
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. President Obama’s chances of winning reelection suddenly look very strong, as Republicans dig in for a long, nasty presidential primary season. On Saturday night, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trounced Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, snuffing out Romney’s hopes of securing the nomination quickly. The GOP race also has turned ugly — and promises to get even uglier — amid revelations that Gingrich had demanded an open marriage from his second wife, and that Romney has stashed up to $32 million in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands and has been paying a lower tax rate than the vast majority of Americans. All the while, the president gets to remain above the fray as the GOP presidential hopefuls bloody each other.
The future looks grim for young people who've just entered the workforce, according to a new study by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Apparently, young people are more likely to retire in poverty, owing to the fact that most employers now require their workers to invest in 401K accounts, rather than offering benefit pension plans, which used to guarantee a smooth retirement in the old days. As The Daily Cal reported yesterday, 401K plans are risky, because they won't pay dividends if the market does poorly, or if the individual doesn't invest wisely. As the study's editor Nari Rhee told Daily Cal reporter Christopher Yee, "We don't all have the skills to game the system." Fortunately, Rhee's research might have legs: Los Angeles senator Kevin de Leon is working on a bill that would address some of these issues. Call it a dubious silver lining.
Tags: The Daily Cal, Nari Rhee, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, Christopher Yee, Kevin de Leon, 401K
Following on the heels of San Francisco and Oakland, Richmond began the process of ratifying ordinance that would grant municipal ID cards to anyone living in the city, the Contra Costa Times reports. Designed specifically to benefit undocumented immigrants, transgender people, and indigents, the law would grant any cardholder access to city services, regardless of federal ID or green card status. That would mean that anyone with a municipal card could open a bank account in Richmond. City council members added a few perks to sweeten the pot for all residents — like adding access to libraries — so that the cards wouldn't become a stigma for certain populations. And so far, the law appears to be gaining momentum. It's passed two out of three required city council votes so far, and should go on the books July 5, if all goes according to plan. Not surprisingly, detractors say it would encourage illegal immigration.
Tags: municipal ID Cards, Richmond City Council, Contra Costa Times
Just because two months have passed and we've turned our attention to wondering why James was voted off American Idol, that doesn't mean Japan has recovered from its tsunami — or that relief efforts aren't still desperately needed.
Local businesses, charities, agencies, private individuals, and others have organized programs to send much-needed donations to Japan.
Tags: japan, tsunami, ozumo, japacurry, salvation army, red cross, momoca, humane society, baywolf, piq, pop-up general store, gioia, chez panisse, pizzaiolo, jewish federation, save the children
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The City of Oakland will soon begin issuing municipal identification cards to residents who may otherwise have difficulty in obtaining proper IDs, the Trib reports. Under the program authored by Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente and Mayor-elect Jean Quan, the municipal IDs also will work as debit cards — a nationwide first. The municipal IDs also will be honored by Oakland cops, and city officials hope that the IDs will encourage people who witness crimes or are crime victims to cooperate with police officers.
Among those to whom reports of “economic recovery” sting, count sections of Richmond, Oakland, and Contra Costa County, where the two-year-old housing crisis lingers in the form of faded for-sale signs and boarded-up windows. Those communities suffer from some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, but this week they got some consolation. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a new round of grants to address blight and abandonment. In the Bay Area, Oakland was awarded just over $2 million, Contra Costa County $1.9 million, and Richmond $1.2 million.
Larry Bush of the regional HUD office points to parts of Oakland where houses unable to sell accelerate the decline of entire neighborhoods. “This money could be used to buy some of those homes and bring them up to decent condition,” he said, and then be made available for low- to moderate-income homebuyers who have gone through a homeowner counseling program. Funding for the so-called Neighborhood Stabilization Program is provided under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law this summer, and is intended to be implemented ASAP. Once HUD issues guidelines for the funding, municipalities must propose how they will spend it, and Bush says we could see the money before Christmas time.
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Welfare recipients can use their state-issued debit cards at casino ATMs throughout California, raising concerns that poor people are gambling away taxpayer benefits meant for food and clothing, the Los Angeles Times reports. The state began issuing welfare benefits to poor residents in the form of debit cards in the 1990s. But it's unclear how much of those benefits have been spent at casinos. Governor Schwarzenegger said his office would move to make sure that casino ATMs stop accepting welfare debit cards.
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to eliminate California’s welfare-to-work program promises to be especially damaging in Alameda County, particularly in Oakland, the Trib reports. About 200,000 low-income families would lose assistance countywide, and it would deepen the county’s already large budget hole.
2. The cuts would be so devastating that the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office is recommending that the governor rethink his proposal, the Merc reports. The analyst’s office says the state should consider raising taxes and that Schwarzenegger may need to change his mind about reinstating funding for state universities.
Today is the deadline for nonprofit organizations to file form 990, the annual reporting form to the IRS, and a number of local charities are at risk of losing their status if they don’t file. As of one month ago, there were 535 nonprofits in Oakland that hadn't filed, 221 in Berkeley, and 90 in Richmond, among others in neighboring cities. The 990 is a statement of the organization’s mission, the work it does, and its finances. If an organization loses its status, it will be required to file and pay income taxes, and donors will no longer be able to write-off donations. Among the organizations are a number of those that provide services for youth, seniors, and minorities in the East Bay.
An organization automatically loses its nonprofit status if it fails to file the form three years in a row, but many organizations may not even know that they are required to do so. Private foundations, nonprofits, and organizations that are tax-exempt under Sections 501(c), 527, or 4947(a)(1) of the U.S. tax code are required to file. Faith-based and missionary organizations, religious schools, and subsidiaries of other nonprofits are exempt. Nonprofits that make less than $25,000 only need to file an “e-postcard,” while organizations earning more will need to submit detailed paperwork.
For a full list of nonprofits at risk in your area, check the database.
Tags: nonprofits
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