LOCK YOUR DOORS
Amherst police are working hard to catch a daring daylight burglar. This thief has entered two homes in Amherst to steal everything of value.
In one instance the thief entered a home as the lady was walking her dog. In the second break in the lady of the house was in the basement. She heard noises upstairs but knew her husband was outside mowing the lawn. When she reached the first floor she was face to face with the thief.
Amherst residents are being cautioned to lock all doors whether you are at home or away. Your safety is priceless. Take a moment every time you come or go.
LOCK YOUR DOORS.
VOTING OFFICIALS FACE NEW RULES TO BAR CONFLICTS
State officials who run the nation’s elections are facing efforts to limit what some have criticized as political and financial conflicts of interest.
“Across the country, state voting officials routinely participate as candidates in races they are responsible for overseeing or act as leaders in their political parties. In the last presidential election, the secretaries of state in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, were chairmen of their states’ re-election campaigns for President Bush.”
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HURRICANE VICTIMS RUSH TO APPLY FOR GRANTS AS DEADLINE LOOMS
So far the Road Home program, financed with federal dollars, has provided grants to fewer than a quarter of all applicants following hurricane Katrina.
“Hundreds of Louisianians whose homes were ruined by Hurricane Katrina rushed to meet a Tuesday deadline set by the state’s troubled housing aid program, even as a deficit of billions of dollars threatened to leave thousands without a grant.”
“. . . in recent days applications have been pouring in at the rate of more than 1,000 per day, mostly by phone and Internet, program officials say.”
“The cutoff for applications is July 31, the last chance many here will get for government help to cover losses from the hurricane.”
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H.I.V. PATIENTS ANXIOUS AS SUPPORT PROGRAMS CUT BACK
When someone contracts AIDS they need care on a variety of levels, not just medical. The Ryan White Care Act was rewritten in December. Congress expanded the regions eligible for money and allowed less assistance for support programs like meals and legal aid. Not our best moment.
“In the golden hills of Marin County, it is hard to imagine that free food or emergency cab fares could matter much to anyone.”
“But for hundreds of people who were thrown into poverty by AIDS, like Wade Flores, 45, a former distributor for a chocolate company who lives alone and is getting sicker and weaker, recent cutbacks seem like a matter of life and death.”
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JITTERY STOCK MARKET DROPS AS MORTGAGE FALLOUT SPREADS
This has not been a good week on the stock market. If you have been paying attention to what’s going on since last Friday you know that it hasn’t been a great week. Housing issues are only making things worse.
With little respite on the horizon, the mortgage market was hit with another wave of bad news yesterday, sending the stock market down sharply.
Shares in two large home-loan insurers sank after they said their combined stake of more than $1 billion in a mortgage company known as C-Bass might be worthless.
And shares in the mortgage lender American Home Mortgage Investment Corporation, whose stock trading had been halted Monday and much of yesterday, plunged 89 percent to $1.16 after the company said increased margin calls from its lenders, or demands for more cash or collateral, had left it unable to finance the mortgages and could force it to liquidate. Some analysts said the company might have to seek bankruptcy.
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