| JPS Awards Job Bids to Ellis Hearing Officer
WLBT news is learning more about the bids awarded by Jackson Public Schools to Charles McClelland. McClelland is the hearing officer assigned to former Chastain Middle School principal Michael Ellis' termination hearing. Ellis' attorneys provided us with the results of their open records request. The documents show the district recommended McClelland Moving and Storage be awarded bids for two separate jobs.. 262-thousand dollars for moving services at Jim Hill and Wingfield High Schools.. And 67-thousand-500 dollars for moving services at Bradley Elementary. His awards total 329-thousand 550 dollars. Terry's Installation Company was also awarded bids for moving services.. Totalling just over 344-thousand 7-hundred dollars. Ellis' attorneys, Lisa Ross and Louis Watson., believe McClelland has a conflict of interest and should not be hearing their client's case.
DIB denies report it is bidding for Egypt bank
Dubai: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) yesterday denied press reports that it is one of three financial institutions bidding for Egypt's National Development Bank. Citing unnamed Egyptian banking sources, Arabic daily newspaper Al Bayan reported that DIB - along with a UAE-Gulf consortium and Saudi National Commercial Bank - had submitted a bid. However, in a statement issued yesterday, DIB said the story was incorrect, without adding further information. "Dubai Islamic Bank wishes to clarify that an article published today regarding a DIB acquisition in National Development Bank of Egypt (NBD) is incorrect," according to the statement. "The news is totally untrue," said a Dubai Islamic Bank official, who asked not to be named. He said the bank was in no way involved in any such deal.
School Board Bids to Take Over Head Start
When it became apparent that Polk County Opportunity Council (PCOC) was going under, many wondered what would happen to the Head Start pre-kindergarten program. At a Tiger Bay Club meeting about the problems PCOC was facing, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gail McKinzie was asked whether she was interested in taking over the Head Start program. With no hesitation, she said that she was very interested. On Tuesday, the school board voted 5-1 to put in a bid to run Head Start. Board Member Tim Harris said that the program to increase readiness of 3- and 4-year-olds provides a benefit to the school district because those children will soon be its responsibility. Public school officials know exactly what those children need to be ready for when they advance to kindergarten, he said.
Pennsylvania Latest Battleground in eBay Consignment-Sales Regulation
Barry Fallon, who operates an iSold It store in Pennsylvania, says regulators in his state are forcing him to get an auctioneer's license to operate his eBay drop-off store. "To get a license in PA requires training and a one year apprenticeship before we can open a store," Fallon said. "So if they succeed, we will all have to close our doors for a year or pay someone with a license to oversee the operation." When asked about Pennylvania's apparent attempts to require eBay drop-off stores to have an auctioneer's license, eBay spokesperson Catherine England said in an email: eBay believes that Pennsylvania law is pretty clear and that trading assistants are generally not subject to the state's auctioneering regulations. We have been in contact with state regulators but they continue their enforcement actions against some sellers.
Examining corporate bids, bottlers' claims
In the 2000 movie "Return to Me," a customer insists that the waitress, played by Minnie Driver, bring her bottled water because she prefers it to tap water. Out of the customer's sight, the waitress pours a bottle of water down the drain, refills the plastic bottle with tap water, sticks a straw in it and takes it to the woman. The customer then remarks: "Ah! Such a difference." A similar but real episode played out in Cleveland on a bigger scale last year. Documentary filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman and journalist and film critic Michael Fox detail it in their thought-provoking new book, "Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water." In an ad campaign, Snitow, Kaufman and Fox write, Fiji Water boasted that its water was "purified by island trade winds" and free of pollutants.
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