| New report shows minimum income required by older people in UK
A University of London team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has just published a report in the International Journal of Epidemiology defining the minimum income required by older people to live healthy and decent lives. The team for the first time assembled the current best evidence from worldwide research conducted since World War II on the essential personal needs of older people in diet and exercise, safe and warm homes in good repair, human relations and belonging, medical care and personal hygiene, and getting about. These basic needs were translated into practicable everyday ways of living, and their minimum personal costs were established for the over 65s in England today. The analysis demonstrated that minimum income needs as assessed in this study were close to 50% greater than the UK state pension.
JK Rowling Bloomsbury Web Chat Transcript
WARNING: This page contains HUGE Deathly Hallows PLOT SPOILERS! Proceed only if you have completed the book!
J.K. Rowling: I'm here and I can't wait! Bring on the questions!
Leaky Cauldron: What, if anything, did the wizarding world learn, and how did society change, as a direct result of the war with voldemort? (i.E., not as a result of harry, ron and hermione's future careers.)
J.K. Rowling: The Ministry of Magic was de-corrupted, and with Kingsley at the helm the discrimination that was always latent there was eradicated. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny et al would of course play a significant part in the re-building of wizarding society through their future careers.
Ryan Love: From your fans at thesnitch.Co.Uk. Weren't we supposed to see ginny display powerful magical abilities in "deathly hallows" and find out why it's significant that she's the seventh child? Was her main role in the books only to be harry's love interest?
J.K.
Solution's a slam dunk for overcharged team
Dear Fixer: On June 15, the Wolfpack basketball team paid for 11 rooms (for 22 people) at a rate of $69 a night at a Super 8 motel in Whitewater, Wis. We stayed for two nights during a tournament. The total cost for the two nights was $1,518. Super 8 charged this amount on my credit card. However, when I checked my bank statement online, I saw that they had kept the $729.30 that I had to put up when I reserved the rooms. Every time I've called, the lady who answers the phone would tell me the manager is on another call or out to lunch or on vacation. I called the 1-800 number but couldn't get any help. Please help me get my money back. .
Vetoed: tax breaks for tuition, storm-damage property replacement
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Tax breaks for parents who pay private and parochial school tuition, for business utility costs and for the replacement of hurricane-damaged property were vetoed Friday by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in a flurry of last-minute bill rejections. Those tax break bills were included in a batch of a dozen vetoed bills that Blanco's office said wrapped up the governor's actions on all measures passed by lawmakers in the regular legislative session that ended last month. Blanco then headed to Michigan for a meeting with the nation's governors. The vetoes were Blanco's first of any tax break bills from the legislative session. Lawmakers approved a host of tax breaks big and small, and the governor agreed to many of them. The tax breaks she rejected Friday were overwhelmingly approved by lawmakers.
Probe clears police official
Beach City Manager Richard Jackson on Monday released an investigative report by Police Chief Robert Harding that concluded several allegations of wrongdoing involving the departments second in command were unfounded. City Councilman Ken Nelson on Wednesday formally requested the investigation of Deputy Chief Maj. David W. Humphreys II following what Nelson described as several weeks of informal discussion with Jackson about allegations Nelson said were made by several former Beach police officers. Nelson is withholding the names of the former officers but said he is prepared to release them if necessary. Harding was unavailable for comment on Monday. Humphreys declined to comment for this story. News of the internal probe came less than a week after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation cleared two Beach police officers of wrongdoing in a June 9 incident where the pair intervened in a condominium owners meeting at the Fontainebleau Terrace.
Seven Simple Steps to Raising Credit Scores
In the wake of the subprime market fallout, lenders are making it tougher for consumers to get a loan. As a result, borrowers are wise to try to raise their credit scores to qualify for loans, secure better loan terms and receive lower interest rates. .
Haddon Hts. postpones call for resignation
Opinions are divided over Council President Trish Sheilds' call for the resignation of the borough's tax assessor in the wake of a controversial property revaluation. At the beginning of a contentious meeting Tuesday night, council members said they would present a resolution that would call for Thomas Glock to resign. But the council later unanimously agreed to postpone the action. On Wednesday afternoon at the borough's municipal building, Glock would not comment. Sheilds' recommendation comes amid a dispute over the first property revaluation here in 10 years. The revaluation, which was ordered by Camden County and approved by the state, was conducted last year and updated the assessed value of local properties. When residents received estimated tax bills in June, many saw hefty tax increases.
New scoring method targets piggyback problems
A pending change to a popular credit scoring system is about to it make it much harder for people to polish their credit by riding the coattails of someone else's good payment record. Fair Isaac Corp., the creator of the widely used FICO credit scoring formula, is adjusting its scoring method to fight a growing trend called piggybacking. Piggybacking involves letting another person become an authorized user on your credit card account. As an authorized user, that person immediately inherits the payment history of that account. People seeking to boost their credit ratings typically hitch themselves to folks with histories of paying their cards on time and keeping their balances low, all of which maximizes their credit scores. In the past, this arrangement has been between family members or friends.
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