Pennsylvania’s Employment Situation for April 2012
May 21, 2012 at 6:00 AM by Gant Team · Leave a Comment
HARRISBURG-Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in April, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the 7.5 percent March rate.Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was below theU.S.rate of 8.1 percent, and has been below theU.S.rate for 48 consecutive months, and at or below theU.S.rate for 66 consecutive months. The state’s unemployment rate was down 0.5...
Read More...Legacy of war – unemployment and homelessness haunt Sri Lanka
May 21, 2012 at 4:47 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Life is slowly returning to normal in northern Sri Lanka, but three years after a decades-long conflict was officially declared over, jobs and housing are the prevailing concerns of returnees. Most of the estimated 448,000 people displaced before or during 2008 by fighting between government forces and rebels wanting an independent Tamil state have returned to the Northern Province, according to t...
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DEP Announces X-ray Registration Fee Amnesty Program
May 20, 2012 at 1:30 PM by Gant Team · Leave a Comment
HARRISBURG – The Department of Environmental Protection will begin a three-month amnesty program on June 1 to help identify unregistered X-ray machines and bring operators into compliance. “This initiative offers a limited-time opportunity for medical providers to come into regulatory compliance without suffering a penalty,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “The registration...
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Record Number of Pennsylvania Taxpayers File Electronically
May 20, 2012 at 6:00 AM by Gant Team · Leave a Comment
HARRISBURG- A record 4.5 million 2011 personal income tax returns were filed electronically, according to the Department of Revenue. The electronically filed returns represent roughly 75 percent of all returns filed to date. The state has received 7 percent more tax returns electronically so far this year compared to the total number of similarly filed returns last year. “Electronic filing is...
Read More...DCED: Loan to Build New Office in High-Demand Area, Create 300 Jobs
May 19, 2012 at 6:00 AM by Gant Team · Leave a Comment
HARRISBURG – The Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) has approved a loan through the Building PA program to support the construction of a three-story office building in Cranberry Township, Butler County that is expected to create at least 300 jobs. “(The) loan approval will provide an important piece of the capital financing necessary to complete this strategic redevelopment project...
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Bumpy road to economic recovery
May 18, 2012 at 8:33 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
A sizeable devaluation of Malawi’s currency, aimed at reinvigorating the economy and wooing back international donors, has triggered steep increases in the price of basic goods and pushed many Malawians deeper into poverty. Former president Bingu wa Mutharika, who died suddenly in April 2012, had resisted calls by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to devalue the Malawian kwacha as a way to ...
Read More...Fitch downgrades Greek sovereign debt
May 18, 2012 at 7:21 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating of Greece’s government again on Thursday. Greece’s credit rating dropped from a B- to a CCC, which puts it deeper into junk bond territory. That means many investors cannot buy Greek debt even if they thought it was a good investment. The drop in ratings also increases the risk that Greece may not be able to hold on to its membership in the Econom...
Read More...Moody’s downgrades 16 Spanish banks, four regional governments
May 18, 2012 at 6:08 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Credit ratings agency Moody’s announced Thursday it downgraded 16 Spanish banks. The downgrades included the nation’s two largest banks, Banco Santander and BBVA, which Moody’s downgraded by three levels. Those banks were dropped to A3, the same as the Spanish government, from Aa3. Seven other banks were also cut by three levels while another seven were kept on review for furt...
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Facebook raises $16B in third largest IPO in U.S.
May 18, 2012 at 3:21 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Facebook raised $16 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday, the third largest in U.S. history after credit card processor Visa Inc. raised $19.7 billion in March 2008 and carmaker General Motors drew $18.1 billion in November 2010. The raised capital was also far beyond the $1.9 billion that search engine giant Google Inc. sold in its 2004 IPO at $85 per share. Each stock of th...
Read More...Taylor Swift donates $4 million to Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
May 17, 2012 at 12:10 PM by AHN · Leave a Comment
Star singer Taylor Swift will donate $4 million to help finance the construction of a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, CMT reports today. The new facility, which will be formally launched in 2014, will have two floors with three classrooms and a state of the art children’s exhibit gallery to be built on over 7,500 square feet of space. This is pa...
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