| Roughneck, Bruised Head
Chantal Desharnais is no stranger to the outdoors or manual labour. Still, the 24-year-old Quebecker, who had previously worked in construction and spent a summer living on the banks of a B.C. river picking fruit for income had reservations about going to Calgary to work in the natural gas industry for the summer. But it was the moral dilemma of working in an industry she has ethical disagreements with, not the physical labour, she was concerned with, says the student in international relations at the Université du Québec à Montréal. As many before her, though, the lucrative work provided an opportunity to make enough money over the summer to cover her tuition fees and help with student loan debts. But while she says she was prepared for the physical rigour of the work, she never expected the sexism she would face–or the serious injuries she would sustain.
Mo. student loan agency forgives loans for 510 teachers
Those covered in this most recent effort have federal Stafford loans and are either first-year teachers or provisionally certified to teach math, science or special education.
MOHELA, over the next two years, also plans to forgive many Stafford loans for engineering and pre-engineering students who live in Missouri.
Gov. Matt Blunt has used more than $300 million from the loan authority to pay for college construction projects. ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. .
Channeling Suze Orman
I was near the deadline for a column when I glanced at a TV screen. "The Suze Orman Show," airing on CNBC at prime time, exerted a powerful force in my hotel room. And the fate of this column was sealed.Orman made a big splash many years ago on public television — the incubating environment for her as a national phenom. With articulate calls for intelligent self-determination of one's own financial future, she is a master of the long form. Humor and dramatic cadences punch up the impacts of her performances. Seeing her the other night, within a matter of seconds, I realized that the jig was up. How could a mere underachieving syndicated columnist hope to withstand the blandishments and certainties of Suze Orman, bestselling author and revered eminence from the erudite bastions of PBS to the hard-boiled financial realms of General Electric's CNBC? To resist was pointless.
Proposal would allow more public art
Haines made news last year when he installed murals on the underside of the Lithia Way bridge without city or Oregon Department of Transportation permission. He later had to remove the murals. Haines said the draft ordinance would not apply to the mural project because it is about public art on private property. Under the proposed law, a property owner and artist could temporarily or permanently donate, license or lease art to the city of Ashland. The donor would maintain and insure the art. Haines said the law would help the city avoid problems with a Supreme Court ruling on free speech rights. The Supreme Court held that government rules must be content-neutral. A government, for example, can make rules about the size, number and placement of commercial signs, but not the content of the signs, he said.
Morgan’s finances questioned
Former Speaker of the House Richard Morgan says the money he withdrew from his campaign account was taken as part of a political strategy. “The purpose of doing the distribution was so I would have an advantage over my political enemies,” Morgan said. “... I certainly didn’t want them to have the advantage knowing how many resources were available to me should I run for office again or in the legal matter that could have been forthcoming or would ensue.” Morgan’s 16-year legislative career ended in the 2006 Republican primary when Joe Boylan beat him by 333 votes. Morgan raised the largest chunk of his money in the mid- to late 1990s and in early 2000 when he held powerful positions in the legislature. Before new campaign finance laws took effect last fall barring the practice, Morgan moved more than $500,000 of campaign contributions to his personal accounts.
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