Negotiated Extension Approved.

The City Council voted to approve an ordinance Tuesday evening that will allow the Mayor to enter into an agreement with Allied Waste to extend their current contract with the City for five years without going through the bidding process. The current contract is set to expire in October of this year.

Although this ordinance did not specify any details that would be contained in the extension agreement, the Public Works Committee has been discussing allowing Allied to raise the rate it charges for trash pickup by approximately one dollar for the average residential customer. Initial discussions with Allied also includes the provision of Allied providing customers with a container that would be picked up by a mechanical arm. For the system to work efficiently, most customers would have to place the roll-away container at the street curb. Most alleys are not wide enough for the equipment to operate.

The Public Works Committee will is scheduled to work out the extension contract details. The final version will need the approval of the full Council.

The $85 Billion Taxpayer Auto Bailout?

by Paul Kiel, www.ProPublica.org

We here at Bailout HQ never pass up an opportunity to add up large numbers. So when we saw Time adding up the auto bailout, we couldn’t resist.

Time gets to $83 billion by including two large sums not included in our database: $25 billion in loans appropriated by Congress last year to help auto companies develop green cars, plus billions more through the TALF, a Federal Reserve program to juice the secondary market for a number of different kinds of assets, including auto loans.

Set aside the Fed’s spending, and you still get an enormous number.

Count along with us.

That $25 billion loan package is a taxpayer bailout conceived by Congress even before the financial crisis hit. The money will be distributed through the Department of Energy. A number of companies, not just the big three, are applying for a piece of the funds.

And then there’s the TARP. The toll currently stands at $35.29 billion, a sum that includes Treasury’s promised loans to Chrysler as it moves through and emerges from bankruptcy. But the total also excludes the $5 billion in aid for GM and Chrysler parts suppliers and two large sums on the horizon.

The administration gave GM a June 1 deadline to restructure, and although it’s not yet clear precisely what will happen, it’s likely that GM will receive additional government loans just as Chrysler did. A GM spokesman tells Time those could be in the ballpark of $12 billion. And GMAC, GM’s financing arm, will likely soon receive $7.5 billion in additional bailout funds, the Washington Post has reported.

Put all that together and you get almost $85 billion.

Stimulus for the Dead.

by David Epstein, www.ProPublica.org

It’s only fair to expect the odd clerical error amid the frantic rush to infuse the economy with cash. But assuming that only living Americans will have their wallets fattened seems like a reasonable expectation.

WBALTV in Baltimore reports this morning that Rose Hagner, a Maryland woman who died on Memorial Day in 1967, received one of the one-time $250 stimulus checks intended for Social Security and SSI recipients. (As we noted last week, working seniors who make over $75,000 will receive the check only to have the $250 deducted from their tax credit next spring.)

Representatives from the Social Security Administration told the station that, of 52 million checks that are out the door, around 10,000 have been sent to people who have passed away. The representatives blame the hasty June check-mailing deadline for not allowing them to peruse their records with fine-toothed combs. If 43 years wasn’t long enough to get Rose off the rolls, certainly the three months since the passage of the stimulus bill wouldn’t be.

Rose Hagner’s check was plucked from the mailbox by her surprised son, who may have had his apparently scant faith in the Social Security mailing list eroded. James Hagner, 83, told WBALTV: "It shocked me and I laughed all at the same time. … I don’t even expect to get one for myself, and I get one for my mother from 43 years ago?"

Since cashing someone else’s Social Security check is a federal offense, James Hagner is hoping just to frame his mother’s stimulus money and hang it on his wall.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

One a the disadvantages of livin’ in a community where storm water is directed out quickly is the lack of tadpole trainin’. Not trainin’ the tadpole, they know ever’thing they need to. I’m referrin’ to the trainin’ of kids to the nature of tadpoles. Mainly the fact that they somehow turn from the fish lookin’ critter to a frog.

Amazin’ stuff, especially to kids gathered around a mud hole on a summer afternoon. Nothin’ like a catchin’ a tadpole with the bare hands and takin’ a close look at those little beady eyes fore ya turn it back to the natural habitat. Then actually watchin’ over a short period of time the legs startin’ to appear and eventually a full fledged frog croakin’ (vocally) on the bank. ‘Course I always was a curious little mudder.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Sponsored by Metcalf Auto Supply

Dear Tom an Ray:

I have a 2000 Toyota Sienna van that’s tires lose air on a regular basis. The tire-trouble indicator on the dash is on most of the time. The front desk personnel said I only need to have the tire rims cleaned and sealed, and they should hold for two years. One of the mechanics says it’s because my rims are aluminum, and aluminum rims collect residue that gets between the tire and the rim. He recommended getting stainless steel rims. Who is right? -Jean Marie

TOM: Well, there are millions of cars with aluminum-alloy rims out there, and their tires are all holding air. So I don’t think it’s the type of rims you have, Jean-Marie.

RAY: There are two things I’d look at. One is your valve stems. Valve stems can sometimes crack, or deteriorate and get porous, and allow air to slowly leak out.

TOM: In fact, some 30 million Chinese-made valve stems were recently recalled because they may fail. They were manufactured for a company named Dill and distributed by Tech International all over the country. If you have those, you can get them replaced for free.

RAY: The other possibility is what the front desk personnel suggested - that you have oxidation on the inside of the rims, and that’s preventing the bead of the tire from sealing tightly against the rims. That’s also a common source of slow leaks.

TOM: So, my suggestion would be to have your mechanic remove all the tires, clean up the rims, replace the valve stems and remount the tires. I’ll bet that fixes it.

RAY: And if he happens to notice any huge nail holes while he’s at it, have him patch those up, too. Good luck, Jean-Marie.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Burton Stays Cool Under Pressure

No driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series understands the obligations of his job more than Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton.

Burton, 41, is cool under pressure. He is analytical and articulate. He doesn’t often speak without gauging the effect and significance of his words. This isn’t just handy in the media center. It’s beneficial to the team. Burton isn’t just a team player by nature. It’s something he considers important. He’s right.

Just as canny on the track, Burton was asked at Phoenix about the knack of formulating competent strategy for the final laps of races.

"It depends on the kind of race," he said. "Talladega has the potential of being a 20-car pack, with 23 others in the garage, or a 35-car pack. The bigger the pack, the more the danger.

"If something happens with three laps to go, and the first four break away, then being in the front is not as dangerous. Being in the front is dangerous when the guys behind you can get momentum and come get you. ... I do believe, in the old car, you were more protected up front than you are in the new car. With the new car (once known by the acronym COT), you seem to be a little more of a sitting duck than you were in the old car."

In 2008, all three RCR entries made the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but the team won only three races, two of them courtesy of Burton.

"I would stack our team up against anybody," said Burton, a native of South Boston, Va. "I feel really, really good about the way our cars go down the straights. I think we make a lot of power. What we have struggled with is ‘deep speed.’ If you go back and look at most of the races that we’ve won, they’ve been long-run races, they’ve been races that had adverse conditions, slick tracks and those kind of things.

"For us to achieve all the goals that we want to achieve, we’ve got to find a way to win races no matter what the conditions are."