Stock Options

For Biz Reporters: The Wall Street Journal has updated its list of companies that have problems with stock options. I didn’t see any from N.C. but you can check out the list for companies that you might cover.

Energy Report Released

The International Energy Annual (IEA) is the Energy Information Administration's primary report of international energy statistics. . Included are data on energy consumption and production; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and electricity, as well as carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels, petroleum prices, energy reserves, and population ; and data unit conversion.

Free Newspaper Archives

I have posted this before, but it important, so I'll post it again. You can get free newspaper archives (also magazines, journals and more) at the NC Live web site. I know everyone in the newsroom already has a public library card. If not, GET ONE, you'll need it to log-on to NC Live.
Click on "Newspapers" under "Browse by Type"
Click on "America’s Newspapers via NewsBank"

Your tax dollars have paid for this, so use it!

The Labor Advocate

You'll find these topics in the Summer 2006 edition of The Labor Advocate, a quarterly newsletter about DOL issues important to America's working families

• President Bush Signs MINER Act Into Law
• DOL Targets Wage Violations in the Gulf Coast Region
• Secretary Visits New Orleans, Carpenters Training Center
• New SCA Directory of Occupations Released
• Secretary Chao Visits MEBA Training School, Memorial
  OSHA Fines BP $2.4 Million For Unsafe Operations
• Seafarers Receive $2.5 Million Maritime Training Grant
• $134 Million Distributed to Enron Workers and Retirees
• Secretary Chao Honors Merchant Mariners

U.S. Congress voting

The great researchers at the Washington Post created a database that tracks member voting from both House and Senate. You can browse every vote since 1991, and can search by House or Senate member, by state, vote missers, bills, most voted on, vote margins and more. Here is the list (with links) of North Carolina 109th Congressional members.

Poverty and Opportunity

The Brookings Institution recently released a 80 page report (PDF) titled, "From Poverty, Opportunity: Putting the Market to Work for Lower Income Families. From the executive summary:
"In general, lower income families tend to pay more or the exact same consumer products than families with higher incomes....At least 1.6 million lower income adults pay excessive fees for furniture, appliances, and electronics. And countless more pay high prices for other necessities such as basic financial services, groceries, and insurance....Reducing the costs of living for lower income families by just one percent could add up to over $6.5 billion in new spending power for these families."

Top 10 Medical Web Sites

The Medical Library Association lists their top 10, most useful medical web sites for health consumers.