Good morning everyone! Here is today's Daily Briefing.
A new survey of the Lehigh Valley job market by Manpower shows that only 11% of firms are planning on hiring in the first quarter of 2011 - down from 18% in the last survey. Esscroc Cement in Nazareth will be laying off 10% of its workforce as a result of a weak construction market. Both RCN and Service Electric will be raising cable rates this year - the amount of the raise will be between $4 - $10. In Wind Gap, a tax hike of 10% has been preliminarily approved by Borough Council. Lower Macungie Supervisors have given its budget a final approval; the $15.5 million budget does not contain a tax hike and holds all fees at their current rates. The Bethlehem Area School District agreed to a new contract with its teachers; the three year contract will provide 3.9% raises. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has said that he will decide if he is running for President next year.
In national news, President Obama and Senate Republicans agreed to a deal to temporarily extend all Bush-era tax breaks, extend unemployment benefits for 13 months and cut payroll taxes by 2%. Democratic leaders, however, have yet to agree to such a deal. Elizabeth Edwards has stopped cancer treatment and has been told that she only has weeks to live. Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has been arrested in England on sex-crime accusations.
We have one Chamber event today: our all-day Social Media boot camp that will be taught be your resident blogger. Alas, this also means that this will be the last blog entry of the day. So, have a good one, and we'll see you tomorrow!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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1 comment:
It would have been nice if the Chamber update today included a reminder of the atrocities that occurred at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. If not for the sacrifices WW II vets made there may not have been a Chamber today.
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