The Columbia Journalism Review surveys local newspaper coverage of how the U.S. stimulus package is being spent:
The Billings Gazette takes a look at a smaller chunk of the recovery picture: three to five jobs. Flaxville, a tiny burg of just over 100 people (with a yearly budget of $36,000), in northern Montana, will get a stimulus check for $7,530 and will use it to “sand-blast and repaint the inside of the town’s 10,000-gallon water tank,” which, the mayor estimates, will create three to five jobs for the duration of three months.
Any day now, the State Energy Office in Arizona should be receiving the first installment of money to pay for the state’s weatherization plan, according to the Arizona Guardian. (Arizona was the first state to apply for the weatherization assistance grant on April 28, creating a sort of unofficial timeline of money requested and money received.) The house weatherization project—which will add insulation, seal leaks and modernize cooling equipment, among other things—will both create jobs and help consumers out with summer cooling bills. And the state likely has other allotments of money coming down the pipeline. But, in an example of bureaucratic delay, it’ll take another two or three months before the U.S. Department of Energy completes its review of one big portion of it: Arizona’s application for $55.4 million to expand the State Energy Program, which invests in renewable energy programs.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer runs the headline, “Ohio’s first stimulus construction project under way but benefits won’t be felt for years,” echoing concerns that the stimulus money isn’t making enough of an impact, quickly enough. The project involves “widening the Interstate 490 east ramp to Interstate 77 north to accommodate a second lane.” The report’s description of the news conference: “Even with no immediate benefits, the project was hailed Monday as a history-making investment.” Why the skepticism? With the money currently available, the ramp work could be finished by late October, but the public “won’t be able to use the roadway for a while because it feeds into a portion of I-77 north that needs to be upgraded.” How’s that for helpful money?
