I will be attending the Faculty Senate meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28 as one of my three meeting requirements for the semester.

Meeting 1/3: State of the City address

New Huntington Mayor, Steve Williams, presented the annual State of the City address Friday afternoon to Huntington residents and city council members.

Williams used The State of the City address as a way to establish his plans to make the city of Huntington better and to no longer be the “butt of the joke.”

Williams addressed several subjects during his 45 minute speech, including the city budget, beautification, increasing the arts in the city by creating a council for the arts and bringing more business to the area.

Williams strayed from his prepared speech due to nerves, but managed to speak more openly about the subjects he finds important to make the city a better place for all those who live in and visit it.

The mayor said Huntington’s government is the most efficient in this part of the country, saying the residents of Huntington “get more with less.”

He made no hesitation to thank the city employees for the work they do and the long hours they put in, and said they deserve a pay raise, which has not been seen since 2007.

He also mentioned beautification of the city and will begin to crack down on residents who leave "junk" on their property visible to other residents. Williams said property owners must take responsibility for the area they own, and that means keep it looking nice and not like a junk yard.

Williams continued to say he plans to meet with area landlords because everyone in Huntington deserves a safe place to live. He said nearly half of Huntington residents are renters.

The mayor also discussed increasing the arts in the city by creating a council for the arts, which Williams said is "long overdue." He said he has a goal of bringing more film business to the area, because there have been filmmakers coming to the area to produce projects. He said hopefully one day producers and actors will come to "Hollerwood" instead of "Hollywood."

Williams will be creating the mayor's office of film, theater and broadcasting with the goal of anyone coming into the office knowing every step that has to be done in order to conduct business in Huntington.

He also wants to create an office for physical fitness, due to Huntington being one of the unhealthiest communities in the United States. He is going to have "mayor's walks," inviting members of neighborhoods to walk and talk about the community, encouraging refreshing exercise to make Huntington a healthier place.

The $43 million budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year is $1 million more than the 2012-2013 fiscal year budget, with no tax or fee increases for Huntington residents. 

***This will be run as a brief in the 2/18 version of The Parthenon.

2013 State of the City address- EXTRA CREDIT

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams
presents the State of the City address
Friday at a city council meeting.

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams addressed City Hall Friday to give the annual State of the City address.

The speech lasted about 45 minutes and touched on several topics including the city budget, a beautification plan and the art community bringing more business to the area.

Williams strayed from his speech and seemed nervous presenting it. The State if the City address was the first time community members had heard Williams speak as mayor of Huntington since his inauguration last month.

Assignment #9 - State of the Union address

Watching the State of the Union, Tuesday.

Obama began his fourth State of the Union address Tuesday night by quoting President John F. Kennedy – “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…it is my task to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.”

A number of topics were discussed throughout the speech including jobs, immigration reform, education reform and gun control, as well as a few surprise topics such as raising the federal minimum wage and cyber threats.

The topics I anticipated being discussed during the speech included gun control, gay rights, women’s rights and immigration. He touched on all of these subjects at least once, but he also discussed some topics which could have been considered unexpected, such as climate change and raising the federal minimum wage. 

According to a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, 35 percent of Americans wanted the economy to be discussed, and 15 percent of Americans said gun control was a top priority. The survey also said 12 percent of Americans were concerned about healthcare. These three topics were all heavily discussed during Obama’s speech.

The president announced a “fix-it-first” plan, which is a program to be used to put people to work when repairs are urgent. He also mentioned a Partnership to Rebuild America plan, which will make sure taxpayers do not have to have the whole burden of paying for these repairs.

Budget was the third thing Obama discussed during his speech, saying the deficit has been reduced by more than $2.5 trillion, mostly due to spending cuts and raising taxes on wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

Health care is a topic that took up several minutes of the address. He said his Affordable Heath Care Act is already slowing the growth of the cost of health care. Obama urged Congress to support him and make his plans a reality to ensure all Americans can afford health care, no matter their financial standings.

Obama shifted his discussion and mentioned the addition of more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the past three years, after cutting jobs for the past 10 years. The addition of three manufacturing hubs in America was announced, and also included Apple bringing jobs to America for the production of Mac computers. These additions will bring many more jobs to America, lowering the overall unemployment rate in the country. 

Climate change is a topic he discussed, mentioning 12 of the hottest years on record have occurred in the past 15 years. The president said it is important for the future of our children to find a solution to climate change and the rising temperatures and terrible storms wreaking havoc on different parts of the United States. Step one will be reducing pollution, and then to find more sustainable sources of energy.

A surprising topic of discussion was education, specifically preschool education. In most places, preschool is not a necessary form of education, possibly causing children who do not attend to be behind before they even start kindergarten. Obama also mentioned American high schools lacking in educational success, compared to high schools in Germany, where graduates leave with an educated equivalent to an American community college education, and prepared to enter the workforce. He said a high quality preschool will help children from falling behind in the “race of life,” and no child should be behind academically due to a poor education system.

Immigration reform took up another several minutes of the State of the Union address, and it was a topic expected to be discussed. Obama mentioned stronger border security and more boots on southern border in order to reduce entrance illegal immigrants to the lowest numbers in 40 years. He also suggested background checks, requiring immigrants to pay taxes and also learning English to become a citizen. He said real reform means fixing the legal immigration system.

Obama plans to finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year, so men and women will finally make the same wages for the same work. Along with that, he plans to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.

“Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living,” is an idea Obama agreed with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on. There is no reason anyone who works full time should live under the poverty line. Although inflation would cause prices of goods and services to go up with the rise of minimum wage, it will still likely help a lot of people in their day-to-day lives.

America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and over the course of 2013, 34,000 military troops will return home to their families.

“By this time next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over,” Obama said, giving hope to Americans with family members overseas fighting for their country.

Gun control was the last topic discussed Tuesday night. Obama said many supporters of the second Amendment have come together for common sense reform, including background checks prior to the purchase of guns and senators working together on laws to prevent selling guns to criminals.

Obama said each person and family who has lost someone or been injured due to gun violence, especially in the last two months, deserves a vote in Congress.

The president told a story hitting close to home for him, of a 15-year-old girl named Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed one mile from his Chicago home, one week after his inauguration, where she performed.

There have been more than 1,000 deaths since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., because of bullets, which is 1,000 too many.

 “They deserve a simple vote,” Obama said in support for stronger gun control laws for former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Pendleton, the families of Newtown, Aurora and Blacksburg victims, as well as the other communities across America who have experienced gun violence recently.

It was made clear that not every act of violence can be stopped, but we can help shrink the number of violent attacks occurring in the United States.

I predicted a surprise during the speech, and Obama gave me several. Overall, I think my predictions were about 75% accurate, with some topics being simply overlooked or just not thought of at all.

The president gave Americans a lot to anticipate for in the coming year – of course, Rome was not built in a day, and all of these changes will not happen overnight, but if American citizens can stick together, things can change for the better. United we stand, divided we fall.

2013 State of the Union predictions

Rachel Ford
JMC414
Jan. 30, 2013
State of the Union prediction column

Millions of Americans will tune in to President Obama’s first State of the Union address as a second-term president on Feb. 12 when he addresses the nation on how the country is doing and what he plans to do throughout 2013.

Obama will take the podium to address the United States about the upcoming issues he hopes to tackle in the upcoming year, such as gun control, equal rights for gay men and women, immigration and rights for women.

The 2013 address will be Obama’s fourth State of the Union. It is not customary for a newly elected president to give a State of the Union, so he did not give a State of the Union address in 2009.

The purpose of the State of the Union address is to give the citizens of the United States a report on the condition of the nation. It also allows the president to present his planned agenda and things he considers a priority.

The ability for the president to give the annual address is stated in the United States Constitution. Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 states the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

The president will likely discuss several hot-button issues, many of which have come to light in the recent past.

Gun control is an issue that has been on the minds of Americans since the Newtown, Conn., tragedy in December, resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen children. The president is pushing for tighter gun control laws due to the recent shootings that have happened nationwide in an attempt to make communities safer. It’s predicted this topic will take up a considerable part of his State of the Union address and be a stand-out topic throughout the evening.

The topic of gun control is recent, as it had not been addressed in past State of the Union addresses by Obama.

During his first term, President Obama began fighting for equal rights for same sex couples. President Obama publicly announced his support of equal rights for same sex couples and gay men and woman individually, as well as repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in late 2010, allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military.

Obama was the first president to mention the subject of equal rights for gay men and women in a formal speech, and was the first president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address. It is likely his plans for the fight for equality will be mentioned somewhere throughout the course of his speech, although it will probably not be a large part of the address.

The president will also likely discuss equal rights for women. This was another topic mentioned briefly during his inauguration speech, and will probably be discussed more in depth during the State of the Union. According to his official website, he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act in 2009, which would allow women the right to be paid the same as men for doing the same amount of work. This topic was discussed during the 2012 address, where Obama said, “An economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work.”

Obama is also trying to keep abortion a legal practice, believing women should have final say in what happens to her body, with help deciding from a doctor—the president believes politicians should not be involved in any way with decisions made by individual women.

Women were recently granted the ability to fight in combat in the military for the first time since 1994. The president may address this topic and what it means for the future of the United States military, as well as what it means in terms of equal rights for women.

Immigration is an issue President Obama will likely make a high priority. He wants to continue to control borders, but also wants to make it easier for people to become citizens. Wants to approach it broadly with a bipartisan view. The president wants to have a completely restructured immigration laws for citizenship, and it is predicted that will be a topic he mentions more in depth during his speech.

Obama’s official website summarizes his views on the issue of immigration by saying “President Obama refuses to give up on DREAM Act. He believes that young people, who were brought here through no fault of their own, should be able to earn citizenship through military service or the pursuit of a higher education.”

President Obama also is likely to discuss several other issues that are important for the continued success of the United States, but only few will be seen has high priority issues. There is always room for a surprise and the eyes of those watching will be on Obama as he makes first State of the Union address as a second term president.

The State of the Union address began in 1790, when George Washington gave the first address to the newly formed United States. According to the “History, Art & Archives” section of the House of Representatives website, Washington gave, to date, the shortest address, at just more than 1,000 words. The longest address was given by President William H. Taft in 1910 at 27,651 words. President Obama’s 2012 address was about 7,000 words.

http://www.barackobama.com/gun-reform?source=gunreform-20130117-hp

http://history.house.gov/Institution/SOTU/State-of-the-Union/

http://www.barackobama.com/equal-rights

http://www.barackobama.com/immigration

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/dont-ask-dont-tell-timeline/

United States Constitution

Transcripts for past State of the Union addresses