Quote of the day
"Illegal immigration is stressing our health care system, our educational system and, in some cases, our legal system. People who continue to violate our laws by being here illegally erode confidence in the law. Local governments should help police these things.''
Georgetown, Texas City Council Member Keith Brainard, who wants the city to stop companies that work for the city from hiring illegal workers
Commentary: In the Mountain State, ‘They’re Ba-a-ck’
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and state legislators deserve an enormous gold star for “privatizing” the state’s workers’ compensation insurance program. But the very people who made state-run workers’ compensation a nightmare for business, and often, for workers injured on the job, are back. Wheeling News-Register
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Chairman Quits Embattled North Dakota Workers’ Comp Agency
Robert Indvik, chairman of North Dakota’s troubled workers compensation agency, Workforce Safety and Insurance, resigns less than three weeks after his county employers asked for an investigation of his reportedly extensive use of a county cell phone for calls on behalf of WSI. Indvik’s resignation comes a month after the board fired the agency’s director, Sandy Blunt. By Dale Wetzel, AP via Houston Chronicle
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Texas Town May Require Contractors to Prove Workers’ Legality
The city of Georgetown, Texas is looking into ways to ensure that businesses doing work for the city don’t employ illegal workers. Bill Hammond, president and chief executive of the Texas Association of Business, responds that his group is wary of the immigration enforcement burden falling on employers. Valley Morning Star
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Jackson Official Wants Workers’ Comp Investigator
A Jackson, Miss., city councilman asks the city’s personnel director to consider hiring someone to investigate employees who collect workers’ compensation. WAPT-TV (Jackson)
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Massachusetts Sees Improvement in Injury Numbers
The most recent stats show that the rate of workplace-related nonfatal injuries and illnesses in Massachusetts fell by more than 7 percent from 2005 to 2006. The state’s rate of 3.9 injury cases per 100 full-time workers compares to 4.4 cases nationally. By AP via WPRI-TV (Providence)
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