Your Other 8 Hours: How to Radically Improve Your Finances and Your Life

By Robert Pagliarini, 
Tribune Media Services
 
Do you have a gap between where you are and where you’d like to be? Maybe you have a mortgage you can’t afford, credit card debt you can’t get rid of, 20 pounds you can’t seem to lose, a schedule so packed you don’t have time for your family, or the feeling that there’s got to be more to life. If so, you’ve come to the right place.
 

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Don Cornelius Dead: Why Soul Train Will Never Leave America’s Station

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
 
A few days before the release of The Best of Soul Train DVD set Soul Train founder, creator and impresario Don Cornelius was asked what it was that made Soul Train the hit that was. Cornelius didn’t hesitate, “That was the period when soul music grew up.” 

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Reducing Your Risk For Heart Disease

By Karla Robinson, MD
 
Even while claiming an estimated 500,000 lives each year in this country, few recognize that the leading cause of death in our community is heart disease.  Heart disease is often times known as a “silent killer” because it has been known to strike with little warning.  While there are some risk factors to developing heart disease that are beyond our control such as family history, and genetic factors, there are some health and lifestyle choices that can drastically reduce our risk for heart disease.

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Interpersonal EDGE: Get Recharged at Work!

By Dr. Daneen Skube
Tribune Media Services
 
Q. Sometimes I get really exhausted dealing with people issues at work. Other people don’t seem to find the politics so tiring. Am I just a wimp?

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Retire Smart: Seniors and the deficit: Why working longer isn’t part of the solution

By Mark Miller
Tribune Media Services
 
   Are older workers really faring better in this recession-wracked job market?
 
  Just seven percent of workers over 55 were jobless in October, compared with a nine percent national average, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported earlier this month. That’s a sizable gap, and it’s been roughly that size throughout the recession. 

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News Spotlight: Extended Benefit Program Ends in Michigan Up to 20 weeks of federally-funded benefits no longer available

 February 3, 2012 – The Extended Benefit (EB) program will end as Michigan’s jobless numbers are below the level required by federal law to continue the EB program.  Michigan fell below the required level on January 28, 2012.  

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Memo in the community

From: Gregory P. Kelley 
 RE: J. W. Sexton vs. Eastern
 
Note: The community needs a win – win
 
Disclosure: I’m an Everett High School graduate and a Lansing resident.
 
Ok, now what’s the rush?
 
Lansing School District parents and community residents need to calm down, slow down the decision train and expand their thinking with regard to closing a high school.
 
The decision at hand, which high school to close J. W. Sexton or Eastern, has been brewing for many years.  Everyone should take a deep breath and take another look at the problem facing the Lansing School District due to the declining student population. The district  must not be held hostage by the Eastern International Baccalaureate Magnet Program. That’s a good program, but it must not be even a primary determining factor in the decision. The tail, no matter how attractive, should not wag the dog.

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Foster Care, Uncertain Futures Loom For Thousands of Immigrant Children

By Marjorie Valbrun
America’s Wire
 
WASHINGTON—More than 5,000 children of immigrants are languishing in state foster care nationwidebecause their parents were living in the United States illegally and were detained or deported by federal immigration authorities.
 
These children can spend years infoster homes, and some are put up for adoption aftertermination of their parents’ custody rights.With neither state nor federal officials addressing the problem, thousands more are poised to enter the child welfare system every year.
 

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EDUCATORS ALARMED: MINORITY TEENAGERS PERFORMING AT ACADEMIC LEVELS OF 30 YEARS AGO

  

By Teresa Wiltz
America’s Wire

 
Amy Wilkins, vice president for government affairs and communications at the Education Trust Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) — Educators are expressing alarm that the performance gap between minority and white high school students continues to expand across the United States, with minority teenagers performing at academic levels equal to or lower than those of 30 years ago.
 
Despite the hope that improving education for children of color would propel them to better life outcomes, Latino and African-American students are not being prepared in high school classrooms for brighter futures. While achievement levels have improved considerably for minority elementary and middle school students, educators say their academic performance drops during high school years.

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Winning with Finances – Second principle of a financial takeover – Budgeting

Most people change their life by appearance or by careers or even through a spiritual conversion. All of this is good if there is a vision. A vision for your life creates direction, purpose and mission. Changing your life happens in four distinct areas: personal growth, family, health, and career. If you focus or change your life in these areas, you will see a great change. Once you change any of these areas, you will change your financial future. 

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