Five local nonprofit leaders were recognized by the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation for their determination to survive during a down economy.

Lindsey Buss, president of Martha’s Table; Kelly Sweeney McShane, executive director of Community of Hope; David Andrew Snider, CEO and artistic director of Young Playwrights’ Theater; Ana Lopez, executive director of Community Bridges; and Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia were this year’s recipients.

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The federal Department of Education sketched out a new nationwide competition on Tuesday under which some 2,700 school districts and nonprofit groups are expected to compete for pieces of a $650 million innovation fund.

The department already has the 50 states vying for chunks of a $5.4 billion education improvement fund that it calls Race to the Top; the innovation fund is a separate competition.

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American Airlines Inc. announced recently that it will work with a nonprofit called Snowball Express to bring more than 2,000 military families to the Dallas-Fort Worth area so that family members of fallen military members can spend a day bonding with each other at one location.

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Talk about invasion of privacy. Before even going for an interview, an employer may have already made a decision about your judgment skills just by looking over your credit history. What if a recent college graduate goes into an interview and the employer scratches his name out simply because  the interviewee has never owned a credit card? if that is the case, theres no way I’m ever going to get a job.

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 From the Wall Street Journal:

Free air travel for lawmakers?

Apperently a congressman can get a free flight to anywhere in the world as long as they get permission from congressional commitees, along with a compliment and a hand shake to an official in the Department of Defense. If the miliary planes are over-booked by lawmakers the senate majority leaders and the speaker of house decide who is going. No wonder the republicans have been so bitter about losing the majority.

Since more and more congressmen are taking advantage of these free flights, congress is purchasing more planes to make traveling even more convinient for lawmakers. Is it possible all these planes will be used to spread democracy and America’s innovative ideas for a better world economy? Not likely.

Massachusetts was considered an innovator for being the first state to have all workers be required to have health insurance. Unfortunately that innovative law has put many small business executives in a bind  due to increased costs health providers are placing on small businesses. As a result, many small businesses are advocating for group health insurance policies.  The idea makes sense, but what happens to all those people that were supposed to benefit the most from Obama’s health care reform plan? What kind of message are we sending out where we favor our small businesses more than our citizens? Sounds like the small business executives are just searching for another way to save money. Not to mention that employees would pay higher prices at the doctor if their employer gets this law passed.

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 From the Wall Street Journal:

Would people feel more secure about the possible health care overhaul if non-profit companies provided the health insurance rather than the government? When this fall comes around there will be a final vote whether or not to pass the health bill proposed by the Obama administration. Personally, I want to see less government interaction as opposed to more government interaction.

 Let us know your opinions on this topic.

Massachusetts may be innovative, especially in health care but it is noticably behind the times when it comes to paying for the upkeep of public housing. Massachusetts is one of only two states in the country to rely solely upon state funds to support public housing. The other states rely on federal funds. The benefit for our states economy to take the governement up on their offer would reduce our debt substantially. Boston officials claim the state is abandoning its moral responsibilities to ease our debt. Since when did Boston officials have morals they believed in anyway?

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TALK ABOUT barriers lifting and paradigms shifting. Suddenly, support for charter schools, once the lonely province of public-policy entrepreneurs and intrepid, union-defying pols, has become positively mainstream.

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More Boston high school graduates will receive extra help in college this fall as part of an effort to boost college completion rates among the city’s alumni. The Boston Foundation is doling out $655,000 in one-year grants so six nonprofit groups can expand counseling and other services that they provide on college campuses to at least an additional 275 Boston high school graduates.

To continue reading, please see the article page in the Boston Globe.