In this short video, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi encourages musicians and other creative types to quite their day jobs because health insurance will be paid for under the new health care bill. Check out the clip below.
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KUOW
A bill that would extend funding for King County arts and heritage programs may not make it through the Legislature this session. If it doesn’t, advocates say county cultural programs could take a devastating hit. March 5 was the deadline for bills to move out of caucus and on to final votes. Among the bills that didn’t make it was a measure to extend a major source of county arts funding. As it stands now, King County cultural groups get a share of a tax on hotel and motel rooms, but that funding is scheduled to end in 2012. Two bills were introduced this legislative session to extend the lodging tax revenue stream. Jim Kelly directs 4Culture, the independent agency that oversees distribution of the lodging tax to arts and heritage groups. Kelly says if nothing is done to revive the lodging tax bill this session, arts advocates will go back to Olympia next year. Last year 4Culture gave out about $4.5 million to 500 arts groups, artists, and groups. Jim Kelly says if the lodging tax revenues dry up in 2012, that will mean an 80 percent decrease in cultural funding in King County.
On Top Magazine
A proposed incentive package for the film industry being considered by Florida lawmakers would likely exclude films with gay characters. Lawmakers hope the $75 million package of tax credits and incentives will entice filmmakers to set up shop in Florida. However, the tax credit would only be available to films that do not exhibit or imply “nontraditional family values.” Representative Stephen Precourt, an Orlando Republican, told the Palm Beach Post that his House Bill did not target the gay community. But when asked if movies with gay characters should get the tax credit, he said, “That would not be the kind of thing I’d say we want to invest public dollars in.” Ted Howard, executive director of Florida Together, a federation of 80 organizations which support equal rights for all Florida families, including gay families, said in a statement, “Real-life families come in all shapes and sizes. Marginalizing single-parent families, gay families and other non-traditional families by instituting 1950’s-style movie censorship does nothing to support real-life families or help Florida’s struggling economy.” To read the full story, follow the above link.
