programs | Common News Update

Jul282020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus bill includes $29B for weapons programs, defense contractors

Business

July 28 (UPI) -- The new coronavirus relief package proposed in the U.S. Senate includes $ 29 billion for the Department of Defense, including at least $ 7 billion for weapons programs and $ 11 billion to reimburse defense contractors for coronavirus-related expenses. Defense contractors lobbied for the reimbursement funding, saying the Department of Defense would otherwise be forced to tap into modernization and readiness accounts. Advertisement The Senate bill was unveiled Monday and includes another stimulus payment for Americans and a cut to unemployment benefits. The bill also includes a new round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, more money for emergency business loans and a reduced extension of emergency federal unemployment benefits. Its release follows weeks of nego...

Jun292020 by adminNo Comments

Hunger stalks children in Yemen as UN cuts aid programs

World

AL-HANABIYA, Yemen -- When Issa Nasser was born late last year in a village in northern Yemen, his weight was about 3 kilograms, or 6.6 pounds. Now, the 7-month-old infant weighs nearly the same — less than half the average weight for his age — and has wafer-thin skin and emaciated limbs. Issa’s condition mirrors what the U.N. children’s agency warned about last week, that millions of children in war-torn Yemen could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the coronavirus sweeps across the Arab world’s poorest country and as humanitarian agencies suffer from a huge drop in funding. The baby's father, Ibrahim Nasser, a 51-year-old displaced fisherman now living in the village of al-Hanabiya in the district of Abs in Hajjah province, said the family has spent most of Issa's months-long life...

Jan302020 by adminNo Comments

New programs aim to help the 55 million people without workplace retirement savings plans

Finance

Anfisa Kameneva | EyeEm | Getty ImagesMany workers don't have access to retirement savings programs. That is changing.Now, efforts on both a national and state level aim to give more individuals access to plans.In December, Congress ushered in the Secure Act. Among the changes included in the legislation are new ways for small businesses to work together to offer 401(k) plans, called multiple-employer plans, or MEPs.Meanwhile, a handful of states are putting automatic individual retirement accounts in place to give workers a way to save directly through their paychecks.Both efforts come at a time when many individuals' retirement savings are woefully low. Working households with access to 401(k) plans typically have accumulated $ 111,000 retirement savings by ages 55 to 64, according to th...

Aug42019 by adminNo Comments

New state programs, like California’s, make it easier for workers to save for retirement

Finance

When 27-year-old Ramon Gonzales was looking for a new job eight months ago, having access to a retirement plan was high on his list of priorities.Now Gonzales, the floor supervisor for the production team at Red Bay Coffee, has that ability to save.That's thanks to CalSavers, California's automatic individual retirement account plan, which officially started in July.The program offers employees of small businesses and other companies that do not offer a retirement plan the opportunity to save through the state's new program. California now requires employers with five or more employees to either join CalSavers or begin offering their own retirement plan.That will give an estimated 7.5 million California workers a retirement savings plan option. About 55 million Americans nationwide do not ...

Jun262019 by adminNo Comments

L3 awarded $73.7M for Navy submarine photonics mast programs

Business

June 25 (UPI) -- L3 Technologies Inc. was awarded a $ 73.7 million contract for repair, upgrades and overall services for the U.S. Navy's submarine photonics mast programs. Ninety-eight percent of the work will be performed at the company's plant in Northampton, Mass., the Department of Defense announced Monday, and is expected to be completed by June 2025. Naval fiscal 2019 other procurement funding in the amount of $ 2.1 million will be obligated on the first delivery order at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. A photonics mast is a sensor on a submarine that functions much like a periscope but without requiring a periscope tube. This prevents water leakage in the event of damage. Virginia-class submarines include two photonics masts that host visi...