Posted: 03 Aug 2010 04:52 PM PDT

Veteran free agent center Kevin Mawae (notes) is wondering aloud why he's out of work and if his unemployment is connected to his job as president of the NFL Players Association.

And Mawae said that TItans coach Jeff Fisher told him he would be on the team and hasn't lived up to his word.

"Jeff told me in April he guaranteed me a roster spot," Mawae told the Tennessean. "Those were his exact words, 'I guarantee that you have a roster spot.' He said that to me twice. But apparently Jeff is not doing contracts. It would be great if the two were on the same page instead of sending me mixed signals."

Mawae says that Fisher and general manager Mike Reinfeldt aren't communicating very well.

Fisher responded to Mawae's comments.

"We have young players to evaluate and we are only in our second day of training camp," Fisher said. "We haven't even put pads on yet. I'd like to think the door is still open once the evaluation process is done or there's an issue. When I discussed this with Kevin there was no timetable. Mike and I are on the same page. He is excited about the roster and excited about evaluating the younger players.''

Mawae still wants to play, but says he'll move on if he has to.

He'd like a phone call, though, explaining the TItans' position.

"If I go in and do an interview for a job at a Fortune 500 company or if I am on the short list for a position with another company and I don't make that cut, somebody is going to call me and say, 'Hey, I appreciate your time, I appreciate you coming in and doing an interview but we went in another direction,'" Mawae said. "That is professional courtesy.

"At the end of the day, if your fingers aren't broke, my agent's phone number is only 10 digits and it's a toll free number, too. So it doesn't take but 30 seconds to call my agent and tell him what your plans are. That is not just me, that is for all the guys. … But that just seems to be their M.O.''

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Fed Dollars Could Save 1,800 Teacher's Jobs - KCCI.com

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 11:09 AM PDT

Tyler Kingkade, KCCI.com

POSTED: 1:02 pm CDT August 9, 2010
UPDATED: 3:38 pm CDT August 9, 2010

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Sen. Tom Harkin called the recent state aid package that recently passed the Senate on Thursday and will go for a vote in the House of Representatives this week a "victory for America's kids, for compassion and common sense over ideology." Harkin made the comments during a news conference Monday alongside Gov. Chet Culver and Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) in the Kennedy room of the State Capitol.The $26 billion package provides funding for states, specifically for education and Medicaid costs.Harkin also called House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) comments the bill was a payoff to union bosses "disgraceful.""I don't think those kids are union bosses," Harkin said. He went on to call the filibuster by Republicans "raw politics and partisanship tactics."The Democratic lawmakers said a teacher would not have to be a part of a union to be hired back. Harkin pointed out efforts and pleas from both Democratic and Republican governors in nearly every state for additional state aid helped the passage of the bill.Culver said 400,000 families in Iowa would benefit from the $130 million to put toward Medicaid. He said the $96 million Iowa would receive for education would restore 5 percent of the 10 percent cut made late last year. Culver dismissed the notion the money was only a temporary solution because, in part, Iowa was one of seven states with a triple-A bond rating and had $500 million in cash reserves.Republican lawmakers criticized the bill for increased spending.But Harkin touted Congress was able to fully fund the cost of the bill by redirecting funding and closing tax loopholes. That included $12 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The White House made suggestions to use money from SNAP because stimulus spending increased the program's funding by 13.6 percent to last until 2014. The increased funding for SNAP was going to last until 2018 due to unexpected low food prices."We're keeping the promise to the future and our kids," Boswell said, adding he was confident the bill will pass.The bill is intended to prevent 300,000 layoffs and passed with two GOP votes in the Senate, 61-39.Culver said the funding would allow principals and school boards to meet budget and staffing needs.About 1,500 layoffs were announced in Iowa schools earlier this year.Boswell is flying back to Washington, D.C., on Monday. Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) called House members back from recess to vote to pass the bill, they were not scheduled to return until after Labor Day.Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health and Education Committee, brought up the Senate's debate of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and pledged art and music education would be included."Every child ought to have access to a musical instrument by the time they hit seventh grade," Harkin said. Music classes were largely targeted during cutbacks in school districts around Iowa. Harkin said it was a part of a need to "educate the whole child."Boswell affirmed those comments and said the whole community has to commit to education, including physical education which, was also a target of budget cuts.

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Michael Bennet Waiting To See If He'll Keep His Job - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 10 Aug 2010 07:26 AM PDT

DENVER — Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet battled for his job Tuesday in a Colorado primary against Andrew Romanoff, a former state House speaker whose grass-roots campaign and embrace of the nation's anti-establishment mood has him within striking distance of an upset.

Republicans in the state had their own outsider-versus-insider Senate story line. Former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, endorsed by most sitting GOP senators, faced Ken Buck, a rural prosecutor who depicted Norton as too cozy with the Washington establishment.

Colorado's primary is mostly mail-in, and early ballot totals suggested the election could set turnout records.

Bennet faced the possibility of being the third senator this year to fail to win his party's nomination, after Sens. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Arlen Specter, D-Pa. The race was too close to call in advance polling, and it even divided two Democratic presidents.

President Barack Obama praised Bennet in a conference call with Democrats last week and chipped in automated phone calls over the weekend. Bennet advised Obama on education during the 2008 campaign and has largely sided with the White House in the Senate.

Former President Bill Clinton parted ways with Obama and recorded phone calls to voters Monday urging them to support Romanoff.

If Bennet loses, the Senate would have at least 15 lame duck members this fall, either because of retirements or primary losses.

Romanoff, a former state lawmaker from Denver, has pounded Bennet as a Washington insider chosen by elites, not Coloradans. Bennet was appointed to the seat last year when former Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar became Interior secretary. Bennet has never run for office before.

Bennet tried to play up his political inexperience as well as his financial expertise in a time of recession. On a cross-state campaign sprint last weekend, he railed against the chamber in which he's seeking a full term.

"Watch the Senate floor for a week. Want to know what's happening? Nothing," Bennet groused.

Bennet had a wide fundraising lead over Romanoff, who mortgaged his house in the campaign's final days. But Romanoff turned his disadvantage into a selling point, making a virtue of his refusal to take money from political action committees and even taping handwritten campaign signs in the windows of his headquarters in a rundown Denver strip mall.

He bills himself as "the best senator money can't buy" and blasts ruling Democrats as being too timid on the environment, health care and financial regulation.

On the GOP side, Buck blasted Norton's Washington connections, including her ties to Arizona's John McCain, who stumped for Norton in Colorado Sunday. Norton co-chaired McCain's Colorado presidential campaign in 2008 and counts him as a family friend.

Norton countered that Buck's no outsider, having spent his entire career in government service, including as a former U.S. assistant attorney.

The Republican contest has been personal at times, with Norton questioning in campaign ads whether Buck was "man enough" to take her on. A few weeks later, Buck was backpedaling after telling a voter to choose him "because I do not wear high heels."

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