Laurels to Sunfish, Wate, Heat and Stick. Those are code names for four potential industrial prospects the Salisbury-Rowan Economic Development Commission is currently talking to regarding possible location here. EDC Director Robert Van Geons gave his board an update on the projects last week. Even though discussions are still in the preliminary stages, that fact that these companies are interested in Rowan and could bring investment and jobs to the county in the near future was a welcome bit of upbeat news. Even though the economic downturn involves structural problems such as tight credit and a fragile housing market, part of the problem also lies in the paralysis that grips people who are battered by dismal economic headlines involving layoffs, rising unemployment rates and predictions that things will get worse before they get better. In his remarks to the board, Van Geons noted that some companies are doing quite well, despite the downturn. So all isn’t gloom and doom. Companies are still doing business and looking to expand ó and Rowan could be the beneficiary.
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Dart to the Medicare fraud and abuse documented in a new Government Accounting Office report. The report, released Friday, found that fraud had helped boost spending on home-health services by a whopping 44 percent over five years. While home care provides essential services such as visits by nurses, aides and physical therapists, the report shows the need for better monitoring of billing and payment procedures. That was the message from Sen. Chuck Grassley, who asked for the report. As Grassley noted, “Every home health-care dollar lost to fraud or improper payments is a dollar that doesn’t go to necessary care and a better qualify of life for older Americans.”
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Laurels to happiness. According to a Scripps Howard News Service item, a Gallup-Healthways survey into Americans’ sense of happiness and well-being found that people who live in places most of us think of as vacation destinations are the happiest and most satisfied. Utah was first, Hawaii second, Wyoming third. And people living in states often synonymous with hard times ranked last, with West Virginia ranking 50th, Kentucky 49th and Mississippi 48th. (North Carolina ranked 34th.) Taller people are more satisfied with their lives. But the big determinant of happiness and well-being is money. Even just living close to it seems to help. The survey found that people living in the wealthiest congressional districts felt better off than those living in the hard scrabble coal country of eastern Kentucky or the forbidding urban environment of the South Bronx ó the two districts that finished lowest. And then there’s this finding: Americans felt a lot happier and better off before the financial meltdown than after. Who knew?