Number of Ga. Teachers Retiring Spikes

Several teachers in Houston County retired halfway through the year, like many others around the state.
13WMAZ’s Jennifer Moulliet explains the increase in retirements.

“It was about time and this made it time,” says Rick Unruh.

Unruh decided to retire after spending 33 of 37 years in the Houston County School system. He had stints at Houston County High and spent the last few years of his tenure as Northside High School’s media specialist.

“I thought it was my thirty-sixth but I miscounted.”

Unruh wasn’t the only one to retire in the middle of the school year, across the state over 1,700 school personnel put in to retire December 1st,  fourteen in Houston County alone.

“There was a financial incentive for those eligible to retire which would equate to approximately $94 a month for the rest of their lives if they went ahead and went out early,” explains Superintendent Robin Hines.

 

Submitted by Jennifer Moulliet, 13WMAZ Videojournalist

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012, 7:57pm

Bikes & Helmets Awarded to 30 NES Children

Northside Elementary School students will learn on Dec. 7, 2012, which 30 children will win a 20-inch bicycle and youth helmet for following their one school rule of RESPECT.  As part a character incentive program, Academy Sports + Outdoors will give away bikes and helmets to the students chosen for the RESPECT reward.  They will be awarded during an assembly held at 2:00 p.m. in the school gym.

Close to 500 students will be present for the assembly.  Academy Sports + Outdoors representatives will present the bikes during the assembly.  Academy has donated thousands of bikes and helmets to local schools during the holidays over the past 10 years.  Participating schools establish criteria for awarding the gifts.

Northside Elementary is located at 305 Sullivan Road in Warner Robins.  Jodi Clark serves as principal.  For more information, please contact Clark at 478-929-7816.

 

Submitted by HCBOE on Tuesday, December 4th, 10:25 am

Robins Federal Credit Union Creates a Season of Giving

Macon, GA — Robins Federal Credit Union recently made a $1,000 monetary donation to Kids Yule Love to help out this holiday season. In addition, Robins Federal is serving as a collection point for the Kids Yule Love toy drive at its Bibb and Houston county branch locations.

Robins Federal Credit Union is a local non-profit financial cooperative with nineteen branches in central Georgia. Robins Federal currently provides financial services to over 144,000 members, with assets exceeding $1.7 billion. Membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in the 16 counties Robins Federal serves.

 

Submitted by Hillary Bobbitt, Marketing Specialist, Robins Federal Credit Union

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012, 9:29am

Chamber Hosts Ground Breaking Ceremony for Church Expansion

WARNER ROBINS, GA- The Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a Ground Breaking Ceremony for Warner Robins Hispanic Foursquare Church (Remanso de Paz).

Located at 1715 Elberta Road in Warner Robins, Warner Robins Hispanic Foursquare Church (Remanso de Paz) is a non-profit Hispanic Church affiliated with the International Foursquare Church Gospel Association.  The Association is comprised of over 65,000 churches throughout the world.

“We have been established since 1998 and serving to this community since 2005 in this current location,” says Rev. Jesús Ramírez, Church Administrator.  “The Chamber has been very supportive and we are excited about the new expansion.”

¨Rev. Scott Reece, Southeast District Supervisor of The Foursquare Church, also spoke briefly as he expressed his anticipation of the Chamber’s return once the project is complete. “We look forward to the ribbon cutting ceremony; hopefully in less than a year.”

 

Submitted by Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce, Membership/Investment Organization

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012, 7:41am

WR Rec All Stars Win Old Capital South Tournament

Warner Robins Recreation All Star boys 10-U team participated in a weekend long tournament at the Milledgeville Recreation Center over the weekend.

They won first place in the Old Capital South Tournament 10-U and are runnerups in the Southwest Regional National Tournament 10-U.

The boys celebrate their win Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Recreation Department.

 

Submitted by Jacqueline Harnevious, 13WMAZ Community Web Producer

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012, 10:51am

Flu Hitting Georgia Hard and Early This Year

ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia health officials say they’ve seen significant increases in flu activity statewide and are encouraging people to get a flu shot.

The Georgia Department of Public Health says the flu is hitting the state harder and earlier than in previous years. They say the early arrival of the H3N2 flu could mean a severe flu season.

Flu symptoms include cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever. One of the biggest symptoms is an overall achiness and malaise that starts quickly.

Health officials say the best way to avoid the flu is to get the flu vaccine. This year’s vaccine is a close match for the strains of flu found in Georgia right now. Health officials say everyone over 6 months old who is healthy should get the vaccine.

 

Written by

Chris Horne www.wmaz.com

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“Genius … means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” – William James

FACT OF THE DAY:

FACT OF THE DAY:

If a person spent $1 every second, that would equal to $1 million dollars in 12 days. At this rate, it would take 32 years to spend $1 billion dollars. It would take 31,000 years to spend $1 trillion dollars. – Provided by RandomHistory.com
———————-

SITE OF THE DAY:

SITE OF THE DAY:

CardsThatGive.org

“If it were easy for individuals and businesses to buy their greeting cards from non-profit organizations, card sales could generate millions of dollars for worthy causes. That’s the idea behind CardsThatGive.org. Our site directs you to more than 200 organizations that sell holiday greeting cards, tribute cards, and eCards to help fund their charitable work.”

HARP’s Loan Tally at 1.7M

http://www.dsnews.com

BY: KRISTA FRANKS BROCK

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinanced more than 90,000 mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in September, bringing the program’s total reach to 1.7 million since its inception in 2009, according to the latest refinance report from theFederal Housing Finance Agency.

In total, about 431,000 Fannie and Freddie loans were refinanced in September, 90,000 of them through the federal program.

The rate of HARP refinances has increased since the program was revised in the fall of 2011 to expand borrower eligibility.

Year-to-date, 709,000 loans have been refinanced through HARP, already far exceeding last year’s total of about 400,000.

In the third quarter, 24 percent of all loans refinanced were completed through HARP.

The HARP revisions have helped extend the program to homeowners with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios.

Half the loans refinanced through HARP in September had LTVs of more than 105 percent. This is in keeping with the previous month’s 51 percent and slightly higher than the year-to-date share of 43 percent. About one-quarter of the loans refinanced through HARP in September had LTVs exceeding 125 percent.

Additionally, HARP refinances make up a significant portion of refinances in the states hardest hit by the housing crisis. In Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and Georgia,HARP refinances made up 45 percent of all refinances completed in September. This compares with HARP’s 21 percent nationwide share for the month.

FHFA also points out more than 70 percent of HARPrefinances that took place in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in September had LTVs of greater than 105 percent. In California, the rate was 60 percent.

The share of HARP refinances that place homeowners in 15- and 20-year loans as opposed to 30-year loans is also on the rise. In 2011, 15- and 20-year loans accounted for just 10 percent of HARP refinances. Year-to-date, about 18 percent have placed homeowners in these shorter-term loans.