Homeland Security Issues New Regs for Private Aircraft Departing U.S.

WPCNR FLYWAYS. From Department of Homeland Security. November 17, 2008: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today additional measures to strengthen private aircraft security by requiring more detailed information about arriving and departing private aircraft and persons onboard, within a timeframe necessary for the department to assess the risks that certain international flights may pose to national security. 


“We’re placing considerable emphasis on raising security in the general aviation sector,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.  “By getting basic electronic information in advance, like we do with commercial aircraft, we are able to substantially reduce a vulnerability.”



The final rule will require pilots of private aircraft to send U.S. Customs and Border Protection their electronic manifest data relative to all people traveling onboard.  The following information must be sent one hour prior to departure for flights arriving into or departing from the United States by filing manifest data through the Electronic Advanced Passenger Information System or an approved alternate system:



·        Advance notice of arrival information;


·        Advance notice of departure information;


·        Aircraft information to foster aircraft identification; and


·        Complete passenger and crew manifest data



The final rule announced today results from more than 3,000 comments received from the Advance Information on Private Aircraft Arriving and Departing the United States notice of proposed rulemaking published in September 2007. The final rule has been sent to the Federal Register for publication and is currently available at www.cbp.gov.


 

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Older Than Dirt

WPCNR REMINISCING. November 15, 2008: The following  reminices have been going around, and in case you have not read it. It may stir a fond memory or two on a  depressing November day.


 







OLDER THAN DIRT









 















‘Someone asked the other day, ‘What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?’








 







‘We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him. ‘All the food was slow.’ 

‘C’mon, seriously. Where did you eat?’








 










 










 





‘It was a place called ‘at home,” I explained. ! ‘Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn’t like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.’










 












By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn’t tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:










 










 





Some parents NEVER! owned their own house, wore








Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.










 












My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn’t have a television in our house until I was 5. It was, of course, black and white, 










 












I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called ‘pizza pie.’ When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It’s still the best pizza I ever had.










 












We didn’t have a car until I was 4. It was an old black Dodge.











I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn’t know weren’t already using the line.










 










 





Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.










 










 










 





All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at










 










6AM








every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.










 










 










 





Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else’s tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn’t do that in movies. I don’t know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren’t allowed to see them










 










 












If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don’t blame me if they bust a gut laughing. 










 





Growing up isn’t what it used to be, is it?








 







MEMORIES from a friend:








 










 










 





My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother’s house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to ‘sprinkle’ clothes with because we didn’t have steam irons. Man, I am old.







How many do you remember? 

Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. 
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. 
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. 
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. 

Older Than Dirt Quiz:








 










 










Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about







Ratings at the bottom.







1 Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water 
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles 
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke  boxes 
6 . Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers 
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie 
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax 
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels) 
12. Peashooters 
13. Howdy Doody 
14. 45 RPM records 
15. S& H greenstamps 
16 Hi-fi’s
17. Metal ice trays with lever 
18. Mimeograph paper
19 Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns 
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers 

If you remembered 0-5 = You’re still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older 
If you remembered 11-15 = Don’t tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You’re older than dirt! 

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life. 

Don’t forget to pass this along!! 
Especially to all your really OLD friends…

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County Schedules 2.7% Tax Increase Even After Cuts.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. (EDITED) November 15, 2008: Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano issued a $1.773 Billion 2009 Budget today, calling for a 2.7% County Property Tax increase.


  “Yet, even with extensive cuts, that is not enough to hold the line on taxes,” Spano said. “It is our loss of $26 million in revenues that is causing county taxes to go up 2.97 percent.”

County taxes account for about 15-18 percent of a taxpayer’s property tax bill, Spano said. The remainder comes from taxes levied by schools, local governments and special districts. The exact impact of the county tax increase on a property owner varies from community to community, due to difference assessment practices.

Spano’s budget now goes to the Board of Legislators, which has until Dec. 27 to approve a final spending plan for next year.  


The Details:


 


 


Despite a loss of about $26 million in revenues and an increase of more than $20 million in energy costs and mandated expenses, County Executive Andy Spano today proposed a budget for 2009 that decreases county spending from this year.  

“The economic environment we face today as well as into the foreseeable future has and will continue to have an effect on every resident of Westchester County,” Spano said. “ I am well aware of the tax burden placed on our residents from all taxing districts and how many are finding it difficu lt to make ends meet.”
        


 He added, “My goal is to continue to keep our county taxes down; to share services with local governments so they can reduce costs; and to continue to be fiscally responsible. At the same time, we must continue to protect the safety and well-being of every Westchester resident and maintain our quality of life.”

Spano described the challenges of the budget as “unprecedented” due to the nationwide recession. “We have a $46 million hole in our budget to close,” said Spano, referring to a loss of $26 million in revenues from state aid, interest on investments and the mortgage tax ; and a $20 million increase in costs beyond the county’s control. 

To reduce county spending, every line in the county budget was examined.


  • While there are no layoffs in the budget, 52 vacant positions would be eliminated for a total of 146 positions since he first took office.
  • There will be no purchases of vehicles, and overtime and equipment purchases have been reduced significantly.
  • All  costs for the amusement part of Playland will be borne by patrons, not by taxpayers, saving another $3.3 million.
  • The Department of Community Mental Health has been restructured.
  • There will be no raises in 2009 for commissioners, department heads and other managers who are not in a union.  

 “To minimize the impact on the taxpayers of Westchester, I have slashed discretionary spending so that the 2009 budget is actually less than what was budgeted for 2008,” Spano said. “The gross budget for 2009 is $1,773,479,195. All discretionary spending except that which impacts the health and safety of the county has been reduced. I have done what I believe our residents have been doing in paring down their own spending.”

  “Yet, even with these extensive cuts, that is not enough to hold the line on taxes,” Spano said. “It is our loss of $26 million in revenues that is causing county taxes to go up 2.97 percent.”

County taxes account for about 15-18 percent of a taxpayer’s property tax bill. The remainder comes from taxes levied by schools, local governments and special districts. The exact impact of the county tax increase on a property owner varies from community to community, due to difference assessment practices.

Spano’s budget now goes to the Board of Legislators, which has until Dec. 27 to approve a final spending plan for next year.  

“For the foreseeable future, we all will be affected by the economic downturn,” Spano said. “I continue to be concerned about the welfare of our residents-those on fixed incomes, those who ar e unemployed, those who have seen their savings disappear and those who have lost their homes. I assure you that I will continue to protect our taxpayers and will still provide the services the public needs.”

Here are highlights of the budget:

REVENUES


Due to forces beyond the county’s control, the government is facing a tremendous loss of revenue.


  • Mortgage Tax revenue is budgeted at $16.8 million for 2009, reflecting a decrease of $11.9 million from the 2008 budget and more than $15 million less than actual  receipts in 2007.
  • Interest on Investments is down $4.8 million from 2008.
  • Loss of state aid is expected to be at least $9.6 million
  • Sales Tax revenue growth is projected to grow only 1 percent next year. 


REQUIRED EXPENDITURES

As it deals with loss of revenue, the county must also address increased expenditures beyond its control:


  • $3.6 million increase in fuel costs for the Bee-Line bus system
  • $1.15 million increase in Para-transit due to increased ridership as well as increased fuel costs.
  • $5.7 million increase in the cost of utilities for the county as a whole. One reason for this is that Entergy’s contract to supply low-cost power to schools and governments expire at the end of this year. Despite the county’s requests to continue the contract, Entergy has refused, causing utility rates to increase for all these entities.
  • $2.7  million a dded in legal fees from the fair housing lawsuit and from court-ordered property tax reductions for “certiorari” cases
  • $4.9 million increase in the cost of state-mandated programs for Children with Special Needs
  • $2.4 million increase in the cost of Medicaid

 

MISC.


The budget also includes the following:


  • No decrease for contract agencies. These non-profits will be held at 2008 levels.
  • The county, as required by law, will continue to fund the federal Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA).  Although costs have gone up since 2005, municipalities have been held harmless.
  • Money is included in the budget to fund negotiated labor contracts.
  • There is no increase in Bee-Line bus fares, but there will be an increase of $1 per ride for Para transit rides
  • Support for the Westchester Medical Center will be decreased to a net of $13.5 million.
  • The county’s Special Studies account has been eliminated. Money not spent from 2008 will be used on global warming, autism and performance-based management initiatives.

 

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YEAR 2001 COMMITTEE PAC Reports for 06,07, 08 Posted Online

WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. Special to WPCNR – November 13, 2008 – Albany, NY –  The New York State Board of Elections has posted online for public viewing recent financial disclosure reports filed by the White Plains-based YEAR TWO THOUSAND ONE COMMITTEE PAC (political action committee) headed by John Ioris. Posted are the periodic reports dated July 2008,  January 2008, July 2007, January 2007, July 2006, and January 2006.

 

The reports filed with the Board of Elections provide information identifying contributors to the PAC, amounts contributed, and expenses by the PAC. 

 

Leaders of the White Plains Democratic City Committee have brought a court case seeking to force disclosure of more details about the PAC’s finances. They have charged that the PAC spent excessive money in support of Mayor Delfino’s past re-election. Ioris has said nothing improper was done. According to a report in The Journal News, in September, New York State Supreme Court Judge Francis Nicolai ordered the PAC to file forms with the New York State Board of Elections identifying recipients of money it has spent since July 2005.

 

The reports are identified as having been posted by the state computer on November 13,2008.

 

The Board of Elections reports are posted  for all to see at: http://www.elections.state.ny.us:8080/plsql_browser/getfiler2?filerid_in=A38026

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