Local Farmingdale News - At Your Fingertips

Hi All,

Farmingdale is known for many things: Grumman, Republic Aviation, the Farmingdale Public Library, Farmingdale State College (remember the Aggie school?), Mile-a-Minute Murphy, Bethpage State Park and much more. 

Which, of course, means there is plenty of history and news relating to Farmingdale.

For a timely, unbiased, current, interesting and well written site that covers the ins-and-outs of Farmingdale...check out the Farmingdale Patch.  Click on this link to learn a bit more about Patch.com - basically its the Patch FAQ. 

The Farmingdale Patch has a wide variety of sections relating to Farmingdale: including a section on Arts and Entertainment,  Business, Community Corner, Health and Fitness, Home/Garden, Jobs, Kids/Family, Politics/Government, Schools, Sports and Weather.

As you can see and read; the Farmingdale Patch has Farmingdale very well covered.

Enjoy the site and the news!

Regards,
Stu

USASpending.gov

Hi All,

Government spending isn't as glamorous a subject as movie stars or the latest scandal on a soap opera.  But it is so relevant to our life that it may as well be as important. 

After finding out about the website USASpending.gov I knew that I wanted to blog about it.

USASpending.gov is a result of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.  Users of the site can find the following types of information on USASpending.gov: "All the data on prime recipient transactions is submiyted by the federal agencies making federal contract, grant, loan, and other financial assistance awards. Agencies are required to submit data within 30 days of making the award or after making a modification or amendment to an award. The exception is the Department of Defense which delays its submission by 90 days to protect operations. The data on sub-awards is provided by the prime recipients.  ​

The charts, graphs, and maps display data from October 1, 2008.  All data prior to September 30, 2008 can be downloaded.   For more information on the data displayed on USAspending.gov, the data sources, and the timing for refreshing the site, go to About the Data.

An example of the information available will make it more interesting and more understandable.

I did a search for 'navy seals' on the site.  The results summary lists the total number of transactions, total prime recipient transaction amount, total sub-aware transaction amount,  the number of contracts, the number grants, the number of loans and the amount of financial assistance.

Under the topics listed above is a table with the 36 transactions.  Clicking on the first one (ACS Cable Systems, LLC) yields contact information and even more information on transactions, total funds awarded and more. Under the search results, users can click on the Award ID to get more information about the transaction details.  Also in the table (which can be sorted by various columns) users can find the award amount, award type, awarding agency, funding agency and the role of the recipient.

Finally, note that in the Fall 2017 USASpending.gov will be releasing a new version of the site.  The new site will continue to provide data on federal awards as well as include data on agency expenditures. For a preview, go to this link from USASpending.gov.

I hope the site enables you to find out what the government is exactly spending its money on!  Hopefully transparency is more than just a catch-phrase - USASpending.gov might help that come to fruition!

Regards,
Stu 

What To Do With Your Tax Refund?

Hi All,

Well, tax day has come and gone...and now we - some of us at least - can look forward to receiving either/or federal (IRS) or state (New York State or another state if you lived there last year) refunds.

So...what can you do with your refund?

Turbotax has a link titled, '12 Smart Things To Do With Your Tax Refund'.  So does Kiplinger ('10 Smart Uses for Your Tax Refund') and Nerdwallet ('9 Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund').

But wait there's more!

AARP has chimed in with an article ttitled '10 Smart Things to Do With Your Tax Refund'.  As did Dave Ramsey - financial pundit - with an article titled, 'What Do I Do with My Tax Refund?'

Finally Mint launched an article called, '10 Smart Ways to Use Your Tax Refund'.

Okay, okay... you get the idea. 
Enjoy the links and the refund!

Regards,
Stu

Voting and Elections

Hi All,

Here's another election post - short and sweet!  Click on the links below to get the various pieces of information needed!  All your elections and voting needs are now in one place!

Decide Who to Vote For


Find Your State or Local Election Office Website

How to Vote 

Presidential Election Process

Voter Registration, Requirements, and Deadlines

Voting and Election Laws and History

Remember that the election is on Tuesday, November 8th, 2016!!!

Regards,
Stu