ALBANYBusiness leaders can improve New York's communities and their
economic prospects by becoming directly involved in efforts to improve schools,
especially as school board members, a business leader and long-time school-reform
activist has argued in a new handbook.
"Business people can bring something valuable to the oversight of our professional
managers in public schools," Todd Feigenbaum, a business owner and school-board
member from Glens Falls, wrote in Leadership for the Schools We Need
The
Business Council has launched a new electronic advocacy campaign
to convince Congress to renew a law that supports vocational
and technical career training for students and adults.
The
Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of
1998 provides funding for secondary and post-secondary career
and technical education programs in high schools, colleges,
and vocational schools such as BOCES
State
Index
Rank
State
Index
Rank
State
Index
Rank
Arizona
0.385
1
Maryland
0.821
16
Alabama
1.105
31
Utah
0.467
2
Mississippi
0.838
17
Maine
1.114
32
Indiana
0
Council
members with questions on understanding and implementing the
state’s new smoking ban can call The Council’s
toll-free Resourceline.
"This
is a powerful benefit of Council membership, especially at
times like this, when new bills create new questions and new
work for HR professionals," said Tom Minnick, manager
of The Council's Center for Human Resources and operator of
the Resourceline
The
availability of physicians in upstate New York varies greatly
by location, according to a new report by Excellus BlueCross
BlueShield.
The
report, Physician Supply in Upstate New York, surveyed most
areas in upstate to determine the number of physicians per
100,000 population
Closing
Indian Point Energy Center would drastically reduce New York’s
electricity supply and have significant negative effects on
the economy, according to experts.
Peter
Huber, of the Manhattan Institute, and Mark Mills, from Digital
Power Capital, validated concerns The Business Council has
voiced since activists first began lobbying lawmakers to close
the Westchester County plant
New York ranks lower than most other states in terms of "business
tax friendliness," because of both the cost and complexity
of taxes businesses must pay, a study by the Tax Foundation
finds.
Only
six of the 50 states rank below the Empire State in the foundation's
first annual State Business Tax Climate Index
New York State employers will pay almost $1.4 billion in
health-insurance taxes as a result of a two-year extension
of the controversial Health Care Reform Act (HCRA), an analysis
by a health insurance trade group shows.
Empire State employers were already paying nearly $1
The state Insurance Department has rejected a proposal to
increase workers' compensation rates by 11 percent for 2003-2004,
ruling that current rates will remain in place.
But the workers' comp assessment, a tax on premiums that
all employers must also pay as part of overall comp costs,
will increase by 10 percent, from 13 percent to 14
Daniel B. Walsh, president/CEO of The Business Council, has
been asked to serve on an advisory panel that will work with
a state Senate task force on Medicaid reform.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno created the bipartisan,
40-member advisory panel in June to work with the Senate's
task force