Fed Worried About Recovery

Yeah… me too.

A new document, released Wednesday, revealed a more cautious mood among the Fed policymakers in light of Europe’s debt crisis, a volatile Wall Street, a stalled housing market and high unemployment.

With risks growing, Fed officials at their June 22-23 meeting saw the need to explore new options for bolstering the economy. That’s a turnaround from earlier this year when they were moving to wind down crisis-era supports.

t.u. Moves to Change Name of Dorm

Huh.

The president of the University of Texas will ask the school’s regents to remove the name of a former professor and Ku Klux Klan member from a campus dormitory.

Simkins Hall, a two-story brick dorm built in the 1950s, is named after William Simkins, who was a popular law school professor in the early part of the 20th century but one with a dubious past. He served as a Confederate fighter and early organizer of the Ku Klux Klan in Florida, promoting the Klan and bragging about efforts to terrorize and harass “darkey” in campus speeches and publications.

On Thursday, Texas President William Powers Jr. will ask university regents to take his name off the dorm — a move that comes after weeks of deliberations by an advisory panel and two public hearings. The regents are expected to bring the issue to a vote.

I wonder if someone will work to remove Robert Byrd’s name from stuff in West Virginia.

Money Found for Fitness Center

Good question.

Joe Carlson, School Board president, I have a question for you. A couple of years ago before I agreed to work on the referendum we spoke about the fitness center. You assured me that in no way would the district financially support it. You told me there was the grant for equipment and that the St. Joe’s Foundation was contributing $250,000 and that the athletic department was soliciting donations to make up the balance of what was needed to build this center.

   What happened? How could a district that had to raise the tax levy to the maximum allowed in order to reduce programming cuts, a district that is anticipating another $2 million reduction in state aid next year, a district that discusses an operational referendum in order to operate, a district that is considering combining the twin high schools in order to save money, how could that district give $100,000 to the fitness center?

   I would be very interested to know what changed in the last couple of years from when you told me the district would not financially support this center to today, to giving the center $100,000. That’s not exactly pocket change, Mr. Carlson.

   You told me something two years ago that makes me wonder if it was true back then or were you planning all along to support the center in order not to lose the grant?

   Nancy Leach West Bend