Tagged: budget cuts

The looming automatic federal budget cuts - or sequestration - will trickle down to all parts of the economy.  During a meeting on business confidence, northern New York officials predicted serious consequences for some economic sectors in the region.  They are also disappointed that Congress can’t, or won’t, work to find the 2-percent cuts in the federal budget.

The White House says about 12,000 civilians who work for the defense department in New York would be furloughed and funding for the operation of Army bases in the state would be cut by $108 million.

The state's schools and teachers are also at serious risk, as are efforts to protect clean air and water.

Massachusetts could lose tens of millions of dollars for education, environmental protection and child care, about $14 million for primary and secondary education, putting 190 teacher and aide jobs at risk.

    Tonight at 7:30 PM in their Club B10, MASS MoCA will screen Brooklyn Castle as part of their Winter/Spring 2013 documentary film series, Compete!, celebrating films about winning, losing, and how you play the game.

Brooklyn Castle is an engaging and heartwarming doc about the championship winning chess team at IS 318 - a below-the-poverty-line public school in Brooklyn. The film focuses on 5 incredible kids and their coaches and teachers as they battle their opponents as well as recessionary budget cuts that threaten all extracurricular activities at their school.

The film won an Audience Award at last year’s South by Southwest Film 2012 Documentary Spotlight and was one of the top 10 Audience Favourites at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Filmmaker, Katie Dellamaggiore, will do a Q&A via Skype after the screening of Brooklyn Castle tonight at MASS MoCA and she joins us to talk about the film.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is unveiling $170 million in spending reductions across state agencies, the first part of a plan to close Connecticut's current $365 million budget shortfall.

The Democrat released the list Wednesday. It includes nearly $161 million worth of reductions to executive branch agencies that range from a $33,957 cut to the governor's office to a $32.2 million reduction at the Department of Social Services.

A retired Air Force Brigadier  General, Donald Quenneville is going to be managing  the efforts in Massachusetts to protect the state’s defense sector from federal budget cuts.  Quenneville, who is a native of South Hadley,  has  been hired as executive director of  the Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force.  He  spoke with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief, Paul Tuthill.