Also on today’s menu:
An Off-The-Rails Conspiracy Scheme
Apparent Racism In Tennessee Expulsion
Economy Remains Strong Despite The Fed
The $7.6 million capital expenditure earmarked for the Winnisquam Regional Career and Technical Education Center cleared the first hurdle in officially becoming part the state’s capital budget as the House passed an overall biennial budget of $15.76 billion on April 6. The negotiated agreement between the Republican and Democratic leadership prompted three hours of debate before the House approved the budget package.
The agreement changed the school funding formula so that a greater percentage of money flows to property-poor communities like Franklin, increased funding for affordable housing and Medicaid reimbursement rates, removed $20 million from the Education Freedom Account program, and retained the 300 percent of poverty eligibility cap. It also changed the state’s emergency procedures and provided more money for family resource centers and system-of-care programs.
The House budget is about 18.8 percent higher than the current budget, with general fund spending of $6.37 billion on revenues of $6.2 billion.
While some representatives objected to the size of the budget, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) said it represented a bipartisan compromise and House Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm (D-Manchester) said the plan “gets us closer to delivering a budget that works for all Granite Staters”.
After the vote, Governor Chris Sununu issued a statement: “Today’s vote was just one step in a long process. I look forward to working with the Senate to ensure the final budget is balanced, includes key priorities to promote and increase freedom, and gets unchecked spending increases back under control.”
An Off-The-Rails Conspiracy Scheme
John Rafferty, 69, of Hale’s Location, New Hampshire, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while John Pigsley, 58, of Beverly, Massachusetts, a former assistant chief engineer for Keolis Commuter Services, which serves the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, tax evasion, filing a false tax return, and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. Federal prosecutors say the scheme defrauded the company of more than $8 million which could have helped with repairs for the greater Boston public transit system.
Prosecutors say that, between July 2014 and November 2021, Pigsley and Rafferty defrauded Keolis of more than $4 million through a false invoicing scheme. Rafferty allegedly bought vehicles, construction equipment, construction supplies, and other items for Pigsley and a construction company partially owned by Pigsley, who directed Rafferty to recover the cost by submitting false and fraudulent invoices to Keolis from an electrical supply vendor where Rafferty worked as a general manager. Rafferty kept a portion of the proceeds for himself.
Rafferty also allegedly spent more than $3 million on items including at least nine trucks, seven Bobcat machines, $1 million in home building supplies and services, and a $54,000 camper — for which Keolis paid Rafferty more than $4 million based on false invoices.
Pigsley faces up to 20 years in prison for the charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, as well as additional prison time and fines for other charges. Rafferty faces up to five years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Apparent Racism In Tennessee Expulsion
The Tennessee House of Representatives has expelled two black politicians, but failed to follow through with a third Democrat, who is white, for leading a gun-control protest that halted legislative proceedings for about an hour last week. The Republican-led House voted, 72-25, to expel Justin Jones and 69-26 to remove Justin Pearson, but the expulsion of Gloria Johnson failed by a single vote.
A possible explanation for the apparent racism on display in the decision is that Johnson, unlike the others, did not use a megaphone while taking to the House floor chanting “no action, no peace” and speaking out about gun violence in front of protesters who crowded around the chamber’s public viewing platform on March 30.
The three lawmakers acknowledged that they broke House rules by speaking without being formally recognized, but Republicans said the trio had brought “disorder and dishonor to the House” and sought to expel them rather than simply censuring their actions. Some Republicans went as far as comparing their actions to the Capitol riots. Representative Gino Bulso said they had “effectively conducted a mutiny”.
The protest was a reaction to the recent Nashville shooting at a privately run Christian school. The shooter had been able to legally purchase seven firearms before the rampage.
The legislators’ expulsion does not disqualify them from running for office again, and a county governing body also has the power to appoint an interim representative in the case of a vacancy. That means that the expelled lawmakers could be appointed to fill their empty seats until the next election.
Economy Remains Strong Despite The Fed
Despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool inflation by putting more people out of work, America’s employers added 236,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent.
At the same time, 480,000 Americans began looking for work in March, which means employers will feel less pressure to raise wages. That could mean that inflationary pressures may ease enough for the Fed to decide to postpone additional rate hikes.
Average hourly wages in March were 4.2 percent higher than 12 month earlier, which is a sharp decrease from the 4.6 percent year-to-year increase reported in February. Still, wages rose 0.3 percent from February to March, compared to 0.2 percent increase from January to February.
Support Our Efforts
Do you have a story to tell?
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where, each weekday, we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international. Mondays are reserved for more personal observations which only paid subscribers will receive, while Tuesday through Friday will draw from news stories published by various sources.
The News Café relies on subscriptions, rather than on advertising and grants, for its support. That frees us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues without having to weigh whether it would upset advertisers or fit into grant guidelines. Our only obligation is to provide information we believe is useful to our readers.
Subscriptions to this newsletter are available for as little as $5 per month. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
If you’re unable to pay but still want to receive all of the free public posts in your in-box, click the Subscribe button and select a free subscription.
Visit us at www.libertymedianh.org