After Gov. Sam Brownback was elected in 2010 he plucked Floridian Rob Siedlecki to lead the Kansas Department for Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Siedlecki swept into the secretary job with promises to refocus the social welfare agency around conservative Christian values like marriage and fatherhood. The Senate confirmed him 34-1 in March 2011, with Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, providing the lone "no" vote.

I told the media at the time, this guy wont last a year, Hensley said.

He was right. After several minor controversies, Siedlecki announced his resignation in December 2011 and returned to work in Florida state government.

An unusual number of Cabinet heads followed him out the door.

Deb Miller, the lone Democrat in the Cabinet, left her post as secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation at the same time as Siedlecki left his. Karin Brownlee was forced out as secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor in September 2012. Dennis Taylor stepped down as secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration to be interim leader of the state lottery in January, but no longer heads that agency. Dale Rodman announced this month that he wouldnt finish Brownback's first term as secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, and would make way for replacement Jackie McClaskey.

Almost half of Brownback's 11 permanent Cabinet secretary appointments will turn over in the first three years of his tenure, a percent that outpaces that of predecessors Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Bill Graves, a Republican.

In addition to changes in Brownback's Cabinet, a slew of other high-level appointed posts that pay at or near $100,000 a year have also been vacated.

Those include Securities Commissioner Aaron Jack, who flamed out amid multiple controversies; information technology chief Jim Mann, who lasted a week before word got out that his resume included a degree from a diploma mill; and, most recently, Kansas Corporation Commission chairman Mark Sievers, who resigned one month after the agency paid a $500 fine for violating the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

Asked Thursday at the Statehouse about turnover, Brownback declined to comment.

Continued here:
Cabinet turnover unusually high as Brownback enters end of year three

14/12/13

Burial fees and waste collection charges will increase from April. The new amounts were agreed at a meeting of Swale councils cabinet committee.

It means the cost of a first burial or interment will rise by 3%, taking cemetery fees in Sittingbourne, Faversham and Murston to 1,305. On Sheppey, the price will climb from 1,146 to 1,180.

Swale council's head office, Swale House

The increase will also apply to cremations, scatterings of ashes and use of chapels in Sittingbourne and Faversham.

Residents will also pay more for bulky waste collections, which are rising from 17.60 to 18.17. In addition, the cost of wheelie bin replacement will rise from 413.60 to 427.25 for the largest size.

There is better news for brown bin users, with the cost of the garden waste service decreasing from 40.60 to 35.

Charges for hiring senior sports facilities are also going up, with the cost of hiring a changing room with shower rising from 63 to 65. However, charges for all under-16s sports usage is staying the same.

Allotment holders will pay 33 instead of 32, while play groups will be charged 27 instead of 25 to hire a council-owned hall.

There was better news for drivers, with no increase in council car park and season ticket charges.

Originally posted here:
Swale council to hike burial, waste and sport fees from April 2014

New Delhi, Dec. 13:

The Cabinet Committee on Investments, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cleared Rs 7,947-crore worth projects in the oil and gas sector, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily said here on Friday.

Five projects were taken up by the high-level panel on December 9. These projects involve companies such as IOC, CPCL and HPCL.

The Rs 2,379 crore Assam renewal project taken up by ONGC for the revamp and replacement of various installations has also been cleared.

Moily said that the panel also cleared a proposed Rs 5,200 crore worth LNG terminal project of GSPC at Mundra.

Subsidy transfer

The Minister said that the scheme of direct transfer of cooking gas subsidy into bank accounts has been successful. As on December 1, Rs 1,615 crore subsidy has been transferred to bank accounts of 1.274 crore domestic cooking gas customers.

The Ministry has also filed a petition and an affidavit for modification/clarification stating that Aadhaar is mandatory for receiving subsidy in bank accounts after the expiry of the three-month grace period.

Suggestions

Moily also hinted that an expert panels call for a Rs 5 a litre hike in diesel and Rs 250 increase in LPG rates will be diluted, saying that a balanced view keeping consumer interest in mind would be taken, according to news agency PTI. The government-appointed Kirit Parikh committee suggested an immediate hike in prices of diesel by Rs 5 a litre, Rs 4 per litre in kerosene and Rs 250 per cylinder in LPG, reducing annual entitlement of subsidised cooking gas cylinder from six from nine and phase out diesel subsidy in one year to cut a record subsidy burden.

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Rs 8,000 cr projects in oil, gas sector approved: Moily

By Brian Westover

The Planar PXL2790MW brings WQHD (2,560-by-1,440) resolution to the desktop in a 27-inch IPS monitor that offers solid color and grayscale performance and an attractive cabinet design. There's no shortage of video ports with this monitor, but it doesn't have any USB ports and it doesn't offer the level of ergonomic adjustability that you get with similarly priced WQHD models.

Design and Features With its bezel-less design and edge-to-edge glass, the PXL2790MW is one fine looking monitor. Its 27-inch WQHD (Wide Quad High Definition) panel is housed in a sleek looking matte black cabinet sporting a curved back panel and a depth of only 1.7-inches. The 13.2 pound cabinet is attached to a black metal wedge-type stand that lets you tilt the cabinet 5-degerees forward and 25-degrees backward but lacks the height, swivel, and pivot capabilities that you get with models like the Dell UltraSharp U2713HM and Asus PB278Q. You can remove the stand if you wish to use the VESA mounting holes to hang the monitor on a wall using an optional VESA mounting bracket.

At the back of the cabinet you'll find virtually every video input you could want, including VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort inputs. There's also an audio input and a headphone jack back there but no USB ports like you'll find on the Dell U2713HM. The down-firing 2-watt speakers provide decent volume but lack bass.

There are four touch-sensitive buttons and a power switch on the lower front edge of the cabinet. The buttons are used to navigate the various OSD (on screen display) menus containing picture and audio settings. There are five Color Vision Modes (picture presets) including standard, cinema, scenery, game, and text as well as six color temperature settings and a user defined temperature setting. Other picture settings include brightness, contrast, gamma, Eco (power saving), and clock and phase (for analog signals). Audio adjustments are limited to volume and mute.

The PXL2790MW comes with a DVI dual link cable, a DisplayPort cable, and audio cable, and a user guide. It also comes with a three year warranty which includes Planar's 2-Day Advanced Replacement service.

Performance The PXL2790MW is a strong performer. It had no trouble displaying every shade of gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test and showed good highlight and shadow detail in my test photos. It also handled text wonderfully; the smallest text from the Scaled Fonts test was clean and easy to read.

Out of the box color accuracy was good but not perfect. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red (represented by the colored dot) is very close to the CIE standard for red (represented by the box), while green and blue are a tad heavy but still within an acceptable range.

As far as picture quality goes, the PXL2790MW delivered well-balanced colors, and there was no noticeable tinting or over saturation. Viewing angles were wide with no discernable shift in color quality or luminance when viewed from a side or top angle.

The PXL2790MW consumed 48-watts of power during testing with Eco mode turned off, which is rather high for a 27-inch IPS panel. The Dell U2713HM used 32 watts and the HP Envy 27 used 30 watts. Oddly, enabling the PXL2790MW's Eco mode made no difference whatsoever.

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Planar PXL2790MW

Emergency Cabinet Replacement Charlotte NC I (704) 531-9224 I Charlotte Cabinet Refacing
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By: Go! See! Do! Media

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Emergency Cabinet Replacement Charlotte NC I (704) 531-9224 I Charlotte Cabinet Refacing - Video

Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday directed the Law Department to redraft legislation proposed earlier to check exploitation in the real estate sector.

Talking to the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the Real Estate Development and Regulation Bill would have provisions to ensure proper control of the real estate sector. There were many complaints now that developers of apartments and other properties were cheating people including overseas Keralites. The proposed law will protect the interests of the buyers.

The Chief Minister recalled that the Cabinet earlier discussed and decided on a draft proposed by the State Housing Board to regulate the real estate sector. However, its enactment was kept in abeyance because of a proposal by the Centre to bring legislation on the subject.

Though the Central legislation was approved by the Rajya Sabha, it was not adopted by Lok Sabha. Now, there was uncertainty about the Central law. Hence, the Cabinet decision to revive the plan for State legislation subject to the understanding that it would be modified in tune with the Central law, if one is enacted by the Centre.

Mr. Chandy said that he was not certain whether the Bill could be taken up by the coming Assembly session as replacement of Ordinances would have to be given priority.

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Kerala to bring law to regulate reality sector

One week after announcing a major cabinet shuffle, Premier Alison Redfords government will swear in a new cabinet in Edmonton on Friday.

The shuffle, the first major rearrangement of Redfords cabinet since immediately after the 2012 election, will see 10 ministers getting new jobs.

The swearing-in ceremony was delayed after the premier travelled to South Africa this week to attend the memorial for Nelson Mandela.

It will now take place at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Government House.

The cabinet shuffle will see the total number of full ministers increasing by one to 19, while the ranks of associate ministers increases to 11 from nine meaning more than half of the Tory caucus members are now ministers.

Among the biggest changes is Dave Hancock taking over Thomas Lukaszuks roles as deputy premier and minister of Innovation and Advanced Education, while Lukaszuk shifts into the new ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour.

Calgary-Greenway MLA Manmeet Bhullar takes over as Minister for Human Services, while Doug Griffiths will replace Bhullar in the Service Alberta post.

In turn, Energy Minister Ken Hughes replaces Griffiths in the ministry of Municipal Affairs and will be in charge of cabinets flood reconstruction efforts.

Diana McQueen moves from Environment to take over Energy from Hughes, while Robin Campbell will become Albertas Environment Minister.

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Redford to swear in shuffled cabinet on Friday, with 10 ministers getting new jobs

Premier Alison Redford shook up her Tory cabinet Friday in what appeared to be an attempt to heal fractious relationships with the provinces municipalities and post-secondary institutions, and make a fresh start on the contentious social services file.

The shuffle, announced late Friday afternoon, saw 10 ministers getting new jobs in the first major cabinet shuffle since immediately following the 2012 general election.

But opposition parties said the government missed the mark and Redford failed by grossly expanding cabinet, with the number of full ministers increasing by one to 19 and the cadre of associate ministers increasing from 9 to 11 meaning more than half of Tory caucus members are now ministers.

Among the biggest changes is veteran Tory Dave Hancock taking over Thomas Lukaszuks roles as deputy premier and minister of Innovation and Advanced Education.

Its an important time in the mandate as we come through the first two years and (have) dealt with some of the really tough things that needed to happen, said Hancock, who also loses his position as house leader after 15 years.

With the shift, the government is now able to get out and set the direction . . . to expand on that vision that has been set out by the premier, he said.

The outspoken Lukaszuk, who had taken heat for major budget cuts in the post-secondary sector, was named to a new ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour.

Calgary-Greenway MLA Manmeet Bhullar one of the governments youngest MLAs receives a major promotion as he moves from the Service Alberta portfolio to assume Hancocks role as Minister for Human Services, the super-ministry that deals with child and youth issues, social programs and homelessness.

Hancock has been facing the fallout of a Calgary Herald-Edmonton Journal investigation that showed a greater number of children in government care had died between 1999 and 2013 than the province had reported.

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Redford puts new face on Tory government with cabinet shuffle

ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: On the last day of his eight-year tenure on Wednesday, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the Balochistan missing persons case and handed down an order. The proceedings of the case saw a verbal clash between a counsel and the bench.

Heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench which had issued a contempt notice to Inspector General of Frontier Corps Balochistan Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid, the chief justice ordered that the next-in-command in the force be immediately appointed in place of the FC chief who was indisposed and admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology.

When Brigadier Khalid Saleem, who is at present heading the force, tried to explain that none of the missing persons was in the FC custody, the court said that without a proper notification by the interior ministry about his charge he could not be considered to be legally holding the command.

After the notification, the order said, the acting FC chief would ensure that the FC personnel allegedly involved in enforced disappearances appeared before DIG of Balochistan Crime Investigation Department Imtiaz Ahmed Shah in compliance with the earlier order.

It said the new FC chief, along with the provincial police and other law-enforcement agencies, would also ensure recovery of the missing persons, including Advocate Mir Ahmed Marwani who had been picked up from Khuzdar in Balochistan.

The new FC chief, the Balochistan chief secretary and the inspector general of police are required to appear before the Supreme Court on Dec 17 along with reports on progress in recovery of the missing persons.

The court said that since former FC chief Obaidullah Khattak had earlier given an undertaking in the court, all those who had affixed their signatures on the commitment to recover the missing persons would also appear before it to explain whether they had met the commitment.

The court regretted that despite protests by relatives of the missing persons, no-one took practical steps to redress their grievances. This is evident from the attitude of law-enforcement agencies as well as elected representatives who had promised to enforce fundamental rights in their election campaigns.

Similar is the position of the federal government, the prime minister and his cabinet as well as the elected representatives, particularly from Balochistan, despite the fact that they are aware of the miseries of the Baloch people, the court said.

It observed that it was a responsibility of the executive authorities discharging functions under the constitution to enforce fundamental rights. The court regretted that there had been a hue and cry for many years and relatives of the missing persons were continuously holding camps in Quetta and even marched to Karachi on foot with their children, women and the elderly demanding their recovery.

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Amid verbal duel, CJ orders replacement of FC head - DAWN.COM

The New South Wales Opposition leader John Robertson says he is strengthening his frontbench in the lead up to the 2015 election.

Carmel Tebbutt's decision not to contest the next state poll has given Mr Robertson an opportunity to reshuffle his shadow Cabinet.

Ryan Park, a former high school teacher, has been promoted to replace Ms Tebbutt as the Education spokesman.

His replacement in Roads will be Walt Secord which will pit him against Duncan Gay in the Upper House.

Mr Robertson say he is also welcoming three extra MPs into the fold.

Peter Primrose has been named Special Minister for State, newly-re-elected Miranda MP Barry Collier gets Water, while Hunter MP Sonia Hornery will become the spokeswoman for Science and Medical Research.

Nathan Rees, who is on extended leave, will remain the spokesman for police.

Earlier this week the Premier Barry O'Farrell was forced into a minor reshuffle of his frontbench after the resignation from cabinet of Chris Hartcher.

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NSW Opposition reshuffles frontbench in lead up to 2015 election