I would have gotten this word out earlier (AT&T's DSL went out yesterday afternoon), but we WJLX will not broadcast Sen. Richard Shelby's town hall meeting today, and, perhaps just as importantly, I won't be on the air myself, as "Talk of the Town" is no more. I will be moving to WIXI, 1360 AM, effective Monday, April 20, to be a co-host on "The People's Viewpoint" with Bucky Rizzo and (occasionally) Charles Bishop from 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
I have enjoyed my show and the crew at WJLX, and I would have done it for a long time. I wish them well, and they have done the same for me; we part on good terms. However, the ad revenue just wasn't there at this time to support the show. I depended on that revenue for my revenue, and the bad economy never gave it a chance. With the economy getting somewhat of a break recently, and after some discussions with those involved with "The People's Viewpoint," there may be a way this new show can work out. I think we will be blending some elements from my show and Bucky Rizzo's show, which was also formerly on WJLX. I will still be bringing the local and state news on this show. I should also point out the time slot and the signal strength should amount to an improvement.
At any rate, thank you to everyone who supported "Talk of the Town." I think it was a journalistic success and proved that we can have another way to bring newsmakers into your homes, offices and cars. I hope you'll follow me to 1360 AM.
Showing posts with label Richard Shelby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Shelby. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A funny way to budget
Sometimes the world of budgeting is something to behold in government, where the slight of hand is sometimes more agile than on a Las Vegas stage. Many times it becomes a matter of whose projections do you believe or whether some funds are included or not.
I am not prone to agree with U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby every day of the week, but he was certainly right this week to warn the Alabama Legislature not to base its budgets this year on what is coming from Washington. But of course, that is what is happening. Last year, there were rosy projections in time for the election, and some say that the governor was the one making the rosy projections that time. At any rate, the Legislature signed on to it as well, and we wound up with a shortfall. Now we have school proration and we are already digging out of the rainy day accounts.
But the byword from any number of cities, counties and states is to wait for the stimulus package. It has been described in such terms that, depending on the version you like, it will fund everything your heart desires, and that includes the hearts of career politicians who want to cover up their losses and hand out the pork. The real effect was to help out the economy, and you can see by Tuesday's near 400 point drop there are a few skeptics in that arena.
Of course, things get more diverse in Walker County. The Jasper City Council appears to be headed down the right path as it meets at noon Thursday to consider ways to trim items and as it has already passed a three month freeze on non-budgeted spending items. If it does get stimulus money, it will likely be used for projects that are already engineered and are ready to go. No one can blame the city and they are good projects. We just hope from the federal standpoint that these projects can create some construction or other jobs. It does not appear the city, at this point, is plugging leaks with stimulus money. That cannot be said of Montgomery, where two new Democratic congressman from Alabama have already been publicly blasted by the AEA for voting against the stimulus, taking away their precious education budget funding.
Then there is the Walker County Commission, which is getting just under $2 million in funds just from the license fees for bingo halls. And the best part is we have no plan on how to use the money in the wake of the commission got rid of the rules and we have to keep in mind the court still has to rule on whether electronic bingo is legal. It has its own stimulus package, but all it really stands to stimulate is illegal gambling rather than any set need. At the very least it may at least help out the county’s General Fund for a while, and the county has plugged up that borrowing that got it in trouble a while back and seems not to be in dire shape. But we would feel better if the commission held a meeting like the one Jasper is holding. We would feel better if all local governments had such a meeting to review their current budgets rather than depend on pie-in-the-sky bailouts that may not last forever.
In short, government finds funny ways to fund itself these days. How funny it remains a year from now when these budgets get executed and there is no more free lunches to fill the lunch pail.
I am not prone to agree with U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby every day of the week, but he was certainly right this week to warn the Alabama Legislature not to base its budgets this year on what is coming from Washington. But of course, that is what is happening. Last year, there were rosy projections in time for the election, and some say that the governor was the one making the rosy projections that time. At any rate, the Legislature signed on to it as well, and we wound up with a shortfall. Now we have school proration and we are already digging out of the rainy day accounts.
But the byword from any number of cities, counties and states is to wait for the stimulus package. It has been described in such terms that, depending on the version you like, it will fund everything your heart desires, and that includes the hearts of career politicians who want to cover up their losses and hand out the pork. The real effect was to help out the economy, and you can see by Tuesday's near 400 point drop there are a few skeptics in that arena.
Of course, things get more diverse in Walker County. The Jasper City Council appears to be headed down the right path as it meets at noon Thursday to consider ways to trim items and as it has already passed a three month freeze on non-budgeted spending items. If it does get stimulus money, it will likely be used for projects that are already engineered and are ready to go. No one can blame the city and they are good projects. We just hope from the federal standpoint that these projects can create some construction or other jobs. It does not appear the city, at this point, is plugging leaks with stimulus money. That cannot be said of Montgomery, where two new Democratic congressman from Alabama have already been publicly blasted by the AEA for voting against the stimulus, taking away their precious education budget funding.
Then there is the Walker County Commission, which is getting just under $2 million in funds just from the license fees for bingo halls. And the best part is we have no plan on how to use the money in the wake of the commission got rid of the rules and we have to keep in mind the court still has to rule on whether electronic bingo is legal. It has its own stimulus package, but all it really stands to stimulate is illegal gambling rather than any set need. At the very least it may at least help out the county’s General Fund for a while, and the county has plugged up that borrowing that got it in trouble a while back and seems not to be in dire shape. But we would feel better if the commission held a meeting like the one Jasper is holding. We would feel better if all local governments had such a meeting to review their current budgets rather than depend on pie-in-the-sky bailouts that may not last forever.
In short, government finds funny ways to fund itself these days. How funny it remains a year from now when these budgets get executed and there is no more free lunches to fill the lunch pail.
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