On March 27, all passport agencies will be open and accepting passport book and passport card applications from 10 am to 3 pm, with no need to schedule an appointment.

A variety of state, county, municipal, tribal and community-based organizations formed 11,800 Complete Count Committees during Census 2000.

The particular focus on African-American employment by the president and civil rights leaders came about because the Black jobless numbers are teetering near rates that rival Great Depression levels.

Lawmakers continually questioned who those partners were, and whether the Census was digging deep enough into communities. They said their constituents in California, Utah and Texas had expressed dismay at widespread disorganization at the regional level.

Villaraigosa said most of the functions carried out by the agencies would be shifted elsewhere. But he sees no scenario that does not include future layoffs and “you can’t lay off people … without reducing the size of services.”

The bulk of the agency’s stimulus money was sent to the California State Water Resources Control Board and the California Department of Public Health, which together got $439 million to finance upgrades of drinking water infrastructure and fund water quality protection projects.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger says he will completely eliminate a host of social programs, including Healthy Families, the state sponsored health insurance for children; CalWORKS welfare program; and In-Home Support Services for the elderly, blind, and disabled (IHSS), unless the feds cough up $6.9 billion dollars more for California.

KINGSTON, Jamaica_ China has agreed to finance road, housing and shoreline renovation projects totaling $500 million in Jamaica.
The agreement was reached during a visit by Prime Minister Bruce Golding and private sector representatives who are in China in search of economic aid.
Projects include affordable-home construction and the renovation of a shoreline leading to Kingston’s international [...]

LOS ANGELES _ An official with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa does not have the authority to order the layoffs of 1,000 city employees.
In a memo circulated Friday, Chief Deputy City Attorney Bill Carter says the mayor can remove the heads of departments and people in appointed offices but he [...]

If successfully carried out, the oil auction could propel Nigeria back to Africa’s top oil producer. Militant violence and oil thefts have cut Nigeria’s oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, allowing Angola to surge ahead.

Washington’s move to increase scrutiny of travelers from Cuba in wake of Christmas Day bombing attempt by Nigerian national appears to have given both sides ample reason to revert to old ways.

China-Google conflict: Will this damage China’s business confidence?
Democrats to break logjam on the tax dispute, could reach for a final deal on healthcare. President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats stand within days if not hours of striking final deals on historic health care legislation after key labor unions won concessions and pledged their support

As we evaluate the business landscape, we are still facing a turbulent economic business cycle, political conflicts, regulatory issues, terrorist threats, along with global market competition. Many entrepreneurs are so focused on the day-to-day issues, that it often seems like a luxury to take time away from the business and work on the strategic plan.

The story of Abdulmutallab, a staunch Muslim who was schooled in Britain and other places and the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker and politician, is not the kind of story Nigerians say their nation needs at this critical time.

Census outreach did not draw “the same kind of zeal or participation at any level” from Bay View’s predominantly African American population as it did from nonprofits based elsewhere in the city, according to Angelo King, chairman of the Bay View-Hunters Point Project Area Committee.