|
Slovenian, Italian, French, Hungarian and Ukrainian transport ministers have signed a memorandum of understanding with European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot regarding the construction of the fifth pan-European transport corridor that connects the French city of Lyon with the Ukrainian border.
Slovenian Transport Minister Janez Bozic told STA that the document, signed on Monday, 16 October, defines further activities along the 1,600-kilometres long route, a part of which runs through Slovenia.
The memorandum, signed in the Italian city of Udine, also coordinates the approaches to the project, which has been dubbed project No 6 and is scheduled for completion around 2015.
The meeting took part as part of a ministerial conference entitled "Pan European Transport Corridor; a Strategic Tool for a Connected Europe".
JACKSON - Gov. Haley Barbour has called a special legislative session for Thursday, a second try to get lawmakers to pass his proposed tax cut for modular housing, which Barbour said is crucial to rebuilding from Katrina. But the Republican governor, who has the constitutional power to call special sessions and set their agendas, is not going to allow lawmakers to consider a state-funded homeowner grant or loan program pushed by the House Democratic leadership. In a letter recently published by the Sun Herald, House Democratic leaders called for Barbour to allow them to consider such a state-funded homeowner program when he calls them back to deal with modular housing. Barbour has helped thwart House attempts to pass state-funded Katrina homeowner programs. He said a multibillion-dollar federal program he successfully lobbied Congress to pass, and the administration of which he is overseeing, should suffice.
Hanoi- Seven construction workers were killed when a four-story building under renovation collapsed in southern Vietnam, official said Saturday. Police had detained the owner of the house for questioning about the accident in southern Long An province on Friday afternoon, according to Nguyen Manh Tuan, chairman of the local People' Committee. "He may be charged for violating the law on construction and causing severe consequences," Tuan said. The collapse appeared to have been caused by renovations to the private home to add two new floors to the home, which had previously had only two stories, Tuan said. Of the 23 workers on the project, 12 were outside the house at the time of the sudden collapse. Rescue workers found six bodies and pulled five people alive from the wreckage. One of the rescued workers died of injuries in hospital.
After a delay to research laws affecting the relocation of mobile home owners for development, a new development is back on track. Horace and Reta Duncan have asked to rezone 6 acres southeast of Bloomingdale Avenue and Duncan Road from agricultural to planned development. The property would become the site of a fast-food restaurant, a bank and office space. The project would also offer 46 multifamily units, some of them located above shops. The case was delayed so that engineering firm Point Builders could answer a question about state law. A developer cannot rezone a property containing a mobile home park without determining whether the surrounding area contains adequate mobile home parks for relocation. The developer, however, argued that the law does not apply to the project because it places the requirement on parks in which 10 or more lots are rented by residents who own their mobile homes.
Several of the Valley's fast-growing communities are ratcheting up the fees that developers pay to municipalities to create parks, libraries and police and fire stations.
Among some of the highest fees are those in parts of north Phoenix, where they are increasing to $26,000 for each new rooftop.
Municipal planners in Phoenix and other cities, including Surprise, Mesa and Goodyear, are gearing up to charge more to cover the increases in costs they have to pay to deliver city services to their newest residents. .
The Newport self-published author was left high and dry recently when officials with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife increased advertising rates and changed the format in taking over production of the "2007 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations." A three-line advertisement for Lackner's magnum opus, a thin-but-meaty pamphlet titled "Digging Razor Clams in Oregon," is tucked below the "Clam and Crab Identification" illustration on Page 97 of the current "2006 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations." It cost him $180. "I sold somewhere between 100 and 120 at $6.95 a book, so you can see I'm not making a lot," Lackner said. "But I was happy to do it because what it bought me was exposure. "And it's something that I can point to in my marketing scheme when I go talk to potential retailers." So he called Dick Meyers, the person who had shoehorned his thin ad into the 2006 regs.
In response to Commissioner Faye Dyer's Oct. 17 letter, "Correcting inequities," I would like to provide a correction to one of her statements. Dyer asserts that Madison residents living in Limestone County pay nothing to send their children to Madison City Schools. This is incorrect. Those residents pay an 8.5 mills county school tax, which Limestone County keeps, and an 11 mills City of Madison school tax, which goes to Madison City Schools. I do not know where Dyer obtained her data, but I received the facts stated here from the Madison mayor's office. Furthermore, I think Dyer's comments are more telling as to her agenda on this issue: The Madison County sales tax is lower than Limestone County by a half-cent. And truth be told, a sales tax has a much broader base, and is therefore able to better fund schools while having less of a financial impact on the taxpayer than a property tax.
|
