FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Igniting change in Vehicle City
Kettering University leads effort to improve city services in Flint, Mich., through high-speed networking
March 24, 2015
Flint, Mich., the former home of General Motors, is on the rebound these days. Leaders there believe they have hit on a winning formula--connecting the city's institutions to high-speed networks that support new, game-changing capabilities.
Through grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Flint is beginning to lay the groundwork for an information technology-driven transformation.
In June 2012, Flint was one of 16 initial cities that were part of US Ignite, a public-private partnership designed to capitalize on the possibilities of ultra-fast broadband networks and "ignite" the development of next-generation Internet applications and services with societal benefits.
Kettering University--formerly General Motors Institute--was designated the lead research institution for the city.
High-speed networking wasn't really on the radar of John Geske, a professor of computer science at Kettering University, before Flint joined US Ignite.
"I was busy running a computer science department and the last thing on my mind was networking applications," Geske said.
But because of the US Ignite award, he started attending application summits and other meetings and realized the possibilities that were available at his doorstep.
"The community that you start to create and the contacts you make are just invaluable," he said.
Connected schools
Phase One of making the city a gigabit hotbed involved taking a step back and uncovering what was already available in the community.
Geske learned that the entire city school system, as well as the schools in 21 schools districts in neighboring Genesee County, had formed the GenNET consortium in 1995 and were already connected by a high-speed, fiber-optic network. Moreover, the schools were connected to the city's four higher education institutions via the Flint Area Network for Educational Telecommunications.
With these capabilities in place, students in the school district experienced unique learning opportunities. For instance, students were able to remotely control an exploratory submarine in real time near the Barrier Reef and communicate with astronauts on the space shuttle. Genesee County students were even able to dissect a sheep's brain via a telemedicine class remotely led by a doctor at Northern Michigan University.
"The GenNET fiber-optic network allows us to reduce the cost of technology services while providing a powerful platform for delivering virtual learning," said Luke Wittum, executive director of Technology and Media Services in the Genesee Intermediate School District.
US Ignite extended this already capable base and provided dedicated 10 gigabit-per-second network connections to the universities and libraries in Flint and to other gigabit cities around the nation, on unique, programmable hardware.
With ultra-high-speed, high-capability Information Technology in place, technology leaders hope to leverage the existing fiber-optic networks to provide immersive virtual reality learning to all students in Flint and Genesee County.
"What if a student could step inside of a human cell, stand at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or visit a historical place?" Wittum asked. "This opportunity could make learning more engaging and also provide some students who may have never been outside of the county or state to visit another part of the world."
Safer, smarter neighborhoods
Flint areas schools aren't the only target for transformation through high-speed networks. Early meetings with city officials and university representatives determined that public safety could be a focus of the US Ignite networking projects, too.
Together with stakeholders in the Mayor's office and the university, they envisioned a university corridor where improved surveillance, responsive lighting and targeted policing could lower crime and encourage development.
"US Ignite provides the city of Flint with opportunities to make the community safer by automating utilities--turning on all lights in an area where a crime has been reported, for example, or by giving law enforcement access to high-speed, real-time, high-definition video on demand," said Kettering University President Robert K. McMahan.
"We may not be able to have a full smart city yet, but a smart neighborhood is entirely possible," noted Geske.
These forms of "smart policing" rely on networks of sensors, cameras and analytical tools that require fast networking and access to powerful computing. The Kettering project has these in the form of GENI hardware.
GENI is an NSF-funded experimental, ultra-high-speed, programmable networking testbed that allows researchers to test new networking ideas at-scale.
There are more than 180 GENI sites around the world--and Flint is one of a few cities that is already leveraging its GENI connections to advance application concepts and prototypes for public benefit and in support of the US Ignite initiative.
In part because of the strength of the existing resources and the community of stakeholders they had developed, Kettering University was awarded a $1 million grant in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of DoJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. The grant helps Flint develop and implement sustainable crime prevention strategies in the University Avenue Corridor in order to convert the neighborhood into a vibrant region. One strategy is data-driven policing.
"There are lots of pockets of information and it's hard for a researcher to gather it all together to find out if there are certain patterns," said Geske. "Once you pinpoint that, you can look at the area, figure out what's going on and decide what to do."
In an early collaboration with Flint police, Kettering researchers identified a particular pattern of criminal activity along the corridor. In this case, using data analytics, the university identified a property as a magnet for robberies--and purchased and revamped it to reduce crime in the area.
Geske hopes to enable this kind of smart policing citywide by building a cloud computing platform that enables the city to amass crime statistics and provides public access to the data.
In the future, officials imagine the avenue wired with lighting, air quality sensors, smart lighting and even autonomous vehicles or drones connected to the high-speed network. The GENI equipment will be used as a testbed to explore some of these possibilities.
Networked care
A third focus area for Flint is medicine, where Kettering is spearheading a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Community College, as well as with three major medical centers near the city.
Through this partnership, students, faculty, clinicians and researchers in the Flint area will be able to collaborate with instructors from around the country and have direct access to new tools to provide exceptional patient care. Officials even hope to use high-speed networking technologies to bring specialists together in a virtual office to make diagnoses.
With such technology in place, President McMahan says "individual patients seeking medical care at our partners in Flint will always have access to the latest advancements in healthcare no matter where in our country they originate or reside."
With the city as a testbed for creative technological solutions to civic problems, it will be interesting to see how advanced IT can impact education, policing and health care in the city.
Said Erwin Gianchandani, deputy division director for computer and network systems at NSF, "Pilot projects like those in Flint and other cities across the country are demonstrating the value of ultra-high-speed, programmable networks in our communities and helping the nation envision the possibilities of a faster, safer, smarter future Internet."
-- Aaron Dubrow, NS
Showing posts with label MICHIGAN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MICHIGAN. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
IS A NEW IT REVOLUTION BEGINNING IN FLINT?
FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Igniting change in Vehicle City
Kettering University leads effort to improve city services in Flint, Michigan through high-speed networking
Flint, Mich., the former home of General Motors, is on the rebound these days. Leaders there believe they have hit on a winning formula--connecting the city's institutions to high-speed networks that support new, game-changing capabilities.
Through grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Flint is beginning to lay the groundwork for an information technology-driven transformation.
In June 2012, Flint was one of 16 initial cities that were part of US Ignite, a public-private partnership designed to capitalize on the possibilities of ultra-fast broadband networks and "ignite" the development of next-generation Internet applications and services with societal benefits.
Kettering University--formerly General Motors Institute--was designated the lead research institution for the city.
High-speed networking wasn't really on the radar of John Geske, a professor of computer science at Kettering University, before Flint joined US Ignite.
"I was busy running a computer science department and the last thing on my mind was networking applications," Geske said.
But because of the US Ignite award, he started attending application summits and other meetings and realized the possibilities that were available at his doorstep.
"The community that you start to create and the contacts you make are just invaluable," he said.
Connected schools
Phase One of making the city a gigabit hotbed involved taking a step back and uncovering what was already available in the community.
Geske learned that the entire city school system, as well as the schools in 21 schools districts in neighboring Genesee County, had formed the GenNET consortium in 1995 and were already connected by a high-speed, fiber-optic network. Moreover, the schools were connected to the city's four higher education institutions via the Flint Area Network for Educational Telecommunications.
With these capabilities in place, students in the school district experienced unique learning opportunities. For instance, students were able to remotely control an exploratory submarine in real time near the Barrier Reef and communicate with astronauts on the space shuttle. Genesee County students were even able to dissect a sheep's brain via a telemedicine class remotely led by a doctor at Northern Michigan University.
"The GenNET fiber-optic network allows us to reduce the cost of technology services while providing a powerful platform for delivering virtual learning," said Luke Wittum, executive director of Technology and Media Services in the Genesee Intermediate School District.
US Ignite extended this already capable base and provided dedicated 10 gigabit-per-second network connections to the universities and libraries in Flint and to other gigabit cities around the nation, on unique, programmable hardware.
With ultra-high-speed, high-capability Information Technology in place, technology leaders hope to leverage the existing fiber-optic networks to provide immersive virtual reality learning to all students in Flint and Genesee County.
"What if a student could step inside of a human cell, stand at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or visit a historical place?" Wittum asked. "This opportunity could make learning more engaging and also provide some students who may have never been outside of the county or state to visit another part of the world."
Safer, smarter neighborhoods
Flint areas schools aren't the only target for transformation through high-speed networks. Early meetings with city officials and university representatives determined that public safety could be a focus of the US Ignite networking projects, too.
Together with stakeholders in the Mayor's office and the university, they envisioned a university corridor where improved surveillance, responsive lighting and targeted policing could lower crime and encourage development.
"US Ignite provides the city of Flint with opportunities to make the community safer by automating utilities--turning on all lights in an area where a crime has been reported, for example, or by giving law enforcement access to high-speed, real-time, high-definition video on demand," said Kettering University President Robert K. McMahan.
"We may not be able to have a full smart city yet, but a smart neighborhood is entirely possible," noted Geske.
These forms of "smart policing" rely on networks of sensors, cameras and analytical tools that require fast networking and access to powerful computing. The Kettering project has these in the form of GENI hardware.
GENI is an NSF-funded experimental, ultra-high-speed, programmable networking testbed that allows researchers to test new networking ideas at-scale.
There are more than 180 GENI sites around the world--and Flint is one of a few cities that is already leveraging its GENI connections to advance application concepts and prototypes for public benefit and in support of the US Ignite initiative.
In part because of the strength of the existing resources and the community of stakeholders they had developed, Kettering University was awarded a $1 million grant in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of DoJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. The grant helps Flint develop and implement sustainable crime prevention strategies in the University Avenue Corridor in order to convert the neighborhood into a vibrant region. One strategy is data-driven policing.
"There are lots of pockets of information and it's hard for a researcher to gather it all together to find out if there are certain patterns," said Geske. "Once you pinpoint that, you can look at the area, figure out what's going on and decide what to do."
In an early collaboration with Flint police, Kettering researchers identified a particular pattern of criminal activity along the corridor. In this case, using data analytics, the university identified a property as a magnet for robberies--and purchased and revamped it to reduce crime in the area.
Geske hopes to enable this kind of smart policing citywide by building a cloud computing platform that enables the city to amass crime statistics and provides public access to the data.
In the future, officials imagine the avenue wired with lighting, air quality sensors, smart lighting and even autonomous vehicles or drones connected to the high-speed network. The GENI equipment will be used as a testbed to explore some of these possibilities.
Networked care
A third focus area for Flint is medicine, where Kettering is spearheading a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Community College, as well as with three major medical centers near the city.
Through this partnership, students, faculty, clinicians and researchers in the Flint area will be able to collaborate with instructors from around the country and have direct access to new tools to provide exceptional patient care. Officials even hope to use high-speed networking technologies to bring specialists together in a virtual office to make diagnoses.
With such technology in place, President McMahan says "individual patients seeking medical care at our partners in Flint will always have access to the latest advancements in healthcare no matter where in our country they originate or reside."
With the city as a testbed for creative technological solutions to civic problems, it will be interesting to see how advanced IT can impact education, policing and health care in the city.
Said Erwin Gianchandani, deputy division director for computer and network systems at NSF, "Pilot projects like those in Flint and other cities across the country are demonstrating the value of ultra-high-speed, programmable networks in our communities and helping the nation envision the possibilities of a faster, safer, smarter future Internet."
-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF (
-- John Geske, Kettering University (
Investigators
John Geske
Yunsheng Wang
Related Institutions/Organizations
Kettering University
Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.
Igniting change in Vehicle City
Kettering University leads effort to improve city services in Flint, Michigan through high-speed networking
Flint, Mich., the former home of General Motors, is on the rebound these days. Leaders there believe they have hit on a winning formula--connecting the city's institutions to high-speed networks that support new, game-changing capabilities.
Through grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Flint is beginning to lay the groundwork for an information technology-driven transformation.
In June 2012, Flint was one of 16 initial cities that were part of US Ignite, a public-private partnership designed to capitalize on the possibilities of ultra-fast broadband networks and "ignite" the development of next-generation Internet applications and services with societal benefits.
Kettering University--formerly General Motors Institute--was designated the lead research institution for the city.
High-speed networking wasn't really on the radar of John Geske, a professor of computer science at Kettering University, before Flint joined US Ignite.
"I was busy running a computer science department and the last thing on my mind was networking applications," Geske said.
But because of the US Ignite award, he started attending application summits and other meetings and realized the possibilities that were available at his doorstep.
"The community that you start to create and the contacts you make are just invaluable," he said.
Connected schools
Phase One of making the city a gigabit hotbed involved taking a step back and uncovering what was already available in the community.
Geske learned that the entire city school system, as well as the schools in 21 schools districts in neighboring Genesee County, had formed the GenNET consortium in 1995 and were already connected by a high-speed, fiber-optic network. Moreover, the schools were connected to the city's four higher education institutions via the Flint Area Network for Educational Telecommunications.
With these capabilities in place, students in the school district experienced unique learning opportunities. For instance, students were able to remotely control an exploratory submarine in real time near the Barrier Reef and communicate with astronauts on the space shuttle. Genesee County students were even able to dissect a sheep's brain via a telemedicine class remotely led by a doctor at Northern Michigan University.
"The GenNET fiber-optic network allows us to reduce the cost of technology services while providing a powerful platform for delivering virtual learning," said Luke Wittum, executive director of Technology and Media Services in the Genesee Intermediate School District.
US Ignite extended this already capable base and provided dedicated 10 gigabit-per-second network connections to the universities and libraries in Flint and to other gigabit cities around the nation, on unique, programmable hardware.
With ultra-high-speed, high-capability Information Technology in place, technology leaders hope to leverage the existing fiber-optic networks to provide immersive virtual reality learning to all students in Flint and Genesee County.
"What if a student could step inside of a human cell, stand at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or visit a historical place?" Wittum asked. "This opportunity could make learning more engaging and also provide some students who may have never been outside of the county or state to visit another part of the world."
Safer, smarter neighborhoods
Flint areas schools aren't the only target for transformation through high-speed networks. Early meetings with city officials and university representatives determined that public safety could be a focus of the US Ignite networking projects, too.
Together with stakeholders in the Mayor's office and the university, they envisioned a university corridor where improved surveillance, responsive lighting and targeted policing could lower crime and encourage development.
"US Ignite provides the city of Flint with opportunities to make the community safer by automating utilities--turning on all lights in an area where a crime has been reported, for example, or by giving law enforcement access to high-speed, real-time, high-definition video on demand," said Kettering University President Robert K. McMahan.
"We may not be able to have a full smart city yet, but a smart neighborhood is entirely possible," noted Geske.
These forms of "smart policing" rely on networks of sensors, cameras and analytical tools that require fast networking and access to powerful computing. The Kettering project has these in the form of GENI hardware.
GENI is an NSF-funded experimental, ultra-high-speed, programmable networking testbed that allows researchers to test new networking ideas at-scale.
There are more than 180 GENI sites around the world--and Flint is one of a few cities that is already leveraging its GENI connections to advance application concepts and prototypes for public benefit and in support of the US Ignite initiative.
In part because of the strength of the existing resources and the community of stakeholders they had developed, Kettering University was awarded a $1 million grant in 2014 from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of DoJ's Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. The grant helps Flint develop and implement sustainable crime prevention strategies in the University Avenue Corridor in order to convert the neighborhood into a vibrant region. One strategy is data-driven policing.
"There are lots of pockets of information and it's hard for a researcher to gather it all together to find out if there are certain patterns," said Geske. "Once you pinpoint that, you can look at the area, figure out what's going on and decide what to do."
In an early collaboration with Flint police, Kettering researchers identified a particular pattern of criminal activity along the corridor. In this case, using data analytics, the university identified a property as a magnet for robberies--and purchased and revamped it to reduce crime in the area.
Geske hopes to enable this kind of smart policing citywide by building a cloud computing platform that enables the city to amass crime statistics and provides public access to the data.
In the future, officials imagine the avenue wired with lighting, air quality sensors, smart lighting and even autonomous vehicles or drones connected to the high-speed network. The GENI equipment will be used as a testbed to explore some of these possibilities.
Networked care
A third focus area for Flint is medicine, where Kettering is spearheading a partnership with the University of Michigan-Flint and Mott Community College, as well as with three major medical centers near the city.
Through this partnership, students, faculty, clinicians and researchers in the Flint area will be able to collaborate with instructors from around the country and have direct access to new tools to provide exceptional patient care. Officials even hope to use high-speed networking technologies to bring specialists together in a virtual office to make diagnoses.
With such technology in place, President McMahan says "individual patients seeking medical care at our partners in Flint will always have access to the latest advancements in healthcare no matter where in our country they originate or reside."
With the city as a testbed for creative technological solutions to civic problems, it will be interesting to see how advanced IT can impact education, policing and health care in the city.
Said Erwin Gianchandani, deputy division director for computer and network systems at NSF, "Pilot projects like those in Flint and other cities across the country are demonstrating the value of ultra-high-speed, programmable networks in our communities and helping the nation envision the possibilities of a faster, safer, smarter future Internet."
-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF (
-- John Geske, Kettering University (
Investigators
John Geske
Yunsheng Wang
Related Institutions/Organizations
Kettering University
Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
SEC CHARGES ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN WITH FRAUD INVOLVING MUNICIPAL BOND OFFERING
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
November 6, 2014
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against the City of Allen Park, Mich., and two former city leaders in connection with a municipal bond offering to support a movie studio project within the city.
An SEC investigation found that offering documents provided to investors during the Detroit suburb’s sale of $31 million in general obligation bonds contained false and misleading statements about the scope and viability of the movie studio project as well as Allen Park’s overall financial condition and its ability to service the bond debt.
The city and the two officials – former mayor Gary Burtka and former city administrator Eric Waidelich – have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges.
“Municipal bond disclosures must provide investors with an accurate portrayal of a project’s prospects and the municipality’s ability to repay those who invest,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “Allen Park solicited investors with an unrealistic and untruthful pitch, and used outdated budget information in offering documents to avoid revealing its budget deficit.”
The SEC alleges that Burtka was an active champion of the project and in a position to control the actions of the city and Waidelich with respect to the fraudulent bond issuances. Based on this control, the SEC charged Burtka with liability for violations committed by the city and Waidelich. This is the first time the SEC has charged a municipal official under a federal statute that provides for “control person” liability. Burtka has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty.
“When a municipal official like Burtka controls the activities of others who engage in fraud, we won’t hesitate to use every legal avenue available to us in order to hold those officials accountable,” said LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
According to the SEC’s administrative order against Allen Park and its complaints against Burtka and Waidelich filed in federal court in Detroit, the city began planning the studio project in late 2008 with the belief it would bring much-needed economic development. The state of Michigan had just enacted legislation that provided significant tax credits to film studios conducting business in Michigan. The original plan detailed a $146 million facility with eight sound stages led by a Hollywood executive director, and the city initially planned to repay investors with $1.6 million in revenue from leases at the site. Allen Park issued bonds on Nov. 12, 2009, and June 16, 2010, to raise funds to help develop the site.
The SEC’s order finds, however, that by the time the bonds were issued, Allen Park’s plans to implement and pay for the studio project had deteriorated into merely building and operating a vocational school on the site. Yet none of these plan changes were reflected in the bond offering documents or other public statements, which continued to repeat the original plans for the movie studio project. Investors were left uninformed not only about the deterioration of the project itself, but also the substantial impact it would have on the city’s ability to service the bond debt. Without the planned revenues from the studio project, the expected annual debt payments on the bonds represented approximately 10 percent of the city’s total budget. Furthermore, Allen Park used outdated budget information in the bond offering documents that did not reflect the city’s budget deficit of at least $2 million for fiscal year 2010. The studio project completely collapsed within months after the second set of bonds were issued, and Michigan appointed an emergency manager for Allen Park in October 2010 while citing the failed project as a primary factor in the city’s deteriorating economic condition.
The SEC’s complaints allege that Waidelich as city administrator reviewed and approved the offering documents for the bonds. Waidelich’s actions violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b). Without admitting or denying the allegations, Waidelich has consented to a final judgment barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings and enjoining him from future violations. The SEC alleges that Burtka is liable as a control person under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, based on his control of Waidelich and the city. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Burtka consented to a final judgment requiring him to pay the $10,000 penalty, barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings, and enjoining him from future violations.
The SEC’s order against Allen Park finds it violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Section 10 (b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5(b). The city agreed to cease and desist from future violations of those provisions. The SEC considered certain remedial measures taken by the city, which settled the enforcement action without admitting or denying the findings.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Sally J. Hewitt of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit with assistance from John E. Birkenheier, John E. Kustusch, and Jean M. Javorski in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office and Mark R. Zehner, Deputy Chief of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
November 6, 2014
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against the City of Allen Park, Mich., and two former city leaders in connection with a municipal bond offering to support a movie studio project within the city.
An SEC investigation found that offering documents provided to investors during the Detroit suburb’s sale of $31 million in general obligation bonds contained false and misleading statements about the scope and viability of the movie studio project as well as Allen Park’s overall financial condition and its ability to service the bond debt.
The city and the two officials – former mayor Gary Burtka and former city administrator Eric Waidelich – have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges.
“Municipal bond disclosures must provide investors with an accurate portrayal of a project’s prospects and the municipality’s ability to repay those who invest,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “Allen Park solicited investors with an unrealistic and untruthful pitch, and used outdated budget information in offering documents to avoid revealing its budget deficit.”
The SEC alleges that Burtka was an active champion of the project and in a position to control the actions of the city and Waidelich with respect to the fraudulent bond issuances. Based on this control, the SEC charged Burtka with liability for violations committed by the city and Waidelich. This is the first time the SEC has charged a municipal official under a federal statute that provides for “control person” liability. Burtka has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty.
“When a municipal official like Burtka controls the activities of others who engage in fraud, we won’t hesitate to use every legal avenue available to us in order to hold those officials accountable,” said LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
According to the SEC’s administrative order against Allen Park and its complaints against Burtka and Waidelich filed in federal court in Detroit, the city began planning the studio project in late 2008 with the belief it would bring much-needed economic development. The state of Michigan had just enacted legislation that provided significant tax credits to film studios conducting business in Michigan. The original plan detailed a $146 million facility with eight sound stages led by a Hollywood executive director, and the city initially planned to repay investors with $1.6 million in revenue from leases at the site. Allen Park issued bonds on Nov. 12, 2009, and June 16, 2010, to raise funds to help develop the site.
The SEC’s order finds, however, that by the time the bonds were issued, Allen Park’s plans to implement and pay for the studio project had deteriorated into merely building and operating a vocational school on the site. Yet none of these plan changes were reflected in the bond offering documents or other public statements, which continued to repeat the original plans for the movie studio project. Investors were left uninformed not only about the deterioration of the project itself, but also the substantial impact it would have on the city’s ability to service the bond debt. Without the planned revenues from the studio project, the expected annual debt payments on the bonds represented approximately 10 percent of the city’s total budget. Furthermore, Allen Park used outdated budget information in the bond offering documents that did not reflect the city’s budget deficit of at least $2 million for fiscal year 2010. The studio project completely collapsed within months after the second set of bonds were issued, and Michigan appointed an emergency manager for Allen Park in October 2010 while citing the failed project as a primary factor in the city’s deteriorating economic condition.
The SEC’s complaints allege that Waidelich as city administrator reviewed and approved the offering documents for the bonds. Waidelich’s actions violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b). Without admitting or denying the allegations, Waidelich has consented to a final judgment barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings and enjoining him from future violations. The SEC alleges that Burtka is liable as a control person under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, based on his control of Waidelich and the city. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Burtka consented to a final judgment requiring him to pay the $10,000 penalty, barring him from participating in any municipal bond offerings, and enjoining him from future violations.
The SEC’s order against Allen Park finds it violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Section 10 (b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5(b). The city agreed to cease and desist from future violations of those provisions. The SEC considered certain remedial measures taken by the city, which settled the enforcement action without admitting or denying the findings.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Sally J. Hewitt of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit with assistance from John E. Birkenheier, John E. Kustusch, and Jean M. Javorski in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office and Mark R. Zehner, Deputy Chief of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON MINIMUM WAGE AT ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Remarks by the President on Minimum Wage -- Ann Arbor, MI
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
2:52 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Michigan! (Applause.) Go Blue! (Applause.) This is a good-looking crowd. (Applause.) Just happy to be out of class. (Applause.) I'm sure that's not true. I'm sure these are all outstanding students. (Applause.) Good to see you.
First of all, give Mira a big round of applause for the great introduction. (Applause.) I want to say thanks to your president, Mary Sue Coleman, for her years of outstanding leadership here at Michigan. (Applause.) We’ve got a few other Michigan leaders who are here today. We've got Congressman John Conyers. (Applause.) We've got Congressman Gary Peters. (Applause.) We've got your mayor, John Hieftje. (Applause.) Former Congressman Mark Schauer. (Applause.) Your Congressman, the legendary John Dingell, could not make it, but his wife Debbie is here. Give her a big round of applause. (Applause.)
Now, most importantly I know to all of you, we’ve got some Wolverines in the house here. (Applause.) We've got Greg Robinson III. (Applause.) We've got Jordan Morgan. (Applause.) We've got Big Ten Player of the Year, Nik Stauskas. (Applause.) And we've got quarterback, Devin Gardner. (Applause.) These guys were outstanding this year. Give them a bigger round of applause than that. (Applause.)
Now, most importantly I know to all of you, we’ve got some Wolverines in the house here. (Applause.) We've got Greg Robinson III. (Applause.) We've got Jordan Morgan. (Applause.) We've got Big Ten Player of the Year, Nik Stauskas. (Applause.) And we've got quarterback, Devin Gardner. (Applause.) These guys were outstanding this year. Give them a bigger round of applause than that. (Applause.)
You guys had a great run. That last game was as good of a game as we've seen the entire season. I know you wish that that turned out a little bit later -- if you’d had five more seconds, it would have been helpful. (Laughter.) But I wanted to congratulate the coach, Coach Beilein, and the team for a great season. (Applause.)
And I understand that Jordan wanted me to talk about my bracket. (Laughter.) My bracket is a mess. (Laughter.) I've learned my lesson -- I will not pick against the Wolverines. (Applause.) It's not going to happen. This is the problem with doing these brackets -- people just trash-talk you non-stop. (Laughter.) It's terrible.
And I think it's worth mentioning, I want to congratulate Jordan for playing more games at Michigan than any other player in history -- not only earning an undergraduate degree in engineering -- (applause) -- pursuing a graduate degree in engineering as well. That's the kind of student athlete we're talking about. (Applause.)
Now, do some of you guys have chairs? Because if you’ve got chairs, feel free to sit down. But if you don't, don't sit down, because I don't want you getting hurt.
Before I came here today, I stopped at Zingerman’s, which is the -- (applause) -- which is the right thing to do when you're in Ann Arbor. (Laughter.) I stopped for two reasons. The first is the Reuben is killer. (Laughter.) So I ordered like the small -- (laughter) -- and it didn’t look that small. So I gave half to Valerie Jarrett, who’s traveling with us. And then after I finished the half, I wanted the half back. (Laughter.) But it was too late. All she had left was the pickle. (Laughter.) So I took the pickle. (Laughter.)
So one of the reasons I went was because the sandwiches are outstanding. The second reason, though, is Zingerman’s is a business that treats its workers well, and rewards honest work with honest wages. (Applause.) And that’s worth celebrating. And that’s what I’m here to talk about today: How do we rebuild an economy that creates jobs and opportunities for every American? And I want to focus on something a lot of people in Michigan are working very hard to accomplish right now, and that is raising the minimum wage to help more folks get ahead. (Applause.)
Now, here’s the context. Our economy is doing better. It’s growing. Our businesses are creating jobs -- 8.7 million new jobs over the past four years. (Applause.) Our manufacturing sector, which had been losing jobs throughout the ‘90s and throughout the -- what do you call it -- aughts? (Laughter.) You know, the 2000 to 2010, whatever you call that. (Laughter.)
But manufacturing had been losing jobs -- about a third of manufacturing had lost -- and obviously that hit Michigan really hard. But we’re now seeing the manufacturing sector add jobs for the first time since the 1990s. So that is good news. (Applause.)
But manufacturing had been losing jobs -- about a third of manufacturing had lost -- and obviously that hit Michigan really hard. But we’re now seeing the manufacturing sector add jobs for the first time since the 1990s. So that is good news. (Applause.)
The housing market is recovering. Obviously the stock market has recovered, which means people’s 401(k)s, if they have them, are doing a lot better.
Troops that were fighting two wars, they’re coming home. (Applause.) We just went through the first month since 2003 where no U.S. soldier was killed in either Afghanistan or Iraq. (Applause.)
Today you’ve got companies looking to invest in the U.S. instead of sending jobs overseas. They want to create more jobs and invest right here in the United States. We’re more competitive. We’re more productive.
Oh, and by the way, 7.1 million Americans have now signed up for coverage through the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. (Applause.) That’s a lot of people -- 7.1. That’s enough to fill up The Big House 65 times. (Applause.) And by the way, that doesn’t count the more than 3 million young people who have been able to stay on their parents’ plans. (Applause.) So we have seniors here who graduate and then it may take a couple months to find a job, or you’re doing an internship or something that does not provide health care, you’re going to be covered until you get that job that actually provides health insurance. So it provides you the kind of protection you need. (Applause.)
So that’s the good news. We fought back from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. We’ve laid the foundation for America’s future growth. But here’s the problem: There’s been a long-term trend that has really been hitting middle-class folks and folks trying to get into the middle class, and that’s been going on since before most of you were born. The economy increasingly has folks at the top doing really well, but then middle-class families, people who are struggling to get into the middle class, they’re working harder, but their wages, their incomes aren’t going up.
And we’re a better country than that. In America, we do not believe in opportunity just for the few. We believe that everybody should have a chance at success. Everybody. (Applause.) And we believe our economy grows best not from the top down, but from the middle out, and from the bottom up. (Applause.) And we want to make sure that no matter where you’re born, what circumstances, how you started out, what you look like, what your last name is, who you love -- it doesn’t matter, you can succeed. That’s what we believe. (Applause.)
We believe that what matters is the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams and our willingness to take responsibility for ourselves, but also for ourselves. That's what America is about. That’s the promise that this country is built on. And for the sake of your generation, we got to make sure that that continues to be the case; that that’s not just something we’re nostalgic about; that that’s something that we project out into the future.
So I had a State of the Union a while back and I laid out a four-part Opportunity Agenda to make sure everybody has a shot. And that starts with something I know graduating seniors are thinking about: More good jobs paying good wages; jobs in high-tech and manufacturing and energy and innovation. And there are things we can do to create jobs -- rebuilding our infrastructure in this country, investing in R&D, closing wasteful loopholes that don't create jobs. So we’re providing tax breaks to companies that are creating jobs right here in the United States. Those are things we can do right now.
Opportunity means training more Americans for the skills needed to fill those jobs. We got to make sure everybody is ready with the skills they need. Not everybody is going to be lucky enough to be a Wolverine and graduate from Michigan. (Applause.) But everybody can get a good, solid base so that they can have a job and a career.
Opportunity means guaranteeing every young people access to a world-class education, and that's got to start with pre-K, all the way through higher education. (Applause.) And it means making college more affordable. (Applause.)
Some of you may not know this, but before a lot of you even entered college, we took on the student loan system. It was giving billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks to serve as middlemen in the student loan process. We said, why do we need the banks? We cut them out. We used the savings that were generated, billions of dollars, to expand the grants that help millions of low-income students pay for college. And we’re offering millions of students who are graduating the chance to cap monthly student loan payments at 10 percent of your income. (Applause.)
This is something you need to talk to your counselors about, especially if you’re going into teaching or social work, or other professions where it’s a passion but you’re not going to be an investment banker salary situation. So make sure you find out about this. You can cap -- I mean, I know Stauskas has got the contract coming up, so he’ll -- (laughter) -- he doesn't have to worry about these things. But I’m saying later -- I’m not telling him to leave. (Laughter.) I wasn’t editorializing on that. (Laughter.)
My point is we got to make sure that everybody can afford to do things that may not pay huge sums of money but are really valuable to society.
And the good news is more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. But we’ve still got to do more work to rein in tuition costs. I talked to your president about this. And we got to help more students who are trapped by student loan debt -- because this country cannot afford striving young people to be priced out of a higher education. Everybody has got to be able to afford it. (Applause.)
Finally, opportunity means rewarding the hard work of every American -- not just some Americans, every American. That means making sure that folks are paid equal for doing equal work. (Applause.) I do not want my daughters paid less than somebody else’s sons for doing the same job. (Applause.)
It means making sure that there are decent benefits and, at minimum, that every American has access to quality, affordable health insurance. It means paychecks and wages that allow you to support a family.
All of which brings me back to this issue of the minimum wage, giving America a raise. Now, raising the minimum wage is not going to solve all of our economic challenges. The majority of folks who are working get paid more than the minimum wage. As Americans we understand that some people will earn more than others. But here’s one thing we do believe: Nobody who works full-time should be raising their family in poverty, right? (Applause.) If you’re working, if you’re responsible, you should be able to pay the rent, pay the bills. (Applause.)
But that's what’s happening right now. All across the country, you can work full-time on the minimum wage and still be in poverty. And that’s why, in the year since I first asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, we’ve seen six states on their own pass laws to raise their minimum wage. Last week, Connecticut became the first state in the country to raise its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. (Applause.) Congratulations, Connecticut.
You’ve got more states and counties and cities that are working to raise their minimum wage as we speak. That includes your state legislators from Ann Arbor -- Adam Zemke and Jeff Irwin -- who are trying to raise it here in Michigan. (Applause.) We’re proud of them. Stand up, guys. Come on. There they are. (Applause.) See, I used to be in the state legislature, so I was kind of partial to -- (laughter.)
But raising wages is not just a job for organizers, it’s not just a job for elected officials, it’s also a job for business. It was here in Michigan 100 years ago that Henry Ford announced he was doubling his workers’ wages. And at the time, some of his fellow business leaders thought he had lost his mind. But Henry Ford understood it was going to be good for business. Not only did it boost productivity, not only did it reduce turnover, not only did it make employees more loyal to the company, but it meant that the workers could afford to buy the cars that they were building. (Applause.) So you were building -- so by paying your workers more, you were building your own market for your products.
And hugely successful companies today, like Costco, they take the same approach. And it’s not just big businesses; small businesses, too. In my State of the Union address, I called on more business leaders to boost their employees’ wages, give them a fair wage. And since then, you’ve seen businesses across the country -- small ones, like an ice cream parlor in Florida, to a marketing agency in Georgia, to a pizzeria in St. Louis -- they’ve all said, you know what, this is the right thing to do.
Recently, the Gap decided to raise its base wages, and that benefited about 65,000 workers in the United States -- and it led me to go shopping at Gap. (Laughter and applause.) Some of you may have seen the very attractive sweaters that I purchased for my daughters. (Laughter.) They have not worn them yet, so if they’re listening, make me feel good, just wear it one time. (Laughter.)
Now, Zingerman’s does not have as many workers as the Gap, obviously, but they try to do right by each and every one of them. You’ve got some big businesses who go to Washington to lobby for special treatment for themselves. So one of Zingerman’s owners, Paul Saginaw, flew to D.C. to lobby for his workers, to lobby for better treatment for workers through a higher minimum wage. (Applause.) That’s the kind of folks who are running Zingerman’s.
Then afterwards, he held a sandwich summit here in Ann Arbor to help build support for Michigan’s minimum wage going up. And Paul’s point is simple: Fair wages and higher profits are not mutually exclusive; they can go hand-in-hand. That’s what Henry Ford understood. And Paul opened Zingerman’s doors 32 years ago last month so he knows a little bit about business. But he and business owners like him believe higher wages are good for the bottom line.
I happen to believe the same thing. So I decided several months ago that the federal government should follow their lead. And so I issued an executive order that requires federal contractors, folks who are doing business with the government, to pay their employees on new contracts a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. It’s the right thing to do. (Applause.)
And I’m determined to do my part to lift wages, improve take-home pay any way I can. My attitude is if you cook our troops’ meals, you wash their dishes, your country should pay you a living wage. (Applause.)
Now, here’s the challenge. What Zingerman’s can do on its own, what even I can do as the head of the executive branch of the federal government, that doesn’t reach everybody. If we’re going to do right by our fellow Americans, we need Congress to get onboard. (Applause.) We’ve got to have Congress to get onboard. We’ve got to have state legislators to get onboard. (Applause.) Because even though we’re bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, we’re creating more good-paying jobs in education and health care and business services, there are always going to be folks who do critical work, who bust their tails every day -- airport workers, restaurant workers, and hospital workers, and retail salespeople -- who deserve an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. They’re doing necessary jobs -- they should be able to make a living.
So right now there is a bill before Congress that would boost America’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. It’s easy to remember: 10-10. 10-10. Passing this bill would not just raise wages for minimum-wage workers; it would help lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans, including nearly a million people right here in Michigan. It would lift millions of people out of poverty right away. It would help millions more work their way out of poverty right away. (Applause.)
It wouldn’t require any new taxes. It doesn’t require new spending. It doesn’t require new bureaucracy. But what it would do is help those families and give businesses more customers with more money to spend. And it would help grow the economy for everybody.
So you would think this would be a no-brainer. Politically, you’d think that folks would be rushing to do this. Nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage -- nearly three in four. Here’s the problem. Republicans in Congress -- not Republicans out in America, because some of them get paid the minimum wage, so they want to see it raised -- Republicans in Congress don’t want to vote to raise it at all. In fact, some want to just scrap the minimum wage. One House Republican said, “It’s outlived its usefulness.”
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: No, that’s what he said.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPANT: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: Don’t boo, organize. (Applause.) That’s what you need to do, because they may not hear the boos, but they can read a petition and they can see votes. (Applause.)
You’ve got some Republicans saying we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage because -- they said this -- because, well, it just helps young people. Now, first of all, I think it’s pretty good to help young people. (Applause.) I don’t know what’s wrong with helping young people. Folks who say that, next thing you know they’ll say, “Get off my lawn.” (Laughter.) I think it’s okay to help young people.
But the fact is most people who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are not teenagers taking on their first job. The average age of folks getting paid the minimum wage is 35. A majority of lower-wage jobs are held by women. Many of them work full-time, often to support a family.
And, by the way, what’s wrong with helping young people get ahead? (Laughter.) Mira puts herself through college on a base wage of less than $3 an hour, because she’s working in a restaurant. She works hard -- she does. So we should be making it easier for your generation to gain a foothold on the ladder of opportunity. We shouldn’t be making it harder.
Now, the truth is the Republicans’ refusal so far to raise the minimum wage is pretty consistent with their general worldview -- (laughter) -- which says -- it says basically you’re on your own; government doesn’t have a role to play in making sure that the marketplace is working for everybody.
Just yesterday, Republicans in Congress put forward a budget for the country that I believe would shrink opportunity for your generation. It starts by giving a massive tax cut to households making more than $1 million a year, the very folks who’ve benefited the most over the last 20 years from this economy that is benefiting people at the top. Then, so they don’t blow a hole in the deficit, they’d have to raise taxes on middle-class families with kids. Then they’d force deep cuts to the investments that help our economy grow, like research and clean energy, and investments in middle-class families, like education and job training.
Just yesterday, Republicans in Congress put forward a budget for the country that I believe would shrink opportunity for your generation. It starts by giving a massive tax cut to households making more than $1 million a year, the very folks who’ve benefited the most over the last 20 years from this economy that is benefiting people at the top. Then, so they don’t blow a hole in the deficit, they’d have to raise taxes on middle-class families with kids. Then they’d force deep cuts to the investments that help our economy grow, like research and clean energy, and investments in middle-class families, like education and job training.
When they put these budgets together, usually they don’t tell you exactly what they’d cut because they know you wouldn’t like it, so you have to kind of do the math. But compared to my budget, if they cut everything evenly in the amount that they’re talking about, within a few years about 170,000 kids would get cut from early childhood education. About 200,000 new moms and children would get cut off from the programs that help them to get healthy food. Funding for 21,000 special education teachers would be cut off. And if they wanted to make smaller cuts in any of these -- in any one of these areas, they’d have to make bigger cuts in others. It even cuts Pell grants, which makes it harder for students to pay for a college education.
Now, to give them credit, they do have one original idea, which is to repeal Obamacare -- (laughter) -- because they haven’t tried that 50 times. (Applause.) Fifty times they’ve tried to do that. (Laughter.) So that means they would take away health coverage not only for more than 7 million Americans who’ve done the responsible thing, signed up, bought health care for themselves and their families, but for the 3 million young adults who’ve been able to stay on their parents’ plan under this law. What I just told you about being able to stay on your parent’s plan -- the Republicans don’t like that.
And their budget guts the rules we put in place to protect middle-class families from another financial crisis like the one that we’ve endured. So if this all sounds familiar, it should be familiar because it was their economic plan in the 2012 campaign, it was their economic plan in 2010. It’s like that movie Groundhog Day -- (laughter) -- except it’s not funny. (Applause.) If they tried to sell this sandwich at Zingerman’s, they’d have to call it the Stinkburger, or the Meanwich. (Laughter and applause.)
Look, here’s the truth. They’re not necessarily cold-hearted, they just sincerely believe that if we give more tax breaks to a fortunate few and we invest less in the middle class, and we reduce or eliminate the safety net for the poor and the sick, and we cut food stamps, and we cut Medicaid, and we let banks and polluters and credit card companies and insurers do only what’s best for their bottom line without the responsibility to the rest of us, then somehow the economy will boom, and jobs and prosperity will trickle down to everybody.
And when I say it that way, I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating -- except I’m not. This is their theory. They’re pretty unabashed about it. And it’s not a new theory. They’ve held it for decades, through good times and bad. They were making the same argument against FDR when he was setting up Social Security.
And, look, it does create opportunity for a handful of people who are already doing really, really well. But we believe in opportunity for everybody. More good jobs for everybody. More workers to fill those jobs. (Applause.) A world-class education for everybody. Hard work that pays off with wages you can live on and savings you can retire on and health care you can count on. That’s what “opportunity for all” means. (Applause.) That’s what it means.
Now, next week, members of Congress have a fresh chance to show which side they’re on. They’re going to get a yes or no vote on raising the minimum wage all across this country. And they’ve got to make a clear choice: Talk the talk about valuing hardworking families, or walk the walk and actually value hardworking families. (Applause.) You’ve got a choice. You can give America the shaft, or you can give it a raise. (Applause.)
Here in Michigan, your Senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow -- (applause) -- your Representatives, John Dingell and John Conyers and Gary Peters, they are already onboard. But every American deserves to know where their elected representatives stand on this choice. So those of you -- if you’re going back home for spring break or something or -- did that already happen, spring break?
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE PRESIDENT: I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Everybody is all, aw, yeah. (Laughter.) Well, I hope you had a good time. (Laughter.) But if you have the chance to talk to a congressman who’s not supporting it, you need to ask him, do you support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour? If they say yes, then you should say thank you -- (laughter) -- because elected officials do not hear that very often. When they do the right thing, you should reward them.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you, President Obama!
THE PRESIDENT: You’re welcome. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
Now, if they say no, you shouldn’t yell at them. Be polite. Ask them why not. Ask them to reconsider. Tell them to join the rest of the country. For once, instead of just saying no, say yes. It’s time for $10.10. It’s time to give America a raise.
And as I’m looking out at all of you I’m reminded, four years ago I had the privilege of delivering the commencement address at the university, over in the big stadium. (Applause.) And I said our democracy, it's always been noisy, it’s always been messy. We have big arguments. But in the end, we’ve always had the ability to look past our differences and our disagreements and forge a common future. And we’ve got common values -- hard work, responsibility, pursuing your individual dreams.
What the argument is right now about is whether we also affirm the values that make sure we’ve giving everybody a chance; making sure our fellow citizens can also pursue their dreams; that we’re not just looking out for ourselves all the time, but we’re also looking out for the person next to you. That's also what America is about. That's what we have to do again.
We’ve got more jobs to create. We’ve got more kids to educate. We’ve got more clean energy to create. (Applause.) We’ve got more troops to bring home. We got more veterans to care for. We got an immigration system we got to fix. (Applause.) We got to build a middle class. We got to give opportunity for everybody who strives for it. We got to make sure everybody -- black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, with or without a disability, folks in the inner city, folks outside the borders of the city -- everybody has got a chance. (Applause.) America is a place for everybody. That's what we’re fighting for. That's what I need you to go out there and talk about. (Applause.)
Thank you. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)
END
3:26 P.M. EDT
3:26 P.M. EDT
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
STORE OWNER SENTENCED FOR SELLING CUTTING AGENTS TO DRUG DEALERS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Former Detroit Liquor Store Owner Sentenced for Tax Fraud and for Selling Cutting Agents to Drug Dealers
Bashar Saroki, a resident of Southfield, Mich., was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to serve 30 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Previously, Saroki pleaded guilty to filing a false 2009 tax return and offering drug paraphernalia for sale.
According to court documents, Saroki controlled and operated Golden Star Party Store, a liquor store that was located in Detroit. From 2007 through 2011, Saroki sold more than $1 million worth of a variety of cutting agents to local narcotics dealers out of Golden Star Party Store and from his residence. Narcotics dealers used these cutting agents to dilute the potency and increase the quantity of the narcotics they sold to customers. Saroki also filed a false tax return for 2009 that reported very little income despite the significant proceeds from the sale of cutting agents.
Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the department's Tax Division commended the efforts of special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated this case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Kenneth C. Vert and Yael T. Epstein, who prosecuted the case.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Former Detroit Liquor Store Owner Sentenced for Tax Fraud and for Selling Cutting Agents to Drug Dealers
Bashar Saroki, a resident of Southfield, Mich., was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to serve 30 months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Previously, Saroki pleaded guilty to filing a false 2009 tax return and offering drug paraphernalia for sale.
According to court documents, Saroki controlled and operated Golden Star Party Store, a liquor store that was located in Detroit. From 2007 through 2011, Saroki sold more than $1 million worth of a variety of cutting agents to local narcotics dealers out of Golden Star Party Store and from his residence. Narcotics dealers used these cutting agents to dilute the potency and increase the quantity of the narcotics they sold to customers. Saroki also filed a false tax return for 2009 that reported very little income despite the significant proceeds from the sale of cutting agents.
Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally for the department's Tax Division commended the efforts of special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated this case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Kenneth C. Vert and Yael T. Epstein, who prosecuted the case.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA AT SIGNING OF NEW FARM BILL
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Remarks by the President at Signing of the Farm Bill -- MI
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
FEBRUARY 7, 2014
2:16 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Spartans! (Applause.) Go, Green!
AUDIENCE: Go, White!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. Everybody have a seat here.
It’s good to be at Michigan State. Thank you, Ben, for that wonderful introduction. Give Ben a big round of applause. (Applause.) He’s got his beautiful family right here. How did dad do? Was he pretty good? Yes, there he is. He did good? I thought he did great.
It is good to be in East Lansing. It’s good to be with all of you here today. I’m here because I’ve heard about all the great things that you’re doing. And I want to thank Mayor Triplett and President Simon for hosting us.
I am also here to do some scouting on my brackets. (Laughter and applause.) I just talked to Coach Izzo -- Spartans are looking pretty good. I know things were a little wild for a while, had some injuries. But the truth is that Coach Izzo, he always paces so that you peak right at the tournament. (Applause.) That’s a fact. Then I got a chance to meet Mark Dantonio. (Applause.) So you’ve already got a Rose Bowl victory. (Applause.) You guys, you’re greedy. (Laughter.) You want to win everything.
But it’s wonderful to be here. I love coming to Michigan. Mainly I love coming to Michigan because of the people. But I also love coming here because there are few places in the country that better symbolize what we’ve been through together over these last four, five years.
The American auto industry has always been the heartbeat of the Michigan economy and the heart of American manufacturing. So when that heartbeat was flat-lining, we all pulled together, all of us -- autoworkers who punched in on the line, management who made tough decisions to restructure, elected officials like Gary Peters and Mark Schauer who believed that -- (applause) -- folks who believed that rescuing America’s most iconic industry was the right thing to do.
And today, thanks to your grit and your ingenuity and dogged determination, the American auto industry’s engines are roaring again and we are building the best cars in the world again. And some plants are running three shifts around the clock -- something that nobody would have imagined just a few years ago. (Applause.)
I just had lunch with Detroit’s new Mayor, Mike Duggan. (Applause.) He told me if there’s one thing that he wants everybody to know, it’s that Detroit is open for business. And I have great confidence that he’s going to provide the leadership that we need. (Applause.) Really proud of him. The point is we’ve all had to buckle down. We’ve all had to work hard. We’ve had to fight our way back these past five years. And in a lot of ways, we are now better positioned for the 21st century than any other country on Earth.
This morning, we learned that our businesses in the private sector created more than 140,000 jobs last month, adding up to about 8.5 million new jobs over the past four years. (Applause.) Our unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been since before I was first elected. Companies across the country are saying they intend to hire even more folks in the months ahead. And that’s why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America.
And I’ve come here today to sign a bill that hopefully means folks in Washington feel the same way -- that instead of wasting time creating crises that impede the economy, we’re going to have a Congress that’s ready to spend some time creating new jobs and new opportunities, and positioning us for the future and making sure our young people can take advantage of that future.
And that’s important, because even though our economy has been growing for four years now, even though we’ve been adding jobs for four years now, what’s still true -- something that was true before the financial crisis, it’s still true today -- is that those at the very top of the economic pyramid are doing better than ever, but the average American’s wages, salaries, incomes haven’t risen in a very long time. A lot of Americans are working harder and harder just to get by -- much less get ahead -- and that’s been true since long before the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
And so we’ve got to reverse those trends. We’ve got to build an economy that works for everybody, not just a few. We’ve got to restore the idea of opportunity for all people -- the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you came from, how you started out, what your last name is, you can make it if you’re willing to work hard and take responsibility. That’s the idea at the heart of this country. That’s what’s at stake right now. That’s what we’ve got to work on. (Applause.)
Now, the opportunity agenda I laid out in my State of the Union address is going to help us do that. It’s an agenda built around four parts. Number one: More new jobs in American manufacturing, American energy, American innovation, American technology. A lot of what you’re doing here at Michigan State helps to spur on that innovation in all sorts of areas that can then be commercialized into new industries and to create new jobs.
Number two: Training folks with the skills to fill those jobs -- something this institution does very well.
Number three: Guaranteeing access to a world-class education for every child, not just some. That has to be a priority. (Applause.) That means before they even start school, we’re working on pre-K that’s high quality and gets our young people prepared, and then takes them all the way through college so that they can afford it, and beyond.
Number four: Making sure our economy rewards honest work with wages you can live on, and savings you can retire on, and, yes, health insurance that is there for you when you need it. (Applause.)
Now, some of this opportunity agenda that I put forward will require congressional action, it’s true. But as I said at the State of the Union, America does not stand still; neither will I. And that’s why, over the past two weeks, I’ve taken steps without legislation, without congressional action, to expand opportunity for more families. We’ve created a new way for workers to start their own retirement savings. We’ve helped to make sure all of our students have high-speed broadband and high-tech learning tools that they need for this new economy.
But I’ve also said I’m eager to work with Congress wherever I can -- because the truth of the matter is, is that America works better when we’re working together. And Congress controls the purse strings at the federal level and a lot of the things that we need to do require congressional action.
And that is why I could not be prouder of our leaders who are here today. Debbie in particular, I could not be prouder of your own Debbie Stabenow, who has done just extraordinary work. (Applause.) We all love Debbie for a lot of reasons. She’s been a huge champion of American manufacturing but really shepherded through this farm bill, which was a very challenging piece of business. She worked with Republican Senator Thad Cochran, who I think was very constructive in this process. We had Representatives Frank Lucas, a Republican, working with Collin Peterson, a Democrat. We had a terrific contribution from our own Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who deserves a big round of applause. (Applause.)
And so Congress passed a bipartisan farm bill that is going to make a big difference in communities all across this country. And just so they don’t feel left out, I want to recognize one of your congressmen, who’s doing an outstanding job -- Dan Kildee. (Applause.) And somebody who was just a wonderful mentor to me when I was in the Senate and has been just a great public servant, not just for your state, but for the entire country -- Carl Levin. (Applause.) He’s always out there, especially when it comes to our men and women in uniform. We’re very proud of him. (Applause.)
And while we’re at it, we got a couple of out-of-towners -- Pat Leahy from Vermont -- there are a lot of dairy farms up there, so he had something to do with it. (Applause.) Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota. (Applause.) All that cold air is blowing from Minnesota down into -- (laughter).
Now, despite its name, the farm bill is not just about helping farmers. Secretary Vilsack calls it a jobs bill, an innovation bill, an infrastructure bill, a research bill, a conservation bill. It’s like a Swiss Army knife. (Laughter.) It’s like Mike Trout -- for those of you who know baseball. (Laughter.) It’s somebody who’s got a lot of tools. It multitasks. It’s creating more good jobs, gives more Americans a shot at opportunity. And there are two big ways in which it does so.
First, the farm bill lifts up our rural communities. Over the past five years, thanks to the hard work and know-how of America’s farmers, the best in the world, we’ve had the strongest stretch of farm exports in our history. And when I’m traveling around the world, I’m promoting American agriculture. And as a consequence, we are selling more stuff to more people than ever before. Supports about 1 million American jobs; what we grow here and that we sell is a huge boost to the entire economy, but particularly the rural economy.
Here at Michigan State, by the way, you are helping us to do even more. So I just got a tour of a facility where you’re working with local businesses to produce renewable fuels. You’re helping farmers grow crops that are healthier and more resistant to disease. Some students are even raising their own piglets on an organic farm. When I was in college, I lived in a pig sty -- (laughter) -- but I didn't work in one. So I’m impressed by that. (Laughter.) That's no joke, by the way. (Laughter and applause.) Your hygiene improves as you get older. (Laughter.)
So we’re seeing some big advances in American agriculture. And today, by the way, I’m directing my administration to launch a new “Made in Rural America” initiative to help more rural businesses expand and hire and sell more products stamped “Made in the USA” to the rest of the world -- because we’ve got great products here that need to be sold and we can do even more to sell around the world. (Applause.)
But even with all this progress, too many rural Americans are still struggling. Right now, 85 percent of counties experience what’s called “persistent poverty.” Those are in rural areas. Before I was elected President, I represented Illinois, home of a couple of your Big Ten rivals, but also a big farming state. And over the years, I’ve seen how hard it can be to be a farmer. There are a lot of big producers who are doing really well, but there are even more small farms, family farms, where folks are just scratching out a living and increasingly vulnerable to difficulties in financing and all the inputs involved -- farmers sometimes having to work off the farm, they’ve got a couple of jobs outside the farm just to get health care, just to pay the bills, trying to keep it in the family, and it’s very hard for young farmers to get started.
And in these rural communities, a lot of young people talk about how jobs are so scarce, even before the recession hit, that they feel like they’ve got to leave in order to have opportunity. They can't stay at home, they’ve got to leave.
So that's why this farm bill includes things like crop insurance, so that when a disaster like the record drought that we’re seeing across much of the West hits our farmers, they don’t lose everything they’ve worked so hard to build. This bill helps rural communities by investing in hospitals and schools, affordable housing, broadband infrastructure -- all the things that help attract more businesses and make life easier for working families.
This bill supports businesses working to develop cutting-edge biofuels -- like some of the work that's being done here at Michigan State. That has the potential to create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It boosts conservation efforts so that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy places like the Mississippi River Valley and Chesapeake Bay.
It supports local food by investing in things like farmers markets and organic agriculture -- which is making my wife very happy. And when Michelle is happy, I don't know about everybody being happy, but I know I'm happy. (Laughter and applause.) And so it's giving smaller producers, local producers, folks like Ben, the opportunity to sell more of their products directly, without a bunch of processing and distributors and middlemen that make it harder for them to achieve. And it means that people are going to have healthier diets, which is, in turn, going to reduce incidents of childhood obesity and keep us healthier, which saves us all money.
It does all this while reforming our agricultural programs, so this bill helps to clamp down on loopholes that allowed people to receive benefits year after year, whether they were planting crops or not. And it saves taxpayers hard-earned dollars by making sure that we only support farmers when disaster strikes or prices drop. It's not just automatic.
So that’s the first thing this farm bill does -- it helps rural communities grow; it gives farmers some certainty; it puts in place important reforms.
The second thing this farm bill does -- that is huge -- is help make sure America’s children don’t go hungry. (Applause.) And this is where Debbie’s work was really important. One study shows that more than half of all Americans will experience poverty at some point during their adult lives. Now, for most folks that's when you're young and you're eating ramen all the time. But for a lot of families, a crisis hits, you lose your job, somebody gets sick, strains on your budget -- you have a strong work ethic, but it might take you six months, nine months, a year to find a job. And in the meantime, you’ve got families to feed.
That’s why, for more than half a century, this country has helped Americans put food on the table when they hit a rough patch, or when they’re working hard but aren’t making enough money to feed their kids. They’re not looking for a handout, these folks, they’re looking for a hand up -- (applause) -- a bridge to help get them through some tough times. (Applause.)
And we sure don't believe that children should be punished when parents are having a tough time. As a country, we’re stronger when we help hardworking Americans get back on their feet, make sure that children are getting the nutrition that they need so that they can learn what they need in order to be contributing members of our society.
That’s the idea behind what’s known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A large majority of SNAP recipients are children, or the elderly, or Americans with disabilities. A lot of others are hardworking Americans who need just a little help feeding their families while they look for a job or they’re trying to find a better one. And in 2012, the SNAP program kept nearly 5 million people -- including more than 2 million children -- out of poverty. (Applause.) Think about that -- 5 million people.
That’s why my position has always been that any farm bill I sign must include protections for vulnerable Americans, and thanks to the good work of Debbie and others, this bill does that. (Applause.) And by giving Americans more bang for their buck at places like farmers markets, we’re making it easier for working families to eat healthy foods and we're supporting farmers like Ben who make their living growing it. So it’s creating new markets for produce farmers, and it means that people have a chance to directly buy from their farmers the kind of food that’s going to keep them healthy.
And the truth is a lot of folks go through tough times at some points in their lives. That doesn’t mean they should go hungry. Not in a country like America. So investing in the communities that grow our food, helping hardworking Americans put that food on the table -- that’s what this farm bill does, all while reducing our deficits through smart reforms.
It doesn’t include everything that I’d like to see. And I know leaders on both sides of the aisle feel the same way. But it’s a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come through with this bill, break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven partisan decision-making, and actually get this stuff done. (Applause.) That's a good sign.
And that’s the way you should expect Washington to work. That’s the way Washington should continue to work. Because we’ve got more work to do. We’ve got more work to do to potentially make sure that unemployment insurance is put in place for a lot of folks out there who need it. (Applause.) We’ve got more work to do to pass a minimum wage. We’ve got more work to do to do immigration reform, which will help farmers like Ben. (Applause.)
So let’s keep the momentum going here. And in the weeks ahead, while Congress is deciding what’s next, I’m going to keep doing everything I can to strengthen the middle class, build ladders of opportunity in the middle class. And I sure hope Congress will join me because I know that’s what you’re looking for out of your elected officials at every level. (Applause.)
So thank you, everybody. God bless you. I’m now going to sign this farm bill. (Applause.)
Hold on a second, I forgot to mention Marcia Fudge is here. I wasn’t sure whether she came to the event. I knew she flew in with me. She does great work -- (applause) -- out of the great state of Ohio.
(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)
END
Remarks by the President at Signing of the Farm Bill -- MI
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
FEBRUARY 7, 2014
2:16 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Spartans! (Applause.) Go, Green!
AUDIENCE: Go, White!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. Everybody have a seat here.
It’s good to be at Michigan State. Thank you, Ben, for that wonderful introduction. Give Ben a big round of applause. (Applause.) He’s got his beautiful family right here. How did dad do? Was he pretty good? Yes, there he is. He did good? I thought he did great.
It is good to be in East Lansing. It’s good to be with all of you here today. I’m here because I’ve heard about all the great things that you’re doing. And I want to thank Mayor Triplett and President Simon for hosting us.
I am also here to do some scouting on my brackets. (Laughter and applause.) I just talked to Coach Izzo -- Spartans are looking pretty good. I know things were a little wild for a while, had some injuries. But the truth is that Coach Izzo, he always paces so that you peak right at the tournament. (Applause.) That’s a fact. Then I got a chance to meet Mark Dantonio. (Applause.) So you’ve already got a Rose Bowl victory. (Applause.) You guys, you’re greedy. (Laughter.) You want to win everything.
But it’s wonderful to be here. I love coming to Michigan. Mainly I love coming to Michigan because of the people. But I also love coming here because there are few places in the country that better symbolize what we’ve been through together over these last four, five years.
The American auto industry has always been the heartbeat of the Michigan economy and the heart of American manufacturing. So when that heartbeat was flat-lining, we all pulled together, all of us -- autoworkers who punched in on the line, management who made tough decisions to restructure, elected officials like Gary Peters and Mark Schauer who believed that -- (applause) -- folks who believed that rescuing America’s most iconic industry was the right thing to do.
And today, thanks to your grit and your ingenuity and dogged determination, the American auto industry’s engines are roaring again and we are building the best cars in the world again. And some plants are running three shifts around the clock -- something that nobody would have imagined just a few years ago. (Applause.)
I just had lunch with Detroit’s new Mayor, Mike Duggan. (Applause.) He told me if there’s one thing that he wants everybody to know, it’s that Detroit is open for business. And I have great confidence that he’s going to provide the leadership that we need. (Applause.) Really proud of him. The point is we’ve all had to buckle down. We’ve all had to work hard. We’ve had to fight our way back these past five years. And in a lot of ways, we are now better positioned for the 21st century than any other country on Earth.
This morning, we learned that our businesses in the private sector created more than 140,000 jobs last month, adding up to about 8.5 million new jobs over the past four years. (Applause.) Our unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been since before I was first elected. Companies across the country are saying they intend to hire even more folks in the months ahead. And that’s why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America.
And I’ve come here today to sign a bill that hopefully means folks in Washington feel the same way -- that instead of wasting time creating crises that impede the economy, we’re going to have a Congress that’s ready to spend some time creating new jobs and new opportunities, and positioning us for the future and making sure our young people can take advantage of that future.
And that’s important, because even though our economy has been growing for four years now, even though we’ve been adding jobs for four years now, what’s still true -- something that was true before the financial crisis, it’s still true today -- is that those at the very top of the economic pyramid are doing better than ever, but the average American’s wages, salaries, incomes haven’t risen in a very long time. A lot of Americans are working harder and harder just to get by -- much less get ahead -- and that’s been true since long before the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
And so we’ve got to reverse those trends. We’ve got to build an economy that works for everybody, not just a few. We’ve got to restore the idea of opportunity for all people -- the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you came from, how you started out, what your last name is, you can make it if you’re willing to work hard and take responsibility. That’s the idea at the heart of this country. That’s what’s at stake right now. That’s what we’ve got to work on. (Applause.)
Now, the opportunity agenda I laid out in my State of the Union address is going to help us do that. It’s an agenda built around four parts. Number one: More new jobs in American manufacturing, American energy, American innovation, American technology. A lot of what you’re doing here at Michigan State helps to spur on that innovation in all sorts of areas that can then be commercialized into new industries and to create new jobs.
Number two: Training folks with the skills to fill those jobs -- something this institution does very well.
Number three: Guaranteeing access to a world-class education for every child, not just some. That has to be a priority. (Applause.) That means before they even start school, we’re working on pre-K that’s high quality and gets our young people prepared, and then takes them all the way through college so that they can afford it, and beyond.
Number four: Making sure our economy rewards honest work with wages you can live on, and savings you can retire on, and, yes, health insurance that is there for you when you need it. (Applause.)
Now, some of this opportunity agenda that I put forward will require congressional action, it’s true. But as I said at the State of the Union, America does not stand still; neither will I. And that’s why, over the past two weeks, I’ve taken steps without legislation, without congressional action, to expand opportunity for more families. We’ve created a new way for workers to start their own retirement savings. We’ve helped to make sure all of our students have high-speed broadband and high-tech learning tools that they need for this new economy.
But I’ve also said I’m eager to work with Congress wherever I can -- because the truth of the matter is, is that America works better when we’re working together. And Congress controls the purse strings at the federal level and a lot of the things that we need to do require congressional action.
And that is why I could not be prouder of our leaders who are here today. Debbie in particular, I could not be prouder of your own Debbie Stabenow, who has done just extraordinary work. (Applause.) We all love Debbie for a lot of reasons. She’s been a huge champion of American manufacturing but really shepherded through this farm bill, which was a very challenging piece of business. She worked with Republican Senator Thad Cochran, who I think was very constructive in this process. We had Representatives Frank Lucas, a Republican, working with Collin Peterson, a Democrat. We had a terrific contribution from our own Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who deserves a big round of applause. (Applause.)
And so Congress passed a bipartisan farm bill that is going to make a big difference in communities all across this country. And just so they don’t feel left out, I want to recognize one of your congressmen, who’s doing an outstanding job -- Dan Kildee. (Applause.) And somebody who was just a wonderful mentor to me when I was in the Senate and has been just a great public servant, not just for your state, but for the entire country -- Carl Levin. (Applause.) He’s always out there, especially when it comes to our men and women in uniform. We’re very proud of him. (Applause.)
And while we’re at it, we got a couple of out-of-towners -- Pat Leahy from Vermont -- there are a lot of dairy farms up there, so he had something to do with it. (Applause.) Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota. (Applause.) All that cold air is blowing from Minnesota down into -- (laughter).
Now, despite its name, the farm bill is not just about helping farmers. Secretary Vilsack calls it a jobs bill, an innovation bill, an infrastructure bill, a research bill, a conservation bill. It’s like a Swiss Army knife. (Laughter.) It’s like Mike Trout -- for those of you who know baseball. (Laughter.) It’s somebody who’s got a lot of tools. It multitasks. It’s creating more good jobs, gives more Americans a shot at opportunity. And there are two big ways in which it does so.
First, the farm bill lifts up our rural communities. Over the past five years, thanks to the hard work and know-how of America’s farmers, the best in the world, we’ve had the strongest stretch of farm exports in our history. And when I’m traveling around the world, I’m promoting American agriculture. And as a consequence, we are selling more stuff to more people than ever before. Supports about 1 million American jobs; what we grow here and that we sell is a huge boost to the entire economy, but particularly the rural economy.
Here at Michigan State, by the way, you are helping us to do even more. So I just got a tour of a facility where you’re working with local businesses to produce renewable fuels. You’re helping farmers grow crops that are healthier and more resistant to disease. Some students are even raising their own piglets on an organic farm. When I was in college, I lived in a pig sty -- (laughter) -- but I didn't work in one. So I’m impressed by that. (Laughter.) That's no joke, by the way. (Laughter and applause.) Your hygiene improves as you get older. (Laughter.)
So we’re seeing some big advances in American agriculture. And today, by the way, I’m directing my administration to launch a new “Made in Rural America” initiative to help more rural businesses expand and hire and sell more products stamped “Made in the USA” to the rest of the world -- because we’ve got great products here that need to be sold and we can do even more to sell around the world. (Applause.)
But even with all this progress, too many rural Americans are still struggling. Right now, 85 percent of counties experience what’s called “persistent poverty.” Those are in rural areas. Before I was elected President, I represented Illinois, home of a couple of your Big Ten rivals, but also a big farming state. And over the years, I’ve seen how hard it can be to be a farmer. There are a lot of big producers who are doing really well, but there are even more small farms, family farms, where folks are just scratching out a living and increasingly vulnerable to difficulties in financing and all the inputs involved -- farmers sometimes having to work off the farm, they’ve got a couple of jobs outside the farm just to get health care, just to pay the bills, trying to keep it in the family, and it’s very hard for young farmers to get started.
And in these rural communities, a lot of young people talk about how jobs are so scarce, even before the recession hit, that they feel like they’ve got to leave in order to have opportunity. They can't stay at home, they’ve got to leave.
So that's why this farm bill includes things like crop insurance, so that when a disaster like the record drought that we’re seeing across much of the West hits our farmers, they don’t lose everything they’ve worked so hard to build. This bill helps rural communities by investing in hospitals and schools, affordable housing, broadband infrastructure -- all the things that help attract more businesses and make life easier for working families.
This bill supports businesses working to develop cutting-edge biofuels -- like some of the work that's being done here at Michigan State. That has the potential to create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It boosts conservation efforts so that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy places like the Mississippi River Valley and Chesapeake Bay.
It supports local food by investing in things like farmers markets and organic agriculture -- which is making my wife very happy. And when Michelle is happy, I don't know about everybody being happy, but I know I'm happy. (Laughter and applause.) And so it's giving smaller producers, local producers, folks like Ben, the opportunity to sell more of their products directly, without a bunch of processing and distributors and middlemen that make it harder for them to achieve. And it means that people are going to have healthier diets, which is, in turn, going to reduce incidents of childhood obesity and keep us healthier, which saves us all money.
It does all this while reforming our agricultural programs, so this bill helps to clamp down on loopholes that allowed people to receive benefits year after year, whether they were planting crops or not. And it saves taxpayers hard-earned dollars by making sure that we only support farmers when disaster strikes or prices drop. It's not just automatic.
So that’s the first thing this farm bill does -- it helps rural communities grow; it gives farmers some certainty; it puts in place important reforms.
The second thing this farm bill does -- that is huge -- is help make sure America’s children don’t go hungry. (Applause.) And this is where Debbie’s work was really important. One study shows that more than half of all Americans will experience poverty at some point during their adult lives. Now, for most folks that's when you're young and you're eating ramen all the time. But for a lot of families, a crisis hits, you lose your job, somebody gets sick, strains on your budget -- you have a strong work ethic, but it might take you six months, nine months, a year to find a job. And in the meantime, you’ve got families to feed.
That’s why, for more than half a century, this country has helped Americans put food on the table when they hit a rough patch, or when they’re working hard but aren’t making enough money to feed their kids. They’re not looking for a handout, these folks, they’re looking for a hand up -- (applause) -- a bridge to help get them through some tough times. (Applause.)
And we sure don't believe that children should be punished when parents are having a tough time. As a country, we’re stronger when we help hardworking Americans get back on their feet, make sure that children are getting the nutrition that they need so that they can learn what they need in order to be contributing members of our society.
That’s the idea behind what’s known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A large majority of SNAP recipients are children, or the elderly, or Americans with disabilities. A lot of others are hardworking Americans who need just a little help feeding their families while they look for a job or they’re trying to find a better one. And in 2012, the SNAP program kept nearly 5 million people -- including more than 2 million children -- out of poverty. (Applause.) Think about that -- 5 million people.
That’s why my position has always been that any farm bill I sign must include protections for vulnerable Americans, and thanks to the good work of Debbie and others, this bill does that. (Applause.) And by giving Americans more bang for their buck at places like farmers markets, we’re making it easier for working families to eat healthy foods and we're supporting farmers like Ben who make their living growing it. So it’s creating new markets for produce farmers, and it means that people have a chance to directly buy from their farmers the kind of food that’s going to keep them healthy.
And the truth is a lot of folks go through tough times at some points in their lives. That doesn’t mean they should go hungry. Not in a country like America. So investing in the communities that grow our food, helping hardworking Americans put that food on the table -- that’s what this farm bill does, all while reducing our deficits through smart reforms.
It doesn’t include everything that I’d like to see. And I know leaders on both sides of the aisle feel the same way. But it’s a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come through with this bill, break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven partisan decision-making, and actually get this stuff done. (Applause.) That's a good sign.
And that’s the way you should expect Washington to work. That’s the way Washington should continue to work. Because we’ve got more work to do. We’ve got more work to do to potentially make sure that unemployment insurance is put in place for a lot of folks out there who need it. (Applause.) We’ve got more work to do to pass a minimum wage. We’ve got more work to do to do immigration reform, which will help farmers like Ben. (Applause.)
So let’s keep the momentum going here. And in the weeks ahead, while Congress is deciding what’s next, I’m going to keep doing everything I can to strengthen the middle class, build ladders of opportunity in the middle class. And I sure hope Congress will join me because I know that’s what you’re looking for out of your elected officials at every level. (Applause.)
So thank you, everybody. God bless you. I’m now going to sign this farm bill. (Applause.)
Hold on a second, I forgot to mention Marcia Fudge is here. I wasn’t sure whether she came to the event. I knew she flew in with me. She does great work -- (applause) -- out of the great state of Ohio.
(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)
END
Sunday, January 19, 2014
DETROIT AUTO SHOW VISITED BY GOVERNMENT DIGNITARIES
FROM: LABOR DEPARTMENT
Ingenuity, Training Make American Goods Shine in Detroit
American ingenuity, jobs and workers were the focus of a whirlwind tour of Detroit by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on Jan. 13. Perez began his day at the North American International Auto Show, where he was joined by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and members of the Michigan congressional delegation. He assessed the new lineup of automobiles and talked to industry leaders about growth in the auto industry. Later that day, the group of dignitaries met with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and William F. Jones Jr., director of Focus: HOPE Family Learning Center for Advanced Technologies, where they participated in a roundtable discussion on opportunities to strengthen transportation career pathways, and enhance skills training, industry and community partnerships. Perez then met students and staff while touring the training facility. "I look at the Department of Labor as the Department of Opportunity," he said. "We try to match the right worker with the right employer. We do that by supporting strong community programs like Focus: HOPE." Perez also meet with staff and students at the UAW-Ford Technical Training Center and visited Shinola, a company that manufactures watches, bicycles and leather goods. The visit was part of the Obama administration's efforts to enhance local economic revitalization and ensure that existing resources effectively support local priorities.
Ingenuity, Training Make American Goods Shine in Detroit
American ingenuity, jobs and workers were the focus of a whirlwind tour of Detroit by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on Jan. 13. Perez began his day at the North American International Auto Show, where he was joined by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and members of the Michigan congressional delegation. He assessed the new lineup of automobiles and talked to industry leaders about growth in the auto industry. Later that day, the group of dignitaries met with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and William F. Jones Jr., director of Focus: HOPE Family Learning Center for Advanced Technologies, where they participated in a roundtable discussion on opportunities to strengthen transportation career pathways, and enhance skills training, industry and community partnerships. Perez then met students and staff while touring the training facility. "I look at the Department of Labor as the Department of Opportunity," he said. "We try to match the right worker with the right employer. We do that by supporting strong community programs like Focus: HOPE." Perez also meet with staff and students at the UAW-Ford Technical Training Center and visited Shinola, a company that manufactures watches, bicycles and leather goods. The visit was part of the Obama administration's efforts to enhance local economic revitalization and ensure that existing resources effectively support local priorities.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
FORMER LIQUOR STORE OWNER PLEADS GUILTY TO SELLING CUTTING AGENTS TO DRUG DEALERS
FROM: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Former Owner of Liquor Store Pleads Guilty to Tax Crime and Selling Cutting Agents to Local Drug Dealers
Southfield, Mich., resident Bashar Saroki pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and selling drug paraphernalia, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
According to court documents, Saroki controlled and operated Golden Star Party Store, a liquor store that was located in Detroit. From 2007 through 2011, Saroki sold more than $1 million worth of a variety of cutting agents to local narcotics dealers out of Golden Star Party Store and from his residence. The cutting agents were substances used by narcotics dealers to dilute the potency and increase the quantity of the narcotics sold to customers. Despite the significant proceeds from the sale of cutting agents, Saroki reported very little income on his false tax return for 2009.
Saroki faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each count. U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland set sentencing for Dec. 17, 2013.
Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, commended the efforts of special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated this case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Kenneth C. Vert and Yael T. Epstein, who prosecuted the case.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Former Owner of Liquor Store Pleads Guilty to Tax Crime and Selling Cutting Agents to Local Drug Dealers
Southfield, Mich., resident Bashar Saroki pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and selling drug paraphernalia, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
According to court documents, Saroki controlled and operated Golden Star Party Store, a liquor store that was located in Detroit. From 2007 through 2011, Saroki sold more than $1 million worth of a variety of cutting agents to local narcotics dealers out of Golden Star Party Store and from his residence. The cutting agents were substances used by narcotics dealers to dilute the potency and increase the quantity of the narcotics sold to customers. Despite the significant proceeds from the sale of cutting agents, Saroki reported very little income on his false tax return for 2009.
Saroki faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each count. U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland set sentencing for Dec. 17, 2013.
Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, commended the efforts of special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated this case, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Kenneth C. Vert and Yael T. Epstein, who prosecuted the case.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
DOCTOR AND OWNER OF MICHIGAN ONCOLOGY CENTERS CHARGED IN $35 MILLION MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Oakland County Doctor and Owner of Michigan Hematology and Oncology Centers Charged in $35 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Dr. Farid Fata, 48, of Oakland Township, Michigan, was arrested this morning and charged in a criminal complaint for his role in a health care fraud scheme which involved submitting false claims to Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary, including chemotherapy treatments.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
“Dr. Fata allegedly perpetrated a brazen and dangerous fraud that time and again jeopardized his patients’ wellbeing,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “The conduct alleged today is chilling, with the defendant endangering patient safety through misdiagnoses, over- or mis-prescription of chemotherapy and other treatments, and delay of hospital care for patients with serious injuries. Through the work of our dedicated prosecutors and agents, today we have taken swift action to safeguard patient safety and hold the defendant to account.”
“Our first priority is patient care,” said U.S. Attorney McQuade. “The agents and attorneys acted with great attention to detail to stop these allegedly dangerous practices as quickly as possible, and we have set up a victim hotline so that patients can access their files and get questions answered.”
“Violating a patient's trust and placing them at risk through fraudulent abuse of our nation's health care system is deplorable and a crime which the FBI takes most seriously,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Foley. “The FBI remains committed to the arrest and prosecution of those who commit health care fraud.”
“The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious, not only in terms of potential Medicare dollars improperly obtained, but patient safety as well,” said HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Pugh. “The OIG will aggressively investigate allegations of this nature in order to ensure the safety of Medicare patients and to protect vital taxpayer dollars.”
According to the complaint, Dr. Fata owns and operates Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers (MHO), which has offices in Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Lapeer, Sterling Heights, Troy and Oak Park. It was through MHO that Dr. Fata allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary services, including chemotherapy treatments, Positron Emission Tomograph (PET) scans and a variety of cancer and hematology treatments for patients who did not need them. In the course of the scheme, Dr. Fata falsified and directed others to falsify documents to justify cancer treatments for billing purposes. MHO billed Medicare for approximately $35 million dollars over a two-year period, approximately $25 million of which is attributable to Dr. Fata.
The complaint further alleges that Dr. Fata directed the administration of unnecessary chemotherapy to patients in remission; deliberate misdiagnoses of patients as having cancer to justify unnecessary cancer treatment; administration of chemotherapy to end-of-life patients who would not have benefitted from the treatment; deliberate misdiagnoses of patients without cancer to justify expensive testing; fabrication of other diagnoses such as anemia and fatigue to justify unnecessary hematology treatments, and distribution of controlled substances to patients without medical necessity or through administering the drugs at dangerous levels.
Dr. Fata will be making his initial appearance in federal court this afternoon at 1 p.m. in Detroit.
Patients who have questions concerning their medical records and/or information regarding this investigation and prosecution can call the United States Attorney’s Office Information Line at 888-702-0553.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Catherine Dick, supervisor of the Detroit Medicare Fraud Strike Force and Trial Attorney Matthew Thuesen of the Department of Justice as well as Sarah Resnick Cohen, Deputy Chief of the Health Care Fraud Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Justin Bidwell, Special Assistant United States Attorney. The investigations were conducted jointly by the FBI and HHS-OIG, along with the assistance of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Oakland County Doctor and Owner of Michigan Hematology and Oncology Centers Charged in $35 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
Dr. Farid Fata, 48, of Oakland Township, Michigan, was arrested this morning and charged in a criminal complaint for his role in a health care fraud scheme which involved submitting false claims to Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary, including chemotherapy treatments.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh of the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
“Dr. Fata allegedly perpetrated a brazen and dangerous fraud that time and again jeopardized his patients’ wellbeing,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman. “The conduct alleged today is chilling, with the defendant endangering patient safety through misdiagnoses, over- or mis-prescription of chemotherapy and other treatments, and delay of hospital care for patients with serious injuries. Through the work of our dedicated prosecutors and agents, today we have taken swift action to safeguard patient safety and hold the defendant to account.”
“Our first priority is patient care,” said U.S. Attorney McQuade. “The agents and attorneys acted with great attention to detail to stop these allegedly dangerous practices as quickly as possible, and we have set up a victim hotline so that patients can access their files and get questions answered.”
“Violating a patient's trust and placing them at risk through fraudulent abuse of our nation's health care system is deplorable and a crime which the FBI takes most seriously,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Foley. “The FBI remains committed to the arrest and prosecution of those who commit health care fraud.”
“The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious, not only in terms of potential Medicare dollars improperly obtained, but patient safety as well,” said HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Pugh. “The OIG will aggressively investigate allegations of this nature in order to ensure the safety of Medicare patients and to protect vital taxpayer dollars.”
According to the complaint, Dr. Fata owns and operates Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers (MHO), which has offices in Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Lapeer, Sterling Heights, Troy and Oak Park. It was through MHO that Dr. Fata allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary services, including chemotherapy treatments, Positron Emission Tomograph (PET) scans and a variety of cancer and hematology treatments for patients who did not need them. In the course of the scheme, Dr. Fata falsified and directed others to falsify documents to justify cancer treatments for billing purposes. MHO billed Medicare for approximately $35 million dollars over a two-year period, approximately $25 million of which is attributable to Dr. Fata.
The complaint further alleges that Dr. Fata directed the administration of unnecessary chemotherapy to patients in remission; deliberate misdiagnoses of patients as having cancer to justify unnecessary cancer treatment; administration of chemotherapy to end-of-life patients who would not have benefitted from the treatment; deliberate misdiagnoses of patients without cancer to justify expensive testing; fabrication of other diagnoses such as anemia and fatigue to justify unnecessary hematology treatments, and distribution of controlled substances to patients without medical necessity or through administering the drugs at dangerous levels.
Dr. Fata will be making his initial appearance in federal court this afternoon at 1 p.m. in Detroit.
Patients who have questions concerning their medical records and/or information regarding this investigation and prosecution can call the United States Attorney’s Office Information Line at 888-702-0553.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Catherine Dick, supervisor of the Detroit Medicare Fraud Strike Force and Trial Attorney Matthew Thuesen of the Department of Justice as well as Sarah Resnick Cohen, Deputy Chief of the Health Care Fraud Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Justin Bidwell, Special Assistant United States Attorney. The investigations were conducted jointly by the FBI and HHS-OIG, along with the assistance of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
Monday, December 3, 2012
U.S. SENATOR CARL LEVIN ON EXTENDING THE "PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT" THAT BENEFITS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
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| Senator Carl Levin |
Wind Production Tax Credit
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., today entered the following statement in the Congressional Record, thanking Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado for his Senate floor speech on Michigan’s wind energy industry and the need to extend the Production Tax Credit that expires at the end of this year.
I want to thank Senator Udall for his work bringing attention to this important issue.
To me, this issue is simple: Alternative energy, including wind power, is not only a vital component of our environmental protection efforts, but to growing our economy and creating jobs for the middle class.
Michigan is the state that put the world on wheels. Through innovation and dedication, entrepreneurs, engineers and Michigan workers combined their efforts not just to revolutionize transportation, but to create an explosion of manufacturing employment that helped create and sustain the American middle class.
Today, a new generation of Michigan innovators is harnessing the power of wind, the promise of biofuels, the power of advanced batteries. Earlier this year, I visited a wind farm in Breckenridge, Michigan, that is a marvel of technology, as far removed from the farmstead windmills of days past as a jet fighter is from the Wright Brothers’ plane. That wind farm is a textbook example of how the advance of technology is helping Michigan’s economy, enabling us not just to recover from the setbacks of the past, but to lead us into a brighter economic future.
Wind power is an important part of that advance. It’s a rapidly growing sector of our state’s electrical generating system: Wind generating capacity more than doubled in 2011, and projects under construction or in the development pipeline could increase capacity 10-fold or more. The more power we generate from wind, the more affordable, clean energy is available to our state and nation.
Michigan also has an important role in building advanced wind generation equipment, not just for our state, but for the United States and the world. Roughly 40 Michigan facilities are engaged in this business, many of them businesses that have turned expertise developed in the automotive industry to this new and growing field. Already wind is responsible for hundreds of good manufacturing jobs, and the potential is nearly as limitless as the wind itself.
That’s why renewal of the Production Tax Credit is so important. The PTC has been an important factor in helping this new industry grow. If it is allowed to expire at the end of the year, it would not only hamper efforts to generate more clean energy for Michigan homes and businesses, but also dampen the potential for new manufacturing jobs tied to wind power. That’s not a good outcome for our environment, for Michigan families or for the American economy.
So again I thank Senator Udall for his focus on this issue. I hope as we work to address the many pressing issues we must resolve before the end of the year, we can resolve this one as well, and maintain the momentum of clean energy to help our environment and our economy.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
SEC CHARGES MICHIGAN BUSINESSMAN DEFRAUDED INVESTORS IN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT SCHEME
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| Photo Credit: U.S. National Guard. |
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has obtained an emergency court order against a Bay City, Michigan-based real estate promoter, and that it has suspended trading in one of the promoter's companies, American Realty Funds Corporation.
According to the SEC's complaint, Joel I. Wilson defrauded investors who bought unregistered securities offered by his company, Diversified Group Partnership Management, LLC, and sold through his brokerage firm, W R Rice Financial Services, Inc. Wilson raised approximately $6.7 million from approximately 120 investors who bought Diversified Group's securities from September 2009 through October 2012, and used the funds to finance his business of buying, renovating, and selling houses in and around Bay City, the SEC alleged.
Although Wilson promised investors that he would invest their money in real estate that would yield returns of 9.9% per year, he used most of it to make unsecured loans to his real estate business, which did not generate enough income to repay the investors. Wilson also diverted $582,000 of investor money to pay personal expenses, including $75,000 he used to buy W R Rice Financial, $46,780 he spent on travel, and $35,000 for his wife's business. In addition, the SEC said Wilson used investors' money to pay for a sponsorship and tickets to the Saginaw Sting football team and to buy thousands of dollars worth of tickets to the Detroit Red Wings.
The SEC alleges that Wilson raised additional funds for his real estate business through stock sales for another of his companies, American Realty Funds Corporation, which trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol ANFDE. The complaint alleges that there were misrepresentations and omissions in some of the reports the company filed with the SEC, which Wilson signed, including that American Realty has failed to make loan payments and that its purportedly independent directors have undisclosed personal and business relationships with Wilson. American Realty is delinquent in filing its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, which was due October 15, and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, which was due on November 14. Because of the questions concerning the accuracy of publicly disseminated information in the company's public filings and financial statements, the SEC issued an administrative order suspending trading in American Realty stock until 11:59 p.m. EDT on November 29, 2012.
The SEC's complaint, filed on November 15, 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, charges Wilson and Diversified Group with violations of the registration and antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and American Realty with violations of the antifraud and reporting provisions of the federal securities laws. The Court granted the SEC's request for an order prohibiting the defendants from altering or destroying documents and an order granting the parties leave to conduct expedited discovery. The Court scheduled a hearing on the SEC's motions for an asset freeze and preliminary injunction for December 10, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at the U.S. District courthouse located at 1000 Washington Ave. in Bay City, Michigan.
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