Rao bulletin 1 February 2017 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles pg Article Subject

All real property in the state is subject to tax by the state, counties, townships, and municipalities. Residential property is taxed as 9% of assessed value.  For the most part, personal property is exempt from property tax.  Personal property of utilities companies that are assessed by the State board of Equalization is subject to property tax.  Household personal property, inventories, and machinery and equipment used in trade or manufacture are exempt from property taxes.  Machinery and equipment used in refining products from oil or gas extracted from the earth is deemed to be real property and therefore subject to property taxes.  A mobile home used as a residence or place of business is also subject to a property tax.

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  Berea College — Berea, Kentucky. This private Christian college requires students to take a full course schedule while working 10 to 15 hours each week in a job that aligns with their major in an effort to “repay the college for extending them the cost of tuition and room and board,” says BestColleges.com. Classroom attendance is also mandatory for students, CNBC says.
  
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  College of the Ozarks — Point Lookout, Missouri. “Dubbed Hard Work U, this is one of the hardest Midwestern schools to get into, with an 8 percent acceptance rate,” CNBC reports.
  
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  Deep Springs College — Big Pine, California. This small two-year all-male college admits just 22 to 25 students a year.
  
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  U.S. Air Force Academy — near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Air Force Academy grads must commit to five years of active duty service with the military
  
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  U.S. Coast Guard Academy — New London, Connecticut. After completing schooling at the academy, students must commit to spending at least five years of service — most often that service involves going to sea.
  
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  U.S. Merchant Marine Academy — Kings Point, New York. “It’s known for having the hardest academic standards but the widest variety of career options of all the service academies,” says CNBC.
  
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  U.S. Military Academy — West Point, New York. Graduates of this academy, which has just a 9 percent acceptance rate, must serve five years of active duty and three years in the reserve.
  
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  U.S. Naval Academy — Annapolis, Maryland. This academy requires grads to serve five years as an officer, plus time in the reserves.
  

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  SUNY Maritime College: $144,000 midcareer pay
  
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  Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $134,000
  
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  Harvey Mudd College: $131,000
  
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  Princeton University: $131,000
  
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  Stanford University: $127,000
  
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  U.S. Military Academy at West Point: $126,000
  
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  U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis: $125,000
  
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  U.S. Air Force Academy: $124,000
  
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  University of Pennsylvania: $124,000
  
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  Harvard University: $123,000
  

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  Petroleum engineering: $172,000
  
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  Systems engineering: $121,000
  
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  Actuarial science: $119,000
  
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  Chemical engineering: $119,000
  
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  Computer science and engineering: $116,000
  
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  Nuclear engineering: $116,000
  
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  Electronics and communications engineering: $115,000
  
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  Electrical and computer engineering: $114,000
  
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  Aeronautical engineering: $113,000
  
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  Computer engineering: $113,000
  

[Source: MoneyTalksNews | Krystal Steinmetz |September 20, 2016 ++]

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  Stamped letters, up to 1 ounce: 49 cents (up from 47 cents)
  
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  Large envelopes (aka “flats”), up to 1 ounce: 98 cents (up from 94 cents)
  
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  Parcels, up to 3 ounces: $2.67 (up from $2.62)
  

Other shipping services that were affected include:

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  Priority Mail (one to three business days): Starts at $6.65 (up from $6.45)
  
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  Priority Mail Express (overnight): Starts at $23.75 (up from $22.95)
  

This is the first time in three years that the USPS has raised rates, the agency noted in October. Not all rates increased. Unaffected services include:

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  Postcards (still 34 cents)
  
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  Additional ounces for letters (still 21 cents per ounce)
  
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  Letters mailed to international destinations (still $1.15)
  

[Source: MoneyTalksNews | Karla Bowsher | January 19, 2017 ++]

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  Bob Hope. Check out https://youtu.be/SR9TSxp_okc to see some special moments Bob spent with the troops during his many Christmas performances. 
  
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  Tribute to Veterans. To see and hear videographer John Langskov's youtube work which has been set to music go to http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/Mansions.htm.
  
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  GTMO. Oman said 16 JAN it has accepted 10 prisoners from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Fewer than 50 prisoners remain. Annual cost per prisoner was $8 million in 2016.
  
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  DoD Expenditures. Operation and maintenance (O&M) costs ate up roughly $251 billion, or 50 percent of the U.S. defense budget, when overseas contingency operations (OCO) were accounted for in 2015, according to a report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 
  
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  Vietnam POWs. Go to http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/mccain-and-the-pow-cover-up to read what Pulitzer Prize Journalist Sydney Schanberg had to say about a Vietnam POW Cover-up in 2010.
  
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  Edward Snowden. Russia says that Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence contractor who leaked secret documents from the National Security Agency (NSA), has been granted permission to remain in Russia for at least two more years. Snowden had leaked 1.5 million documents he acquired while working as a contractor for the NSA, prompting a furious public debate about the legality of some of the agency’s programs, about privacy concerns, and about U.S. snooping on its allies.
  
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  Chelsea Manning. Military Times readers overwhelmingly disapprove of President Barack Obama's controversial decision to commute the prison term of Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who was serving 35 years for providing national secrets to the website Wikileaks.
  
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  Chelsea Manning. The Army says former private Manning will lose her military healthcare benefits following President Obama’s commutation of her prison sentence if she is discharged with a dishonorable discharge. She will lose her entitlement to benefits, including gender-transition care at [military] medical treatment facilities.
  
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  IRS. Steven Mnuchin, the investor tapped by Trump for the top job in US economic policy, told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing Jan. 19 that he would like to expand the workforce at the IRS and modernize technology there in order to collect more taxes.
  
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  National Cemetery. The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to buy at least 200 acres of land near Albuquerque, NM to develop a new National Cemetery to replace Santa Fe National Cemetery, which is expected to run out of space in the mid 2020’s.
  
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  COLA. The December CPI is 235.390, 0.1 percent above the FY 2016 COLA baseline. See more at: http://www.moaa.org/takeaction/#COLA-Watch
  
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  Philippine President. Rodrigo Duterte has stood by his police chief Ronald Dela Rosa after calls for him to resign over the alleged killing of a South Korean businessman by police officers at the national police headquarters. The Chief, a top figure in Duterte's deadly war on drugs, has the president's full support, the president's top aide told Reuters on 22 JAN. Police figures show more than 7,000 people have been killed during the President's campaign.
  
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  TPP & NAFTA. Trump administration announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact championed by former President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It also declared a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
  
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  VA Goes Red. Feb. 3, VA will Go Red for Women by asking Veterans and VA staff to wear RED in support of heart health. Nearly 1 in 3 women are impacted by heart disease or stroke! Each year, VA partners with the American Heart Association (AHA) to bring more awareness to the risk of heart disease for women Veterans. Join them as they raise awareness for heart health! Contact your local VA Women’s Health Department to participate in local events planned in support of VA Goes Red!
  
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  Army. The Army will deactivate its three 100 man long-range surveillance companies in the active-duty force in the remaining days of January, along with four National Guard companies in 2018. Defense analysts have said Army commanders have an aversion to risk and a growing preference to use technology such as satellites and drones for reconnaissance rather than insert small teams of soldiers.
  
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  Nostalgia. A young woman invites her dad over to meet her boyfriend who has been bitten by a monkey in this funny skit from The Carol Burnett Show at https://youtu.be/ZYLzoLrALVg.
  
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  GA Tattoos. Tattoo parlors would have to tell customers that if they get tattoos in certain parts of their body - including on their face - that it could bar them from the military, under a new House Bill 123 filed in the Georgia House. A similar measure passed the House last year but died in the Georgia Senate.
  
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  Camp Lejeune Claims. President Donald Trump’s order blocking new federal regulations apparently won’t affect one that former President Barack Obama’s administration pushed forward during his last days in office: a Veterans Affairs rule that will provide more than $2 billion over the next five years to cover disability claims for Camp Lejeune veterans exposed to toxic water at the North Carolina base.
  
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  Military Parades. President Trump says he would like to see the armed forces assume a more public ceremonial presence. He told the Washington Post recently that he favored more military parades on the streets of cities like New York and Washington, D.C. The Association of the U.S. Army reported that Trump sees his role as commander-in-chief as that of "being a great cheerleader for the country. As we build up our military, we're going to display our military." 
  
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  Army Dogs. Retired army dogs meant for veterans given to company that tried to sell them to foreign countries. Refer to http://govnews.us/id/17147909006 to read the full story on this gross lack of Army oversight
  
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  Marijuana. A new American industry could soon blossom on the deck of Tara Bass’s small marijuana store in the tiny community of Skagway, Alaska, nestled between the Coast Mountains and the deepest saltwater fiord in North America. If all goes according to plan, by the time tourists start arriving via cruise ships this spring, the Remedy Shoppe will offer recreational marijuana that can be bought and consumed in the same place: one of the first legal cannabis cafes in the United States.
  
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  Lead. Do you hunt or fish on federal land? Not with lead bullets or lead fishing tackle weights you don’t. Unless Trump overturns that Obama rule.
  
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  Kazoo Music. Check out this very talented kazoo player at http://www.bitoffun.com/video_vault/sexy-talent-amy-g.htm
  
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  Champva/TRICARE. Southern Arizona VA Health Care system is no longer accepting patients that use one of two health care benefit programs for civilians associated with the military. The programs no longer accepted at the VA Hospital in Tucson are called the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (Champva) and Tricare. VA facilities across the country have made similar moves.
  
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  North Korea. Analysis of commercial satellite imagery from 22 JAN indicates that operations at the 5 MWe plutonium-producing reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear research facility is likely to have resumed.
  
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  Iran. The Iranian government carried out a medium-range ballistic missile test 29 JAN that may be a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution, U.S. officials said. Iran has repeatedly maintained that missile development is within its rights to self-defense against attack from Israel, its longtime regional adversary. 
  
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  White Sands Open House. Two days a year, the site of a once-secret weapon project is open to visitors at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. On 1 APR and sometime in OCT visitors can see ground zero, where the bomb was placed for explosion, and the McDonald ranch house where the plutonium core of the bomb was assembled. The McDonald house has been restored to the way it looked during the war.