Today's Feature

New Council to be Sworn In.

The Carthage City Council is scheduled to meet for their regular meeting this evening at 7:30 in City Hall.

The meeting will be the last for the current sitting Council. Newly elected members will be sworn in after old business is concluded and before new business begins. Wayne Campbell will be the only new member of the Council as Bill Welch, Dan Rife, Diane Sharits, and Bill Fortune were re-elected as incumbents.

The old business agenda includes a scheduled vote on an ordinance modifying fees for general trash and demolition/construction waste at the City disposal site.

Also scheduled for vote is an ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute a lease purchase agreement with UMB for financing of a Street Department loader.

The new Council is scheduled to hear the first reading of an ordinance a contract with A.M. Pyrotechnics for a fireworks display on July 4, 2009 in the amount of $15,000.

Also scheduled is an ordinance changing fees at the Carthage Public Golf Course.

Last Week in Scandals: Bailout Moves

Threaten to Backfire

by Alexandra Andrews, www.ProPublica.org

Every week, we take stock of how the week unfolded for the stories we’re tracking in Scandal Watch.

The Obama administration is concocting a plan to sidestep congressionally mandated restrictions on bailout funds, like executive pay caps, in future rescue efforts, the Washington Post reported this week, prompting the House oversight committee to open an investigation. Meanwhile, other aspects of the administration’s strategy came under fire for being too risky. The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin concluded that the Federal Reserve’s plan to insure 85 percent of the loans investors will use to buy toxic assets (as part of the Treasury’s Public-Private Investment Program) will actually add "more risk, not less, to the system." And the Post raises the possibility that the administration’s plan to ramp up financial oversight will actually spur greater risk-taking.

Also this week, the congressional panel that oversees the bailout suggested some "potential policy alternatives," including liquidating problem banks and ousting some bank execs. "The very notion that anyone would infuse money into a financially troubled entity without demanding changes in management is preposterous," the panel’s head, Elizabeth Warren, told The Observer. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News columnist Jonathan Weil asks why the administration hasn’t forced financial institutions to "come clean about their losses."

And finally, get ready to add life insurers to the list of bailout recipients, although no one yet knows "how hard a bargain the government will drive" with these companies.

2. AIG

AIG has forked over $50 billion in taxpayer funds to its counterparties since its first bailout, leaving many wondering why the government felt the need to pay those contracts in full. Well, as we reported this week, it turns out the Treasury did have some other options, although none of them were entirely risk-free. Meanwhile, those payouts will be getting scrutiny from Neil Barofsky, the bailout’s inspector general, who said this week that he had begun an audit.

And to all those optimists out there patiently awaiting the day when AIG repays the government its $180 billion: Don’t hold your breath. Analysts are questioning whether AIG’s plan to sell off its assets will actually reap enough dough to get it out of debt.

3. Madoff’s Long Con

New York’s attorney general filed a civil lawsuit this week against J. Ezra Merkin, a money manager who placed his clients’ funds in Bernard Madoff’s hands without telling them. According to the lawsuit, Merkin was warned repeatedly about Madoff. Merkin’s lawyer called the suit "hasty and ill-conceived."

And finally, those counting their lucky stars that they had withdrawn their funds from Bernard Madoff’s firm were dealt a blow yesterday when the appointed trustee of Madoff’s business filed the first lawsuit against one such investor. The suit demands that a company in the British Virgin Islands pay back $150 million that it withdrew from Madoff’s firm six weeks before the arrest.

Morning Cup: Stimulus in Slow Motion

by Christopher Weaver, www.ProPublica.org

Stimulus money is "beginning to percolate nationwide," the Washington Post reports. But it’s a slow drip. Stimulus paperwork is proving too much for some existing bureaucracies, especially when new hurdles intended to increase transparency are thrown into the mix. Even after contracts are assigned, the money can be held up by environmental reviews, public debate and even the upcoming football season (a Missouri highway interchange is ready for work, but its proximity to the Kansas City stadium will cause delays).

Meanwhile, Republican governors who oppose the trickle of stimulus funds are increasingly giving in. Politico reports that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who said last month she was rejecting up to 45 percent of the money, has softened that stand to say it’s "possible" that Alaska won’t apply for certain funds. South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, perhaps the most vocal stimulus opponent, told Politico the fight had left him "beaten up pretty bad."

Project of the day: Politico‘s report also reminds us that local papers are reporting Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s transportation department will seek federal funding for a highspeed train from Baton Rouge to… Bourbon Street! Jindal criticized stimulus for rails in a television address, saying the "wasteful" provision was for building a levitation train from "Las Vegas to Disneyland."

Mornin'

It’s time ta start cleanin’ out the garage and the annual deluge "of shoppers" that invade the community durin’ the City Wide Garage Sale and then the Clean Up Day the followin’ week. (In case ya haven’t noticed, it’s planned that way, given ya a chance to sell stuff ‘fore ya have ta throw it away).

I personally get a kick outa cruisin’ the neighborhoods the night before the Clean Up day. Not so much to look at the piles of junk, but observin’ the semi-organized efforts to pick up the better throw aways.

If you remember, last year a school type bus stopped in front a my house and waited while the passengers poked through my discarded treasures. There may be some questionable legal aspects to this form of acquisition, but once in the junk pile, most figure it’s fair game.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Many Ways to Treat Enlarged Prostate

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: About three years ago, I had a procedure to reduce the size of my prostate. It was Greenlight PVP laser procedure. My doctor did it on an outpatient basis. Since then, I have a normal flow for someone who is 79 years old. I sleep through the night without having to get up to go to the bathroom. Perhaps you could comment on this treatment. -- L.M.

ANSWER: Prostate gland enlargement -- benign (noncancerous) prostate hyperplasia or hypertrophy -- is something that happens to just about all men. Fifty percent of men between the ages of 51 and 60 have some gland enlargement, and by age 80, more than 80 percent have it. Not all these men have to deal with its exasperating consequences -- frequent urination, nighttime urination, difficulty starting the stream -- but enough do that it is a quite common problem.

Sometimes medicines can relax the chokehold that the big prostate has on the urethra, the tube draining the bladder, and there also are medicines that shrink the gland.

When medicines strike out, a large number of invasive procedures are readily available. The standard operation, TURP -- transurethral resection of the prostate -- is done with a scope and instrument passed into the urethra and advanced upward to the gland. The doctor shaves away portions of the gland. TUNA -- transurethral needle ablation; TUMT -- transurethral microwave therapy; and TUIP -- transurethral incision of the prostate are procedures done very much like a TURP, but they employ different techniques for reducing the gland’s size. Some are done in the doctor’s office.

Greenlight Laser Photovaporization is a technique in which the prostate gland is downsized by vaporizing the excess with a laser that emits a green light. One big advantage this offers is a reduction of bleeding. The green-light laser seals blood vessels in the process. I am sure many men readers will appreciate your bringing up the topic.