King County Executive Dow Constantine released a proposed county budget this morning that---in keeping with his announcement last week that the county will save $61 million in health care costs---includes no new cuts to the county's general fund. Today's announcement represents a marked improvement over budgets of the past several years. Since 2008, the county has faced a total revenue shortfall of $233 million, including $59 million last year. The health-care savings came from the fact that more county employees are participating in the “Healthy Incentives” plan, which encourages employees to lose weight, quit smoking, and work out, and because employees are bearing a greater cost of their own health care, opting for the cheaper Group Health program over the county’s preferred provider, KingCare, and using generic drugs instead of more-expensive name-brand prescriptions. Constantine's budget would also create a $1 million fund to pay for one-time grants to private agencies that provide direct human services. In a statement, the King County Alliance for Human Services thanked Constantine for the funding, but said that the stopgap money won't " fix the safety net that for the last ten years has been systematically dismantled by county officials." "Forty one- time grants of $25,000 will do little to fix the gaping holes in the safety net that many rely on to survive,” Mike Heinisch, co-chair of the King County Alliance for Human Services, said in a statement. The Alliance is pushing the county to come up with a permanent solution to pay for community health and human service programs. The King County Council will take up Constantine's proposal and adopt the county budget in November.
For the past week and a half, I’ve been wondering what’s going on with the Sasquatch! lineup for 2010. May isn’t that far away and despite a few confirmations (Pavement, Miike Snow, Wale, etc.), the Sasquatch! camp had been mostly quiet.
That is, until now. This morning, Live Nation sent out a press release stating that for the first time in the festival’s history, the lineup will be announced live.
The announcement will happen at the Crocodile next Monday, 2/15, with performances by Surfer Blood, Fresh Espresso, and Atlas Sound. Check out the full press release after the jump.
Seattle, WA – Live Nation and Adam Zacks are pleased to announce The 2010 Sasquatch! Music Festival Launch Party presented by Esurance and sponsored by Jack Daniel’s happening on Monday, February 15, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Crocodile.
For the first time in the festival’s history the lineup will be announced LIVE at this very special event featuring performances by Surfer Blood, Atlas Sound and Fresh Espresso and hosted by Luke Burbank. Prize packages from Esurance and Xbox will be given away all night, along with limited-edition festival posters and more.
Free tickets are available courtesy of Esurance by listening to 107.7 The End all week to win, or by stopping by either Easy Street Records locations starting Friday, February 12th at 9:00 a.m. (limit 2 per person).
Surfer Blood calls West Palm Beach home and, while still in their early 20s, pen summery indie songs that even the most hook-laden power pop band would rightfully be jealous of. Called “irresistibly catchy” by Pitchfork, Surfer Blood’s critically acclaimed debut album, Astro Coast, was released on January 19.
Atlas Sound is the solo moniker of Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox, so named since 1994, when a sixth-grade Bradford made recordings on a karaoke cassette machine. Now signed to 4AD, Atlas Sound is those ideas that he “can’t make work with a five piece rock band,” employing stream-of-consciousness writing alongside ambient electronics.
Fresh Espresso, named by local blog SoundOnTheSound as representatives of “the next wave of Seattle hip-hop,” is producer/composer P Smoov (of Mad Rad) and MC Rik Rude.
|
|
|