kimblr.com

Express Staff Writer
On Tuesday, May 27, Democratic voters will be faced with the curious task of selecting a presidential nominee from a field of candidates from which the party already chose in Feb. 5 caucus proceedings.
At the Blaine County Caucus, held at the Community Campus in Hailey, a record crowd chose to send 10 delegates for Sen. Barak Obama and one for Sen. Hillary Clinton to the state convention in Boise in June. At that convention delegates will be selected to send to the national convention in Denver in August.
But, still, the Democratic primary ballot includes Clinton, Obama and Keith Russell Judd, a Beaumont, Texas, prison inmate who won’t get out until 2013.
Asked how a federal prisoner could qualify for the ballot, Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa told the press, "We got conned." The state recently eliminated the requirement for candidates to gather signatures. Now they only need to fill out a form and pay a $1,000 fee. According to the Spokane Spokesman-Review, Keith Judd sent forms and checks to 14 states, but only Idaho put his name on the ballot.
The issue remains, however, that Democrats have already selected delegates to represent their preferred presidential candidates, and those choices were made in caucuses throughout the state in February.
"It’s true that the decision was made already, that during the caucus Idahoans decided which delegates to send to the state convention," said Idaho Democratic Party Southern Field Director Randy Johnson.
Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Hansen said that because the state is holding a primary election anyway "it has always been the case that we just keep them on the ballot."
"It doesn’t influence the delegate selection process" at the state convention, he said. "It’s possible that it would influence the superdelegates, but it can’t influence the delegates that were selected at the caucuses."

mtexpress.com

With the state by some accounts in a recession, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is proposing a seven-point stimulus plan that calls for cutting property-tax assessments and the corporate income-tax rate for businesses.
The chamber says the long-term proposal, which could be implemented over a number of years, would generate more revenue for the state over time while creating a more friendly business climate. But the Governor’s Office and the Republican-controlled Legislature say with the state facing an estimated $1.9 billion budget deficit for 2008-09, it would be challenging to adopt the plan anytime soon.
“It’s too early to handicap,” said Jeanine L’Ecuyer, spokeswoman for Gov. Janet Napolitano. L’Ecuyer added that since Napolitano took office five years ago, businesses have enjoyed or will experience nearly $2.4 billion in tax relief through 2014.
And House Commerce Chair Rep. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, said the Legislature has “focused on the fact that business property taxes” are a problem, and lawmakers have worked to push them down.
“But that’s not to say we can’t keep pushing for other stimulus packages or other business tax deductions,” Reagan said. “Without protecting them, we will be at a loss.”
The 500-member chamber, which is publicly releasing the plan today, provided no estimates on how much money the tax cuts would generate. And the chamber did not say how the tax dollars would be replaced should the cuts not produce enough revenue.
Glenn Hamer, the chamber’s president and chief executive, said reducing the tax burden would make Arizona more attractive to Fortune 500 companies looking to do business here, and it would let Arizona businesses compete on a level playing field with other states.
“It’s a simple but important message: It’s the private sector that will lead Arizona out of this on a road to prosperity,” Hamer said. “The vision would be if we were able to adjust the tax structure, Arizona would be a magnet for corporate headquarters and business investment of all sorts. We would improve Arizona’s gross domestic product considerably.”

azcentral.com

SOUTH Walton in the Florida Panhandle region has the best quality sand in the world. That’s the claim from boffins at a Maryland university, who’ve clambered down from their ivory towers to evaluate beaches around the globe. After years of in-depth research they’ve told the locals what they already knew: that the 26 miles of white sand on this Gulf of Mexico coast are hard to beat. Education’s never wasted.
HOLIDAY INFO: Stay at the Courtyard Sandestin at Grand Boulevard where a room in May for two costs about £32.25pp per night – go to www.marriott.com. BA Holidays have a seven- night fly/drive to Orlando from Gatwick from £379 next month. Call 0844 493 0758.
OPRAH has a house here. John Travolta acts as an unpaid tour guide for visiting friends and you’re likely to spot Brad and Angelina sharing a wheatgrass sundae in a beach bar. Forget Hollywood – the real A-listers are crowded into this beachside town of just 100,000 chilled Californians. Stay at the Spanish-style Harbour View Inn, just across the road from Stearns Wharf and the beach and near dozens of restaurants (organic, calorie-controlled menus, of course).
HOLIDAY INFO: A week at the Harbour View Inn from £1,275pp and £595 kids including car hire and Virgin flights to San Francisco early July. Go to www.virginholidays.com
TAKE advantage of the cheap dollar rate this year to travel further afield to South Carolina. This is where you’ll find some of the finest beaches in the United States, less developed than much of Florida or California. Take the kids to family-friendly Myrtle Beach, part of a 60-mile stretch of white sand near championship golf courses and theme parks such as the Grand Strand and Hard Rock Park.
HOLIDAY INFO: A week in June at the Colonial Green Condominiums – five minutes from Myrtle Beach – costs £699 per adult (twin share) and £549 per child (two-11), rising to £849 per adult (£674 per child) in July and August. Prices include flights from Manchester or Gatwick, car hire and two-bed self-catering accommodation. Go to www.bon-voyage.co.uk

sundaymirror.co.uk

“Dr. Beach” – Stephen Leatherman, the beachs scientist who releases an annual list of top U.S. beaches every May – today released his 2008 roster, which includes two beaches in the Carolinas.
Leatherman, director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research., ranks Hatteras Island, in the Outer Banks, as No. 8 , and Beachwalker Park, at Kiawah Island, S.C., as No. 10.
Top honors this year went to the strand at Caladesi State Park, near Clearwater, Fla. The No. 1 beach in 2007 was Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach, on the Outer Banks. Caladesi Island State Park was ranked No. 2.
This is the 18th year Leatherman, a Charlotte native, has compiled his list. It is based in 50 criteria, including water and sand quality, facilities and environmental management.
The full 2008 list:
1. Caladesi Island State Park, Fla.
3. Siesta Beach , Fla.
9. Cape Florida State Park, Fla.

charlotte.com

Remember how — before he really had something to cry about, pre–Super Bowl XLII — Tom Brady got all existential on 60 Minutes, asking, “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me?” The obvious answer was, “Boo-hoo and stop whining.” But maybe Brady, like a good-sized chunk of the US populace, ought to consider relocating: the US comes in at #23 in a “happiness study” cited by NPR foreign correspondent Eric Weiner in his new The Geography of Bliss.
Weiner — consulting various scientific data as well as “happiness ingredients” like monetary wealth — went to nine countries (10 including the US, none in Africa or Latin America) to get the scoop on how, as he puts it, “where we are is vital to who we are.” He writes with an engaging curiosity, and The Geography of Bliss is like a travelogue from the perspective of an affable, self-depreciating philosopher who throws himself right into the task: he eats rotten shark in Iceland, gets fried on Moroccan hash in the Netherlands, and graciously accepts a 14-inch gift penis in Bhutan. His conclusions? “Money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.” Simple enough, but his insights en route are fascinating.
Take the desert country Qatar, perhaps the richest, most boring/bored country in the world. Its citizens are so coddled that college students are given a government allowance, and when men marry, the government gives them land, an interest-free mortgage, and a monthly allowance of about $7000. Electricity, health care, and education are free. People are reduced to showing off by buying a “Ridiculously Expensive Pen.” Weiner calls Qatar “the ultimate welfare state,” since Qataris are given so much and do not pay any taxes. Taxes, he decides, improve a country’s contentment, but not having them isn’t the only thing that might drive Qataris to commit — Weiner cites Emile Durkheim — “anomic suicide.” There’s also the heat, the lack of culture, the lack of any sense of the past, the absence of a national identity. And hotels that feel like tombs, at least to Weiner.

thephoenix.com

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fitch Ratings assigns an ‘AA-’ rating to New York City, New York’s (the city) $525,000,000 general obligation (GO) bonds, fiscal 2008 series L, consisting of $475,000,000 subseries L-1 tax-exempt bonds and $50,000,000 subseries L-2 taxable bonds. The bonds are scheduled to be sold on or about April 15 via negotiation, and will mature Apr. 1, 2010-2028. Early redemption provisions will be determined upon pricing. In addition, Fitch has affirmed approximately $34 billion in outstanding New York City GO bonds at ‘AA-’. The Rating Outlook is Stable.
The city’s credit strength is based on the breadth of the economy, high income levels, strong economic performance and financial operations, and exceptional budget management and controls, including a consistently demonstrated ability and resolve to close budget gaps. Offsetting factors include high and rising levels of debt and economic and revenue vulnerability to the cyclical securities industry, now under pressure, and to the real estate market.
With the continuation of several years of strong financial performance, primarily attributable to the robust performance of Wall Street and real estate, the city adopted a budget and financial plan in June 2007 that was characterized by prudent fiscal management and conservative revenue forecasting. The city used a large fiscal 2007 surplus to offset gaps in the three subsequent years of the financial plan and assumed softening in the securities industry and real estate.
The city has subsequently modified the June financial plan, most recently in January, to reflect negative financial market developments. While property taxes are projected to show relatively steady base growth, personal income tax growth is now expected to slow from 12.8% in fiscal 2007 to 1% in fiscal 2008 before dropping 5.6% in fiscal 2009. Sales tax base growth of 4.3% in fiscal 2008 is followed by a projected decline of 1% in fiscal 2009. Business tax growth has been revised downward significantly this year. Projections now show declines in both fiscal 2008 and 2009. Drops in real estate transaction taxes continue through fiscal 2011. Wall Street profits are estimated to have dropped from $20.9 billion in calendar 2006 to $2.8 billion in 2007, and are expected to rise to $9.2 billion in 2008. The bonus pool is estimated to have declined from $34.9 billion in 2006 to $31.2 billion in 2007, and is expected to fall further to $23.1 billion in 2008. Fitch believes that these forecasts are prudent given recent events, although the extent of actual securities industry losses and projected real estate declines remain an uncertainty.

businesswire.com

By DAN WEBER
OMAHA, NEB. - It wasn’t easy for the USC basketball team to get here Tuesday after a 10 a.m. practice at Galen Center.
Originally set for a 2:30 p.m. departure from LA, the Trojans were delayed nearly two hours waiting for the NCAA-chartered Private Jet Services plane that was delayed in ferrying the Ivy League-champion Cornell team from New York to Anaheim for its first-round game.
"We knew early that we were going to be late," associate athletic director Steve Lopes said of the 92-person USC traveling contingent that included coaches, players, administrators, cheerleaders, band and some media.
The traveling party didn’t touch down in Omaha, a first-round site for the NCAA Midwest Regional, until 10:07 p.m. CDT.
USC will practice twice today, once by NCAA rules at the Qwest Center in a 40-minute public shootaround after Coach Tim Floyd and his players’ news conference. But before that, USC will go through a for-real closed practice at a local junior college.
USC also will get a 20-minute game-day shootaround Thursday morning before the Kansas State game, which tips off at 4:10 p.m.
Cal State Fullerton, a fan favorite here from its numerous College World Series baseball appearances and four national titles, will go last on the court, at 4:40 p.m., after a 4 p.m. news conference.
With the Qwest Center sold out, the best gambit for getting tickets appeared to be the one some folks here used — going online and ordering them through Portland State, which was headed to its first NCAA tourney and managed to sell just a bit over 100 of the 350 tickets each team is permitted to buy.
So for those who got their orders in, there were single-session $53 tickets available.

pe.com

All the ingredients are there: pressure, drama, rivalry, intensity and possibly even revenge.
From the top-seeded Lady Griz squad looking to avenge last year’s disappointing postseason, to the thorn in their side – Portland State – to tough heavyweights Montana State and Idaho State. Storylines abound, and the pot is ready to be stirred.
Starting tonight, the stirring will begin, as the Big Sky Women’s Basketball Championship gets underway at 5:30 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.
Thursday through Saturday the tournament heap will be sorted out with a bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
No. 3 Montana State will begin the action against No. 6 Northern Arizona, and 30 minutes later, No. 4 Portland State faces off against No. 5 Northern Colorado. Friday, No. 2 Idaho State takes on the highest remaining seed and Montana will play against the lowest remaining seed. The winners will meet in the championship game Saturday at 5 p.m.
The Lady Griz will be defending their home floor just like they did last season. Despite a recent regular-season finale road loss at Portland State, Montana enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
“We’re excited and really proud,” UM head coach Robin Selvig said. “It’s a heck of an accomplishment to win the regular-season title, and we’re excited to bring this thing back in front of the fans here in Missoula.”

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