are paid far less than their counterparts in local governments and the private sector. The union, one of the smallest bargaining units in the state, for years has argued for pay parity with little success.
In the last few years the union has taken a different tack by aggressively fighting contracts that outsource legal work it says should go to its members.
Here are pay numbers for California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment , Bargaining Unit 2:
River Delta Unified named Don Beno superintendent at its regular board meeting Tuesday night.
Beno was assistant superintendent of human resources for Woodland Joint Unified. He will replace River Delta Superintendent Rick Hennes, who is retiring.
Beno worked for Woodland Joint Unified for two years. Before that he was the assistant superintendent of human resources for Washington Unified for five years.
Assembly Bill 76 call for greater scrutiny of “additional appointments” and the policy that fueled them.
The measure requires the Department of Human Resources make regular reports to the Legislature on employees who hold two or more jobs in state government. The State Personnel Board would also have to make a report to the Legislature about the obscure, loosely-written policy manual departments leaned on to justify the practice.
The measure, now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, is the latest turn in a series of events triggered by Bee reports that showed how the once-obscure policy allowed California state employees — including salaried managers — to take a second hourly-wage job within their same department.
The Independent Agent Network 