| Rank | Male name | Female name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob | Emma |
| 2 | Michael | Isabella |
| 3 | Ethan | Emily |
| 4 | Joshua | Madison |
| 5 | Daniel | Ava |
| 6 | Alexander | Olivia |
| 7 | Anthony | Sophia |
| 8 | William | Abigail |
| 9 | Christopher | Elizabeth |
| 10 | Matthew | Chloe |
Michael Astrue, a moderate Republican whom I know slightly, today withdrew his name from consideration as head of the Food and Drug Administration. He was known to be President Bush’s top choice for the position, but Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, announced that he would refuse to hold hearings on an the prospective nomination. Kennedy doesn’t accuse Astrue, a former general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services and current chairman of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, of harboring abhorrent right-wing opinions. His “disqualification” is that he has worked for Biogen, and the Senator opposes allowing anyone with a background in the pharmaceutical industry to be in charge of the FDA.
MGB served Binder & Binder, a social security disability law firm, as general contractor for a structural redevelopment, expansion, and a complete interior fit-out of the firm's 22,000 s/f, two-story office building at 34 Industrial St. The $3.3 million project encompassed the addition of a floor, including a floor slab, steel columns, and beams; construction of column foundations; exterior renovation; demolition of the pre-existing space; construction of new office interiors; and new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and sprinkler systems. The MGB team installed a new sewer ejector system that incorporates a pump and a ¼-mile pipe connection to the city sewer line.
Binder & Binder administrative offices, designed by UAI Urban Architectural Initiatives, encompass an open plan area, private offices, and a large employee cafeteria. The building features a new elevator and a staircase.
From Government Executive.Com:
The Merit Systems Protection Board has ruled that a disabled veteran can legally challenge the government's career internship program, reversing a 2008 decision by an administrative judge.
The ruling deals another blow to the Federal Career Intern Program, created by a 2000 executive order as a special hiring authority for the government. A July decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allowed a separate lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union against the program to move forward.
The veteran, Alvern C. Weed, said the internship program cost him a job with the Social Security Administration in 2005. Weed had applied for the job during the first round of hiring by responding to an advertisement on the federal recruiting site USAJobs.gov, and was added to a list of candidates who had preference because of their veteran status. But the supervisor in charge of filling the position ignored that list, according to the case, and instead selected two candidates who responded to a newspaper advertisement.
Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.
The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. ...More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.
Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors' visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.
There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.
[Barbara] Kennelly's group [the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare] wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn't call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150. ...
"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."
A $9 million boost in federal funding will result in 150 new permanent jobs for an Arkansas state agency to process other states’ Social Security disability claims.Good thinking by Social Security and the state of Arkansas -- profiting from the foolishness of other states which have pointlessly furloughed disability determination employees during state budget crises even though the furloughs do nothing to help state budgets.
A legislative panel on Friday approved receiving the funds for the state Disability Determination for Social Security Administration.
“It’s manna from heaven,” said Sen. Steve Bryeles, D-Blytheville, before the request was granted without dissent.
Agency director Arthur Boutiette said Arkansas is one of five states to be designated as “Mega Disability Agencies” to handle other states’ claims.
“In the negotiations the last month or so, we told the federal government that we had some requirements of them,” Boutiette told lawmakers Friday. “This morning they did meet those requirements. These are new jobs for Arkansas, permanent jobs.” ...
The minimum salaries for the jobs will range from about $26,500 to more than $117,000. Typical starting salaries will be about $29,000. Boutiette said those will increase to $32,000 with satisfactory performance.
The agency currently has 281 employees.
Boutiette said the Social Security Administration asked Arkansas for help because nationwide, it is behind in processing about 750,000 claims.
“We’ve been No. 1 in the country the last four years in a row in quality,” Boutiette said. “We have one of the cheapest costs per case.”
