To settle the billion dollars in claims, the state borrowed money so that policy holders could be pair. Now the issue is how to pay back that loan.
Built into the legislation that created the plans is an assessment fee that must be paid by all insurance policy holders, regardless of which company they actually have their insurance with.
The state is also able to declare an emergency and collect an emergency assessment along with the regular assessment until the loan is paid down.
With the unexpected surplus in the year-ending 2007 state fiscal budget, Governor Kathleen Blanco was able to convince the state legislator to pass the bill recommended by the governor to refund the amount of the assessments policy holders have paid since the date of the storms.
The assessments can be listed as a credit on your 2006 state tax returns.
The State Department of Revenue and Taxation has several web pages available to explain the credit and how to claim it.
In your case, you have 384 MB of RAM which is healthy enough for someone who is doing email, surfing the web, working with office applications, and a minimal amount of graphic design work.
You don't mention which version of Photoshop you are using, so I'm going to assume the professional version. Adobe says 320 MB is the minimum with at least 384 MB recommended. So you are sitting right on the bottom line of performance.
If you are going to be doing a lot of graphics work, I would max out the motherboard on RAM adding as much as it could handle. If you can't do that then go with at least 1 GB of RAM.
How do you find out how much memory your motherboard can handle? The best way I've found is to visit Crucial's web site and use their system scanner to tell you how much memory you have, in what configuration, and how much you can add. It will then give you links to the different types and sizes of memory that should work with your PC. You can then make a decision on the best memory upgrade path you should take.
One caveat. Sometimes the system tool can get all the information it needs to show you your different options. In those cases, you can use the Wizard to select your motherboard and figure out the best chips for you.
]]>As with the previous book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, there will be two editions, a standard hardcover book and a deluxe edition which includes additional artwork and a slipcover.
Amazon is accepting pre-orders for the book with their Pre-Order Price Guarantee.
The standard hardcover can be found here while the deluxe edition is here.
Please use the form below to submit your information electronically or you can mail them to:
Our Lady of Lourdes Church]]>
C/O Janet Perez
P.O. Box 783
Violet LA 70092
The schedule and parade routes are listed below.
Knights of Nemesis
Sunday, February 11, 2pm
Start at Paris Road and Judge Perez. East to Campagna. U-turn to the government complex, then u-turn back to Paris Road and Judge Perez.
23 Floats with 400+ riders.
Royal Knight - Charles Ponstein
Goddess Nemesis - Kim Campo
Celebrity Guest - Bobby Hebert
Special Throws: Medallion Bead, 22 oz cups, t-shirts
Irish Italian Islenos Parade
Sunday, March 11, 1pm
Start at the old Wal-Mart, then west to the govt complex then u-turn to Campagna, then u-turn back to the old wal-mart.
42 floats with 1600+ riders
Usual cabbage, potatos,etc as well as 22oz cups and t-shirts.
Knights of Columbus Crawfish Festival
Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1.
Old Wal-Mart parking Lot.
More details to follow.
As you have discovered, sometimes you don't want the blogging software to automatically add the HTML code. It would seem that setting the Text Formatting option to None would do the trick, but it isn't quite that easy.
Whether it is a bug or a feature, MovableType will look at the contents of your entry, especially any HTML tags and use that as the deciding factor as to whether or not to convert line breaks.
MovableType will stop converting line breaks when it encounters any of the following HTML tags:
This means you could wrap your JavaScript code inside of a <div> or <center> element, but you must be careful. If you have one blank line, MovableType will start converting line breaks again. Also, be sure you put all of the JavaScript code inside of element, including the JavaScript header, as shown below:
We are doing this on our own because we feel it is important for residents to be able to contact their elected officials as easily as possible. We have not asked for, nor have we received anything from the St. Bernard Parish Council endorsing our contact form.
Although we are forwarding your comments to the St. Bernard Parish Council, we can not guarantee that they will be received by the St. Bernard Parish Council or that you will receive a response. Furthermore, we do not accept any liability if your message is not received by the St. Bernard Parish Council.
By submitting your question or comment to the St. Bernard Parish Council through this webform, you agree to the disclaimer and limit of liability printed below.
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The services provided through links on this site are independent of Ask Westley! and are for your convenience only. Ask Westley! does not endorse or recommend the services of any company or service, nor is Ask Westley! responsible for any services or goods provided by such companies. Ask Westley! shall not be liable for any damages or costs arising out of or in any way connected with your use of any information or service accessed through this web site.
You further agree that Ask Westley!, da-parish.com, Westley Annis, and any other parties involved in creating, maintaining, and delivering this site's contents have no liability for direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages with respect to the information, services, or content contained on or otherwise accessed through this web site.
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The use of these applications indicates your unconditional acceptance of the above disclaimer.
Officials from both groups recognize the important role public libraries played in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Public libraries provided invaluable services to displaced residents by means of free internet access, free gathering areas, information centers and community support. Without these services many hurricane victims would have had no way to communicate with loved ones, file FEMA and SBA applications, check on the status of various applications and seek information regarding their hometowns.
As part of this process, St. Bernard Parish Library staff members are working with representatives of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and the Americans for Libraries Council by collecting materials to be included in the 'St. Bernard Parish Library Book."
Staff members are asking library patrons to put in writing their responses to two questions. Those questions are "What does your library mean to you?" and "What would you like to see in your new library?" Patrons who submit letters are asked to provide current contact information should their responses be chosen to be included in the library's book. Parish residents interested in helping can send their letters to the following address or type them into the following web form:
St. Bernard Parish Library
C/O Janet Perez
P.O. Box 783
Violet LA 70092
Once the St. Bernard Parish Library Book is completed, it will be used as a tool and information source for groups and individuals interested in aiding the parish's library in its rebuilding process. St. Bernard Parish Library staff members hope that many of its patrons will submit letters of support. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the library served its patrons by providing reading materials, free internet access, storytimes, afterschool programs, adult programs, reference materials and assistance, meeting space, and community resources and they are anxious to be able to provide these types of services again.
]]>Louisiana Small Business Retention Program
Governor Blanco, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Louisiana Economic Development announced a proposal to reallocate $100 million of the economic development disaster recovery programs to provide much-needed grants to small businesses. The additional funds would provide financial relief to sustain and restart small businesses in the most severely impacted areas of Louisiana. Pending final approval of the proposed amendment, the state will determine eligible amounts and expects to begin accepting applications in early January 2007.
This $100 million grant program comes in addition to a $38 million dollar program for 0% interest loans, a $68 million dollar program for loan guarantees, and a $9.5 million general assistance program for small businesses. Collectively, these programs are intended to provide a range of much-needed assistance to small businesses struggling to rebound from last year’s storms. More information about each program can be found below.
Small businesses in the following areas of the state are eligible to apply:
*20 Damaged Parishes
Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Vermilion, Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Mary, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, and Washington
**Most Affected Parishes, Cities/Towns & Zip Codes
Parishes: St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Orleans, Cameron
Cities/Towns: Angie, Slidell, Erath, Lafitte, Folsom, Chauvin, Delcambre, Montegut, Pearl River, Springfield, Madisonville, Gretna, Franklinton
Zip Codes: 70373, 70006, 70461, 70458, 70528, 70463, 70533, 70067, 70464, 70460, 70065, 70397, 70353
Visit LouisianaForward.com for more information.
1) Share your printer. Open the Printers folder, right-click on the printer, select sharing and give it a share name. Since you will be using this in DOS, you must follow the DOS naming rules:
2) If you don't already know your PC's Computer Name, look it up. Right click on My Computer and then click Properties. Click on the Computer Name tab to view the name of your computer.
3) Open a DOS window and enter the following command
Net use lpt3: \\<YourComputerName>\<PrinterShareName> /persistent:yes
Substitute your computer name and the share name you assigned to the printer in step 1 and you are ready to tell your DOS program to print to LPT3:.
Bonus Answer
If you need to use LPT1 or LPT2, you need to go into your system BIOS and turn off or reassign any printer ports already assigned to LPT1 or LPT2.
First let me say shame on your son's school in Chicago. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, his shot records are to be a part of his permanent school records and maintained for a period of 60 years.
However, all hope is not lost. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in cooperation with individual state goverments has started the National Immunization Program to maintain an electronic immunization record for all children. Each state has its own program, so you can't contact the CDC directly. Instead you need to contact the board of health for the state in which your child received his shots.
In the State of Illinois, where I'm assuming your son received his most recent shots, the program is called TOTS (Tracking Our Toddlers Shots) and you can call their help desk at 800-942-0024.
For contact information in other states use one of these two web pages maintained by the CDC:
State Health Departments - Select state from a drop down list to go to their Department of Public Health web site.
State IIS Staff - Directory of technical contacts for each states immunization registry. If you can't find a phone number to call from the above web page, use this one to find someone you can ask for further help.
Most, if not all states have started an immunization registry, but not all doctors participate. Ask your child's doctor if they participate in the registry. If they don't, ask them if they are planning on doing so. If not, contact your state department of health to either find another doctor who does participate or if you have your child added manually.
Publicly funded clinics usually participate in the registry.
]]>Here is a list of steps you can do and items to collect to make your journey Home as easy as possible.
1. Even if you have already called (888-ROAD-2-LA [888-762-3242]) the Road Home program to register, fill out the online application. It will not put you at the end of line in being contacted to setup your first appointment.
If you have already setup your appointment, you can still fill out the online application since the Housing Counselor you are assisgned to will be using the very same web site when you are in front of them. You know your information better than them and can enter it easier and quicker than they can.
2. When you fill out the online application, you will create a username and be given a computer generated password. You can change the password once you have finished creating your online account. Be sure to bring your username and password with you to the meeting. Without that information, the Housing Counselor will not be able to bring up your information and will have to start from scratch.
3. The application will require the following information, so gather this before you start:
After you enter all of this information into the online application, put the papers used to gather it together to bring with you to your meeting.
4. Items you need to bring with you to the meeting. Some of these should be expected, but are being listed anyway.
5. When you arrive, your identification will be verified by the receptionist and local law enforcement official, who will also document your arrival and exit times.
6. Your picture will be taken, along with a digital thumb scan, and you will need to sign some paperwork release papers before you are introduced to your Housing Counselor.
7. The Housing Counselor will verify all the paperwork you have brought and sort it into ten different categories. All of it will be scanned, placed into Adobe Acrobat files, and burned on a CD-ROM. You will be given the CD-ROM to take home with you.
8. The Housing Counselor will then update your application after going over all the information with you and an inspection will be ordered. You will have the opportunity to ask any questions you can think of.
]]>The Fair Plan covered most of Louisiana while the Coastal Plan covered the coastal parishes. The two plans have since been merged into one.
The LA Citizens is a state-run entity that sells homeowners insurance (modeled after a similar entity in the state of Florida). Originally intended as insurance of last resort, it is turning into insurance of only resort, especially since the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
With the losses incurred because of the hurricanes, and the relative young age of LA Citizens, LA Citizens never had the opportunity to build enough reserves to handle all claims and has to rely on the State of Louisiana to pay claims. If this was a private insurance company, it would have been declared insolvent.
Instead, all Louisiana taxpayers, not just those who have coverage through LA Citizens, will have to make up the difference. This is done through a Regular and Emergency Assessments levied against private insurance companies. Although multiple Regular Assessments can be levied in a single year, only one Emergency Assessment can be levied per year.
Because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, LA Citizens suffered losses of $1.2 billion. With only $70 million in reserves, it had to use a variety of resources to pay the claims against it. One of these resources was an $850 million bond issuance.
To repay the bond, LA Citizens has started levying an Emergency Assessment of 10% for the FAIR Plan and 8.27% for the Coastal Plan. This Emergency Assessment will occur every year until the bond is paid off. This is on top of any Regular Assessments that may be levied by LA Citizens.
Each private insurance company does have the option to pass the Regular or Emergency Assessments onto its policy holders, but it is not a requirement. Prior to the hurricanes, the larger companies may have opted not to pass the assessments on, which is one reason it comes as a shock to many policy holders.
If it is any consolation, LA Citizens policy holders are required by law to pay a policy premiun that is at least 10% higher than private insurance.
]]>There was much discussion during the 2006 regular legislative session about Senate Bill 742 which outlawed all smoking in restaurants. This bill was passed and was signed into law as Act 815 by Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
However, as the bill was written, it does not go into effect until January 1, 2007, which is why you still see people smoking in restaurants.
Once area that is smoke-free now is any car with a minor riding in it. House Bill 1010 prohibits smoking in any motorvehicle with a minor present and became active on July 5, 2006.
Being a BellSouth FastAccess DSL subscriber myself, I am very familiar with the equipment they provide and will answer you with that in mind. For other readers who may not be a BellSouth subscriber, the principles outlined here will apply to you also.
For starters, BellSouth has, for a few years now, being providing residential subscribers with a Westell Wire Speed modem. This modem provides a network interface connection and a USB connection and acts as a router. This allows you to plug in a PC and give it access to the Internet while still keeping it private from the rest of the world.
Besides the security protection it gives you, it also allows you to share one Internet connection with multiple PC's. Since it only has one network interface connection, you just need a way to share that connection. The way to do that is with a device called a network hub or a network switch (there is a technical difference between a hub and a switch, but hubs are rarely produced today since a switch is much faster and just as cheap to produce).
A network switch allows multiple network devices to plug into it and sends the data from a network device that is transmitting to the network device that is waiting to receive it. Think of it as an old time phone operator who would connect you to the person you were trying to reach by telephone.
By plugging a network switch directly into your DSL modem, you can then plug multiple PC's into the network switch, as many as the switch will allow, and they can all share the same DSL Internet connection.
Since you are only going to be plugging in two PC's, I would recommend a network switch such as the LinkSys SD205 10/100 Desktop Ethernet 5-Port Switch
, which sells for about $30 at Office Depot.
You will also need an extra patch cord or two (these are the cables the run from your computer to the network switch). You already have one patch cord currently running from your PC to the DSL modem, that cable will be unplugged from the PC and plugged into the network switch. You will need two more patch cords, one for each of your PC's so that they can be plugged into the network switch.
Although you can buy a patch cord from Office Depot or other retailer, the mark up on patch cords is unbelievably high. If you already have an eBay account, I would buy them from someone on eBay. (I cannot vouch for this eBay seller, but he has the patch cords in stock at a good price and even after Priority Mail shipping costs, two cables will still be less than 50% of the retail cost of one cable.)
For cable broadband subscribers, all of the above applies, however, instead of a switch, you will need to purchase a switch/router combo such as the LinkSys BEFSR41 EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch
combination. I haven't seen a cable modem deployed yet that also provides the router services of a DSL modem.