JOB FAIR DRAWS NEARLY 600:
Nearly 600 people attended a job fair put on Wednesday by Washington County Job and Family Services at Washington State Community College.
The attendance was higher than normal and comes at a time when the county's unemployment is pushing 10 percent.
About 50 area employers and another 15 colleges or trade schools were available for individuals looking for employment or job training. Nearly 600 people attended the event. Past average attendance has been between 400 and 500.
Candy Nelson, supervisor at Washington County Job and Family Services, said not every employer was hiring, but all were accepting resumes.
Statewide, the unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent for February, the highest in 25 years. The unemployment rate for the state was 8.8 percent for January. The February figures are the most recent available and were released this week.
In Washington County, the jobless rate in February climbed from 9.3 percent to 9.9 percent. The unemployment rate in the county was 6.3 percent in December. The county posted a jobless rate of 4.6 percent last May.
MARIJUANA PLANTS SEIZED IN SEARCH:
Nearly 100 marijuana plants were confiscated Wednesday from a New Matamoras home.
Washington County sheriff's detectives and a member of the Major Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in an apartment at 47410 State Route 7 after learning marijuana was being cultivated there, according to a release from the sheriff's office. Officers found 92 plants of varying heights, with a total mass of 590 grams, in a bedroom, along with drug paraphernalia and items used in the growth of marijuana, the release says.
After the warrant was executed, detectives arrested resident Scott A. Davis, 38, on an outstanding warrant from Wayne County for a felony count of nonsupport of dependents. The release says evidence supporting additional charges regarding cultivation of marijuana will be sent to the Washington County prosecutor's office for future grand jury consideration.
Sheriff Larry Mincks said Davis allegedly learned how to grow the plants from information he obtained online.
Davis remains in custody at the Washington County Jail without bond, pending his extradition to Wayne County.
DEMOCRATS UNVEIL BUDGET PROPOSALS:
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a springtime show of unity, congressional Democrats welcomed President Barack Obama to the Capitol Wednesday and unveiled budget blueprints that embrace his key priorities and point the way for major legislation this year on health care, energy and education.
Even so, both the House and Senate versions lack specifics for any of the administration's signature proposals. And Democrats decided to cut spending - and exploding deficits - below levels envisioned in the plan Obama presented less than a month ago.
Administration officials and congressional leaders said any differences were modest.
''This budget will protect President Obama's priorities - education, energy, health care, middle class tax relief and cut the deficit in half,'' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the chief executive met privately in the Capitol with rank-and-file Democrats.
Earlier, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told reporters the congressional budgets ''may not be identical twins to what the president submitted, but they are certainly brothers that look an awful lot alike.''
Neither house included the $250 billion that the administration seeks for any future financial industry bailout. Additionally, Senate Democrats assume in their version that Obama's middle class tax cuts will expire after 2010, and the House blueprint allocates $200 billion less to tax cuts over five years than the president.
But none of that means the tax cuts can't be kept in place in 2011 and beyond, only that lawmakers would have to find offsetting revenue to pay for them, said Kent Conrad of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
The House and Senate plans both call for spending $3.6 trillion in the year that begins Oct. 1, according to the Congressional Budget Office, compared with $3.7 trillion for Obama's plan.
The House plan foresees a deficit of $1.2 trillion for 2010 but would cut that to $598 billion after five years. The comparable Senate estimates are $1.2 trillion in 2010 and $508 billion in 2014.
Obama's budget would leave a deficit of $1.4 trillion in five years' time, according to congressional estimates, a level that is viewed by numerous experts as unacceptable over time if the economy is to recover and remain healthy.
