The first national decline in prison populations in nearly four decades was even smaller than was announced by federal officials last month.
Georgia has corrected its 2010 decline to 848 inmates from an initially reported 4,207. That means the decline in the number of prisoners nationwide initially listed by the U.S.
Four Fijian Indians who faked job offers to con their way into the country are facing deportation.
The instigators, Ravina Singh, 31, and her husband Alvin Singh, 32, of Mangere, were today sentenced at the Auckland District Court to 11 months’ and five months’ home detention respectively.
Ravina admitted to 30 charges relating to providing false information to seven individuals, aiding unlawful entry into New Zealand, forgery and providing immigration advice without authorisation.
Alvin admitted two charges of providing false information and one of forgery.
The couple gained residence by faking job offers for themselves, Immigration New Zealand general manager Steve Stuart said.
A former Democratic state lawmaker from Festus was appointed Wednesday by Gov. Jay Nixon to the influential commission that regulates Missouri’s utilities.
Nixon appointed Stephen Stoll, 64, to join the five-member Public Service Commission. The panel sets rates and policies for the state’s investor-owned utilities.
The appointment must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled state Senate when the Legislature reconvenes in January. Commissioners receive six-year appointments.
Stoll will fill the seat previously held by Commissioner Robert Clayton, who was appointed to the Eastern District Court of Appeals in July. The commission is currently evenly split with two Democrats and two Republicans, with the term of Republican Jeff Davis set to expire in April.
Stoll served three terms in the Missouri House and two terms in the Missouri Senate from 1993 to 2005. In
AUSTIN — After a long run of tough times brought on by a sour economy, Texas lawmakers got some good news Monday as the state’s chief fiscal officer projected a $1.6 billion surplus that could provide a much-needed financial cushion for the next session of the Legislature.
The windfall available for the fiscal biennium that started Sept. 1 was generated by better-than-expected state revenue. It could enable lawmakers to partly offset a $4.8 billion shortfall in Medicaid and soften some other cuts enacted during the 2011 Legislature, analysts said. The new projections by Comptroller Susan Combs will make things easier for budget-writers at the outset of the next legislative session in 2013, although lawmakers will still face a host of financial challenges. Combs projected available revenue of $82.7 billion by the time the biennium ends on Aug.WASHINGTON — Jon Corzine told lawmakers Thursday he was “devastated” by the implosion of MF Global, but that his actions over its last year-and-a-half were taken under his best judgment of turning around a troubled firm.
He also said he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of hundreds of millions of dollars of customer funds that went missing sometime before the futures brokerage declared bankruptcy on Oct. 31, and said he is hopeful the funds will be recovered at some point.
The former senator and governor of New Jersey appeared before the House Agriculture Committee as a result of a subpoena issued last Friday.
Speaking under oath and dressed in a dark suit and tie, Corzine began his testimony around 1 p.m. H
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