NICE GOVERNMENT WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT: There are ten state workers that together have approximately 35,000 hours of leave, worth $1.8 million. And they get to cash this out anytime they want. Source: Alaska Department of Administration
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT OUR PRESIDENTS: Grover Cleveland was a hangman prior to moving into the oval office. The S in Harry S. Truman’s middle name didn’t stand for anything. Richard Nixon proposed to his wife on their first date. The 38th president was named Leslie Lynch King Jr. at birth and later renamed Gerald Ford. Source: mentalfloss.com
THE SPOILS OF ALASKA WATERS: In 2010, Alaskans held 76 percent or 15,477 of all 20,275 Alaska commercial fishing permits. However, Outside permit-holders earned about 55 percent of the roughly $1.5 billion gross earnings from Alaska’s fisheries in both state and federal waters. Source: Alaska’s Commercial Fisheries Commission.
SIZE MATTERS: The University of Tennessee’s. Neyland Stadium currently has a seating capacity at 102,455 seats, which makes it the largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference. You can just imagine how that might upset Texas football fans because they’re always are talkin’ about how they have the biggest this and that. Anyhow, to make those cowboys happy, Texas A&M has announced that they intend to expand seating at Kyle Field to 102,500. That means Texas A&M’s stadium will soon be the biggest in the Conference, boasting a whole 45 seats more than the Tennessee Volunteers. Source: Texas A&M University, University of Tennessee.
TEENS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS: 33 percent turn to Facebook, 30 percent prefer twitter, 20 percent choose YouTube and 17 percent use Instagram. Source: Piper Jaffray.& Company (Investment Bankers).
ANOTHER NAIL IN THE ALASKA’S BIG LINE COFFIN: Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum announced on Thursday that they reached an agreement to move forward with construction of a $10B natural gas export terminal in Texas. The partners reportedly plan to ship as much as 15.6M metric tons of gas annually from the Golden Pass facility. Source: Bloomberg News.
TELL THEM HOW YOU REALLY FEEL: In Nevada, you can vote for “none of the above.” Source: Nevada Division of Elections.
NO SPECIAL SESSION REQUIRED: The legislative session in Iowa is either 100 days or 110 days, depending on the year. This year, state legislators were supposed to gavel out on April 17 but they didn’t get all their work done. So they’re still going at it in Des Moines, the state capital. And they’re doing so without receiving per diem, something unheard of in Alaska. Source: Amanda Coyne reporting from Iowa.
NICE GOVERNMENT WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT II: Alaska legislators are paid an annual salary of $50,400 and they get $238 or $253 per diem, depending on the time of year. That’s the highest per diem rate in the country. Iowa legislators are paid $25,000 a year and get $135 a day in per diem while the legislature is in session. Source: National Conference of State Legislators.
